My 10 year old son and I were talking today. The conversation drifted to talking about what happens after you die. He told me no one ever really dies. I asked him what he meant. He said after you die here you go to heaven. I told him I didn't believe that. I told him I thought heaven was a made up place, just like hell.
He asked what I thought happened to us after we die. I told him I thought when we die, that is it. I told him it was a lot like going to sleep, but without dreaming. Then I asked him if he remembers what it was like before he was born. He said he didn't remember anything before being born. I told him it would be the same way after he dies.
He asked me if I was scared of dying. I told him I was not, but I certainly didn't want to die. I told him life is precious since this is the only chance we get at experiencing it, so I hope he remembered that and to be thankful he was lucky enough to experience being alive.
It was a pretty heavy conversation for a 10 year old, but he took it all in without alarm or concern. I asked him when he stopped believing in Santa. He said a few years ago. I told him I thought heaven and god were very much like the belief in Santa, but most adults never stop believing in god because they never take the time to think about it with an open mind. This is over simplification, of course.
What do you tell your children? I wish someone would have taught me to question everything when I was a kid instead of accepting outrageous stories as true. I resent spending so much of my life believing in a fairy tale. Better late than never, though.
The advertisements for this forum are hilarious. I hope some of you fundie xians come here and read something that gets your goat. Then maybe you will register and we can have a debate. I love picking apart illogical fallacies piece by piece.
Bring it! But be careful. You might start to think for yourself, and that could be very dangerous to your "faith" Bwahaha!
Hehehe You noticed the ads too? Getting up and outright confrontational doesn't seem to be the fundies style when dealing with atheists most of the time. They won't hesistate to stick a foot out into the isle as we walk by though..
Yeah we have 4 year old and the subject of death has come up a few times with him so far. There's not a whole lot a 4 year old can comprehend about death but when my wife's mother (whom he was very close to) was killed in a car accident about a year and a half ago, he had some hard questions for us.
I gave him many of the same thoughts you expressed and he seemed to understand more that I could have hoped for. I tried my best to explain my own thoughts on death; how even when people die, they are still around in the memories of other people, the things they effected, the faces of their children.
He asked me once if he was going to die some day. An unexpectedly deep question for a 4 year old.. "Sure! Everybody will some day. You've only been around 4 years though! You might live to be 100 years old! Life lasts a really long time so don't worry about it. Even your old daddy is probably going to live another 50 or 60 years! How old are you again?"
"Just 4!" He laughed.
It's an ongoing conversation, as most are with kids. I'm finding I learn more about myself every time I talk about it with him. I'd bet if more kids were taught about life and death early on, we'd have a lot more adults capable of coping with the realities of life. _________________ -------------------
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