Sunday School

[Husar]

What surprises me though, you allow your 6 year old to play Left4Dead?

When the zombies come they won't go easy on him just because he lacks the proper training or just because he is 6. as a good parent, Lemur prepares his son for the eventuality.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

With Christmas, you should have told them that the 24th December is the first day when the light begins to return after the Solstice, so it's symbolic of Jesus.

[Lemur]

What surprises me though, you allow your 6 year old to play Left4Dead?

You forget, I have two little lemurs. So maybe it's the three-year-old girl who's gibbing zombies. Didn't think of that, now didja?

With my boy, I have a simple rule which seems to work—if it gives him bad dreams or upsets him, he's not allowed to do it anymore. So no Goosebumps shows, no scary movies, no playing with the two mean boys who live five houses over. But strangely, L4D does not give him bad dreams, and he loves it. So I let him play it sometimes.

I AM A TERRIBLE FATHER!

You could've just said "Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday".

I don't know if that would have flown. His direct question was, "Is Christmas Jesus' birthday?" And I'm on something of a personal crusade to not lie to my kids, so saying that's when we celebrate would have prompted more questions, possibly forcing me into the awkward position of explaining Sol Invictus, which I really didn't want to do. And don't worry, we got through the definition of "tradition" just fine, I omitted that part 'cause I figured my story had already grown long enough.

[KukriKhan]

You forget, I have two little lemurs. So maybe it's the three-year-old girl who's gibbing zombies. Didn't think of that, now didja?

With my boy, I have a simple rule which seems to work—if it gives him bad dreams or upsets him, he's not allowed to do it anymore. So no Goosebumps shows, no scary movies, no playing with the two mean boys who live five houses over. But strangely, L4D does not give him bad dreams, and he loves it. So I let him play it sometimes.

I AM A TERRIBLE FATHER!

LOL, Father of the Year, rather.

Moms teach about relationships. Dads teach about culture and the wider world (oh, and motors). That's my opinion.

Wifey #1 and I took our 2 daughters on a "religions of the world" tour in the 70's, visiting the wide variety of churches, temples, mosques and ceremonies available in that ultimate melting pot, Hawai'i (where I was stationed, then). They got a nodding acquaintance with a broad swathe of beliefs, stories, myths, and rituals.

Now in their 30's, one chose evangenical christianity, and the other is an atheist. I don't know if that course was best, or even good. It's just the approach I took.

[Andres]

SFTS already said what I wanted to say.

My parents let me watch Shogun at the age of 10. Apart from feeling the need to decapacitate people, it didn't cause any harm.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Samurai Waki]

I wouldn't be opposed to sending my kid to CS Sunday School. Whether you think it will be in their best interest or not, your kids are going to eventually develop opinions of their own on religion and spirituality. I always liked going to Catholic School every Wednesday it gave me the chance to hang out with friends, I didn't often see out of regular school, and it's not like the nun would ever teach us strict catholic theology, we mostly talked about kindess, compassion, Jesus, colored in pictures of poorly drawn bible scenes, and made fart jokes much to the girls ire. It had very little bearing on what I thought of religion later on in life. All in all, fond memories.

[Beskar]

You forget, I have two little lemurs. So maybe it's the three-year-old girl who's gibbing zombies. Didn't think of that, now didja?

With my boy, I have a simple rule which seems to work—if it gives him bad dreams or upsets him, he's not allowed to do it anymore. So no Goosebumps shows, no scary movies, no playing with the two mean boys who live five houses over. But strangely, L4D does not give him bad dreams, and he loves it. So I let him play it sometimes.

I AM A TERRIBLE FATHER!

Hah, admittedly, I thought your son might have been older when I seen you mention about how he loves Left4Dead, so no, I didn't even know you have a little girl lemuring either who likes to gibb zombies too.

However, I used to love Goosebumps books and shows when I was a kid, even watched the theatre play version as well.

Returning to more on topic, I believe you should allow your child to know all the facts, admittedly, this is what my parents did to me about everything. They didn't try lies or misinformation, they simply answered truthfully. I used to be the kid in Sunday School who used to get all the answers/knew the answers in the Bible Quizzes. It was during church I saw how two-faced people were being and hypocrites, which was a major turn off, how can those who devote themselves and claim to be devoted, were so bad as human beings? (in defence of those who might be labelled by association, there were a few of the very kind and generous very holy ones there too.)

Also, there is the fact there is no way to actually prove there is a god and that there are 2000 odd faiths believing from Xenu, to Harem of Virgins, Sol Invictus and the River God (who was a hippo).

[Lemur]

However, I used to love Goosebumps books and shows when I was a kid, even watched the theatre play version as well.

