Kids and taunts about God

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chansen said:
*facepalm*

That's just bulls**t propaganda. Let's tackle the subjects of sin and hell and vengeance in such a way that all the kids see are butterflies and daisies!

I think that's the problem with most all the resources in this area - either they're written from a Christian perspective and give the religion a complete coat of paint, or they're written from an anti-theistic perspective and nuke the faith from orbit. I don't think there is much out there from a neutral perspective, which is why I was thinking going directly to scripture was probably the best approach.

I have always considered buying her this, just to share some laughs:

guLWsMk.jpg


But I'm not looking to poison her on Christianity. Just like I'm not looking for crazy pro-Christian children's propaganda.
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Well, my intent wasn't to promote any bulls**t propoganda. Sorry you take it that way.


There's proverbs 4:7 about seeking wisdom and understanding being an utmost priority.

And all that stuff about loving your neighbour and your enemy because s/he is really just your pissed off neighbour.
 
chansen said:
I have Google if I ever want to go down that road. Can anyone who has met her imagine Claire in a group of Baptist kids? I'd fear for them. It would be like setting off a reason bomb.
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Would be nothing new for the Baptist kids. They are studying science and math in school after all. They've also been exposed to non-Christians since many attend public schools. Not all the kids in our church's Junior Youth Group are Christians.

chansen said:
No, the point of this was to explore what these kids believe. She wants to understand where they're coming from, why they are saying what they are saying, and what stories they are referencing.
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An excellent way to sample what the kids believe would be good interaction with some of the believing kids. I, of course, would recommend that be done through one of our excellent Fellowship Baptist churches. I do understand if you feel your daughter is not one for exposure to conservative Christians though. So, I will be open-minded and recommend a Convention Baptist church as an alternative.

Some more websites to consider...

http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Quizzes/BeliefOMatic.aspx

http://www.reverendfun.com/

http://www.gqkidz.org/
 
Kimmio said:
Well, my intent wasn't to promote any bulls**t propoganda. Sorry you take it that way.
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It's just so obvious from the book's description on the site, listing the most judgmental and scary parts of Christianity, and how the book leads them to sweet, peaceful explanations. Reading that description, I had a eye roll that was so involuntarily strong that I nearly pulled a muscle.
 
chansen said:
It's just so obvious from the book's description on the site, listing the most judgmental and scary parts of Christianity, and how the book leads them to sweet, peaceful explanations. Reading that description, I had a eye roll that was so involuntarily strong that I nearly pulled a muscle.
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It's a bit more intelligent than that.
 
@chansen you could balance that book with the kids books SnP posted about by Francis Chan - so she sees what and how different Christians believe - and see which makes more sense to her without traumatizing her.
 
Claire sounds like a thoughtful, intelligent child with lots of healthy curiosity. No doubt some of those Christian kids started in on her after Carter's death because their parents yammer on about heaven and hell and where the dead go once their life is over. My grandson heard a lot of this crap after the death of a parent - the worst coming from rigid thinking adults. He has no place in his life for the complex Christian God after he was chastised for weeping. An uptight, uncaring woman told him he should be ashamed of himself- he should be happy that his parent was so special to God that he was taken up to heaven to live with God and Jesus.

Once I went to the funeral of another parent where the kids heard that their parent was probably writhing in hell because of their lack of 'being saved'. The gathered community were advised to 'get saved' immediately in order to avoid the same fate. I found it totally mind-blowing - such a lack of humaneness coming from a person who claims to worship a god of love and who attended college to learn how to minister. My dogs ministered better to those kids!

I can't recommend any books - but encourage her to keep asking questions - of people around her. Possibly she could ask her school mates what they mean by that word - god? I suspect she can handle responding to idiocy like "A special father who lives up in the sky and watches everything we do and punishes us when we do bad things".

Maybe it might help for her to wonder if god could just be our individual consciences - we already know a lot about right and wrong behaviour even before getting to the school system.

Maybe the person running the Grief Support group could help in some way?
 
Excellent points, Kay. The grief counselling sessions are over for the summer, though. That'll have to wait until the fall.

Unless you believe the Fall already happened, I guess.
 
@chansen - It's difficult to recommend good resources without knowing Claire's age. What age range is she in? Is she a tween?
 
There's a book I really like - and read with my own kids - "What is God?" by Etan Boritzer, illustrated by Robbie Marantz. It talks about many views of God, and how the various religions of the world perceive of God. How kids might think about God, if they want. It doesn't supply pat answers, but opens discussion. Illustrations are great too :-)
 
chansen said:
She's turning 8 soon, but reads about 1-2 grades ahead.
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man, 8, soon she'll be asking for the keys to the Tesla Delorean (GREAT SCOTT!) and for your OK for her right to modify her germ line w/CRISPER tech...

they grow up so fast

and so it goes
 
Carolla said:
There's a book I really like - and read with my own kids - "What is God?" by Etan Boritzer, illustrated by Robbie Marantz. It talks about many views of God, and how the various religions of the world perceive of God. How kids might think about God, if they want. It doesn't supply pat answers, but opens discussion. Illustrations are great too :)
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That's the sort of thing I was hoping would exist. Thanks.
 
Pr. Jae said:
The solution to remedy the bullying situation isn't to avoid attending church gatherings. Rather, it is quite rationally, stop. the. bullying.
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Maybe the Christian parents of those Christian kids should be doing that.
 
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