Autism and Sin?

[tinyfox]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. I am a teacher of a girl with high-functioning autism. Recently, she has been asking "Why did God make my brain so naughty (if he doesn't like sin)?" Any ideas on how to respond to her?

 

[uniquetadpole]

well...God didn't make her brain naughty...He made it different...unique...how old is she...if she is in elementary school...or perhaps older she might benefit from a childrens book called "A walk in the Rain with a Brain" by Dr. Hallowell. It was written about ADD but it really applies to al on the spectrum.

I would also start stressing her talents...cuz I sure do know all ASD people have talents...find them and help her focus on them...and then teach her ways to cope with her difficulties.

Honestly, though, there have been days when I feel the same way she does. And what I seek out is people who look at me for who I am...who look beyond the difficulties and see where my heart is. And that helps me...so without knowing you and your relationship with her...I would say get creative and find a way to take a focus off of the negatives when they must be addressed...see if you can turn things into something positive...for exmaple...instead of telling her what she is doing wrong...suggest a better way of doing things...cuzI will guarantee her heart is in the right place.

 

[MCOSoliTear]

"Why did God make my brain so naughty (if he doesn't like sin)?" Any ideas on how to respond to her?

I have a child that is "mildly-autistic." We just got the diagnosis recently. While I don't know exactly the actions you are referring to as naughty, I would say that first the Bible does say that, [FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. (Ps 103:44 NKJV) From this, I know that our Heavenly Father knows our limits. He knows what we can and cannot do. I would assure her that our Heavenly Father knows her struggle to be good and is trying to help her. Sometimes our "normal" world sets such standards that those who are different can't conform to those standards. My daughter has a very difficult time paying attention to the teacher when there are computers in the same room. We keep praying for our daughter and encouraging her that she can do it.

I wish I had wise words that would help, but remember we serve a Loving, Caring Father that knows us intimately.




[/FONT]

 

[Blackbird]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. I am a teacher of a girl with high-functioning autism. Recently, she has been asking "Why did God make my brain so naughty (if he doesn't like sin)?" Any ideas on how to respond to her?

Well, first I would want to address the question of why she thinks of herself as being naughty, and possibly try to build up a more positive self image.

 

[tinyfox]

Thanks so much for the comments. The girl in question is 8 years old. Much has been done (and is being done) to support her. Trying to get her to see the difference between being naughty (which she is master over) and behaviours that on the surface appear to be naughty is a challenge. She so desperately wants to do the "right thing", ie. to conform to the standards, but is really struggling to accept that this is going to be very difficult for her. Explaining to her that everyone "falls short of the glory of God" does help. For her, the big question remains: But God makes no mistakes (my words). I'm not a mistake, so why am I "so different"?

 

[uniquetadpole]

For her, the big question remains: But God makes no mistakes (my words). I'm not a mistake, so why am I "so different"?

God has made me "different" because He has a special plan for me that He has yet to reveal to me...a plan that only I can fulfill...so He made exactly the way He needs me to be so that I can serve Him the way He needs me to serve Him. That is how I accept my difference in my life. Kind of like the colors of the rainbow. Each of us are different, a different color...and without each of us then there could not be a rainbow...the rainbow would not have all of its colors...her job is to do her part...be her color...so that the rainbow can be complete. Believe me after she digests that for a while she will have more challenges to the analogy... and at this point I am not sure what to say to those challenges but to keep the analogy going as best you can...and if you get stuck...ask here...I am sure I or somone else might be able to come up with a better one...or maybe challenge here to find one.

Then I take that attitude and try to understand my actions as how can I serve Him with what has happened and what I am about to do? It took me a long time to be able to slow down and think through my actions before I did them...and I still do things "wrong"...but those are practice for me to be able to get better at it in the future. My mistakes that I make...help me to become closer and closer to Him...to rely on Him leading me instead of me and people around me. He still uses people around me to serve Him by helping me. And maybe her "mistakes" are not always about her...they could be about teaching someone else things like patience or understanding or helping someone else have a more loving heart. This little girl intrigues me deeply and I absolutely wish I could meet her and spend some time with her.

