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I was sitting in church listening to the sermon one Sunday when I heard my 10-year-old daughter whisper, "Psst, Psst, Mom!" I leaned over to hear her better. "If the devil was an angel who sinned, can other angels sin?" she whispered much louder than she realized. "Not now, Sweetie!" I whispered back. "Let's talk about this after church."

No sooner had I settled back into the sermon when from the other side of me came an even louder whisper, "Mom, if there was no death in the Garden of Eden, does that mean all the animals were vegetarians?" This from Molly, my 8-year-old vegetarian.

I looked at their dad for help, but he was lost in the sermon. I cast an apologetic look at the family behind us and whispered, "Girls, I'm glad you're paying attention but we'll have to talk about this later. Ask me again at lunch. Okay?" then I said a quick prayer that God would serve me up a healthy dose of wisdom in the next half hour so I'd have a clue how to answer my girls.

No doubt about it. Kids can ask some questions that leave even the most learned parent scratching her head. Just when you think you have a thing or two figured out, they hit you with another doozy and you're not sure of your own name.

But the truth is, you don't have to have all the answers. "Don't ever be afraid to tell your child you don't know something," advises Dr. Chuck Borsellino author (with his wife Jennie) of How to Raise Totally Awesome Kids (Multnomah) and cohost of Family Net's "At Home With Chuck and Jennie." "Say 'I don't know but let's go to the Word together and find out.' or 'Let's find someone who does know.' Then seek the answer together", says Borsellino. So that's exactly what we've done. We've taken some of the toughest faith questions kids ask and gained some insight from the experts on how parents might answer them.

Here goes!

"One simple way to answer this is 'The Bible says so,'" advises Sid Galloway director of Family Biblical Soulcare Counseling Service and senior pastor of Family Bible Church in Slidell, Louisiana. "Hebrews 10:25 instructs us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves but instead to exhort (or encourage) one another. The way the Bible uses the word 'church' is literally translated to mean 'the called-out ones.' God calls Christians out of the world and into a local church family where we can grow together and urge each other on toward the image of Christ." So why go to church? Because God tells us to.

"Another way to look at it is to say 'Families do certain things together and this is something our family does together,'" says Borsellino. "Explain to your child, 'Our family goes to family reunions at Grammy's house. We cheer for each other on the ball field. We support each other when we're having a hard time. And we worship in church together.' This shows your child that the family unit is greater than the sum of Mom and Dad and the kids and offers him a greater sense of security as part of that unit."

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