The following comes from Peter Enns’ blog over on Patheos. Peter Enns is the author of The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say about Human Origins, so he knows what it is to write books on theology. While this article was actually published back in January, I found it to be remarkably entertaining and had to share it with you. Enjoy.
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What we think of the theology books we write:
Well, I’ve worked for years on this, and I have to say I think I nailed it. It’s not perfect, but I am sure this will be a lasting contribution to thinking Christians everywhere. It’s a thoughtful piece that raises many pressing, indeed, perennial issues, that have not been addressed quite as clearly as I do here.
You’re welcome.
What God thinks (as told through dramatic metaphor):
Five year old: Daddy, do you like my picture?
Father: [Dear God, if there is a God, have mercy on me and tell me what this random series--if series is even the right word--of lines and squiggles is supposed to be. Please. Help. Me.] Ah….woooooow! That’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
Five Year Old: Can you tell what it is? [no clue what's happening]
Father: [Merciful and Almighty God. I do not know what this is. Either tell me or make it stop. I will promise you anything.] Of COURSE. Yeah. It’s a cccaaaa….
Five Year Old: [slightly puzzled but not discouraged] It’s a reindeer in a boat.
Father: [Capricious God, was I asking too much? A little help. Still, not too bad. Damage control time.] Sure. Here are the antlers…and look…it’s nose…and there is the outboard motor…..and that’s the water, right?
Five Year Old: That’s the sail.
Father: [A sail? Why didn't you warn me to leave well enough alone?] Oh, riiiight. The sail.
Five Year Old: Isn’t that a great picture, Dad.
Father: It’s beAUTiful. I love it. And everyone else who sees it will love it, too. Let’s hang it up on the fridge to make sure everyone sees it. Everyone needs to see this picture of a …reindeer…in a boat….
Five Year Old: ….with a sail.
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Enjoy the article? Be sure to visit Peter Enns’ blog, for more great content.
Carol Crouch April 7, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Sounds a little like what goes through my mind when I look at all the amazing pictures our 4 year old granddaughter makes for us. She’s very creative. So I ask her to tell me about it. No guesses. I wouldn’t even come close. However, I am always very agreeable about the exact thing she describes. Can’t hurt. Whether I share her vision or not. Now that I mention it, some of them might qualify for the book of Ezekiel.
Freedomborn April 8, 2012 at 5:42 am
Hi T.E, Peter’s analogy was god, but as I shared with Him and also with you before, we need to start with the correct writing tools so we wont be deceived or deceive others, we find these in the Scriptures below, Jesus is our only Teacher by the empowering of The Holy Spirit.
James 1:4-6
1 Corinthians 2:9-16
Yes God does indeed uses the foolishness of Preaching, His Truth is everywhere but so is Satan’s lies that deceive… the good news is the Truth will always be Victorious.
Many Blessings for Easter and Christian Love from both of us. Ron and Anne.
DuJour April 8, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Reblogged this on White Rabbit Thoughts and commented:
This one has stayed with me since I read it, and that’s got to be worth a reblog!
perfectchild April 9, 2012 at 9:31 pm
Five year old: Daddy, do you like my picture?
Father: [I have not go a clue, but I can see he needs my approval..] Mmm….um… the colors are nice…
Five Year Old: Can you tell what it is? [no clue what's happening]
Father: [Nope] well, not really. .. It’s a cccaaaa….
Five Year Old: [slightly puzzled but not discouraged] It’s a reindeer in a boat.
Father: [Oh, it’s abstract art] Here are the antlers?…and look…it’s nose?…and there is the outboard motor?…..and that’s the water, right?
Five Year Old: That’s the sail.
Father: [A sail? Well, it could be] Oh, riiiight. The sail.
Five Year Old: Isn’t that a great picture, Dad.
Father: It’s beAUTiful. I love it. And everyone else who sees it will love it, too. Let’s hang it up on the fridge to make sure everyone sees it. Everyone needs to see this picture of a …reindeer…in a boat….
