Thursday, February 10, 2011

Bible Teaching 101

My friend Effie and I were sharing stories of the joys of teaching our children about the Bible. I mean "joys" sarcastically and literally. Bible stories are something you should talk to your children about, right?! We read them out of our favorite children's Bible storybook here. But we are quickly learning there can be a lot to explain in what an adult may consider to be a simple story with a well-meaning ending. Ellis is a big three year old now, and while it is so fun to see his mind beginning to really reason, his comments can be a bit difficult to reply to. For example, this is a conversation in reference to the story of Joseph.

Mommy: (abbreviated version of the story) So his brothers put Joseph into a pit, and then they sold him, and the men they sold him to took him away from his home. But God was with Joseph in the pit, and God was with Joseph when he was traveling, and God was with Joseph in his new home.

Ellis: Joseph's brothers put Joseph in a pit? A pit in the ground like a hole in the ground?!

Mommy: Yes they did.

Ellis: I put Tate in the pit.

Mommy: Oh no, we would never do that. That would be very unkind to Tate and a bad decision. You would feel very sad in your heart just like Joseph's brothers did.

Ellis: But Mommy, God will be with him in the pit in the hole in the ground. God will be with him! And that is so great!

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh....

3 comments:

Shelly said...

Haha.
I am coming to believe there is not a kid friendly story in the whole book.
What to do?
Loving seeing into the Mitchell world again.
Keep up the writing.

Jennifer said...

That is sooooo hilarious!

Sarah said...

Very funny. We read the story today where Jesus stayed in the temple when he was 12 years old. Graham asked if Jesus sinned b/c he didn't follow his parents. I say no, of course not, Jesus could not sin, but was quick to say it would be a sin for him... hard to explain to these kiddos :)
If Graham ever runs away it will be because Jesus did!