Natalia and I have the pleasure of helping to lead the best youth group in the world at our home church in Brighton. CCKY regularly gathers between 40 and 50 11-14 year olds from around our city on Saturday night. We hang out, throw balls at each other and eat way too many sweets. The cuts, bruises and nausea don't put us off at all.

Most weeks we have what's called our Engage Hour which has some worship music along with a talk or "preach". A couple weeks back instead of a normal preach we did a Q and A session and I was amazed how many of our youth were asking some really complex questions about the story of the creation of the world in the biblical book of Genesis. I won't get into those questions now although hopefully I will in future postings.

At the end of the night I ended up chatting with one of our youth who admitted she was really struggling with some core elements of Christian doctrine; namely whether we could trust that the Bible is actually true. Again, that question alone could be at least one blog posting and there's no shortage of blogs and articles online that deal with that question, but what struck me was how honest she was. She had been raised in the church, she is certainly one of the leading youth in our youth group, but she was still struggling with a big question that she felt was hindering her from really developing her relationship with Jesus Christ.

I can totally relate. I grew up in a very legalistic Christian school where biblical teaching was a one way street. There wasn't any room for debate. Facts were apparently facts and questioning them was never really encouraged. It goes without saying that this is not a healthy way to learn. True understanding comes through often difficult investigation.

Approximately 60 years after Christ's resurrection and ascension the apostle Peter wrote a letter to churches dispersed through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (essentially what we would know today as Asia Minor) and touched on this very issue. Peter was aware that for the early church to flourish, it was vital that Christians know why they believed what they believed. In it he wrote:

...always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

Being prepared to give a defense means being knowledgeable. It means examining the evidence and weighing it for yourself. It does not mean shutting your mind off, but rather engaging it for what it was designed to do.

I once heard a journalist for the Toronto Star say that one of the greatest examples of God's love for us is that we were created with the very ability to doubt whether our creator even exists. If God didn't love us he would have just auto-programmed us to believe in him and believe in his son Jesus Christ. You don't have to look too far to realise that we aren't auto-programmed.

My answer to the young person with difficult questions at our youth group is my same answer to friends who say they don't believe in Christianity; have you examined the evidence? Have you asked the difficult questions? Have you really done your homework and wrestled with this?

So, why then do I approve of doubting Christianity? My reason is this - a wise doubter will not rest until they have weighted the evidence for and against Christianity and time and time again I have seen people who honestly investigate Christianity come to the conclusion that it simply must be true.