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Talkn2u
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Joined: 2006/12/31
Posts: 196


 "Wow, Mommy, God is mean!"

My assistant told me the other day, that as she was reading the story of Adam and Eve to her little boy, he proclaimed, "Wow, Mommy, God is mean!"
so she quickly told him that Jesus loves Him and is always with him, and he doesn't need to be afraid of God.

What hit me was that it seems that is what we are doing now days in our churches....
Instead of telling the Truth behind Purposeful yet Loving Discipline of Almighty God; we are quick to pacify people with the assurance of His Love.

Please, do not misunderstand me...the realization of His Love, and Grace and His Mercy and Faithfulness is Oxygen to me...
However,
the opportunity for that child to hear the Truth in its fullness, was missed, when it was brushed over.

Sadly, I believe the Truth that sets us free, is being withheld today.

 2007/10/14 13:42Profile
pastorfrin
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Joined: 2006/1/19
Posts: 1406


 Re: "Wow, Mommy, God is mean!"

I will second that, AMEN

The Spirit of Truth has been locked out of many
places, while fleshly desires and emotions take His place.

It is time for those who truely believe, to speak the truth and demand that the truth be spoken.

If we don't, who will?

In His Love
pastorfrin

 2007/10/14 13:55Profile
InTheLight
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Joined: 2003/7/31
Posts: 2850
Phoenix, Arizona USA

 Re: "Wow, Mommy, God is mean!"

I would be interested in hearing your response to the little boy's comment, supposing he were your little boy. Mind you we're probably talking about a 5 year old or so.

In Christ,

Ron


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Ron Halverson

 2007/10/14 15:52Profile
RobertW
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Joined: 2004/2/12
Posts: 4636
St. Joseph, Missouri

 Re:

Quote:
I would be interested in hearing your response to the little boy's comment, supposing he were your little boy. Mind you we're probably talking about a 5 year old or so.



I can recall of a similar situation where a four year old child had gone to stay with their grandmother for a while. This grandmother had allowed the child to watch bad cartoons and had given the child virtually what ever they wanted and never disciplined the child. When the child came back home to a structured and disciplined environment, the child decried to his father when they were disciplined (not even a spanking, just a boundary issue where the child was told, NO!), "You are MEAN, dad!"

As a small child I read and was told the story of Adam and Eve and never thought of God as 'mean'. I thought that Adam and Eve had been a 'bad boy' and 'bad girl' and were being punished. I viewed it totally as their fault. God was doing what He said He would do.

And I think this may be part of the issue in our times. I'm reminded of Solomon's words, [i]Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.[/i](Eccl. 8:11) Because God does not immediately punish every delinquency, men think he disregards evil acts; and therefore they are emboldened to sin on. So this longsuffering of God, which leadeth to repentance, is abused so as to lead to farther crimes! When men sin against the remedy of their salvation, how can they escape perdition? (Adam Clarke)


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Robert Wurtz II

 2007/10/14 16:36Profile
roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re:

Quote:
supposing he were your little boy.



Okay, I'll take you up on your question. Actually, I plan to present the Adam and Eve account next Sunday for the children's message - to accompany my sermon, which refers to the "dividing wall of hostility" from Eph. 2:16 . The point: We need to be restored to God, and he has made a way.


I think children can understand the concept of sin's consequences better than we realize - and they can see it portrayed in the Adam and Eve account.


Something like this:

Children's Meditation:

Have you ever done something you knew your mom or dad wouldn’t want you to do – let's say you take some money off your mom's dresser to buy some candy? The candy was, oh, so good. But later, what might happen between you and your mom? Would you feel distanced from her – not so close like before? Maybe you want to stay away from her and spend a lot of time in your room. Maybe you want to blame your sister. Would it seem like there was an invisible wall between you and your mom?

And then, later let's say, you go to her and admit you took the money, and you know it was wrong to do that. You might want to give her some money from your piggy bank. Then let's say she says, “Thank you for being honest and admitting your wrong. I forgive you!”

And then, how do you feel? Close again? Maybe you hug each other. And you can enjoy the love of your parents again. The invisible wall is gone.

There is a story in the Bible about an invisible wall. Adam and Eve, the first people God made, walked and talked with God in a beautiful garden. They were very close to God. It was wonderful.
Then they did something that God had told them not to do.

And do you know what happened after that? …… When God came to enjoy their company, like he had always done before, they ran away from him and hid behind some bushes. They didn’t want God to be close to them anymore because they knew they had done wrong. There was suddenly an invisible wall between them and God.

