"God is dead!" My 5-year-old nephew belted out.
"No He's not. He's alive."
"But God is in heaven," he declared, as if that settled the matter, and went on to list all the dead pets and relatives he knew who were also in heaven.
Can't argue with his logic.
He had another beef:
"Why do they only talk about God in Sunday School?"
That one made me pause. How do you state the obvious when the obvious had obviously not made an impression on him? At times I think some adults are similarly confused with the obvious. You can see crossing their faces the question, Why does the minister insist on making us think about God, telling us what He wants from us, inspiring us on how to be better people, making us uncomfortable. They just came because, well...I actually don't know why because they'd rather listen to a nice feel-good sermon for long enough to have a nap, then talk about more life-appropriate things like the hockey game or getting together for coffee or the latest at work, while ignoring the person standing alone. These things are easy. Contemplating giving our life meaning, how our death will be affected by our life -- how many are like my nephew and don't really think we continue to exist after death so what we do now won't matter after the end? -- that stuff hurts our brains.
Tags: God, Church
"No He's not. He's alive."
"But God is in heaven," he declared, as if that settled the matter, and went on to list all the dead pets and relatives he knew who were also in heaven.
Can't argue with his logic.
He had another beef:
"Why do they only talk about God in Sunday School?"
That one made me pause. How do you state the obvious when the obvious had obviously not made an impression on him? At times I think some adults are similarly confused with the obvious. You can see crossing their faces the question, Why does the minister insist on making us think about God, telling us what He wants from us, inspiring us on how to be better people, making us uncomfortable. They just came because, well...I actually don't know why because they'd rather listen to a nice feel-good sermon for long enough to have a nap, then talk about more life-appropriate things like the hockey game or getting together for coffee or the latest at work, while ignoring the person standing alone. These things are easy. Contemplating giving our life meaning, how our death will be affected by our life -- how many are like my nephew and don't really think we continue to exist after death so what we do now won't matter after the end? -- that stuff hurts our brains.
Tags: God, Church
Comments