How do I teach a child that God is real...

[okiemom79]

Hello all. I am a new Christian and suffer with my own doubts from time to time so this question is one that has been bothering me for awhile. I have been searching for answers to this thing we call life, God and Christ for about a year. I will not go into great detail about my past in this post unless ppl truly would like to know. I have openly discussed it with others in other posts from Deism to Agnostic to Christian to Agnostic to Seeker...I have been on this roller coaster since I can remember. Anyway- my husband and I have decided not to have our children believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny, or any of that. We still do cookies and milk for Daddy, and Easter baskets but WE are the ones who are given the credit not some fairy tale.
My husband has a strong faith in God and here I am wanting to be Christian and follow Christ but find myself questioning so much. I am wondering how on Earth I can begin to teach my children the God is real when I suffer from doubts? Many will say I need to get right with myself and my walk with Christ and become a true believer....would be AWESOME! But what if that does not happen? I would rather my kids live as if there is a God and 'find' out there isn't then to live as if there is not a God and find out there is. I know- so clique but it's how I feel.
For those that have young children what are your suggestions in teaching a child about God? Do we tell them that there are many who believe and many who do not? I know if I do that my kids will ask why, what do I say then? My kids are 5,3, and 1 so they are too young to grasp some things. Anyway-thanks to all those who may reply.

 

[armadillopete]

My eleven year old son recently told me he is an atheist. No doubt the influence of classmates with liberal parents. I can understand your feelings as I have struggled with christianity for a long time. We sat and discussed the subject for nearly 2 hours and he had a lot of questions I simply didn't have answers for. However I was successful at making him question his original statement.

My own path to christianity has been long and difficult. Too many unexplainable things have happened to me for me to ignore it any longer. Just this week on three separate occasions I feel God has reached out to me .All three times the book of John has come up in conversation from three different sources that have nothing to do with each other.I no longer attribute these things to coincidence. And its not just this week its being going on for years. I no longer deny christianity but do occasionally have doubts as I am sure most Christians do.

I tried to explain these things to my son and how they were all leading back to the Bible. He was willing to listen. My advice is to give them the information and let them make there own decisions as they get older.This is what I'm doing with my son. I understand this will take time as they are still very young. It has taken me 41 years. I'm sure a lot of people in here will disagree with my advice but this is the path I am taking. I hope it helps or at least lets you know you are not alone with what you are experiencing.

Good luck and God bless.

 

[ObeyGODCommandments]

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[okiemom79]

My eleven year old son recently told me he is an atheist. No doubt the influence of classmates with liberal parents. I can understand your feelings as I have struggled with christianity for a long time. We sat and discussed the subject for nearly 2 hours and he had a lot of questions I simply didn't have answers for. However I was successful at making him question his original statement.

My own path to christianity has been long and difficult. Too many unexplainable things have happened to me for me to ignore it any longer. Just this week on three separate occasions I feel God has reached out to me .All three times the book of John has come up in conversation from three different sources that have nothing to do with each other.I no longer attribute these things to coincidence. And its not just this week its being going on for years. I no longer deny christianity but do occasionally have doubts as I am sure most Christians do.

I tried to explain these things to my son and how they were all leading back to the Bible. He was willing to listen. My advice is to give them the information and let them make there own decisions as they get older.This is what I'm doing with my son. I understand this will take time as they are still very young. It has taken me 41 years. I'm sure a lot of people in here will disagree with my advice but this is the path I am taking. I hope it helps or at least lets you know you are not alone with what you are experiencing.

Good luck and God bless.

I agree with you, and thank you for taking the time to share your story with me. I think slowly introducing it to them is best. They will not understand it all at first, it is overwhelming enough for me yet alone a child. I do want them to make their own decisions....we are homeschooling our children but with an online public school...we are also going to be including some purchased material to work with as well from alpha omega. Blessings to you and your family

 

[okiemom79]

 

[okiemom79]

Thanks for your input ObeyGODCommandments

 

[Jonny Doe]

I believe creating a culture of God in the household, by making prayers a family ritual, attending church faithfully, and using Biblically-governing principles to handle life matters is what's going to help your child.

