explaining god to a 3 year old

SlyReaper said:
Care to elaborate? :)

Anyway if you read the rest of my post, you'd know I was agreeing with you anyway. Even the most intellectually rigorous scientist requires a certain amount of faith that his knowledge is accurate.
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BUT, simply by having that knowledge that his rules are in fact still just beliefs, rules out the possibility that they could be a true believer in God, as they would also then have to apply the same logic to their belief in God.

Certainly you could have a scientist who probably believes God exists and I have already said I would respect that, even if I didn't agree with it. But that's rarely the case as the very nature of believing in something that many have already admitted can never be proven requires blind faith, if a scientist applied the same logic to their scientific beliefs then all would accept the fact that every single rule and physical description they use in their calculations was definately correct, but they can't as every scientist knows all evidence has the possibility of being incorrect, no matter how compelling it is.

The two mindsets are mutually exclusive.
 
manic_man said:
BUT, simply by having that knowledge that his rules are in fact still just beliefs, rules out the possibility that they could be a true believer in God, as they would also then have to apply the same logic to their belief in God.

Certainly you could have a scientist who probably believes God exists and I have already said I would respect that, even if I didn't agree with it. But that's rarely the case as the very nature of believing in something that many have already admitted can never be proven requires blind faith, if a scientist applied the same logic to their scientific beliefs then all would accept the fact that every single rule and physical description they use in their calculations was definately correct, but they can't as every scientist knows all evidence has the possibility of being incorrect, no matter how compelling it is.

The two mindsets are mutually exclusive.
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I don't follow your logic there.
 
RDM said:
Easy, Genesis is allegorical and not a literal account of creation.
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Who's to decide which parts of the bible are allegory and which aren't? I could say that the bible in it's entirety is allegory.

How can one chose to believe that Genesis is allegory, without conceding that the rest of the bible cannot be taken as factual?

With this argument in mind, how can one call themselves a believer in the christian faith, when they believe that the only prose may be a fallacy?
 
Something about what to tell his little one about God = derailment = religion & science :)

Personally, I'd tell my own child what I believe, but leave it open ended and offer alternative points of view (School, Church, Mosque, whatever). Let them make their mind up but 3 years old is a little young to go full on as there are many questions and answers, some of which would be a little wasted on their level of understanding.
 
Tell him he is a big magic man in the sky that has lived forever and makes things out of dust and people ribs. Then tell him that if he doesn't believe that he is going to rot and burn in hell for a miserable eternity.
 
SlyReaper said:
I don't follow your logic there.
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Ok,

As a scientist, I believe that the rules I base my work on are probably correct, however I 100% accept that every single one of them could be wrong. They probably arn't, but they could be.

As a true believer in God, I would have to accept that God exists, end of story.

If I applied the scientific process to a belief in God and somehow came to the conclusion that the evidence for its existence was overwhelming, i would HAVE to then form a belief in God that has the ever present scientific caveat of "but this may not be true".

Therefore the mindset of a scientist is not compatible with the mindset of a true believer.

A scientist COULD have a more open mindset than myself in that they could claim they believe in God until it is disproved, this is now a totally new mindset and one that I personally cannot get on board with.

My reasoning (aside from the fact I find no evidence for Gods existence to be compelling) would go along the lines of, even if God did exist, this can never be proven, by all rights God would want me to live a good and productive life, if I am also required to worship them for my eternal salvation then I want nothing to do with said God. If me living by my own personal code of being just and honest whenever possible, was not enough, coupled with the fact I will never know to within even a reasonable degree of accuracy of its existence, means that my conclusion would always be "why bother allowing the unlikely possibility of the existence of God influence anything I do."
 
God doesn't exist, religion is naive/ridiciolus. Id tell him about general relativity, quantum mechanics and string theory.
 
To the OP; I'd honestly say the most well thought, well placed and correct thing to do is not teach him anything religion related and let him find faith in his own time and place, after all if god works in the ways some of you believe then he should have his own choice not "tricked" or "coming on to a forum asking for other ways to make your son believe something when stating he's already skeptical at 3!".

It's cruel to keep trying.
 
Go out and buy him the book 'The Gods Delusion' by Richard Dawkins and read it to him :D

Otherwise he'll watch Jurassic Park and believe that dinosaurs are 6000 years old, that humans are a perfect specimen and we have dominance over everything on Earth....oh and Snakes can talk.
 
