American Christianity, Family, General Stuff

So, what did I tell Sydney?

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After writing the post I did on whether or not Christians should be celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, one reader left a comment asking me what I finally told my 8-year old daughter, Sydney, when she asked me why the crowds were celebrating someone dying when someone dying is usually sad.

These are the times that parents feel like idiots, and we find ourselves looking into the sweet faces of our children, knowing that the words that are about to come out of our mouths will be sorely inadequate.  So, I took a deep breath and gave it my best “I’ve only had 2 cups of coffee” answer.

I kept it as simple as I could make it, and asked her if she would be sad when satan gets thrown into the lake of fire, and she said no.  “Well, Sydney.  This man was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, so while he wasn’t satan, he did seem to have a lot of satan in him.”

It didn’t solve all the questions that I’m sure she had about what is admittedly a confusing issue, but it was an attempt.  The more important issue, I told her, was that we live our lives in such a way that people won’t dance in the streets when we die.

I’d love to hear from you.  What would you have said?

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May 4, 2011by Paul Jenkins
Written by Paul Jenkins
Paul Jenkins is lead pastor of The Gathering, a community church located in beautiful downtown Albemarle, North Carolina. He's the author of God is My Air Traffic Controller and My Name's Not Lou. Paul is passionate about his wife, his 3 children, running, reading, coaching, leading people who are following Jesus, Swedish Fish and the Carolina Panthers.