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We are like 10-year-old Boys and Girls

 

My 10-year-old boy will not immediately answer back when you ask him a question. Most of the time I have to ask him twice or thrice before he actually answers back. In one instance, I was caught off-guard. He shouted at me after asking him a question a third time!

We were in the car on the way to school. It was boy-scout day, so he was wearing the scout uniform, the brown buttoned shirt with patches – boy scout logo and the Philippine flag. I thought the air-conditioning can be cold inside their classroom because he didn’t bring his school jacket, so I asked him, “Gab, are you wearing a sando?” A sando is a Filipino word for the sleeveless undershirt. In a very soft voice he muttered, “No, I don’t have it.” I didn’t hear what he actually said so I asked him a second time, “Are you wearing sando?” He replied a bit louder, “I’m not wearing it.” I heard him alright and I got worried he could get cold. But I couldn’t believe what he said, so I asked him a third time, raising my voice a little bit in a surprised tone, “You’re not wearing a sando?!” To which he replied, raising his voice almost shouting back at me, “I’m not wearing a sando!” To this, I immediately poked my finger between the buttons of his shirt to see. And I saw that he was telling the truth! He was not wearing a sando, he was wearing the scout t-shirt under the scout uniform. I fell silent and continued driving to school.

Lesson learned. From an Apologetics point of view, sometimes we are like 10-year-old boys and girls. We speak truth, but we don’t frame our answer properly so that it can be properly understood by the questioner. We cannot frame our answers properly because we just don’t know much about the questioner and the context from where he or she is coming from. My son was 10 years old and I was the adult and it was probably my mistake right there. I didn’t listen to him the first time.

We are adults. For sure we can answer better than my son Gabriel whenever somebody asks us about our faith. The task is not just to answer the question as a matter of fact. There will always be attending factors which prompt people to raise questions, and we need to pay attention to them. These attending factors will not be easily visible from the question itself and usually the question will sprout from a deep emotional or spiritual need or concern. That need or concern is really what needs to be addressed, and when we are able to do that, we answer the person and not merely the question.

Fools are conceited. They have already made up their minds. Though they ask questions, they only ask to mock you. We are reaching out to truth seekers. There are people out there who are sincerely looking for answers. And a good answer can make even the fool change his mind.

It is very important to frame our answer on a personal level. We must remember that we are trying to communicate our answers to another person. I have found that we can always touch base with another person through clarity, sincerity, and honesty even when we don’t know the answer.

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