EffBee said:
I don't think you should attempt to explain the concept of what a god is to a very young child.

Your danger is that you will quickly get into the dodgy area of where gods live, and don't live. These can be horrible places and can be be a disturbing concept for a three year old.

I think you should let the concept of gods gradually build in the young mind over a period of years as the child is exposed to different aspects of religions.

If you want to indoctrinate your sprogs into a particular faith which you have every right to as a parent, then I am sure that there a many books available on the subject from good book shops - with very simple language and loads of pictures.
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I wasn't trying to quote bible passages to him my wife has bought several books for his age and this was one of them. The other one about the old testament will never be read to my son by me as it's full of death, savage beatings, mass murder etc all of which cannot be explained and would most definitely harm a 3-5 year old.
 
semi-pro waster said:
I'd steer clear of the Old Testament at least initially unless he's got an interest in a vengeful God, fire and brimstone type stuff.
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Lie and give them the niceties till you get them hooked and believing it, then whack em with the eternal damnation and fire.

Although if you do get him believing in god etc, you better hope he doesn't turn out gay or that will really **** his head up. How exactly do you cope with that you've been tought something is right from the age of 4 then find yourself completly opposed to it with the belif that it is you that is "wrong" and evil.
 
Either don't do it at all and let him make his own mind up. :)

Or:
Wait a year and send him to a Christian school at 4, we had to pray at the start and end of every day etc in primary school. Let the teachers do the work :).

Anyways iirc I was just read the bible, as story's, starting from Genesis... Simply tell him the story about Adam and Eve, and continue through the old testament, 1 story a day or so.

Even though I was believing up to about 12 or 13, when I went to secondary school and had things like biology and physics and learned what the stupid pope was up to (no offense intended, but his ideas just clash with mine) and said etc I stopped believing... There's no harm in making them believe in god in their early years imo, learns them a bit about history as well I guess.
 
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yes but adam and eve had two sons then the questions start. How can you possibly teach this stuff? Snakes that can talk nudity, cain trying to kill able, god killing all living things apart from noah, joesph behing beaten up by his brothers and left to die for his coat. Man you want to read these stories.

I haven't read it yet but can imagine the questions.

1) Can snakes really talk?
no
2) then the snake turns in to the devil what is the devil?

3) why did joesphs brothers try to kill him for his coat?

4) did cain try to kill able (vice versa?)

5) why did god kill everyone apart from noah?

The god question is fairly easy in comparison hehe.
 
I think it would be fair to say that I don't have a good way of explaining God to your young son, i'm only 25 myself and very much not a parent so saying that I do would most definately be hypocritical.

However looking back to when I was a child, my parents offered me no leads in terms of religion, neither did any family members. I was subjected to church as I went to a catholic and then a CoE primary school and attending a scout group. Nothing I ever experienced led me to think believing in a God was a good idea.

So really, i think you need to find a way to satisfy his curiosity now and then make your own beliefs known to him as he grows up but ensure he knows they are yours and that people having different beliefs is entirely correct. Chances are, if his parents are believers then so he will be for a good portion of his childhood. However this choice must be his own.

The key is to produce a child who thinks for themself, if this means that initially they believe in a God (or do so all their life) then this is fine, I would say you have done a good job as a parent. If however a child is brought up to follow and never think for themself, there is going to be an issue as they get older.

Treat the God in his stories as just that, explain in the story God is a friend to all and Jesus's father. Offer a literal interpretation. For now, it will be enough I would have thought. He will be exposed to other peoples beliefs and thought processes as he gets older, and will form his own, probably ever changing, opinion based on those experiences.
 
He's a kid, he believes Santa Claus is real too, kids will easily accept things.

Simply tell him that:

1) Can snakes really talk?
no
2) then the snake turns in to the devil what is the devil?

3) why did joesphs brothers try to kill him for his coat?

4) did cain try to kill able (vice versa?)

5) why did god kill everyone apart from noah?
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1) yep ( it's a story, besdies, kids won't ask such questions such as ''can the snake really talk'')
2) The Devil was inside the snake/took the shape of the snake
3) Jalous
4) Can't remember the cain and abel story lol, I remember the names but not much more :D, gotta read up on the bible during toilet visits again I guess :D.
5) He was disappointed in man and wanted a clean start
 
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