Praying, praying, praying is so very important; i can't stress that enough. Your intuition is correct that you do have to address your heart if you want to raise your child to have faith in Jesus. The concept of God isn't some man-created idea that is going to cause your child to fear doing wrong or learn good ethics. God is real, and He desires your love. Everything else will follow. Please try not to have a heart that's inclined to trick your child into believing a supernatural big guy in the sky who invented life. Pray that you grow sincerity, and for the desire to know Him more and better. When you know Him, know His life, how He came to earth to fulfill the law and how His ultimate sacrifice became our gift of salvation, you can't help but fall in love with the Savior.

I can relate to the issue you may be experience. My faith goes through peaks, valleys, and seems like it's more flat-lining than skyrocketing up. If there's one connection i can see in myself when my faith is at it's weakest, it's that i distance myself from Him, and forget that i'm an adopted child of God. I lose sense of my identity, and get carried away by the tides of a Godless life. Knowing God takes effort; it's not going to come to you or me by falling on our laps. You have to find the motivation to do that. If your motivation is to be united with our Heavenly Father someday and be with your child after this life passes, i'd say that love is your impetus. I'd say that's a pretty good reason to press yourself to start knowing Him by reading the Bible, getting active with other believers, praying, reading spiritual literature. Anything that is going to whet your appetite.

The next time you pray, I encourage you to pray sincerely, pray with your husband about it. Make the resolved decision to follow Christ and I promise you, you won't be disappointed.

 

[tturt]

Tell them how God created humans and the world (Gen1 - 2:3). They might enjoy this The Creation - Children's Bible Stories - YouTube Later you could read The Bible along with the video - that's what we want. (I didn't create the video or anything just checked it against Scripture).

Kids love music JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN - YouTube .

I'll try to post more later.

 

[Theofane]

How do I teach a child that God is real...

To the OP:

How were you taught about God as a child? What teaching methods left an impression on your young mind? Of course, imbueing a child with faith in God isn't like teaching him geography or the multiplication tables. After the Sunday School foundation is laid by adults, some kids "find" God and welcome Him into their hearts, allowing faith to blossom there. And then there are other kids for whom none of the Sunday School training made a difference. These kids never connected with God. They grow up to become atheists with a generic Christian background.

And there seems to be nothing we can do about that.

 

[okiemom79]

To the OP:

How were you taught about God as a child? What teaching methods left an impression on your young mind?

I was not raised in a religious household. So I was not taught anything about God while growing up. It was not until I was a young teen that I started wondering about God and what happens when we die. I did not talk about this with anyone and pretty much took to Deism on my own. I have struggled for years...it was not until this year that I started attending church and actually accepted Christ and started reading the Bible.

 

[Peripatetic]

One thing that helped with my kids was to do a real/not real quiz with my kids around the time that they figured out the truth about Santa. I put a bunch of words up on a white board. For example: Princess, God, Santa Clause, Zebra, Easter Bunny, rocket ship, angel, unicorn, rainbow, etc.

It was an important time to help them understand that some things that seemed real to them are just stories, and other stories that they've heard are real. At a young age, they usually trust you.

When they get older, it's probably best to be straight about it: if we could prove that God exists, faith would be unnecessary... everyone would believe! So once you concede that point, the obvious question is, "Then why do you have faith in the God of the Bible and not some other god? You can't prove them either!" The real answer is God-given faith, but you can also back it up with some logic and facts.

1. Logic and the laws of physics tell us that beings and things can't create themselves without something creating them first. Even if it could, chaos makes things less organized, so the odds of the Universe and the complex organisms on Earth forming by random chance are nearly infinitely against.

2. There is non-Biblical, non-Christian historical evidence of the following: Jesus did exist and was crucified; His disciples were dejected, defeated, hiding, and scared for their lives; many people claimed to have encountered a resurrected Jesus; and the disciples suddenly became bold and risked death to spread the word of Jesus. Either Jesus rose from the dead, or hundreds of people tricked by an insanely elaborate hoax perpetrated by a lot of players (including some of the Romans).

3. Christianity goes against many worldly norms, yet it is still bigger than any other religion. Something so foreign and dangerous in ancient times should have died out as a cult by the first century.

