Sometimes it’s hard to get inside our kids’ heads. Other times, they grant us access and show their inner workings.
This morning my daughter asked, “Will we poop in heaven?”
Good question, I thought.
Thinking Critically about Heaven
I gave my best off-the-cuff answer.
“Well, we know we’ll get our physical bodies back. And that there’s food to eat in heaven. And if we poop out the stuff in our food we don’t need, maybe the food in heaven is only the stuff our bodies need, so there’s no junk for our bodies to get rid of.”
She thinks.
Then she asks, “What about pee?”
“Well, if we’ll be drinking from the river of life, so maybe that’s only what our bodies need, too—no junk to get rid of.”
I don’t bring up any possible symbolism or metaphor, because at 8-years-old, she definitely won’t be able to conceptualize that big about God. I should know. Last night she didn’t seem to understand that we can swim in the neighbor’s pool now and also go back later with the neighbors if they go. It’s not a one-or-the-other decision. It can be both-and. But she’s too wound up about it to clear her head for fresh consideration. We’re not going to consider any both-and with our just-waking brains at 7:05 am.
Critically Thinking About Bible Verses
She grabs her memory verse card from Vacation Bible School yesterday:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
She thinks.
“I don’t think this is right.”
“What do you mean?”
She reads me the card. I’m still not following.
“What do you mean ‘I think it’s not right’?”
“I just don’t think it’s right. Doesn’t God know everything?”
Kids and the Attributes of God
“Oh!” I say, “That’s a GREAT question.” And I beam, because she’s thinking critically about what someone is telling her the Bible says.
“Yes,” I tell her, “God does know everything. But He’s not asking because He doesn’t know the answer. He’s asking to get Isaiah thinking. He’s offering the Isaiah an opportunity, if he’s willing—an opportunity Isaiah didn’t know existed.”
She’s not getting it.
I continue.
“What about back in the garden? God asked Adam and Eve, ‘Did you eat the fruit?’ He already knew the answer. But He was giving them a chance to fess up. Instead they played the blame game.”
Now she gets it.
I keep going.
“How do you think it would’ve turned out if they said, ‘Yes! We ate it, and we’re so sorry!’?”
“Better.”
“You’re right. And God’s like a father. So, it’s kind of like when a mom sees her little kid next to the cookie jar with chocolate all over his face, and she asks, ‘Did you eat the cookie,’ and he has a chance to say ‘Yes! I’m sorry,’ or to lie and say ‘no.'”
I can see I’m beating a dead horse. She’s got it. So I leave her with:
“One of those answers brings the two closer together, and one of those answers keeps them separated.”
But the thing that stays with me? My daughter is showing that she’s critically thinking about what she’s being told is in the Bible. And about what she’s being told about God. THIS is a great day. THIS is the beginning of a budding theologian.
If you liked this post, check out our post on teaching kids literal and figurative language in the Bible.