Childish Answers to Childrens' Questions About the Faith

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Sometimes, my children will ask such simple questions that I may not redily have a simple answer for. Many times, I find myself fumbling when trying to put my thoughts into clear terms that my children can understand.

I thought that maybe we could share some of our responses that we’ve used when our children ask questions about our faith. Here are some recent questions my kids have asked me (and my attempts to answer).

Q. Who made God?
A. Nobody made God. He’s always been. If someone made God, then he wouldn’t be God… that someone else would be God (Yeah I know real clear to a 6 year old huh? I might as well go into St. Thomas Aquinas’ first cause argument).

Q. Why Did Jesus Have to Die on the Cross?
A. Jesus died on the cross so that we could be forgiven for our sins and be with him in Heaven someday.

(I think maybe I’ll use the analogy of a parent paying for a damaged window caused by their child. The child is incapable of repaying the debt, so the parent does.) Any good ones here?

**
Q. How do we now that Jesus is real and not a made up story by someone?**
A. Because there were lots of people who knew him when he was on earth and they wrote about him. Those people even died because they believed in Him. You wouldn’t die for something make-believe would you? Neither would they. Was your great grandpa a real man? How do you know? (This answer wasn’t totally acceptable to my 10 year old. But I think puting it in terms of great grandpa helped.)

Q. Will there be Minecraft in Heaven?
A. If Minecraft is necessary for your happiness in Heaven, then God will make it so. (Kids cheer loudly, then I re-emphesise “IF it’s necessary”)

Anyone else like to share theirs?
 
mmmike said:
Sometimes, my children will ask such simple questions that I may not redily have a simple answer for. Many times, I find myself fumbling when trying to put my thoughts into clear terms that my children can understand.

I thought that maybe we could share some of our responses that we’ve used when our children ask questions about our faith. Here are some recent questions my kids have asked me (and my attempts to answer).

Q. Who made God?
A. Nobody made God. He’s always been. If someone made God, then he wouldn’t be God… that someone else would be God (Yeah I know real clear to a 6 year old huh? I might as well go into St. Thomas Aquinas’ first cause argument).

Q. Why Did Jesus Have to Die on the Cross?
A. Jesus died on the cross so that we could be forgiven for our sins and be with him in Heaven someday.

(I think maybe I’ll use the analogy of a parent paying for a damaged window caused by their child. The child is incapable of repaying the debt, so the parent does.) Any good ones here?

**
Q. How do we now that Jesus is real and not a made up story by someone?**
A. Because there were lots of people who knew him when he was on earth and they wrote about him. Those people even died because they believed in Him. You wouldn’t die for something make-believe would you? Neither would they. Was your great grandpa a real man? How do you know? (This answer wasn’t totally acceptable to my 10 year old. But I think puting it in terms of great grandpa helped.)

Q. Will there be Minecraft in Heaven?
A. If Minecraft is necessary for your happiness in Heaven, then God will make it so. (Kids cheer loudly, then I re-emphesise “IF it’s necessary”)

Anyone else like to share theirs?
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I have 3 under 6 and I get hit with these kind of questions all the time. I like your answer to the last one. One time I tried telling my eldest that the Mass is Heaven on the Earth - the closest thing he does to what Heaven will be (I was trying to fire him up about Mass). That lead him to stop desiring Heaven :eek: I had some explaining to do that night.

I also had a great conversation one night with my son about Hell, in which I answered a bunch of questions like this. If you are interested, you can read it online:

A Hell of a Conversation with a Kindergartener
 
Morning,

Maybe instead of trying to explain in detail, start a conversation with them asking their views. It always amazes me how children see things so much more clearly than adults. And sometimes their answers are just too cute.

Q. Who made God?
Suggestion: No one made God – he has always been. But who is God to you? How does God show his love for you?

