In the movie Divergent, the lead character Tris has to undergo an initiation rite to join her chosen faction, Dauntless, which involves jumping off a tall building into a black hole far below. She has only just joined the faction; she knows none of her new colleagues and yet she is the first to volunteer to jump. Why on earth would she? And would you?

Matthew’s gospel tells us that childlike faith is a virtue, that to enter the kingdom of heaven we must become like little children. So does this mean it is better to accept things without questioning them? That's usually how the verse is interpreted but it's a difficult thing to do when you're an adult with a (God-given) enquiring mind.

Santa Claus and the fairies

Remember, our child-like faith drove us to put baby teeth under our pillows and hang Christmas stockings above the hearth. These simple acts of faith rewarded us with shiny sixpences and oranges made of chocolate.

Year after year.

We never even stopped to marvel when the fairies automatically adopted decimalisation, or that the chocolate oranges kept coming even when we switched to gas and blocked up the fireplace...

In reflecting on our faith we must all have thought about this at some point. To be Christian do we have to believe the unbelievable the way we accepted Santa Claus and the fairies?

Curiosity killed

I think the child metaphor is actually a very good one - but for different reasons. Perhaps Jesus is actually trying to tell us something else about children.

There is a reason we are encouraged to become like them. Because we’re not. Not any more. We are not innocent. Throughout life we have been hood-winked, deceived, misdirected and lied to, and that experience has taught us an important thing: be very careful whom you trust.

There’s a fine line between blind faith and stupidity or superstition.

But children don’t have blind faith, or accept things without questioning them. They do have two characteristics that life has often knocked out of most of us by the time we enter adulthood: they are naturally both trusting and inquisitive. Their default setting is to ask questions – particularly those beginning with “Why?” - and to trust the answers they receive until they are let down. They also learn to trust by taking baby steps, and if that works out then they walk, then run, then leap, continually building trust as they go.

So there is a learning process going on.

Learned trust

A common Sunday school story tells of a child who jumps into a pitch black cellar to be caught by her father who is beckoning her. Why? Because she has learned over time to trust her father’s voice.

Why did Tris the Divergent jump into the black hole? Because experience had taught her to trust the society in which she had grown up; individuals were protected and developed, not killed.

We do have to be careful whom we trust. But God can be trusted. Experience will tell us that He does want to see us develop in wisdom and understanding.

So yes, become like a child again. Ask lots of questions of God – don’t hold back – then watch and listen for the answers. That’s what prayer is – and if the answers arrive then faith will grow…

How far should we question our faith?

Do you sometimes fear that you will lose your faith altogether if you push it too far?