Five Year Old: ….with a sail.
Children live in reality, and they sense it when you don’t.
What would happen ten years later….
Ten year old: Daddy, do you like my picture? [please like it I really want it to be good]
Father: [Dear God, if there is a God, have mercy on me and tell me what this random series--if series is even the right word--of lines and squiggles is supposed to be. Please. Help. Me.] Ah….woooooow! That’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
Ten Year Old: Can you tell what it is? [no clue what's happening, but something is not right with dad]
Father: [Merciful and Almighty God. I do not know what this is. Either tell me or make it stop. I will promise you anything.] Of COURSE. Yeah. It’s a cccaaaa….
Ten Year Old: [slightly puzzled, Please Almighty God let my dad like it] It’s a reindeer in a boat.
Father: [Capricious God, was I asking too much? A little help. Still, not too bad. Damage control time.] Sure. Here are the antlers…and look…it’s nose…and there is the outboard motor…..and that’s the water, right?
Ten Year Old: [Oh Thank you Heavenly Father I can bail him out on this]That’s the sail.
Father: [A sail? Why didn't you warn me to leave well enough alone?] Oh, riiiight. The sail.
Ten Year Old: Isn’t that a great picture, Dad. [Agree with me Dad, *praying* Jeysus shhalla wallah orthumpona didicheyus…]
Father: It’s beAUTiful. I love it. And everyone else who sees it will love it, too. Let’s hang it up on the fridge to make sure everyone sees it. Everyone needs to see this picture of a …reindeer…in a boat….
Ten Year Old: ….with a sail. [you old fraud].
Get out of your head-thoughts and let your yes be yes and no be no. If you’re not honest with yourself, you’re honest to no one.
T. E. Hanna April 9, 2012 at 10:15 pm
I appreciate your comment, but I think it is an enthusiastic exercise in missing the point. The entire point of the article was an analogy, that our hard-fought, painstakingly-researched, peer-reviewed scholarly treatises on theology are, before God, like that adorably scribbled picture of a raindeer in a sailboat. Despite our best efforts, we fall dramatically short of the true image… but God loves us, loves our scribbles, and values our attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible, because it reflects our love for our Father. What this article was NOT was a treatise on communicating with children.
Now, for my own exercise in missing the point, I might also point out that a five year old, ten years later, would be fifteen… not ten.
perfectchild April 9, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Salutations Mr Hanna,
Thank you for your reply.
My points were:
1. Anyone who cheats a child with feigned affection, false appreciation, over compensation with love, a “goo goo goo”, is treating that child with disrespect.
Nowadays it prevailent for children to be given ‘smilie-face awards’ for ‘friendship’ or ‘attending class regularly.’ It demoralizes them, to be given something for nothing. Love and truth are essential for their development. Don’t fake anything.
2. If you talk down to a child it becomes ‘them’ and ‘us’. I remember a seven year old girl asking astonished why I spoke to my son as an equal and not down to him as her parents did to her. I replied, something like, “because his mind will develop to see for himself.” There is no stupid question.
3. So many people speak to God as a Third Person. They use their own language to talk to Him. ‘God’ the widest and tallest Presence beyond what we can conceive, are happy to be told God is Three-in-One, but never in themselves. Always sucking in the vapors. ‘God’ uses a ‘wordless-word’, that most fundamental of communication: to know but not know why you know, that is ‘The Spirit’ to communicate. So anyone chattering in their heads, and such a lot do, is the early signs of schizoprenia.
So I was not ‘enthusiastically missing the point’, just wondering why a child-crushing analogy would be used to making it and readers responding how sweet that was.
“Sounds a little like what goes through my mind when I look at all the amazing pictures our 4 year old granddaughter makes for us”
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh……..
because it reflects our love for our Father.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh……
Now, taking your point, what we build and polish to look good in our own eyes is just vanity. The fact is, God talks to everyone. Your work is done. Our problems started when we handed God a name. Then we get into “…our hard-fought, painstakingly-researched, peer-reviewed scholarly treatises on theology…”
That’s not how Jesus did it. I don’t think he scribbled many notes to prepare for his lectures. He just sat down picked up a rock, and started speaking about it.
