Every night Thomas and his Dad have a fun little habit of escaping to the tree house they built in the backyard. It was their special time together when they could look at the stars. On this particular night the sight of Saturn's magnificent rings brings out an enormous question concerning the existence of God.
Thomas's friend doesn't believe in God or go to church and this philosophy has caused Thomas to question his Dad.
There is a lot of text in this picture book. The pictures themselves are water color illustrations that have a crude some what immature look to them. My 11 was unimpressed by the pictures especially the pages where the characters are drawn in profile.
My youngest acted as though the story was a little too long for her attention span. My 9 year old boy liked it best. As the only boy in our house he is especially drawn to books with male characters.
I felt that How Do We Know God Is Really There? was cute, but it bothered me that the question was not addressed as powerfully as I would have liked. The father starts out his explanation strong by referencing Hubble's discoveries which prove the universe had a beginning. When the son questions him directly "But how do we know the cause was God?" the father tells him it's pretty silly to think otherwise. Dismissing the question as silly is not the same as answering it. Thomas needed some real meat to tackle his friend's claims that God wasn't real. Calling atheism silly (though arguably true) isn't a strong enough point to stand on.
I think that's a knee jerk response of most Christians to laugh away an atheists claims rather than thoughtfully addressing them.
This book wasn't a big hit in my house. As a stand alone argument for belief in God I think it falls flat, but as a discussion opener it has value. Maybe begin with this story and branch out into some practical ways a child can defend their faith and squash the claims that God is a fallacy.
You can order your book for $16 at Apologia.
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