One other thing...she thinks differently than you. You are probably using abstract concepts to convey the message of Jesus and God in instances that you don't even realize simply because that makes sense to you. What you need is a concrete logical image that she can grasp and logic it out in her own mind? Analogies generally work for me. I need that image to translate what something abstract means. Kind of a if a=b and b=c then a=c or some such equations.

You are trying to share with her an extremely abstract concept here called grace. I could not have told you what grace was to save my life until someone actually demonstrated it to me using a clear cup, a pitcher of water, and some rocks from the driveway (and I recommend a towel it is a messy demonstration...mistakes can be messy you know).

Anyway... the person took the cup and placed it on the table and told me that was me before I was born. He then took the rocks and filled the cup...used a variety of big rocks and small pebbles. The rocks are our sin or in this case maybe mistakes (you need to be careful which words you use bacause the labels will stay and if the analogy does not apply to a specific situation be prepared to find a creative reason...like the rock broke in half...I don't know how rigid she is with labels I am usually able to change the image to suite the situation but many Autistic children are not adept at that until they get older and are better at being able to accept change). Back to the rocks and cup. Fill the cup with "sin"...the rocks. Explain to her that once she was born mistakes happened...man sinned you her everone does. But then Jesus comes along (the pitcher) and pours his love into us (the water)...we get filled with the holy spirit (maybe wnat to call it love until it overflows. And then what God does...He reaches into us and removes one of our rocks... in other words we make a mistake and we ask Jesus to forgive us. Make sure you point out how when you reach your hand in...the water spills everywhere...that water spilling out is like pain...it hurts when God reaches in and works on removing stuff we keep hanging on to...whether we mean to or not. But then after your hand is removed...look at the water level...the water is drained...and we need refilled with the love of jesus to feel good or whole again. and guess what now that the rock is gone...there is room for more of Jesus' Love. This process of removing the rocks and being refilled with Jesus' Love is called grace...and she may no get all of that...but you might be surprised at how much more she gets with this than what she has been getting. And explain maybe by drawing examples of rocks being removed and relate them to specific examples of the "mistakes" she makes.

I never thought of this image as possibly being helpful for her until you started getting specific with what you needed help with...it is that vagueness that I find is so much harder for us on the spectrum to deal with at times... so if you nee more things like that...help me help you by being more specific with what the issue is...I had to spend 34 years finding my own solutions to things because I had no one to help me figure it out...so I got a few tricks up my sleeve so to speak. And I so much want to help.

I really hope that some of this might help you and her.

hugs,
Tad

 

[willcoach]

I agree with unique definietly explain it in analogy form that was what it was with me before I came to faith. Then you can build on her talents and ask what they are.

God Bless,

Will

 

[SuYen]

And remember, a short ez answer for this question is that God made people in a unique way so you would stand out everyone in everyway.

Also, when things like this happens, it happens for a reason.

 

[Saysimba]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. I am a teacher of a girl with high-functioning autism. Recently, she has been asking "Why did God make my brain so naughty (if he doesn't like sin)?" Any ideas on how to respond to her?

There is no connection between Autism and sin. That is how you should answer her. Autism is a communication disorder, with many suspected contributing factors, but none that so far that has been linked to sin.

 

[messedupkid]

There is no connection between Autism and sin. That is how you should answer her. Autism is a communication disorder, with many suspected contributing factors, but none that so far that has been linked to sin.

cool reply!!! i have AS and the way i deal with it is to compare myself with a blind or deaf person. a blind preon hasn't sinned if he walks into somebody and knocks them over because he hasn't seen them. a deaf person hasn't sinned if she appears to ignore or disobey someone because she didn't hear what they said. so an autistic person hasn't sinned if their condition makes them do something that goes against the 10 commandments (or other bits of scripture). before i knew i had AS i was really guilty about some of the obsessions and anger fits i had. now i know i wasn't doing these things because i could have helped it but chose not to. i was doing it because it was the only way my brain could act. if your pupil really feels sorry about any upset or damage her AS behaviour has caused, that's all that matters.

 

[createcoms]

messedupkid, I strongly disagree with your statement.

AS or not AS, mankind has a sinful nature since the fall. Because we are inherently sinful does not excuse it. Years ago I did something which got me in trouble with the law - and my therapist told me that it was very likely if I was not AS then I wouldn't have done it. Does this make me innocent in the eyes of God for what I did? Certainly not. I sinned, and therefore I had to repent before I could reconcile with the Lord.

