She was only 17 or 18 years old when we met. I’m not sure if her noisy self-confidence was a bluff or self-deception. Either way, she had her peers cowed. She figured she had worked out all the answers about life and the universe, including her loosely articulated view of nature as an impersonal god.
The details of what I said to her are less important here than her response. I simply described the evidence science gives for a Creator who is distinct from the material world. She listened with an incredulous look on her face. “This is the first time,” she replied, “that anyone has ever explained all this to me!” Her response fits a pattern not unfamiliar – teenagers with unanswered questions.
According to Barna research, most teenagers in the U.S. are spiritually open. Barna defines that term as believing the supernatural exists and being curious and willing to explore spirituality in a positive way. Their research (2022) shows that 74% of U.S. teens are moderately or highly open to spirituality. In other words, they have questions. The worst-case scenario is for their questions to be dismissed by those they trust enough to ask.
Sadly, that is what happened to Larry Sanger. He was raised in church and attended regularly until his early teens. Even though church and God began to factor less into his lifestyle, he remained open. In his late teens he approached a pastor with hard questions. “I was not merely being rebellious,” he writes. “I really needed help thinking these things through. But the pastor had no clear or strong answers. He seemed to be brushing me off. I had the impression that he felt threatened by me. The damage was quickly done: being met with hostile unconcern by a person I expected to be, well, pastoral confirmed me in my disbelief.”
It’s not just pastors, but all believers who have a calling to be available to the questioner, to be “ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15). If it’s a difficult topic, you can still dignify the question and offer to help find answers. You’re not responding to the question, but the questioner.
I’m glad to say that did not end Sanger’s God story. He received an education, including a PhD in philosophy. He became co-founder of Wikipedia. In 2025, he published a lengthy essay entitled, “How a Skeptical Philosopher Becomes a Christian.” It is his personal account of finally finding answers to his questions, and professing faith in Jesus Christ.
As for the self-confident young lady, I pray that she finds others willing to dignify her questions and help her find truth. That may be you.