The kingdom is like that, the path back to it is like this.
Then he sent his disciples out with nothing, to share the wisdom and do as he had done, (they hadn’t even got a New Testament Bible or St Paul’s letters or Revelations or Redeeming Sacrifice). They had to be like him with the same understanding to speak of the kingdom of god.
For others, it’s the pathway up the pole of a career.
T. E. Hanna April 10, 2012 at 1:00 am
Well, I disagree with your perspective on valuing children and the work they do as expressions of their love. Scribbles given as a gift from a four year old are valuable and beautiful in their own right, despite lacking the artistic talent of a professional, and should be honored as such. You may disagree with me as such, and that is fine, but I find it incredibly respectful to honor a child’s effort – particularly when that effort is meant as an expression of love. I don’t see this as ‘crushing a child’ at all. I see it as empowering and edifying, and immensely respectful.
Also, let’s not forget that Jesus DID have scriptures, and Jesus WAS a theologian. In speaking to the masses, he would often speak in parables. However, he also taught the scriptures in synagogues, quoted the hebrew scriptures prolifically, and challenged the theological conceptions of the religious leaders. At times, he even openly accused them of not understanding the scriptures.
Additionally, we see Paul as an example of a serious theologian, engaging in much the same way as modern theologians do. Jesus tells us to love God with our hearts, souls, and MINDS. To engage critically and rationally is in accordance with the admonitions of scripture as a whole, as well as the gospels in particular.
The emphasis in this article, however, is a need for humility. Our hard-fought knowledge and research will always fall short, but just like the child, God values the effort and energy put in as an expression of our love.
perfectchild April 10, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Thank you for the opportunity to share a discourse on something overlooked.
Scribbles given as a gift from a four year old….should be honored as such.
I highlighted there is a way to give and receive such gifts. For when a child is trained to receives accolades they did not deserve, as adults they are open to receive a ‘lucky locket’ from a stranger in the street, and then told of the terrible plight of a family and asked for money in return. They give them cash, because they were guilty of receiving something for nothing and so they owed ‘a gift of debt’ to the giver. Like someone buys you lunch and you feel obliged to buy them lunch back. A Trojan horse. Something is hidden. They wanted to see the child smile, to make them dance and be happy, when every child has all the happiness in the world they ever needed. When a mother gives apple pie, and not an apple, because mother’s love is in the pie and the child had better receive it with good grace or momma will not be pleased.
Because you did not tell the child your truth, they could no longer discern the giver’s heart. They learned to look away and live the show, because transparency is no longer the life.
But, hey, you only wrote a dramatization about a child that did not actually exist and so the points I raised don’t really count; more importantly you’re going to teach people all about Jesus.
I’ve never met him so the little I can imagine between the clouds of culture, myth and religion, (I hope your college has taught you to peel away those layers too), is to find the man…. oh, and one really important thing to hold about reality: a human being is always a human being.
So I admit, I understand what Jesus meant ‘to be born again’, and I get it why he turned the tables on anyone, on anyone who would sell ‘atonements for sin’. I do not receive a gift I did not ask for or deserve, I politely decline, and more aggressively when in return they ask for my soul. It’s non-negotiable.
St Paul, a troubled man, one moment bowed down to vengeful Jehovah, the next instant to a God-Jesus when he heard His New Master’s Voice. This is no more than dhimmitude, the slavery imposed on any Muslim leaving the womb, to act good with a gun pointing at their heads. It is not the way, to the truth, to the life, written in your heart as Jesus explained in his sermons. Theirs are the external forces of Gods and Demons. The Golden-Calf of St Paul woven to battle the Original Sin he contrived as the reason for his shortcomings.
Jesus said “…sin no more”. Game over, you can walk away, nothing to see here.
