Thrive Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 My son was watching a Looney Toons cartoon where Sylvester the cat dies and goes down to hell only to have the devil (a bulldog) tell him he has 8 more lives. There was the usual lakes of fire and implied eternal pain. Approriate with all of the other Halloween scary stories going around. About an hour later he asked me "Momma, the devil isn't real is it?" I said no, that the devil and hell is not real it is just a story. So he asks if god is real and I said that I didn't know, but that a lot of people believed that he is and a lot belive that he isn't. He got smug and said "God is too real, the bible tells all about him so there!" I explained that a lot of people don't believe in the bible, in fact the majority of people in the world don't. He got so mad and said "it is too true God wrote it!" So I explained that men wrote it, even the bible will tell you that, but many people believe god inspired what they wrote. I said it is up to everyone to read it for themselves and decide if they think it is true or not. He sat for a while and said "If God didn't write it, than it is just a bunch of stories that people made up. So everything that you believe in the bible is a lie?" I told him that a lot of people, including his grandparents, believe in what the bible says and they believe that god told the men what to write. A lot of other people believe that it is just a book of stories. I said I used to believe it, but now I think about it as a book of stories, some that have good lessons, and some that I don't like. Then I reminded him of the other religions around the world that we had talked about and what other people beleived and that some people just don't beleive in anything. I told him that when he is older he can study any religion he wants to or all of them or none of them. That he can decide for himself what he believes once he has studied them. He hasn't been to sunday school on almost 2 years, and it was sporatic prior to that. He doesn't even seem to have noticed that all of his religious books and movies have dissapeared from the house so I am hoping that the lessons he did learn will slowly fade. I've hesitated to bring up my religious beliefs with him since he is so young. We also live with my mother who is very into chruch right now and I don't want him outing me by repeating our discussions to her. But when he asked me flat out I decided to address it as honestly and as matter of fact as possible. It is so hard to try to raise your kids to think for themselves when in reality you really want them to think the same way you do! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 That was a very good conversation. I liked his inquisitive mind. I also liked your approach. You gave him both sides and expressed your opinion. Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinas Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Sounds like a profitable discussion from both your standpoints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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