What About Doubt?

Session 3: What About Doubt?

ICE BREAKER Leader: To start off your small group time, play a few rounds of Seven-Up. But, instead of choosing seven people to be “It,” pick three students and bring them to the front of the room. Have the rest of your students face a wall or cover their eyes so they cannot see. Once everyone has covered their eyes, have the three move around and each tap one other student on the shoulder of a student. Have each tapped student raise their hand. Once the three have tapped someone, bring them back upfront and say, “Okay, heads up.” The students who were tapped then get a chance to guess which of the three picked them. If they guessed right, they get to change places and be one of the students in the front. You can play multiple rounds of this game. After the game is over, have everyone sit down and ask your group these questions: How did you know who tapped you on the shoulder? What made it hard to know who tapped you? What makes this game hard is that there are very few ways to know who tapped you on the shoulder without peeking. Even with a few small hints, it is still tricky to know for sure who tapped you. No matter how confident you may be, you will always have a little doubt as to who chose you. Christians have every reason to be confident in our faith, but no matter how confident we are, we will all have some questions and doubts about God. In this session, we will learn what we should do with our doubts and how to help each other with our tough questions. Let’s check out the video to see what Marquise has to teach us about doubt.

VIEW Show Session 3: What About Doubt? (11 minutes).

REVIEW Leader: In the video, we heard from students who struggle with how to balance truth and love. A lot of your students probably relate to the challenges, questions, and doubts they shared. Give space for your students to share their questions and experiences when appropriate. Often, sharing a doubt or frustration is the first step to finding a path forward. Doubts are not unusual and having doubts doesn’t mean there is something wrong with us. All of us have questions about our faith. Even so, we are often ashamed of our doubt and hide our questions from others. Why do you think we try to hide our doubts? What do you think God thinks of our doubts? Marquise’s teaching gives us a biblical way to think about our doubts. God is not angry that we have questions. Like Marquise said, God invites us to ask questions and look for answers. What are some doubts that people have about faith in Jesus? Do you share any of these doubts? Leader: If you are having trouble getting your group to open up about their doubts, share a doubt you had at their age or even a recent question you’ve had about Jesus. The goal of this discussion should be to show it’s okay to have doubts and that we should be okay talking about our questions with each other. Don’t force students to talk about their doubts in front of everyone else if they don’t want to. Do you think there are answers to these big questions? Why or why not? Marquise shared a story about doubt from Mark 9:23–24, where a man believed in Jesus but also had doubts. Instead of turning away from Jesus to wrestle with his questions, he said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Have you ever prayed about your doubts? What might it look like to pray about your big questions? There is no question too big for God. There is also no question we could ask that another Christian hasn’t asked before. If you are worried about your doubts, remember the two pieces of advice Marquise gave us about our doubts. The first was to be humble. We don’t know everything, so we need help from people smarter than us. Who is a trustworthy adult—a youth pastor, teacher, or friend—you could talk to about your doubts? Marquise’s second piece of advice was to be patient. Doubts can nag us, making us feel like we have to find an answer right now. But not every question has a quick answer. He suggested that we should take time to find answers in the Bible, to have conversations in a Christian community, or to take time to read some books that answer our questions. What would it look like for you and the people in your group to look for answers together? At the end of the video, Marquise talked about how we can help people answer their big questions. What do you normally do if someone asks you a tough question about your faith? It can be tempting to think that we must answer everyone’s questions, even if we don’t know the answers to their questions. Instead of coming up with a question on the spot, Marquise suggested we let people know that we don’t know the answer to their questions but will go and find an answer for them. What could you say, in your own words, to let someone know that you will help them find an answer to their question? Letting people ask you about their doubts can be scary, especially if we have the same doubts. But helping people with their questions about God is a huge opportunity for us to introduce them to Jesus. God is using you to help other people know God better. What opportunities has God given you to help people with their questions?

BIBLE JOURNEY God wants us to help one another with our doubts, but sometimes we can “help” in a way that hurts. Instead of trying to introduce people to Jesus, we sometimes argue with people or can even be rude when they ask us questions. But God has given us a better way to answer the big questions people have about him. Can someone read 1 Peter 3:15–16 for us? Verse 15 gives us an everyday command. Instead of worrying about how other people are living, we are supposed to “honor Christ as Lord.” What do you think it means to honor Christ as Lord in our hearts? Peter is telling us that we should be focused on serving God first and foremost. But we also must be prepared to talk about him when people ask us questions. What questions do you think you might be asked? What would it look like for you to prepare yourself to answer these questions? Peter wants Christians to be ready to share the “hope” within them. In other words, he’s challenging his audience to be ready to tell people about their faith in Jesus. What would you say if someone asked you why you believe in Jesus? In the video, Marquise told us that it is okay if we don’t know the answer to someone’s question. Instead of pretending to know the answer, he encouraged us to be honest and say, “I don’t know the answer to that. Is it okay if I find an answer and get back to you?” What worries you about being asked a question you don’t know the answer to? Are you comfortable with saying “I don’t know”? Why or why not? Verse 16 tells us how we should answer people’s questions. What should our attitude be toward people who ask us questions about our faith? God doesn’t want us to get defensive, upset, or argumentative when we are asked about him. Instead, he wants us to be courteous, gentle, and respectful. According to the end of verse 16, what happens when we answer questions with kindness and respect? People have been slandering Christians and making up rumors about them since Bible times. Instead of confirming their bad rumors, we should change their minds about us with our kindness. What do people think Christians are like? How could your kindness change their minds? It is only a matter of time before someone will ask us about what we believe and why we have put our faith in Jesus. If someone asked you about your hope in Jesus, what would you say? Leader: This could be a great time to split your group into pairs and have them roleplay a conversation with a non-believer. Have one person ask about Jesus and then let the other person answer. Have them follow up with another question or two, then switch. You can provide helpful insight and even coach them on how to talk about Jesus and the gospel. And remember, “I don’t know. Can I find an answer and get back to you?” is always an acceptable answer, as long as the students go and look for an answer to that question.

LAST WORD Doubt has a way of making us feel ashamed and afraid. We might be tempted to think our doubts and big questions are bad. But God wants us to ask him our questions, and he loves to help us with our unbelief. Instead of hiding our doubt, let’s normalize asking each other our questions and helping each other find answers to our big questions. What could we do this week to help one another with our doubts? While we help one another, let’s also be available to help people outside of this group. When other Christians or people who don’t know Jesus ask us about our faith, we can be confident, answering their questions with kindness and courtesy. Even if we don’t know the answers to their questions, we shouldn’t feel defeated. Instead, God has given us an opportunity to help someone meet God for themselves. Doubt is not evil. It’s a chance to know God in a better way. Let’s pray for God’s guidance as we wrestle with our doubts and to give us courage as we talk to those around us about their doubts and questions.