Putting that aside for a moment, and entertaining your notion that if AS made you do it then it's not sinning - it begs the question who decides that AS made you do it? You certainly can't make that call because you would be naturally biased to let yourself off the hook, and even the most clued up therapists or Psychiatrists are only making conclusions based on external observation (they cannot know everything about your state of mind only what you tell them and others tell them). Sin is certainly not like that, it's cut and dry sin or no sin - theres no human element of judgement. The word of God dictates that which is sinful, and draws no distinction amongst any person but encompasses all of mankind in singularity.

Lastly, you say in relation to your "obsessions and anger fits" that you know now it was the only way your brain could act.

Wrong. Your nature was to act that way, but once again that does not validate it. If your fits were anything like that which I put my mother through in my earlier years then your feelings of guilt are right in their presence of your mind. And You *can* break out from the nature of uncontrolled anger, and this can be accomplished with the strength of endurance, willpower that the holy spirit provides alongside some quality therapy (therapy truely empowered me, as did the really big steps towards God and his will - neither would have sufficed alone though).

 

[karenh]

I work with special needs in my community, and have several clients that are to varying degrees of AS and autistic. With the scientific function and develpoment of the brain there is a difference, and for those who are pdd there is a challenge to try to overcome with behaviors because of te brain differences. From a "higher" perspective, GOD doenst make mistakes, there is a reason for these differences, why I dont know. We are all born into a sinful world, we all struggle with doing the right and wrong. For the question about "why did GOD make me naughty" well HE didnt, but we all are in a sinful world and all have naughty things we do, we were given a choice, as a higher functioning autistic it should be part of the IEP goals to decide whats right and wrong and make better choices. Therapy will always be needed. Just my 2c

 

[ccmadvertising]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. I am a teacher of a girl with high-functioning autism. Recently, she has been asking "Why did God make my brain so naughty (if he doesn't like sin)?" Any ideas on how to respond to her?

well you might start by telling her God does hate sin , but he also didn't make sin. That started a long time ago way before she was born and her brain isn't naughty it's a way of God helping others to learn about him. She is special because without ones like her how else would we even think about God. Those like her were put here to help God to teach us how to be good to one another. So tell her her brain isn't naughty it's a special gift from God to help others think about Him.

 

[HeatherLst]

There's also a cool kid's book out there called "Mud Pie Annie." She is a girl who creates all these wonderful food creations out of mud. Her friends and family can't see the beauty in them, and plop her in the tub to clean her up. All they see is the mess. Annie finishes the book by singing a song "I know that God sees what is in my heart, not the mud between my toes."

Its a great analogy for my AS son, age 6. We talk about impulse control, very hard for him. We tell him the story of Adam and Eve, and how we all have to make choices of being naughty, or being like God. Then we work on making very clear what being like God is. Any ambiguity and its lost on him. You must be specific--like praying for others, helping others pick up their toys, inviting friends to share in your blessings (for school kids, that's sharing toys or cookies, for teens that's sharing video games or clothes.) Annie was being like God--enjoying creation, trying to make beautiful food for her friends and family, offering them the gifts God made her with. But sometimes people can't see that, they see their own mess. I'm honest with our son, that we all fail, we all fall short, and sometimes those of us who don't see things as clearly as he does (and that's a gift!), and we make mistakes. We teach him how to forgive us!

 

[drummer_tim]

cool reply!!! i have AS and the way i deal with it is to compare myself with a blind or deaf person. a blind preon hasn't sinned if he walks into somebody and knocks them over because he hasn't seen them. a deaf person hasn't sinned if she appears to ignore or disobey someone because she didn't hear what they said. so an autistic person hasn't sinned if their condition makes them do something that goes against the 10 commandments (or other bits of scripture). before i knew i had AS i was really guilty about some of the obsessions and anger fits i had. now i know i wasn't doing these things because i could have helped it but chose not to. i was doing it because it was the only way my brain could act. if your pupil really feels sorry about any upset or damage her AS behaviour has caused, that's all that matters.