And since then there has been an invisible wall between people and God because all have done wrong and God is holy..... .

But there is good news! Many years later Jesus came to take that wall away, so we can be brought close to God again and to each other. .........


Hopefully that does not portray either a cruel God or a permissive God.

(the fact that God allowed Adam and Eve to live, to me, is totally amazing - his love, for sure!)

PS I use "Mom" because there are some single parent homes.

Diane


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Diane

 2007/10/14 17:33Profile
Compton
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Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732


 Re:

Quote:
I think this may be part of the issue in our times



This is something to consider here. One possibility is that the young child's reaction isn't so much a theological protest as much as a sociolgical symptom. Even Christian children can be more shaped by the Disney Channel and Nickolodean then perhaps their parents care to admit. In contemporary children's culture, authority figures, such as parents and teachers, are depicted as lovable but hapless rubes who are usually two or three steps behind the clever and self-willed children. The thought that an authority figure would be more wise then a child is by itself an unfamiliar concept...let alone an authority figure who would hold their feet to the fire.

Just my thoughts,

MC


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Mike Compton

 2007/10/14 18:07Profile









 Re:

I think we should look at it from God's perspective.

The tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil was a good tree, nothing wrong with it whatsoever, after all God looked at everything that He had created and declared it Good.

We could say it this way in modern terms to a child considering a cookie from the cookie jar. The day you eat thereof you'll surely get a spanking. The child would see the cookie jar as bad, why leave it on the counter, why not take it away from my sight, remove the temptation. Nothing wrong with the cookie jar, the jar can stay where it's at.

What the child saw was, why did God put something so bad in the garden? And yet the tree was not bad. It was the evil that was conceived in Eve's heart by the beguiling serpent that doomed themselves. There was nothing evil in wanting to know more or to have wisdom, the evil was disobeying God's word.

And Diane(roadsign) is right in saying that Children understand more than we realize.

 2007/10/14 18:21
Talkn2u
Member



Joined: 2006/12/31
Posts: 196


 Re:

So true, Pastorfrin...as I heard quoted a couple of years ago by Randy Phillips of Phillips Craig and Dean. "Church is about God NOT about us"...
and
unfortunately that is what we see so much now...what's in it for us...how can "We" improve? and have a better life...

and by pushing the message to appease us, Truth is knocked out.

It IS up to us...when we have our confidence in God and our Hope in Christ and the Power of the Holy Spirit within us, we should not hesitate to speak the Truth in love and authority!

 2007/10/14 18:52Profile
Talkn2u
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Joined: 2006/12/31
Posts: 196


 Re:

Ron:
Well, I have been there before... I raised four children...and I spoke to them about God thru out the day and interjected the Word to them into our entire life/activities...so they grew up knowing His Heart toward us in all that we do.

I would have said to this little boy (7 yrs old), just what I used to tell my children, and now my grandchildren:
"God is a loving God...and because He loves us so much He wants to protect us..."
I would explain about Good and Evil that is in the world...etc.

"God has set up boundaries, and guidelines, just as Mommy and Daddy have.
Do I let you run into the street, Michael?"
"no"
"Why do you suppose that is?"
"Cuz a car could smash me into the pavement" (something like that ~ hee hee)

"yes, I want to protect you from what is harmful and dangerous...God is the same way...yet He is so wise He knows what is harmful even more than we do...so He has guidelines....."

"But God sounds mean Mommy"
"Oh, Michael, how can it be mean when He is actually saving you from becoming hurt, or even lose your life?...
No, He is not mean, but He is serious about teaching us what is right and wrong, and must discipline and correct us in ways that will make us not ever feel comfortable doing the wrong thing again."

something to that effect....I would stress that discipline, punishment and correction, is an act of Love...NOT meanness or anger.

 2007/10/14 19:02Profile
roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re:

Quote:
Wow, Mommy, God is mean!



I would be curious to know what the child actually heard that triggered this comment. Did he mis-hear something? I am asking because, from my understanding of children, they are eager for the guilty party to get a just consequence. They are obsessed with fairness.
I wonder if the mom asked him, ‘Son, what would you consider to be fair?”

Surely, the child would not have said, “Let them get away with it.”
If he did, I’d be a pretty concerned mom.

Or maybe the child did not understand the real implications of the sin. It wasn't simply about stealing an apple, after all. I wonder if the mother herself really understood this. If she didn't then how could she portray it to the child?

Diane



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Diane

 2007/10/14 19:07Profile





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