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mara williams
on Jun 18 2013 - 06:00 AM
Hey, manchild, mama says: clean your room, wash the dishes, don't drink and drive.
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Emily Parnell
on Jun 16 2013 - 06:00 AM
Eating fresh, local produce is good for body and soul
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Jim Cosgrove
on Jun 13 2013 - 06:00 AM
I just want to buy some pants. Please, turn down the music.
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“There’s a girl in my class, and she doesn’t believe in God or Jesus.”
“Oh, she must be Jewish.”
I jumped in from the driver’s seat: “No, no, no, Jewish people believe in God. And they believe in Jesus, too, for that matter. They just don’t believe the same things that Christians believe about Jesus. Someone who doesn’t believe in God is called an atheist.”
My kids have been discussing belief systems a lot lately. It’s a puzzle to them that people have different concepts of God (or no god), the afterlife (or the next life), and the supernatural (or mythology).
“Why do we believe what we do?” my daughter asked. Oh my, what a question. And her phrasing made it clear that if I believe it, she does, too.
“Well, honey, we can have many conversations about that, and it’s a question with many answers. It can be a complicated answer to determine. Other people don’t know why, they just believe it.” She squinched her face while she puzzled on that.
“So, you’re saying that I could believe something different than you?” my son inquired. He’s like Jack — always wanting to burst with his thoughts outside the box.
“Yes, you could,” I said.
“You know, mom, sometimes it’s hard to believe in God.”
At age 8, he’s figured this out.
“Hmm,” I said. “Lots of people agree with that. What do you think is hard to believe?”
“Well, like, what about people who never learn about God? Maybe they live in another country. Are they supposed to believe something they’ve never even heard?” Yep, that’s a tough one. “And what about the dinosaurs?” Yes, that’s a dilemma too. I remember asking those same questions when I was a wee one.
“So…people who don’t believe in God… atheists…do they believe in Santa Claus? Or the Loch Ness Monster? What about ghosts?”
I think it’s great that my kids want to learn what other people believe. I think it’s important. Because if you’re not willing to respectfully listen to someone else, why would anyone else want to hear what you have to say?
Recently, I’ve read a number of articles and essays (shared on Facebook) talking about what people of other belief systems think of Christians. Several of these have drawn the conclusion that Christians are daft, weak-of-mind, lack critical thinking, whose responses to the tough questions are illogical and narrow-sighted. Respectfully dropping the “daft” and “weak of mind,” I’ve known people who fit that description. Christians who turn a blind eye to science and apparent inconsistencies because it messes with their neat little box in which they carry their beliefs. But these aren’t things that you can just sweep under the rug.
I’ve stopped to think about why I believe what I do. It’s a culmination of experiences and things I’ve learned. It’s the promises. It’s the answers to prayer, the nudges I’ve felt.
As a parent, I can’t make my kids believe anything. Belief goes on inside each person’s own little head and heart and soul. If I tell them what to believe, it’s called brainwashing. I want them to test their belief. Apply pressure, see where it breaks, where it holds. Know their doubts, wrestle with them, come to terms. Because only then can they know why they believe what they do. That’s when it becomes faith.
:) Kids have to own their faith. If they don't test it and try it then they are just parrots. As they say in some Christian circles, God doesn't have Grandchildren.At some point you should have detente on whether Buddy Christ rode Dinosaurs while bringing the True Word to Las Vegas, which is kind of a corner case in Reform Judaism unlike atheism. Jarod Dimond wrote lay pieces and that's not a bad KC way to understand things; we probably will neither get a dentist who hooks us up with grazing (paleo diet) nor insist that chefs playing loose with Osso Buco do that with animal parts from above the waist. That can drop some common canon in before you get to the books keenly titled A______ and B_______ (pop lit aging straight down in reading level,) and say http://www.vulture.com/2012/11/andrew-solomon-far-from-the-tree.html
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