Q. Why Did Jesus Have to Die on the Cross?
Suggestion: Jesus died on the cross so that God could show us all how much he loved us, by letting Jesus taking all of our sins and forgiving us. All of the bad things that we do, if we confess to our mistakes and ask God to forgive us – he will. And we all do bad things at times even if we do not mean to. Do you know that God loves you so much that He will listen and forgive you if you are really sorry?

Bonus: And I would like you to tell me when you do something wrong so we can make it better together.

Q. How do we now that Jesus is real and not a made up story by someone?
Suggestion: Because there were lots of people who knew him when he was on earth and they wrote about him. Even the people that nailed Jesus to the Cross wrote about him. They made fun of him but they still told his story, and since they did not even like Him – they would not have made up stories about Him. Do you think someone would make up a story about someone that they did not like – if they were not real? Kind of silly to do that.

Q. Will there be Minecraft in Heaven?
A. If Minecraft is necessary for your happiness in Heaven, and then God will make it so. (Kids cheer loudly, then I re-emphasize “IF it’s necessary”) – I like your answer :). But what would you need to have in Heaven to be happy?

Winter
 
We explained Purgatory to my DSD (dear stepdaughter) by telling her it was akin to a “mudroom”. Just as you can’t go from playing in the mud to inside the house without getting hosed off and changing your clothes in the mudroom, you can’t go to Heaven with sin still on your soul until it’s been cleaned off.
 
My personal favorite: “awww…Mom. Do I hafta go to Church today? Pleeeeeease can I stay home?”

My response: “Sure you can stay home but it costs a week of no phone or T.V. or Nintendo. Deal?”

She usually got out the door after that.

Glenda

P.S. This reluctant sailor now hold a Masters in Theology! I think she caught on.
 
glendab said:
My personal favorite: “awww…Mom. Do I hafta go to Church today? Pleeeeeease can I stay home?”

My response: “Sure you can stay home but it costs a week of no phone or T.V. or Nintendo. Deal?”

She usually got out the door after that.

Glenda

P.S. This reluctant sailor now hold a Masters in Theology! I think she caught on.
Click to expand...
We have a 4-year-old granddaughter who, when she saw a picture of Jesus’ Sacred Heart on our wall, said “He got an oweey, didn’t He?”
 
Example of what NOT to say.

We were in Fatima at the procession where the Virgin Mary gets paraded around the sanctuary…

DD: Mommy was that the real virgin Mary.

Me: It is a statue of her.

DD: Is she dead

Me: Well the Virgin Mary lives forever

DD: Is she a zombie

Me: No honey, zombies are different.

DD: Am I going to die

Me: Everyone dies someday (as the words were exiting my mouth I knew it was a mistake but unfortunately one cannot retract words once they are airborne)

DD: Starts crying hysterically…“What kind of a mother are you? What kind of mother tells their child they are going to die”

She cried about this particular subject for about 3 months.

Years later, she now understands that Jesus died on the cross then he resurrected on Easter but that was a long long road.
 
Congratulations on have such good answers for you children’s childlike, not childish, question. Here is a hint to help with the question about whether Jesus was a real person. Read St. Mark’s account of the passion with your children. When you get to the part about Simon of Cyrene stop there. Ask your kids what they think is going on here. If they aren’t sure you might say that Simon was a farmer who took his kids with him when he went into town to run errands, just like their dad might take them to the hardware store when he need something for a project around the house. Ask your kids why St. Mark thought it was important to tell is about this, since everything in the scriptures was written for a reason. If your kids don’t know, you can suggest this explanation. St. Mark wrote his gospel a long time after Jesus died. When he wrote it, Rufus and Alexander were grown up. Some people think that the Rufus who St. Paul greets at the end of Romans might be Simon’s son. Anyway Rufus and Alexander were members of the Christian community. If anyone wanted to make sure that St. Mark was telling the story right, all they had to do was to ask they eye witnesses, Rufus and Alexander! The Fifth Station plaque in our parish in Virginia actually shows Rufus and Alexander as little boys with their father. I loved being able to show that to my young CCDS students.
 
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