St Paul created a new universe, a new battlefront of The Never Ending War. Communists fight for Eternal Fairness, Homosexuals for Eternal Love, Muslims for Eternal Peace, Christians for Eternal Salvation. Never finished. Disturbed people seeking justification for the reason the thorns are in their side, cravings indulged in and then beating themsleves up about it. Damned if they do and damned if they don’t. So they join Churches of Approvers: a gift of love in return for royalties to maintain them as kings. That’s hell. They come out and want to kick the butt of any child not covered with their cloth.
Jesus, in his time, pointed the way to freedom is to face your demons. I took that same journey in my time. I wish my family did. It is the way back to the child.
T. E. Hanna April 10, 2012 at 12:33 pm
I think you have some misconceptions about Christianity.
Christianity never suggests to “kick the butt of anyone not of your cloth.” Quite the opposite, Christianity teaches to love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. It was this application which civilized the Roman Empire, and changed the course of history resulting in the very fact hat human life is seen as intrinsically valuable today. The pre-Christian world saw the value of humanity only in terms of what people had to offer, which is why “charity” in ancient Rome consisted of statues and arenas donated for the glory of Rome, not caring for the poor and the sick. This is why hospitals find their origins among the Christian legacy. We tend to emphasize the bad, but the very reason that the crusades and the inquisition are so consistently referred to is because they are the exeptions, not the rule. Were they the rule, there would be far more to pick from over a two thousand year history. The selfless love embodied by Christianity changed the world at its core.
Additionally, your “trojan horse” reference is not the result of lying to children, it is the result of human psychology. This is why the “free giveaway” is so often used in marketing. Our desire to reciprocate is intimately linked to our capacity for empathy, and our desire for justice and equality. Can it be abused? Certainly. Should we train our children to ignore empathy and their yearning for equality? I think to do so would be extremely detrimental. We do, however, need to teach our children discernment… but we don’t do that by spurning their efforts. To do so is not to encourage them, but to shut them down.
Lastly, I think it would be a mistake to treat children the same way we treat adults. Children are not “little adults”, and to assume such is to ignore all that we have learned from developmental psychology. An individual’s brain is not fully developed until sometime in his twenties, and a child is particularly far removed from the cognitive development of an adult. To treat a child as an adult is to talk over them. To place expectations on a child that we would place on an adult is an unfair burden which sets them up to fail. We interact with children on their level, where THEY are, rather than where WE are. The beautiful thing is that this is exactly what God does for us, chasing after us, redeeming us from sin so that we may be together. Condescending to “our level” is at the heart of the incarnation.
T. E. Hanna April 10, 2012 at 12:35 pm
And as a side note, Muslims do not fight for eternal peace, not by any stretch. “Islam” means submission, and Allah taught to demand submission by any means necessary, even at the edge of the sword.
perfectchild April 10, 2012 at 2:12 pm
“I think you have some misconceptions about Christianity. Christianity never suggests to “kick the butt of anyone not of your cloth.” Quite the opposite, Christianity teaches to love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.
You mean there were no Christians burning each other on the stake, no Reformation of their despicable deceptions, no persecution of communities, no killing people for simply translating the Bible into English for the common man? What Ground Zero paradigm is this?
Why are you defending the honor of Christianity like someone would defend the honor of Islam, Communism or Homoeroticism? You’re a human being and you’ve got loyalties to bury their dirty washing to put on the good show of a clean cup? “Don’t disparage this TV because it’s a Sony.” If it doesn’t work, and time has proven it doesn’t work, can’t we fix it or at least get an unbranded one that does?
No one can ‘teach love’. You can only reveal truths. Love does not set you free, only truth does. More love does not help the criminal it just makes them madder because now they live in an open prison never finding the answers to their compulsions. “The Devil/Jinn made me do it.” Has any court with a Christian Judge and Christian Jury ever let a criminal off for it?
If I could teach anyone how to love, it would always be a false love. They would no longer know how to ‘love your God and your neighbour as yourself ‘ except doing it under rote of instruction.
“The pre-Christian world saw the value of humanity only in terms of what people had to offer,..” That’s an arrogant statement.