hey man i believe that AS is the same as anythin else of the flesh if u speak it over urself and say i have this and this is y i do this ur givin the devil room 2 trick u rebuke it get prayer i hav been diagnosed with AS and ADHD i dont believe it effects me because God is bigger and i stand on that dont take the attitude that its ok God didnt make us weak he made us strong and he promises 2 heal us stand on that man not on this is y i do it Jesus healed the blind and the deff brother. he can heal u 2 just believe it and live it

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

actually while prayer and faith can and may heal the sick, Yahshua also told some "go and sin no more" / consider a recovered alcoholic, if he willingly goes back to drinking duh he's not recovered no more.

or consider those who have a toxin or allergies - the lawyers are having a heydey the last 2 years suing doctors and hospitals when people get sick later in life from the mercury injected into them when they were a child/infant ; the drug makers are protected by law in the patriot act[snuck in at the last minute without being reviewed or read], but the docs and hosps can still be sued and are.
trouble is, the lawyers don't want their clients health improved because the worse they are the more they get potentially.
the good new is you can find a doctor that will help you detox or de-allergy[is that a word?] by googling or other searching so there is some real hope of progress you may not have kinown about before.
after the OPRAH show about allergies, hundreds of people, maybe thousands, found to their delight their kids were allergic to something and not being violent on purpose. same thing happened after a show about enzymes for focusing type problems - a lot of doctors started finding out about it and using it because of pressure from the parents and/or because of a real desire to help.
if you find good information googling, be sure to share it with your health care provider.
and be prayerful and careful searching - there are a lot of people out there just trying to get your money. test everything by Scripture [which means you have to read Scripture, of course],.... test everything, not just some things. the Promise in G_d's Plan is that no one, not anyone, not even one who trusts in Him will ever be disappointed [although it may take a while to realize that and trust Him like a little boy trusting his father].... Shalom to all who trust Him.

 

[PokemonMasterAshKetchum]

n.mi.dadi.lieks.to.do.wierd.tings.2.me.@.nite.whoa.mg.plz.hlp.[wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth].dadi.no.plz.im.stil.in.3rd.grad

stop.bein.so.mean.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my.kb.is.broken.wutz.wrong.w/.you!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gizoux]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. I am a teacher of a girl with high-functioning autism. Recently, she has been asking "Why did God make my brain so naughty (if he doesn't like sin)?" Any ideas on how to respond to her?

There are factors different for every child. I would suspect, man's inability to take proper care of the earth and his fellow person that might have caused her to develop "a naughty brain." There is increasing evidence that environment may play a huge factor in development of autism, as its occurence is much more common than it was just 10 years ago.

I hope you don't mind me offering an opinion on this. My son was just diagnosed with high-functioning autism and we're hoping to overcome it. But I know that my wife will put in an equal amount of prayer as well as research when tackling it. I'll do my best to support her.

Cheers,

 

[Gizoux]

Well, now that I think of it, I think I might need to do a reword. If not for tinyfox, then for others asking themselves the same question.

If I had to tell my son if he asked me, "Why did God give me a naughty brain?"

I would likely reply "I don't think God gave you one. Many other children are sharing your challenge and I think it has to do with our (or man's) lack of good care with this creation he gave us."

I hope that makes some more sense.

 

[willmrcd1]

Hello,

Well as a mother of a child who has AS I know exactly what this child is going through. My son also who is also high functioning also comes up with questions that I must say I struggle with at times as well. I have bipolar disorder and also asked the same questioned. I am also a teacher of special needs students with learning disabilities and so you can almost say that the Lord has really prepared me for this journey.

This forum has given you wonderful advice and I believe that trying everything is key, because we are all unique and every child who has AS is also unique. But the one thing that I find common across the board is that most people with AS think in pictures. Everything is concrete. It is a difficult concept to teach that the Lord created us unique and that He makes no mistakes. The mere fact that she recognizes that she is unique is a gift in itself. I believe the Lord is making this child aware, because she is destined for greatness.

My son asked me one day when the Lord was going to remove this thing called autism. He didn't want it anymore and wants to have friends. I tell you I couldn't fight back the tears, but I took His hands in mine and I asked my son if He wanted me to pray with Him for the Lord to bring healing and clarity of mind. To give both of us wisdom and search His Word for truth. My son and I prayed and you know I felt the peace of God over us. We did read the scriptures and read many about healing, but the one that my son kept was (Psalm 139:13-16)

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16).​