4. The Christian Bible has been studied more than any book in history and it stands up exceptionally well for something 2,000 years old. The more I study it, the more amazed I am at the wisdom and complexity, yet the basics can be understood by anyone.

5. Millions of people have experienced life-altering events and changes related to their Christian faith. They will tell you that they can't explain how... they just know God exists.

None of this absolutely proves the existence of God, but it certainly makes a reasonable case.

 

[okiemom79]

One thing that helped with my kids was to do a real/not real quiz with my kids around the time that they figured out the truth about Santa. I put a bunch of words up on a white board. For example: Princess, God, Santa Clause, Zebra, Easter Bunny, rocket ship, angel, unicorn, rainbow, etc.

It was an important time to help them understand that some things that seemed real to them are just stories, and other stories that they've heard are real. At a young age, they usually trust you.

When they get older, it's probably best to be straight about it: if we could prove that God exists, faith would be unnecessary... everyone would believe! So once you concede that point, the obvious question is, "Then why do you have faith in the God of the Bible and not some other god? You can't prove them either!" The real answer is God-given faith, but you can also back it up with some logic and facts.

1. Logic and the laws of physics tell us that beings and things can't create themselves without something creating them first. Even if it could, chaos makes things less organized, so the odds of the Universe and the complex organisms on Earth forming by random chance are nearly infinitely against.

2. There is non-Biblical, non-Christian historical evidence of the following: Jesus did exist and was crucified; His disciples were dejected, defeated, hiding, and scared for their lives; many people claimed to have encountered a resurrected Jesus; and the disciples suddenly became bold and risked death to spread the word of Jesus. Either Jesus rose from the dead, or hundreds of people tricked by an insanely elaborate hoax perpetrated by a lot of players (including some of the Romans).

3. Christianity goes against many worldly norms, yet it is still bigger than any other religion. Something so foreign and dangerous in ancient times should have died out as a cult by the first century.

4. The Christian Bible has been studied more than any book in history and it stands up exceptionally well for something 2,000 years old. The more I study it, the more amazed I am at the wisdom and complexity, yet the basics can be understood by anyone.

5. Millions of people have experienced life-altering events and changes related to their Christian faith. They will tell you that they can't explain how... they just know God exists.

None of this absolutely proves the existence of God, but it certainly makes a reasonable case.

I am going to print this out and put it in my folder I will soon have for my children (and myself) about God, Jesus, the bible, and the arguments for them. Thank you for this wonderful post.

 

[TheGuide]

I suggest you keep it real, and age sensitive. For example, when you tell your child about Adam and Eve, explain how God specifically told Adam not to eat from a particular fruit tree (and don't say it's an apple, we don't know what fruit it was.) Let the child know that Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit anyway. Even though he was tricked into eating the fruit he knew what God told him to do. So what happened? Adam and Eve now belonged to the evil trickster. So they had to leave the beautiful garden God had made for them and live in the woods with scary beasts (like lions and bears). In that is a good lesson for children when their peers try to get them to do something you told them not to.

Have your child memorize a Psalm like the 23rd Psalm or one that appeals to you. That will help them with their faith.

As you learn more you can share more, but whatever you do don't give them the spill most of us received while growing up. Like how the wise men found baby Jesus in a manger. If he had been that easy to find then Herod would've sent his soldiers to kill him. Go by what the Bible says and always confirm whatever anybody tells you it says for yourself, including your pastor. If they can't show it to you in the Bible then do your own research.

Children grow into intelligent young people who are grossly disappointed to learn Santa Clause is a myth. With that imprint on their minds they can be swayed away from God. Like when they ask about dinosaurs. Bad Biblical teaching has so many Christians locked on stupid and that's exactly why children can be lead astray.

About the Creation story, the very first verse of the Bible tells us that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." In essence, that is the beginning and the end of the Creation story. There is evidence that shows us this planet is millions of years old with dinosaur and humanoid bones still being unearthed, all pre-dating Adam & Eve. I heard all kinds of rationals from adults trying to tell me how the earth is only six-thousand-plus years old. The only proof Bible scholars have given us is that Adam & Eve were created at the beginning of that six-thousand year time frame, so logic tells me that God spent six days getting this planet ready for life once more, and on the seventh day, as stated in Genesis, He rested. Who knows how often this planet has been occupied and all life wiped out.

