Today is Rosh Hashana, so this weekend I gathered some books for the girls to help them learn a bit about it. One was about a white ram that God created in the Garden of Eden specifically so that he could take Isaac's place.
Drama Queen's reaction was something along the lines of, "What kind of idiot would agree to kill his kid?" To which I have no answer, because I think Abraham was out of his mind. All that guff about his complete obedience--bah. What do we all think when we hear of some one who killed his wife/friend/child/dog because God told him too. Would we for one minute entertain the idea that, heh, maybe God would do that and this poor sod was just being "obedient." And if he were the equivalent of Billy Graham, would that sway us? No.
Then there's the explanation about how it foreshadows Christ, as if the events of the Old Testament happened for the sole purpose of tying up a pretty package so many years later.
All this to say that my honest response to DramaQueen's questions was that I told her some of the traditional answers, which she received skeptically. I don't think I am exactly communicating a deep and abiding faith.
There is clearly is something incomprehensible about many Bible stories that we are asked to believe blindly. Explaining those stories to children is tough, especially since we are continually bombarded by simplistic answers as adults!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the thing to do is to convey a deep and abiding questioning.
Last year when this came around in the lectionary I had a meltdown.
ReplyDeleteI took comfort in the MANY others, including RG preacher friends, who were also struggling.
"Oh - so they don't give you all the answers in seminary, eh?"
Your daughter is very perceptive.
ReplyDelete