17 Apr

A Child’s Belief: The Bible’s POV

Posted by Douglas in Atheism | Tags :, |

In my last post about my personal feelings on atheism, I wondered aloud whether a child’s acceptance of religion could be called faith. The Bible has this to say on the matter:
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
So a good Christian should be as a child to achieve an appropriate level of humility to enter heaven, right? Apparently not:
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways.
The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible has a couple more on both sides.  Good to see the usual level of consistency there :)
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3 Responses to this post.

  1. Posted by Blaise Alleyne on 17.04.09 at 5:43 pm

    J. R. R. Tolkien makes a distinction in his essay, On Fairy-Stories, between being childlike and childish. Matthew 18:2-4 is an example of the Christian idea that it is good to be childlike, whlie 1 Corinthians 13:11 is critical of those who are childish.

  2. Posted by Douglas Gresham on 17.04.09 at 5:43 pm

    Indeed so, although the question of which category a child’s acceptance of what adults tell them falls into is, I think, beyond the scope of this whimsy :)

  3. Posted by Steven Moussie on 17.04.09 at 5:43 pm

    When I was a child in a mining town in north west Queensland Australia around the 70’s I had only heard the bible stories every now and then. However as far back as I can remember I believed in God. I remember other kids telling me it was only stories and not real. but in me I knew this Jesus fellow was real, and a good guy…special even.
    As a child I knew wrong from right and Jesus felt right. So maybe it was a childs belief but in some way I think it had to be faith. My whole life in my wrong doing I never let go of that belief even though I stopped going to church or practice Christianity, if you can call it that. I will always believe…. like a kid.
    Not sure if this is relevant to your discussion or if I even make sense.

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