“For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
9When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, “I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Luke 7:8-10
This is why hospitals find their origins among the Christian legacy.
In ancient cultures, religion and medicine were linked. The earliest documented institutions aiming to provide cures were ancient Egyptian temples. In ancient Greece, temples dedicated to the healer-god Asclepius, known as Asclepieia (Greek: Ασκληπιεία, sing. Asclepieion Ασκληπιείον), functioned as centers of medical advice, prognosis, and healing. At these shrines, patients would enter a dream-like state of induced sleep known as “enkoimesis” (Greek: ενκοίμησις) not unlike anesthesia, in which they either received guidance from the deity in a dream or were cured by surgery. Source: Wikipedia.
Should we train our children to ignore empathy and their yearning for equality? I think to do so would be extremely detrimental.
My whole discourse was about finding empathy: would you like the child to do to you, what you did to them.
“Yearning for equality” means you do not have it. By displacing this with a pride of projecting it into the world, to fight the Eternal and Glorious Battle on Earth for Fairness… Jesus quite rightly pointed out that the poor will always be with us no matter how many playstations, computers and TVs thy were given. That is Communism, the outward socialisation of mind body and soul in return for the Peace that yearned for an equality.
We do, however, need to teach our children discernment… but we don’t do that by spurning their efforts. To do so is not to encourage them, but to shut them down.
I did not say spurn, I said get real. That was the encouragement and guidance they were looking for. They were sharing an experience not polishing a trophy.
Lastly, I think it would be a mistake to treat children the same way we treat adults. Children are not “little adults”, and to assume such is to ignore all that we have learned from developmental psychology.
I wrote: “I remember a seven year old girl asking astonished why I spoke to my son as an equal and not down to him…” I stood in his place. I spoke in terms a child could understand. And one day he will stand in my place and speak to me of things I can just grasp to understand.
Muslims seek Peace when they have no peace in their hearts by sumission; and Christians seek Love where there is no love in their hearts, by suppression. I am well aware of the fruit of violence to adults and children this causes, and the vast enrichment of funds for their priests.
T. E. Hanna April 10, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Of course there were periods of brutality, you find this in every culture. In Christian history, however, these prove the exception rather than the rule. When these do happen, they happen by violating the basic tenets of the faith… A claim which cannot be made by the world views which dominated pre-Christian history. Furthermore, christianity has demonstrated itself to be self-regulating. When the pope corrupted the church leadership, resulting in the crusades and the inquisition, it was the Christian people who rose up and reformed. Even throughout American history, we see substantial Christian influence behind our modern reformations… The abolition of slavery (the methodist denomination abolished slavery a full century before the civil war), the civil rights movement (Martin Luther King, Jr was a Christian pastor), the equality for women (an entire population of vocal Christian women stood up for their equality). This is not to say that Christians were the only ones at work in these areas, but rather to point out that when christianity violated its own principles, we see its own people rising up to set it right.
Also, I am not arguing that medicine began with christianity. What christianity did was view the poor, the diseased, the outcast as people worthy of medical treatment. During the plague, it was Christians who would risk their life to tend to diseased. When leprosy was prevalent, it was Christians who established and staffed places to treat them. Even today, charity, food, and medical aid to the poorest places and people of the world are overwhelmingly accomplished by religious organizations, most of which are Christian. So yes, I defend a faith and a Lord which not only has worked throughout history… But is still with today.
Lastly, yes… love can be taught. But even more so, the heart itself can be changed. This, more than anything else, lies at the heart of the faith. Through the redemption of Jesus and the power of the holy spirit, we can be set free from our own darker nature (and to deny that such a dark side exists is simply to lack honest self awareness). Jesus redeems us and restores us to good, the holy spirit changes us and restores us to each other. This is the scope of biblical salvation… and it is a beautiful thing.
eliezer40 April 14, 2012 at 11:46 am
This is a beautiful example. It made me laugh and I liked it. It really points out the fact that humans…are human. God is God and we are not.