I one of my daughters has told me about a new Christian acronym that is making the rounds at her school: F.R.O.G. it means Fully Rely On God, however I don’t think that anyone can or should F.R.O.G. especially at school (please remember to study kids God will not help you on that algebra test). I however challenge any Christian to live up to F.R.O.G.: quit your job, don’t sign up for government benefits, spend your time praying that you will have food and shelter.
I did a quick internet search for FROG and found as the second link on Google this helpful child brainwashing advice. Snacks and circle games seem to be the key.
Isn’t this cute? Kids just want to be sheep instead of, you know, humans that think for themselves
I learned this song in Sunday School back in the day. Sure, Jesus was the “shepherd” and I, as a sheep, would follow him gladly… but who wants to be likened to a herd of rather stupid animals that follow blindly where they are lead? Poor sheep…
David Baldock posted to the Facebook Community page about death and what do you tell children.
My niece said to me tonight, why won’t you tell your sister that your mother is in heaven waiting for her there? I said I might lie to a child about this but won’t lie to an adult. Was I right to say this?
For Christians there is the concept of Heaven to help a child cope with death. It is comforting to think that your lost loved one is happy with God in a place of peace and joy. For other religions there is the concept of reincarnation, the loved one isn’t really lost they will be reborn. Again this is very comforting to know that your loved one isn’t really dead.
But what about the children of atheists, how do we help them to come to terms with the loss of a love one? One of the downers of atheism is that there is no eternal life or reward waiting for us after we die. Just that our consciousness stops and we continue as part of the universe and our atoms will be scattered after the sun consumes the earth and then goes nova.
When my mother in law passed away we didn’t tell the children that she had gone to heaven. Instead we focused on how much we loved her and how much she had loved us. We wrote goodbye letters and had them cremated with her. We have also occasionally held family memorials to remind the children that she had loved them very much.
The kids have coped with the loss as well as can be expected, given how close they were to their grandmother. The heaven myth wasn’t necessary to help them through the pain.
How have you helped children to cope with the death of a loved one?
The Australian reports that retired auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson in an interview with The Australian Woman’s Weekly has been speaking about working with priests that have been involved in child sex scandals. In my view the most horrifying of the revelations is the fact that they think that by abusing children they are keeping their vow to god to remain celibate.
There was also a view among some offenders with whom he had worked that a priest’s celibacy vows weren’t broken if a boy was involved.
“We’ve met it often enough to see it as a factor,” he tells the magazine. “That’s what the vow of celibacy refers to, being married. If it’s not an adult woman, then somehow they’re not breaking their vow.”
It is obvious that the current lifestyle for the clergy is in need of updating. As I understand it in the early days of the church it was permitted for the priesthood to marry and in churches that allow for married ministers don’t have the same problems with child abuse that the Catholics have. (They just seem to have homosexuals trapped in self-loathing lives, but there is nothing wrong with being homosexual).
The Holy See is centuries behind the current need for reformation and the bishops should be called to modernise priestly life. Robinson mentions that getting women into the church is a critical step forward in the combatting of child abuse.
He says getting women more involved in church life is a crucial step forward.
“If the feminine had been given greater importance and a much larger voice, the church would not have seen anything like the same level of abuse and would most certainly have responded far better,” he said.
He believes the issue will not be properly dealt with until the church holds a council, or a conference of all the bishops in the church, to revise the centuries-old doctrine on celibacy, women and sexuality.
Children think of possibilities that elude grownups. Amazing creative insights come from the mouths of babes. They lack false modesty and have no restrictions on their ability to formulate ideas. Unfortunately, indoctrination weakens and possibly dulls forever this profound quality of the child mind. If adults really respected children they would treat every one of their questions with the greatest of care. The Vicar doesn’t have any answers, yet he valiantly goes on with his script and looks for an excuse to depart his small dining companions. Chalk one up for the children.
This video is cut from the popular British sitcom, Outnumbered
Awkward Questions About Jesus
At almost 300,000 views and counting (as of April 14th, 2010) this clip appears to be the most popular Outnumbered clip on YouTube. Perhaps that’s because of the slightly provocative title I gave it, or maybe just because it’s downright hilarious.
It is interesting that of the two Outnumbered clips I posted, this one has caused far more debate over the validity of religion. I guess that’s because of Ben’s rather forthright questioning of the vicar. Even though most of the questions are rather silly, I think the fact that you very rarely see these type of confrontational questions asked of the clergy, it can appear to be a little shocking to some people which, judging from some of the comments I have seen, appears to be the case.
Some have also taken offence to “using children” in this manner, but I think they are way off the mark. It’s the use of children that gives the scene authenticity, given that there are likely very few children who haven’t asked some awkward questions about religion or Christianity at one time or another.
