C
chandler
Guest
“Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.”
What does this mean?
What does this mean?
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U
Unfinished
Guest
well, I always took it to mean that little children have faith in what they are taught.
For example, when your parents told you about Santa when you were young, did you accept it and thank him for the presents? Or did you go “Who is this Santa guy my parents are trying to tell me about? Prove to me that there is a Santa”
Not that understanding is bad, but children have so much faith in Santa that sometimes they cry when they find out it isn’t true.
Kinda get what I am saying?
It is just that pure belief that only the Holy Spirit can muster in your heart.
For example, when your parents told you about Santa when you were young, did you accept it and thank him for the presents? Or did you go “Who is this Santa guy my parents are trying to tell me about? Prove to me that there is a Santa”
Not that understanding is bad, but children have so much faith in Santa that sometimes they cry when they find out it isn’t true.
Kinda get what I am saying?
It is just that pure belief that only the Holy Spirit can muster in your heart.
T
tjmiller
Guest
Yes, and children not only are confident and trusting toward their parents, but also dependent upon them for nurturing love, education, and all of the means of living! Ideally, a child also pleases her parents, not out of servile fear of punishment for misdeeds, but out of filial love, and the fear of disappointing the ones whom she knows love her so much. Children don’t take themselves too seriously.
Ideally, children are also willing to learn, accepting of help and correction, and respectfully obedient.
My 10 year-old is still working on that one…
We must maintain all of these attributes in relation to our Father in Heaven.
The “Little Way of Spiritual Childhood” of St. Therese of the Child Jesus best exemplifies them
Ideally, children are also willing to learn, accepting of help and correction, and respectfully obedient.
My 10 year-old is still working on that one…
We must maintain all of these attributes in relation to our Father in Heaven.
The “Little Way of Spiritual Childhood” of St. Therese of the Child Jesus best exemplifies them
A
asteroid
Guest
Here’s what it doesn’t mean:
A 16th century Anabaptist group interpreted this and worked it out practically. When they walked through the streets they would roll hoops like the children did.
A church I know of in Argentina interprets it even more literally. In their services the adults wear nappies.
I sincerely wish that was false.
A 16th century Anabaptist group interpreted this and worked it out practically. When they walked through the streets they would roll hoops like the children did.
A church I know of in Argentina interprets it even more literally. In their services the adults wear nappies.
I sincerely wish that was false.
B
bauerice
Guest
Just a thought. I look at my grandbabies and they look back in pure love and trust. They have friends of all colors and don’t notice the difference. They have friends that are rich and poor and they don’t notice any difference. When I approach they raise their arms up and ask me to pick them up.
S
silverwings_88
Guest
**I have always looked at it from a little psychological perspective.
Children have the amazing ability to learn almost anything, especially as babies because of the amount of neurological connections within the brain, that enable them to learn about almost anything. They have a great zeal of energy, they can imitate well, and that they possess a carefree nature of not caring for the future but for the present. They are brightly intelligent, but simple in their exegesis.
Adults forget that children can be the most intelligent beings in the world, because of their inherent quickness of absorbing information by memory.
It’s when we grow and become more enraptured into a world of complexity, where we forget about the aesthetics of living simply in the grace of Christ, and Jesus was there to remind us of it. The sweetness of never thinking of dying, that one would live in the same moment always, is the mind of a child. And unless we adopt such an attitude, we will never inherit the kingdom of Heaven.
And that’s what I get out of that single verse! ^__^**
Children have the amazing ability to learn almost anything, especially as babies because of the amount of neurological connections within the brain, that enable them to learn about almost anything. They have a great zeal of energy, they can imitate well, and that they possess a carefree nature of not caring for the future but for the present. They are brightly intelligent, but simple in their exegesis.
Adults forget that children can be the most intelligent beings in the world, because of their inherent quickness of absorbing information by memory.
It’s when we grow and become more enraptured into a world of complexity, where we forget about the aesthetics of living simply in the grace of Christ, and Jesus was there to remind us of it. The sweetness of never thinking of dying, that one would live in the same moment always, is the mind of a child. And unless we adopt such an attitude, we will never inherit the kingdom of Heaven.
And that’s what I get out of that single verse! ^__^**
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