The Kid’s Got a Bright Future

December 8, 2007 By Guest Contributor 18 Comments

He’s only four, but he makes a lot of sense:

“Mommy!!  Come here, quick!” the scream from Natalie, our 6 year old, seemed urgent so Amy sped into the kids bathroom where Natalie was standing over her 4 year old brother.

“Nathaniel said he doesn’t like Jesus.”  Natalie said with disgust.

Nathaniel immediately started his explanation,“I like Jesus but I don’t like the big Jesus, I just like the baby Jesus!”

Amy was relieved there was no blood or real emergency to be dealt with but Natalie seemed a little scarred by her younger brother’s flippant attitude about the grown up Jesus.  I have a Theology degree from a well respected University so I took over the inquisition of his issue with Jesus.

“So, what’s your problem with the big boy Jesus?”I asked in a firm voice.

“I don’t know.  I just don’t like him.  I like the baby Jesus better.  He’s nicer.

It’s true.

As Richard Dawkins writes in The God Delusion:

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

I wonder what prompted the child to say he didn’t like “big Jesus”…

The dad might be concerned about his son’s faith, but he’s not getting freaked out yet:

… No repentance was to be forced from him tonight. But I think we’re ok since he at least believes in the baby Jesus. I don’t think our preschooler can be considered an atheist…yet.

And perhaps the kid won’t be an atheist at all. He’s probably too young to have any idea what he’s really talking about. But it’s nice to see glimpses of his future. Let’s check in in about ten years and see what he’s thinking then.


[tags]atheist, atheism, Christian, Jesus, religion[/tags]

Filed Under: General 18 Comments
  • Mriana

    Oh the video on that site! :roll: Their dinner is going to be cold by the time he’s finished.

    As for the 4 y.o. kid, I say leave him alone. He’s doing juuuust fine. Besides, it could have been worse… He could have said, he liked Baby Jesus better because he was not yet circumcised and he liked his own penis just the way it is, thus he doesn’t like Big Jesus. :lol: I was thinking that was coming, but it didn’t. Something better came out of the mouth of the babe. :)

  • http://paxnortona.notfrisco2.com Joel Sax

    Oh, you did a classic atheist flip and ~you didn’t even seem to notice that you did~. First you are talking about Jesus (NEW Testament) and then you go quoting Dawkins about the OLD Testament.

    It goes back to a classic moderate Christian question often posed and seldom answered sufficiently: Just which God are you addressing?

    If you’re going to nail Jesus, nail HIM on what he says. (Yeah, I saw.)

    It annoys me because it is sloppy thinking and response.

  • http://paxnortona.notfrisco2.com Joel Sax

    Here’s a question for you: what if you had a son or a daughter and that child came to you and said: “Daddy, I decided that I love Jesus and I want to start attending church?” Interested in your answer.

  • Mriana

    Joel Sax said,

    December 8, 2007 at 3:10 pm

    Here’s a question for you: what if you had a son or a daughter and that child came to you and said: “Daddy, I decided that I love Jesus and I want to start attending church?” Interested in your answer.

    Oh dear, I think you are confused. I’m not Daddy.

  • http://badidea.wordpress.com Bad

    Let’s check in in about ten years and see what he’s thinking then

    That is, if he’s still allowed to think then. Stuff like “No repentance was to be forced from him tonight.” is just scary. Will he be “forced to repent” when older? How forced? Why? It’s like a mob movie: “Oh, you don’t like the Godfather? Well, you’re going to come to regret that, see.”

    Joel: the Jesus of the Bible pretty much endorses the God of the OT and the things done under that law and in those stories, as well as theologically supposedly being, well, one and the same. In addition to some of the wacky things he says and his deep, abiding hatred of fig trees.

  • Jbs

    Just which God are you addressing?

    Are Jesus and God not claimed to be one and the same?

  • http://robinedgar.stumbleupon.com Robin Edgar

    I thought that atheism was a complete lack of belief in God, rather than a dislike, or indeed hatred. . . of God.

    The Richard Dawkins quote brings to mind these words of George Orwell:

    He was an embittered atheist the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him.

    George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)

    The fact that some religious beliefs and practices are open to question, and the depiction of God in the Bible presents a version of the Supreme Being that tends to validate Richard Dawkins’ highly critical description of God, in no way means that God does not exist.

  • Mriana

    Jbs said,

    December 8, 2007 at 4:52 pm

    Just which God are you addressing?

    Are Jesus and God not claimed to be one and the same?

    Yeah and Krishna is also said to be Vishnu (god) incarnate too.

  • Maria

    I think it’s a little early to speculate if this kid will be an atheist or not. How about you just let him be a kid?

  • http://www.brianseay.wordpress.com Brian

    Friendly Atheist – thanks for the link and treating this kindly.

    bad – relax…I’m the kid’s Dad and this post was pure sarcasm and humor…I’m cool with you not believing in God but at least laugh a little.

  • Arlen

    While, yes, strictly speaking, most Christians would agree that God and Jesus are one and the same, it would be a mistake to think they represent the same thing. Jesus represents a *massive* policy shift in the administration of the world. If God was going to keep acting like the God of the Old Testament, Jesus would have been completely unnecessary. Jesus represents the new covenant God made with humanity, namely that God would stop acting like such an a-hole.

  • http://www.theblogstar.com Chad Jarnagin

    Interesting posts here mate.

    I’ll be back.

    Peace
    C

  • Mriana

    Arlen said,

    December 9, 2007 at 8:01 am

    While, yes, strictly speaking, most Christians would agree that God and Jesus are one and the same, it would be a mistake to think they represent the same thing. Jesus represents a *massive* policy shift in the administration of the world. If God was going to keep acting like the God of the Old Testament, Jesus would have been completely unnecessary. Jesus represents the new covenant God made with humanity, namely that God would stop acting like such an a-hole.

    Given he killed his son in a very pagan way, which incident was also him thus committing suicide at the same time, where’s the change? Funny. Puts new meaning into “Know how to kill a god?”

  • http://heathendad.blogspot.com/ HappyNat

    Here’s a question for you: what if you had a son or a daughter and that child came to you and said: “Daddy, I decided that I love Jesus and I want to start attending church?” Interested in your answer.

    I would tell her if that is what she really believes and what makes her happy I’m fine with whatever she decides. Then like all good atheist parents I would lock her in a cage in the basement until she changed her mind.

  • Mriana

    HappyNat, surely you jest! My older son says he’s Buddhist. I haven’t locked him in his room or a cage for believing that Buddha was a great teacher. There is some good in the teachings of Buddhism, even though it believes in reincarnation. I don’t agree with it, but hey, as long as it’s non-violent, who am I to say he can’t be a Buddhist? Esp since he’s 18.

  • http://heathendad.blogspot.com/ HappyNat

    Mriana,

    It was in jest. I should have added a smile but the idea of being threatened/upset by my daughter’s beliefs seemed so absurd I couldn’t bring myself to add one. As she is only 5 months old she has only “challenged” me with stinky diapers and not sleeping through the night. However, I hope as my daughter grows up she questions my beliefs and explores on her own. I hope to equip her with an inquisitive mind. If she grows up and only parrots what I think I’ve done a pretty shitty job as a parent.

  • Mriana

    I hope to equip her with an inquisitive mind. If she grows up and only parrots what I think I’ve done a pretty shitty job as a parent.

    Oh yes, I completely understand. Don’t worry, it’s really not that hard. It didn’t take much effort for me to give my sons a mind of their own and not parrot me. :lol:

  • Pingback: My New Atheist Friends «