ROOTED IN FAITH. COMMITTED TO SCHOLARSHIP. OPEN TO DIALOGUE.THEOLOGY · PHILOSOPHY · APOLOGETICS
Book · Published

When Your Child Is Losing Faith

Dr. Octavian Caius Obeada

Editorially reviewed

Today's teenagers are growing up in a world where every belief is questioned and every worldview competes for their attention. Through social media, classrooms, podcasts, and online communities, they encounter challenging questions about God, the Bible, science, morality, suffering, and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Many Christian parents sincerely desire to help, but often feel unprepared to answer the questions their children are asking.

When Your Child Is Losing Faith is an apologetics resource written for parents who want to guide their children with both intellectual honesty and Christian conviction. Rather than offering simplistic answers or encouraging parents to shield their children from difficult questions, this book demonstrates how thoughtful inquiry can strengthen rather than weaken, genuine faith.

Drawing on philosophy, theology, history, developmental psychology, and contemporary apologetics, Dr. Octavian Caius Obeada explores why adolescents begin to question their beliefs, how identity formation shapes spiritual development, and why intellectual, emotional, moral, and cultural influences all contribute to the journey from inherited faith to personal conviction. Parents will learn how to distinguish between scientific evidence and philosophical interpretation, evaluate common objections to Christianity, engage difficult conversations with confidence, and cultivate an environment where truth is pursued with humility and integrity.

This book is not about winning arguments or preserving outward religious conformity. It is about equipping parents to help their children build a faith that is freely embraced, carefully examined, and firmly grounded in the truth of the gospel. A faith that can withstand honest questions is often the faith that endures for a lifetime.

AT A GLANCE

Publication details

Category
Book
ISBN-13
9798953063005
Book size / dimensions
Paperback: 6 × 9 in (15.24 × 22.86 cm)
Year
2026
Available formats
Paperback | Kindle | Google Books | Apple Books
Publisher
Vox Dei Institute Press
INSIDE THE BOOK

Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

PART I – UNDERSTANDING YOUR TEEN

CHAPTER 1: WHY ADOLESCENCE CHANGES EVERYTHING

Adolescence Is Not a Problem to Fix but a Person Becoming an Adult

Why Emotion Often Speaks Louder Than Reason

Designed to Explore – Why Adolescence Is a Season of Learning, Not Simply Risk

The Environment That Shapes the Heart - Helping Your Teen Develop a Faith That Lasts

CHAPTER 2: HOW FAITH DEVELOPS DURING THE TEEN YEARS

CHAPTER 3: UNDERSTANDING YOUR TEEN

Why Good Kids Begin to Doubt

PART II – UNDERSTANDING THE QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 4: INTELLECTUAL DOUBTS

Doubt Is Not the Opposite of Faith

The Desire for Evidence: Christian Faith in a Scientific Age

Scripture, Resurrection, and the Problem of Suffering

What Does It Mean to Call the Bible Reliable?

Approaching Alleged Contradictions

Why the Resurrection Matters

Alternative Explanations

The Problem That Does Not Disappear

Emotional Pain and Philosophical Argument

Religious Diversity, Christian Truth, and the Foundations of Morality

What Religious Diversity Does—and Does Not—Prove

Geography, Culture, and Religious Belief

Exclusive Claims Without Arrogance

Can People Be Moral Without God?

Does Morality Depend on God?

Common Objections Teenagers Encounter

Teaching Conviction with Intellectual Hospitality

Questions Can Become Doorways to Stronger Faith

CHAPTER 5: EMOTIONAL DOUBTS

When the Heart Questions Before the Mind

Pain, Loss, and Spiritual Disillusionment

Shame, Emotional Health, and the Need to Belong

Guilt, Shame, and the Fear of Rejection

When Anxiety and Depression Affect Faith

The Adolescent Need to Belong

Healing Often Precedes Conviction

CHAPTER 6: MORAL QUESTIONS

When “Is It True?” Becomes “Why Should I Obey?”

