Lately, my eight year old son has been asking me some very deep questions. I have never been an authority regarding the questions he asks, and never will be.
I was raised Catholic, and to this day practice most Catholic traditions. Yet as I get older there are things that are getting harder and harder to reconcile between religion, science, and my faith. I have a scientific mind, yet I still believe in God. Scripture, however, is losing its meaning.
Being alone with my son in a quiet car can prove to be pretty dangerous thing. The lack of an electronic distraction, or something to read, causes his mind to yawn and stretch and venture into it’s inner recesses to dissect things that have been gnawing at him for a while. He spins them around and pokes at them like a mental Rubik’s Cube, usually culminating in some hefty questions when the colors don’t quite line up (If his brain is wired anything like mine this is a pretty accurate metaphor for what is going on in there).
He “rope-a-doped” me the other day by asking me whether I believed that dinosaurs roamed the earth. “Cool”, I thought, “A scientific question.” I answered in the affirmative, then he asked me how that was possible if Adam and Eve were supposed to be around “In the beginning”. I explained to him that manuscripts dating to the era in which that was written were fraught with inconsistencies brought about by eons of mistranslation and over analyzing the texts, and it has rendered them fragmented and convoluted. Nuances of the language, and of the period make it even harder to understand. Prose was commonly used in place of plain speak to flower up certain things, and sometimes the original meanings have been lost to time. I told him that my own personal opinion was that the universe was not formed in 6 days, but that it evolved as we know it, and that billions of years passing was only like 6 days for God. That might have been what that particular author meant, but that does not mean God could not have done it in 6 “human” days had he willed it. He is God after all, and anything is possible for him.
He thought about that for a minute and went on: “What is heaven like? Is it just happiness all the time?” Again, I answered in the affirmative. Then he asked if there were any things to do in Heaven. I explained to him that, from what I understood of Heaven, it was not a place, or feeling, that the human mind could comprehend. I explained that we would probably be surrounded by family members we loved, but that had passed on ahead of us, and that we would be in God’s presence, and his love would envelop us and there would be bliss. Boredom is a human trait, and one that we might not experience in Heaven. He didn’t mull this over for long before he said, in a very matter-of-fact manner, he was not sure he wanted to go, and that he would probably get bored after a couple of millennia of “just being happy”.
My heart sank. I’ve always been prepared to answer any scientific/technical question he’s ever thrown at me, complete with citing references, and a trip to the Internet for an impromptu show-and-tell. These questions just make me feel like a terrible failure in the Faith department. When I had questions like these growing up they were met with scolding (due to perceived blasphemy) and “Just because!” or “That’s just the way it is!”, so I really have no idea what to do. I just know what NOT to do.
Now I used to think about these very things when I was younger, but not at eight. If he’s thinking about these things at this age, and having some serious trepidation about his faith, what am I in for when he’s 10? At 16? At 21? I’ll try to be ready, although I fear he’ll have me “on the ropes” due to some well thought out questions, arguments and rebuttals. Sometimes it sucks having smart kids.
It takes a lot I think to analyse your own faith or beliefs, to teh point where you can explain them to a child.
I can’t manage to get what I believe or don’t believe straight in my own head, never mind explain it to the cut throat questioning of a child.
Either way, both of you will be the better of the discussion I think.
Xbox4NappyRashs last blog post..A cold day in ET
I agree that if my kids were dumb, my life would be easier. You just need to step up to the challenge. I too, grew up in a Catholic household where you weren’t aloud to question. I am still Catholic, although my faith is now mine because it’s what I believe rather than what I was told to believe.
Just let your son know that God promises that we will be with him in heaven. And that in that fact alone will be joy and contentment. It does not mean that we will constantly smiling and laughing, but it does mean that we will never endure pain again. Pain is a worldly thing. In Heaven we will always know hope. In Hell(and to believe in heaven you must believe in hell) there is only Despair (lack of any hope). Let him know that somethings can’t be seen, felt or learned. In those you develop faith.
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I love those questions because because those are the questions that have inspired science and Christianity to peruse the answers. The problem is that most of us do not look for the answers or don’t like the answers so we try to make something up (then try to convince our selves our answers are right).