Yeah, I asked my boy lemur about that, why he's fine with L4D but Goosebumps gives him nightmares. His explanation: "In Goosebumps it's kids, and they don't know how to fight back. That scares me. But Left 4 Dead is grown-ups and they know how to fight, so it's okay."

Go figure.

As for the OP, Strike makes a persuasive argument, but you can't imagine how wimpy I am about my mom. What's worse, she's fully aware of my unorthodox beliefs, and knows that I wouldn't be sending the kids to the Episcopal Sunday School out of a desire to see them converted. The jig would be up.

That's the problem; she really is orthodox, at least as much as one can be with CS. She's the sort of I-believe-every-word-of-my-faith-literally person that Kadgar describes. Which creates a bit of tension over religious matters.

I see Christianity as my family's tradition, as a source of inspiration and comfort, and as a profound and moving philosophy. She sees it as the literal truth. Therein lies the rub. By her lights, I'm something of an unbeliever. Hrm.

Must ponder this more.

[Gregoshi]

His explanation: "In Goosebumps it's kids, and they don't know how to fight back. That scares me. But Left 4 Dead is grown-ups and they know how to fight, so it's okay."

Six years old, eh? I suppose he wants a Jagwah for Christmas too...

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Say that Christmas is the official birthday of Jesus just like the Queen has an official birthday. It isn't actually the day they were born, but it is the day we celebrate. Since he is so young, you can use the example of some of his friends moving their birthday parties to the weekend because it would be difficult to have one during school hours, or something.

[drone]

Say that Christmas is the official birthday of Jesus just like the Queen has an official birthday. It isn't actually the day they were born, but it is the day we celebrate. Since he is so young, you can use the example of some of his friends moving their birthday parties to the weekend because it would be difficult to have one during school hours, or something.

No, it would be better to explain that March 25th is the Annunciation and thus the conception of Christ. Therefore, given a 9 month gestation period, Jesus would have been born on December 25th, so yes, Christmas is Jesus' birthday.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And the next question from the little lemur will be, "What's conception and gestation?"

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

No, it would be better to explain that March 25th is the Annunciation and thus the conception of Christ. Therefore, given a 9 month gestation period, Jesus would have been born on December 25th, so yes, Christmas is Jesus' birthday.

Yes, I was trying to incorporate Lemur's beliefs into my post, I didn't say I necessarily agreed with them.

[drone]

Yes, I was trying to incorporate Lemur's beliefs into my post, I didn't say I necessarily agreed with them.

Whenever you can incorporate the birds and bees with religion when speaking to a child, you should.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

No, it would be better to explain that March 25th is the Annunciation and thus the conception of Christ. Therefore, given a 9 month gestation period, Jesus would have been born on December 25th, so yes, Christmas is Jesus' birthday.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And the next question from the little lemur will be, "What's conception and gestation?"

Yes, but that doesn't actually address the issue, because Jesus was probably born in the Autumn (there are astrological indications of this).

Ultimately, the early Church did not know when most Saints were born, only when they died. The same logic can be applied to Jesus, the precise date of his birth is irrelevant, because it is his death and ressurection that matter.

[Beskar]

the precise date of his birth is irrelevant, because it is his death and ressurection that matter.

Shame they can't make up their mind on the precise date of that either.

[a completely inoffensive name]

WHATEVER YOU DO, TELL THE TRUTH.
-Grover Cleveland

[Scienter]

You're the parent, send them to whatever Sunday school you feel is appropriate. Explain to your mom your reasons why as diplomatically as you can. It sounds like you know what you want to do, but don't want to hurt your mom. You said yourself that she's a great grandmother, and while your choice of Sunday school might disappoint her, it sounds like she really loves her grandkids and her relationship with them won't be harmed by this. If it's really important to her that your kids are exposed to CS, and you are okay with it, perhaps she could take them to a CS service or Sunday school class, and then you could spend time talking to your kids about the differences between the two (not in terms of right and wrong, but this could be an opportunity to teach them that there are different religions out there).

[Proletariat]

Shame they can't make up their mind on the precise date of that either.

Not really, since he said it was the death and resurrection that mattered, not the precise date.

[Beskar]

Not really, since he said it was the death and resurrection that mattered, not the precise date.

He was referring to the birthday.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

He was referring to the birthday.

...but not the Birthdate, which was Prole's point.

[ICantSpellDawg]

My parents are the most by-the-book Catholics you'll meet, but they've sent almost all of their kids to vacation bible school and pre-k - kindergarten at a non-aligned Baptist congregation. Knowledge of denominational differences doesn't hurt faith, just make sure that he understands where the theology differs and why you believe what you believe.

[Lemur]

Just thought I'd mention that the first song sung today was "The Crusader's Hymn," which, amongst many sins against melody and good sense, attempted to rhyme "tryst" with "Christ." Ugh.