Just keep it real when talking to your children. As an example you can tell the child that, in the beginning, God created the sky, sun, moon and earth. But something must've happened because the earth was damaged-looking and the sun wasn't getting through. So God spent six days rebuilding the earth then he created all the animals and Adam and Eve.

 

[Wendy Babiak]

Pray and trust that God will find a way.

 

[Emmy]

Dear okiemom79. Children are always best taught by example. While they are too young to think for themselves, they will believe you, as soon as they start thinking their own thoughts, it would be very sad for them to find out, that they have been told fairy-tales. Make it easy to understand and do it in a clean and proper way, as children get older, they will ask more. Always tell them with love and easy to digest. Children will learn as they get older, in school and from their mates. Always be a gentle beacon of love and truth.
I say this with love, okiemom. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[thesunisout]

Hello all. I am a new Christian and suffer with my own doubts from time to time so this question is one that has been bothering me for awhile. I have been searching for answers to this thing we call life, God and Christ for about a year. I will not go into great detail about my past in this post unless ppl truly would like to know. I have openly discussed it with others in other posts from Deism to Agnostic to Christian to Agnostic to Seeker...I have been on this roller coaster since I can remember. Anyway- my husband and I have decided not to have our children believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny, or any of that. We still do cookies and milk for Daddy, and Easter baskets but WE are the ones who are given the credit not some fairy tale.
My husband has a strong faith in God and here I am wanting to be Christian and follow Christ but find myself questioning so much. I am wondering how on Earth I can begin to teach my children the God is real when I suffer from doubts? Many will say I need to get right with myself and my walk with Christ and become a true believer....would be AWESOME! But what if that does not happen? I would rather my kids live as if there is a God and 'find' out there isn't then to live as if there is not a God and find out there is. I know- so clique but it's how I feel.
For those that have young children what are your suggestions in teaching a child about God? Do we tell them that there are many who believe and many who do not? I know if I do that my kids will ask why, what do I say then? My kids are 5,3, and 1 so they are too young to grasp some things. Anyway-thanks to all those who may reply.

You don't want to teach them from a position of doubt. Doubt should not even be entering into the equation here. You need to teach them about God confidently, as an authority on the subject. Teach them that way even if you don't feel it. Neither is it something you need to argue with them about. They're young children and will naturally believe what you are telling them about the Lord. What you need to do is give them the firm foundation that they need to understand who God is.

Foremost, for a child, they need to understand that they are a special creation of God, and that He loves them very much, and has a wonderful plan for their lives. They need to understand that He created this world, and that one day they will get to be with God in Heaven. They need to understand about who Jesus is, and that He will always be with them. That they always have a friend in God who they can count upon no matter what happens to them.

Don't worry about the logical arguments and what not. You can teach your children about comparative religion and philosophical argumentation later on. Right now, they just need to have planted within them the seeds to give them a simple faith in a loving God. Those seeds will grow, and then you will find that your children will be teaching you as well. Just nurture their faith and give them a confidence in God, knowing always that they can trust Him to take of them. Teach them what the bible says and do activities with them which will help them understand it.

I think this book will help:

Amazon.com: Gently Lead: How to Teach Your Children about God While Finding Out for Yourself (9780824517335): Polly B. Berends: Books

As in all things, stay in prayer with God and ask Him to lead you. He will give you the wisdom you need to lead your children to a healthy and beautiful relationship with our Lord and Savior.

 

[okiemom79]

You don't want to teach them from a position of doubt. Doubt should not even be entering into the equation here. You need to teach them about God confidently, as an authority on the subject. Teach them that way even if you don't feel it. Neither is it something you need to argue with them about. They're young children and will naturally believe what you are telling them about the Lord. What you need to do is give them the firm foundation that they need to understand who God is.

Foremost, for a child, they need to understand that they are a special creation of God, and that He loves them very much, and has a wonderful plan for their lives. They need to understand that He created this world, and that one day they will get to be with God in Heaven. They need to understand about who Jesus is, and that He will always be with them. That they always have a friend in God who they can count upon no matter what happens to them.