Who Decides What Is Right and Wrong?

Can I Be a Good Person Without God?

Morality Flows from Relationship with God

CHAPTER 7: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Growing Up in a Digital World: How Social Media Shapes a Worldview

Science and Faith: Learning to Listen Beyond the Headlines

Artificial Intelligence and the Rise of Online Skepticism

Digital Communities, Information Overload, and the Formation of Attention

Information Is Not Yet Wisdom

Attention as a Formative Capacity

Truth Endures in Every Generation

PART III – RESPONDING WISELY

CHAPTER 8: HOW TO LISTEN WITHOUT PANIC

Your First Response Matters

Listen to Understand Before You Respond

When You Do Not Know the Answer

Listening Is the Beginning of Restoration

CHAPTER 9: CONVERSATIONS THAT BUILD TRUST

Trust Is Built One Conversation at a Time

Asking Questions That Invite Reflection

Talking About Difficult Topics with Confidence

The Gospel Is Heard Best Through Trusted Relationships

CHAPTER 10: ANSWERING THE TOUGH QUESTIONS

You Don't Have to Be an Expert

Addressing the Most Common Questions

Teaching Your Child How to Think

Pointing Beyond Arguments to Christ

Faith That Can Withstand Honest Questions

CHAPTER 11: WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER

It's Okay Not to Know

Distinguishing Essential from Secondary Questions

Evaluating Sources While Living with Unanswered Questions

Trusting God While Seeking Understanding

Humility Is Not Weakness but Wisdom

CHAPTER 12: LOVING WITHOUT COMPROMISING

The Tension Every Christian Parent Feels

Keeping the Relationship Strong

Setting Healthy Boundaries Without Parenting from Fear

Love That Reflects the Heart of the Father

PART IV – BUILDING A FAITH THAT LASTS

CHAPTER 13: CREATING A HOME THAT ENCOURAGES FAITH

Home Is the First Place Faith Is Learned

Reading Scripture and Praying Together

Cultivating Character Through Everyday Family Life

Preparing Children for the World and Leaving a Legacy of Faith

A Home Where Faith Can Take Root

CHAPTER 14: PREPARING YOUR TEEN FOR COLLEGE AND ADULTHOOD

The Transition from Borrowed Faith to Personal Faith

Preparing for Intellectual Challenges

Choosing Healthy Friendships

Releasing with Faith

CHAPTER 15: HOPE FOR PARENTS

Faithfulness Without Perfection

When Your Adult Child Chooses a Different Path

Trusting God with the Harvest

Hope Anchored in the Faithfulness of God

CITED OR RECOMMENDED LITERATURE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A WORD ON THE BOOK

When Your Child Is Losing Faith is not merely another addition to apologetic literature; Dr. Caius Obeada’s book addresses a critical need: responding to today’s teenagers' questions in a way that nurtures and preserves their faith in God. The author guides us through a journey that begins by diagnosing the cultural and religious landscape, moves to understanding the questions teenagers are asking and formulating wise responses, and ultimately considers how to create environments where they can preserve and live out their faith. I highly recommend this book to anyone who engages with teenagers, parents, educators, and church leaders alike.

Dr. Daniel FodoreanDean and Associate ProfessorBaptist Theological Institute of Bucharest

It has been said that we do not live in the information age, but the misinformation age. Parents did not grow up facing the same level of doubt, confusion, and cultural pressure that younger generations face today, and many are unprepared for the questions their children bring home. For those parents, this book is a lifesaver. Dr. Obeada does not merely offer soundbite answers; he provides a map to help parents carefully navigate their children through the difficult cultural terrain they face. This is the kind of resource that Christian parents need in their home.

