The Jesus Issue

Explaining Jesus to a Pagan Child

On we go with the topic of Jesus and small children. A tricky subject and one I gave much thought to. After asking several individuals with children between the ages of 7 and 10, I came to the following summary of those ideas:

Let us look at this question for a moment. Say you had a 7 year old child (any younger and we would be looking at completely different problems) who presented you with your first real Pagan parent challenge. The child has made friends with a young person who is from a conservative Christian family. When you first met the parents, you saw problems coming when the mother mentioned her husband listened to "the devils music". And of course, through long interaction with your child, she realized that he/she did not know a thing about Jesus, so she gave him/her a few free lessons.

Soon your child began asking to go to church. You say, "Of course dear" as all paths lead to the same thing, why not? You also told the child you would help him/her select the first one for a visit (can you say UU?). You would also say that after a year, if he/she still wanted to attend a church, he/she could select the next one. Chances are, with circle participation during that year, the question will not come up again.

Then the child comes home a tells you "did you know that Jesus died for our sins?" You should be very proud of yourself if you manage to keep from hitting the ceiling. You will realize that your reaction to this statement will be very important. Take a deep calming breath and say: "that is what some people believe". Then go on and say that some people like yourselves believe that Jesus was simply a very special person who knew how to talk to the Gods better than most people. You can finish by saying that many people see the Gods in different ways.

Remember that it is not a good idea to approach the parents right away regarding this issue. Your child has a new friend, don’t ruin this by open confrontation. Plus, these parents really did nothing wrong, you should not make them think they did. This will not be the only incident of this type you will face, how you react now will tell the story of how things proceed from there. It should be handled in a calm and intelligent manner. It will also help teach your child to cope on their own with proselytizers.

At some point, you will have to talk with the other child’s parents and ask them kindly, and with intelligence, not to teach your child anything without your permission. However, for the moment, your child should be content with the above explanations or variations on that theme.

Please feel free to Sign my Guest Book and E-mail me with any suggestions or comments you may have. Also, for those who use the above ideas, please submit feed back through the Guest Book.be right back.

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