The pros and cons of being a Christian's kid

Children growing up in a Christian family have many advantages. They usually have caring parents who provide for their physical needs, without being so focused on material things that they have no time for their children. Their upbringing will shelter them from the worst aspects of the world around them. Their parents are less likely than most to be addicted to alcohol or drugs or gambling. And they'll be introduced to the truths of Christianity from infancy.

This will provide them with a framework in which to view the world and make decisions. Deciding to follow Christ will seem the natural thing to do, rather than a leap into the unknown. Even though they may wander away from the church and Christianity in their teenage years, they will retain the knowledge of how to return to God when they're ready.

But there are disadvantages to being brought up in a Christian home and church culture. One of them is that having been taught and trained to do the right thing from childhood, it's easy for the child of Christians to become judgmental about others' behaviour. While some children from Christian families deliberately try everything that comes their way as an act of rebellion, most children with a secure, loving family and a well-ordered life find the temptations that others face just not that tempting. It then becomes difficult for them to empathise or even relate to those less fortunate in their upbringing when they 'fall into temptation'.

Another hazard is that while outwardly holding to a gospel of grace, the life-long Christian can be subtly persuaded that their own right living must earn them some credit with God. After all, within their Christian family, good behaviour was rewarded and bad behaviour punished, and their sense of justice encouraged. This can give rise to feelings of resentment towards God, when all their hard work seems to go unacknowledged.

Sermons that describe the Christian as someone who has moved dramatically from a position of rebellion against God to one of repentence often seem a bit out of touch with the experience of the person who can't remember exactly when they adopted their parents' faith as their own. Their own more subtle forms of rebellion are less often the subject of sermons, especially in churches that are focused on evangelism. This can lead to complacency, boredom with church and lack of spiritual growth.

The 'problem of evil' - if God is both good, and powerful, why is there so much evil in the world? - is often seen as something which deters people from becoming Christians. Yet the person from a Christian family may have a greater struggle to come to terms with evil, pain and suffering than the non-believer or recent convert.

The new convert may well come from a background where the evil of the world is a given, having no explanation, and they've lived all their lives without much hope of ever being free from it. To discover God and all that he promises, to discover the gospel that confronts evil, is liberating. The world has not changed, but they have something to hold on to in the storm.

The person who has been brought up in a Christian home, sheltered from the worst of the world's evils and told constantly about the goodness and love of God is sometimes stunned by the reality of suffering and evil when it confronts them as adults. They are not prepared for the storm. They may be familiar with the various theological explanations offered for evil, but such explanations sound hollow against the pain they see around them. What sort of God would allow such things? Where is the God who answers prayer? The compassion fostered by their Christian upbringing ironically feeds their grief and doubt. They feel that as Christians they should be able to offer an explanation, yet they have nothing to say that doesn't sound trite.

I suspect that many of the atheists who throw up 'the problem of evil' as an argument against Christianity come from a Christian background. Certainly many people date their loss of faith to some tragic event in their own life or the lives of those close to them. By God's grace others, like Job, find that their experience eventually deepens their faith and brings them to a more personal understanding of God.