Eric HernandezPresidentEHM Apologetics Inc / “Plant Seeds and Pull Weeds”

This book is an important resource, especially for parents, but also for those working with adolescents and young adults. The book examines how faith develops during adolescence, why seemingly committed young people begin to doubt, and how intellectual, emotional, moral, scientific, and technological influences shape their interpretation of Christianity. It then turns to how parents can help build a faith that can survive beyond the shelter of the home. A major conclusion of this book is that when inherited faith is challenged by a competing world, parents have the opportunity to help their children move beyond unexamined faith to a Christianity that is understood, tested, and personally affirmed.

Dr. Daniel MarisRector and Associate Professor of TheologyBaptist Theological Institute of Bucharest

In When Your Child Is Losing Faith, Dr. Caius Obeada offers a thoughtful and balanced exploration of the questions Christian parents face as their children begin to examine inherited beliefs. Drawing on Scripture, Christian Apologetics, and insights into adolescent development, he encourages parents to respond with understanding, intellectual honesty, and biblical conviction. I appreciate the way Dr. Obeada brings careful reasoning together with like pastoral sensitivity, helping parents take their children’s questions seriously while remaining faithful to the truth of the Gospel. This book is a valuable contribution to the work of Christian discipleship, equipping parents and even pastors, to nurture a personally examined faith through patient conversation, a credible Christian witness, and confidence in God’s faithfulness.

Sergiu Marius Brădean, M.A., M.Div.PastorFirst Romanian Baptist Church, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

We live in an unprecedented cultural and intellectual ecosystem where the younger generation no longer encounters objections to faith merely in university lecture halls or philosophical treatises, but continuously absorbs them through screens, social media networks, recommendation algorithms, and emerging artificial intelligence platforms. Confronted with this relentless influx of digital skepticism, moral relativism, and aggressive scientism, Dr. Octavian Caius Obeada’s work stands out as a monument of conceptual clarity, apologetic rigor, and theological balance.

The fundamental and distinctive value of this volume lies in its flawless interdisciplinary architecture. The author masterfully builds a bridge between adolescent developmental neuroscience, identity psychology, and classical as well as contemporary Christian apologetics. With exceptional philosophical precision, Dr. Obeada demonstrates that Christian faith is not a mere therapeutic preference or family custom, but a public claim about reality—firmly anchored in the historicity of Christ's Resurrection, the reliability of Scripture, and a rationally coherent worldview. Simultaneously, the author brilliantly exposes the presumed neutrality of scientism and metaphysical naturalism, showing that genuine science and Christian revelation do not invalidate each other, but rather converge in an honest search for truth.

From a pedagogical and pastoral standpoint, the book provides liberating insight: a teenager’s doubt is not necessarily a sign of rebellion or spiritual collapse, but often the internal laboratory where a borrowed, inherited faith is tested and examined to become a mature, personally owned conviction. Dr. Obeada equips parents and leaders to overcome defensive panic and turn confrontation into restorative dialogue, offering not simplistic formulas or religious clichés, but a robust theological and rational anchor capable of withstanding the storms of the modern world. I whole-heartedly recommend this exceptional work to all parents, pastors, educators, and mentors seeking to guide today's youth toward an enduring, intellectually robust faith firmly rooted in Jesus Christ.

Dr. Ioan Marin TamașDirectorVox Dei Institute of Apologetics
Endorsements are promotional statements and are not peer review.
Dr. Octavian Caius Obeada
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Octavian Caius Obeada

Dr. Octavian Caius Obeada holds a Doctorate in Nursing Practice from SUNY Binghamton University (New York, USA) and is an American-Romanian Christian apologist based in New York. He is the founder of Vox Dei Baptist Ministries, the Vox Dei online library, and the author of several influential works in theology and apologetics published in both English and Romanian. Dr. Obeada currently leads the Reasonable Faith Romanian Chapter - the Romanian branch of Dr. William Lane Craig’s ministry -and serves as the founder and director of the Vox Dei Apologetics Institute. He also teaches Christian apologetics at the Baptist Theological Institute of Bucharest, where he continues to train and mentor the next generation of defenders of the faith.