Nice
Bedtime theology with the 8 and 11 year-olds Waiting can make it hard to be nice. ( After dinner discussion ) Me: Well, everyone makes bad choices sometimes. Except Jesus. 11 yo: Even Jesus did! He ran away from his parents that one time. Me: Well, I guess that’s true, although he was in the temple. 8 yo: God made a bad choice when he sent those 10 Commandments. Me: The Ten Commandments? 8 yo: No, I mean those 10 pledges. Me: 10 plagues. 8 yo: Yeah that was mean. God could have asked nicely. Me: God did ask nicely and no one listened so I wonder if that's why God got more forceful. 8 yo: Yeah. I guess God was tired of being nice. I would’ve been tired of it, too. My children have really wrestled with the story of the 10 plagues visited upon the Egyptians (who were enslaving the Israelites) in the Old Testament story. It's a brutal story: Moses (whom God has sent) asks Pharaoh to let the people go free; each time Pharaoh refuses, God sends another plague - flies, dar...
