My son has been reading his children's Bible almost every night and I always ask him the next day if he has any questions about what he is reading. One morning he said, "Yeah, which god is the snake god in the Bible?" I had to think for a minute and realized he was talking about the Adam & Eve story with Satan as a snake. I asked if he meant Satan. "Oh yeah. [Little boy at school] says we all need to stop believing in him and he'll die."
As the conversation progressed, I found out some interesting details about his new curiosity in the Bible. I guess the kids at school didn't believe him that he had a Bible because he has been open with them about our non-belief. One neighbor girl actually told my daughter that only people who believe in god can read the Bible. So, he had been reading these stories and then having discussions with kids at school to prove that he did have a Bible.
Kids interpretations of stories are so interesting. I really wish I could overhear some of these conversations because I know I'm just getting little tidbits from him. My son was so curious about why Eve ate the apple. As we discussed it, he decided that, "I think god must have wanted her to eat that apple so he could get her in trouble. That is not very nice."
I never would have considered this when I was 7 because I had been told what the story meant my entire life. I never had the opportunity to read the Bible without preconceived notions. I love asking my son what he thinks the story is about and hearing his interpretations.
The fact that he considered Satan a god is also really interesting to me. I guess when you're not immersed in the church, you can see things the way they really are. When you think about it, Satan is very powerful in the Bible. Some people today even think that he is powerful enough to cause problems in this world that their god cannot stop. It will be interesting to see how his interpretations change as he gets older.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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2 comments:
I am glad this is a childrens bible as I would not think the real one fit for children under 18. Too much sex and violence.
I commend you allowing your child to read that. I hope to do so when my girls (1 and 4) are older. To this point I have gone out of my way to keep religious materials away from them. Books about the ark and such are not something I would read from yet even though I know I could approach it from the perspective of "fairy tale" just as I would Winnie the Pooh. But it sthe implication of truth that offends me, besides what if my mother ir inlaws was reading it to my girls? OMG, it would not be from the perspective of "fairy tale".
This is a difficult issue.
This issue has been a difficult one for us. On the one hand, we want our kids to be educated about religions and know the stories. We use the stories from many religions to help them learn to distinguish reality from fiction. But, many of these stories should never be read to kids directly from the Bible.
Our son started getting curious about these stories last year when his cousins were telling him about Sunday school. So, instead of allowing him to go to church with my in-laws, we opted to get him a children's Bible. We read it first to make sure we felt it was appropriate for his age. Then, we let him have free reign, always reinforcing that he could ask us if he had any questions. He read a few of the stories last year, but then he lost interest. This newfound interest has been a result of the kids at school questioning whether he really had a bible.
If we were not surrounded by fundy relatives, I don't think the issue would have come up. But, we are and we wanted to make sure that we taught him the stories... not them. After all, his cousins told him 2 years ago that if he didn't believe in Jesus, he would burn up in hell.
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