Of all the questions in the clip, I think the one that Karen asks is the most interesting—why couldn’t Jesus find another way to tell people to be “a bit better otherwise something bad’s going to happen” (like writing to them). As I have discussed elsewhere on this blog, one of the major problems with the fundamentalist’s take on the Doctrine of Salvation is the sheer randomness of any one person’s chances of both hearing about Jesus and his death on the cross and not being told that it’s nonsense and just a story made up by people of a different religion.
For example, if you were a Muslim who had been been living in down town Mecca all your life before the advent of shortwave radio, there is not a hope in hell (pun intended) that you have had a chance of hearing the “Good News” of Jesus Christ, and yet you are supposedly “without excuse” when you die completely ignorant of the existence of the New Testament.
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From the Wiki page:
Outnumbered is a British Comedy Award winning and BAFTA nominated British sitcom that has aired on BBC One since 2007.[1] It stars Hugh Dennis andClaire Skinner as a father and mother who are outnumbered by their three children played by Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez.
Produced by Hat Trick Productions, Outnumbered is written, directed and produced by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, although parts of the show are semi-improvised.[2]
The programme has been critically acclaimed for its semi-improvisational scripting and realistic portrayal of children and family life.”[3] Ratings have been average for its time slot, but the series has won a number of awards from the Comedy.co.uk awards, the Royal Television Society, the British Comedy Awards and the Broadcasting Press Guild.[4] All three series are available on DVD and a fourth has been commissioned for a 2011 broadcast. An American adaptation is currently being planned.[5]
What do you think about Near Death Experiences (NDE)? I’m extremelyskeptical. Did a young boy see streets of gold, get serenaded by angels, sit in Jesus’ lap, and meet up with dead relatives while in Heaven? Did he find out about his mother’s miscarriage or see moments of Armageddon without ever hearing about them before?
And did God prove himself to be true by giving the family a book publishing deal?
Over time his visions became more believable. He described Jesus, and he even talked about Armageddon and how God told him his father would fight in the final battle. Although Todd was a pastor, he says he never talked detail like this with his preschool aged son.
How interesting that the visions this boy saw are exactly like the phrases used in the Bible. I don’t think that means the Bible is true; I think it means that a pastor’s son who was raised in Biblical teaching and who heard his father preach may have known about “streets of gold” and “Armageddon” before magically seeing them during a hospital stay. I’m not even sure a child would use phrases like “streets of gold” without hearing it before. Who says “streets of asphalt?”
IN DOVER, Pennsylvania, five years ago, a group of parents were nearing the end of an epic legal battle: they were taking their school board to court to stop them teaching "intelligent design" to their children.
Cyndi Sneath was one of the Dover plaintiffs who had a school-age son at the time of the trial. She has since become an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a member of the Dover Area School Board. "My interest in public education and civil liberties was certainly sparked by the trial," she says. "And that interest permeates our family discussions."
Chemistry teacher Robert Eschbach, who was also a plaintiff, says the trial has made teachers less afraid to step on people's toes when it comes to evolution. It "forced me to be a better educator", he says. "I went back and read more of the history around Darwin and how he came to his conclusions."
None of this means that the Discovery Institute, the Seattle-based think tank that promotes intelligent design, has been idle. The institute helped the conservative Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), headed by Christian minister Gene Mills, to pass a state education act in 2008 that allows local boards to teach intelligent design alongside evolution under the guise of "academic freedom".
... Read more
A Beavercreek couple who left their infant daughter's fate to God rather than seek medical treatment for a mass that grew over her left eye will face charges of first-degree criminal mistreatment.
Prosecutors revealed Thursday during a custody hearing that a grand jury has indicted Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, members of Oregon City's Followers of Christ church.
The Wylands' 7-month-old daughter, Alayna, was placed in state custody earlier this month after child-welfare workers received a tip about the untreated and ballooning growth. Doctors said that the condition could cause permanent damage or loss of vision.
The Wylands were indicted within the past few days and probably will be arraigned next week, said Colleen Gilmartin, the deputy district attorney handling the custody case in juvenile court.
Under Oregon law, it is a crime for parents to intentionally and knowingly withhold necessary and adequate medical attention from their children. First-degree criminal mistreatment is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
The Wylands and their church reject medical care in favor of faith-healing -- anointing with oil, laying on of hands, prayer and fasting. The parents testified at a juvenile court hearing last week that they never considered getting medical attention for Alayna.
... Continue reading
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A Beavercreek couple who left their infant daughter's fate to God rather than seek medical treatment for a mass that grew over her left eye will face charges of first-degree criminal mistreatment.
