With an open notebook on her lap, “Stay True” podcast host and author Madison Prewett Troutt explained why growing up in church was only the beginning of her faith.
“I don’t want it to be my parents’ faith. I want it to be my faith,” the former BACHELOR star said while recalling a turning point in college.
Troutt said she chose to follow Jesus at 8, then revisited that commitment when she reached college and began asking whether she believed because Christianity was true or simply because her parents had taught her. Her official biography describes the same season as the moment she stopped treating faith as rules and reputation and re-surrendered her life to Christ.
She brought that personal question into an Aug. 31 episode of “Stay True” with Grace Community Church senior pastor Cliffe Knechtle and assistant pastor Stuart Knechtle, a father-son team of Christian apologists. Across the hour, the trio tackled hard questions about God’s existence, the trustworthiness of the Bible, hell, hypocrisy in the church and what believers should do with doubt.
Troutt asked how Christianity can claim to be true when people grow up in wildly different homes, countries and religious traditions. Cliffe replied that parents can tell their children the truth, but each person still has to examine the foundation beneath an inherited belief.
“And so that forced me to study and to examine the evidence,” he said of facing teachers and classmates who challenged his faith when he was young.
Related: How Madi and Grant Troutt Put God First in Their Marriage
“See, biblical faith is a response to evidence,” Cliffe continued.
“But you got to study that. You got to work through that honestly on your own. You can’t just buy into it because your culture or your family tells you,” he added.
Cliffe founded and hosts the campus ministry Give Me an Answer, while Stuart co-hosts it, according to their official biographies. The pair travel to universities around the country to engage students’ questions about Christianity.
The conversation also drew from their book, Demolishing Doubt: Discover How Your Deepest Questions Can Lead to Life-Giving Faith. Publisher Zondervan released the book May 19, describing it as an invitation to wrestle with doubts and seek answers.
Near the end of the episode, Cliffe pointed to Abraham, Job and Thomas as biblical figures who brought questions to God and kept seeking Him. He rejected both thoughtless belief and a prideful attachment to skepticism.
“So obviously I’m committed to intellectual honesty, and when we have doubts, we got to be honest. We can’t just stick our heads in the sand and act like it doesn’t exist,” he said.
Stuart offered an equally memorable caution: Questions can start a search for truth, but they make a poor permanent home.
“But to choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means for transportation,” he said.
Stuart encouraged listeners to pursue their questions with helpful mentors and friends and bring them to God and Scripture. That is a helpful word for families: Parents can give children a sturdy foundation, but they cannot outsource a child’s trust in Christ.
Honest questions do not have to become an exit door from faith. When believers bring those questions into the light and test them against Scripture, they can become part of the moment an inherited faith grows roots of its own.
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