Don't worry about the logical arguments and what not. You can teach your children about comparative religion and philosophical argumentation later on. Right now, they just need to have planted within them the seeds to give them a simple faith in a loving God. Those seeds will grow, and then you will find that your children will be teaching you as well. Just nurture their faith and give them a confidence in God, knowing always that they can trust Him to take of them. Teach them what the bible says and do activities with them which will help them understand it.

I think this book will help:

Amazon.com: Gently Lead: How to Teach Your Children about God While Finding Out for Yourself (9780824517335): Polly B. Berends: Books

As in all things, stay in prayer with God and ask Him to lead you. He will give you the wisdom you need to lead your children to a healthy and beautiful relationship with our Lord and Savior.

Thank you. I will check this book out.

 

[jpcedotal]

Vacation Bible schools are great places to introduce God to kids. Of course, children should be in church loooooooooong before they are old enough to go to vacation Bible school.

 

[asiyreh]

Lol this is a funny topic. We assume so many things in this world. Oki, what brought you to God? All those years you sat there denying him, and all the time you knew within your heart that he was real.

So let's look at that statement, how did you come to God?

Because you knew in your heart that he was real.

Do you see why I'm laughing? You don't have to teach your children God is real, they already know lol.


People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him bless them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
I tell you the truth; anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Mar 10:13-16



At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven Mat 18:1-5

Obi it's you who have been in the world too long, your children already know. They might not know that they know, but the seed is already there, your job is to nurture it, not to plant it.

So let's try to medicate your own doubt then. You'll get allot of people saying to you, belief in God is a matter of faith. I find this statement either very inspirational or very sad. I haven't worked out which one yet but I'll let you know if I do.

For me personally, I probably wouldn't be here with you bunch of crazies were I not absolutely sure of my faith in Christ.

So let's take a look at this logically then:
Let's consider for a moment the cosmological argument.

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

Do you see the inescapable logic here? Just read that again, it's so simple yet it's absolutely ironclad. I mean I could just erect a tombstone right here inscribing the words RIP atheism but let's continue for fun.
Furthermore this cause must an uncaused, beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, and unimaginably powerful.

Now this for example couldn’t be some type of energy/force for that too would need a cause, no it must match all the definitions we've given above because of similar defeaters .

It’s brings us to the only possible conclusion – an uncaused, beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, and unimaginably powerful personal Creator of the universe. There simply is no other alternative...

So how do atheists deal with this overwhelming argument? Well they claim the universe has always existed... lol

Now before I disprove this I might add that modern cosmology has already proven this claim to be false. The very model the atheists use to bash us with, is the big bang model which infers a beginning. Furthermore Arvind Borde, Alan Guth, and Alexander Vilenkin proved that any universe that is, on average, in a state of cosmic expansion cannot be eternal in the past but must have an absolute beginning.

But let’s just put the final nail in the coffin for fun.
Say I was to say to you - Oki I’ll give you a million dollars after an infinite amount of time.
You’d never get the million dollars would you?
No because you’d have to wait an infinite amount of time to get it.

Similarly we could not be here in this point in time, now... now.... now.... if there had been an infinite amount of time before now.

So what then are these “wise men” doing? Well just because you're highly intelligent doesn’t mean you have a lick of common sense. In fact if you know any intelligent people you’ve probably already realised this. What they’re doing is the pseudo - scientific equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears and shouting lalalalalala at the top of their voices. Lol

No... let me tell you Oki a belief in God is an infinitely more rational view of creation.

The bible actually predicted these “wise men” would be willing ignorant.

Let's look at that statement from 2 Peter - WILLFULLY IGNORANT is what he said they'd be. You know we could actually translate that as - stupid on purpose.

Well in conclusion I guess the bible was right again. Just like it was when it said... In the beginning... God created the heavens and the Earth. Genesis 101

 

[paul becke]

okiemom79, as regards your own desire to believe more strongly, just simply ask God for that. Many people have had God demonstrate his loving concern for them quite spectacularly. And why wouldn't he, at least, emphatically?

I believe young children can't hear enough about Jesus, but then comes the influence of the World in terms of peer-pressure - religion's a lot of superstition, etc. If your child says that other kids in his class say it's all a lot of superstition, say to him, "What would they know? Why they wouldn't know their backside from their elbow!" He'd probably laugh sand see the truth of it.