By the way, the Bible does refer to dinosaurs (under a different name though) not very long after Adam and Eve. Most people don’t know this. I personally know of creations who could argue anything with well known evolutionist. In the end nether win because I believe it is impossible to prove God. How can something lesser prove something greater? You cannot replicate creation or evolution in a lab therefore neither are a proven fact but rather more like a theory. Evolution choose to have faith in evolution, Christians choose to have faith in God. I also believe that in the end when all flaws of science (like when people “proved” the earth was flat), all facts would point to the truth which is God who created all things.
Also by the way, the older scripts(old testament) are less flawed than the new ones because of the care that was taken in the copies. There are lots and lots of old scripts over thousands of years that are exactly the same but the newer scripts(new testament) very slightly because of the way they were copied. (odd piece of info)
Whatever is asked I hope that people would honestly seek for themselves for the truth and not accept what the crowd says or what answers make them feel warm and fuzzy. Truth often hurts (at least at first)
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@Xbox4NappyRash –
I believe you are correct sir (on all points).
@WeaselMomma –
Thanks for the words of wisdom, and thanks for commenting too.
Those were pretty excellent answers if you ask me. I went to Catholic school and remember staying awake at night in second or third grade worrying about the “eternity” aspect of heaven. But “boredom is a human trait”…that’s perfect. I wish you were around thirty years ago to tell me that.
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@orlund –
I agree they are great questions. I just wish I was more prepared to answer them.
In light of your comment I decided to do a little digging into the bible text. Although I think I have read most of the book, it seems there are multiple passages in it that I have never heard of, or don’t ever remember reading. These seem to describe a time when humans and dinosaur/dinosaur like creatures coexisted. I’m going to have to dig a little deeper.
For those that are curious http://www.genesispark.org/genpark/bible/bible.htm
but there are many other sites that talk about this.
@Darren –
Thanks. I wish I were around 30 years ago to tell me too.
Hi D is for Dad
I just selected you as one of the winners of an award:
http://dadsworkbench.com/2008/11/04/the-charming-blog-award/
Check it out if you have sometime.
Funny thing, I had a deep conversation with this same child just last night. A school-wide election activity and discussion “homework” project prompted questions about everything from politics in general to specific hot-button topics. I’m so glad to see that he cares enough to ask, and that when he has these questions we’re the ones he comes to (I can only hope and pray that it stays that way for a long, long. time!) In the other hand–after the discussion was over, I was kind of glad it was bedtime–I was wiped out!
By the way, darling, your son is nine now…(I know, it takes some getting used to.)
@orlund –
Thank you! I will make sure to pass this award on to those who, I believe, deserve it.
@Mrs. Mike –
I wrote this post a quite a few weeks ago, and it has been in the “ready to publish” pile since before his birthday (2 weeks ago). He was 8yrs 11mos and 2 days old when he asked those questions. Cut me some slack and go bother someone else on another blog site!
Mike – consider it all joy that your dear wife posts comments on your blog.
As for the questions – you handled them well. You can state what you believe in all certainty without having to provide deep scientific explanations. As was said, scientific explanations must hold up to testing, and for things prehistoric, we have no way to test scientifically; just evidentially.
My take on Heaven is that it must be like this: imagine that bliss, that glorious anticipation and excitement you felt when you were, say, seven, on Christmas morning, just before you got downstairs (or wherever) to see what Santa had brought. I believe Heaven will be like that – only non stop. And I also believe that we’ll leave the human trait of diminishing returns behind when we get there, so boredom will never happen. No sadness, no boredom, no fear, no longing. Only bliss, thought, freedom, love and the joy of being right there with our loving creator God.
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@tom –
I do enjoy my wife’s comments on our blog. Humor and laughter is a large part of our relationship. We banter and rib each other incessantly. My last comment to her is evidence of that statement.
Thank you. I’m glad you approve of my anwers.
God Bless!
I am the proud mom of three (ages 3, 5, and 7), and let me tell you, those question-answer sessions can be brutal! There is, however, a little tactic I’d like to let you in on. My husband and I use it whenever we have “wisdom fatigue”.
Repeat after me:
“Go ask your mother.”
But seriously, it’s always amazing to me that my children come up with so many questions about why we’re here and what’s next. I remind myself daily to be thankful that we have the kind of relationship where they feel comfortable talking about their questions.
Thanks for a great post! I’ll be sure to come back again.
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