Like a child....
At my Monday group this past week someone mentioned that the reason children were sensitive to things in the spiritual realm (angels, etc) was because they were 'pure'....I was thinking about that today and wondered what exactly that meant since I thought I was to believe that we're born into original sin and therefore no one is actually pure until they accept Jesus. And if kids are pure, how long are they 'pure?' What makes them 'impure'? Is there a magic age at which no matter what they have done they are suddenly considered impure? (I suppose the Jewish age of accountability at thirteen being an example). I have also heard the ridiculous notion that when a child first disobeys their parents (picking up the glass when told not to sort of thing) they have sinned...So, if that is true, then I guess that child would then be defiled and thus less sensitive to things in the spiritual realm....Seems really complicated. So as I was driving home today I was thinking about that and something occured to me...I'm not sure its a purity thing so much as an 'uncluttered' thing. Kids have not yet had their heads filled with all of the things that weigh us down and distract us as adults: jobs, money, education....confusing theologies that run rampant.
Jesus talks about us needing to return to a childlike faith. Well, kids don't understand or care much about eschatology, theories, scriptural apologetics, methods and practices of spiritual warfare and so forth. They do care about being loved, playing, making friends, exploring creation, being open to the reality of other realms.... and climbing into the lap of someone like Jesus who they innately sense as being the best of the best of anyone ever.
I'm aiming to be like that again....Let's go outside and play!!!!!!!!
Jesus talks about us needing to return to a childlike faith. Well, kids don't understand or care much about eschatology, theories, scriptural apologetics, methods and practices of spiritual warfare and so forth. They do care about being loved, playing, making friends, exploring creation, being open to the reality of other realms.... and climbing into the lap of someone like Jesus who they innately sense as being the best of the best of anyone ever.
I'm aiming to be like that again....Let's go outside and play!!!!!!!!
Comments
I've read somewhere or heard from someone that children do remember things from Heaven whence they came, up until age six. At that point there is a veil imposed on them in regard to the former spiritual world.
I guess that would explain partly why it is important that children see things done according to the spiritual, holy ways from the youngest point possible. That way they see and have practiced doing what is right, have processed it and it's written in the flesh to some extent, meaning the brain. Or so my theory/guess goes.
I wonder about the thought of genetic memory versus original sin. Some people say you inherit both talents and tendencies, like being good with animals and being an alcoholic, and they call it genetic memory.
So say you are a fetus, you've got all kinds of DNA and it's like you're programmed to do this, that and the other--you're allergic to broccoli, you get along well with others, yet have a tendency to run with scissors, in addition to having brown eyes and healthy cholesterol tendencies.
Your spirit remembers what God put it in your heart to do--obey the commandments, try to moderate your tendency to run with scissors and drink too much, don't abuse your talents.
Hopefully you got born into a situation where your siginificant others raise you to know about God. That would be nurture, and the genetic tendencies both good and bad, are nature of course. Hopefully your spirit remembers Heaven and your Maker, and works with nature and nurture accordingly.
~Lizard