My Little Enlightened Thinker...

...is my soon-to-be teen son, don't you know. I wanted him to do a devotional with me this morning and he just wouldn't have it.
"Mitch, you will not eat until we're done."
"But mom, I don't want to. I want to read the newspaper instead."
"You will not eat until we're done. "
"I'll do it after. Just let me have a break first."
"You will not eat until we're done."
"But mom..."
"YOU. WILL. NOT. EAT. UNTIL. YOU'RE. DONE!"
"Why do I have to do this? I don't even believe in God!"
"Ok...I'm not going to force you to believe in God. That will do neither of us any good. So...care to tell me how it is you came to this conclusion? Was it a rational decision or an emotional one?"
"Aaaaah, mmmmooommmmm...."
"What facts did you consider, or is this a choice you're making based on wishful thinking?"
"Fine then. If God were real, He wouldn't let so and so do this or that. He would stop them."
"But God is just. If He intervenes on your behalf He'll have to intervene on everyone else's behalf...and what will that mean for you who wrongs others? Could it be then that God doesn't stop that person because He loves you too much? But let me ask you a question. Is it wrong for that person to do that thing to you?"
"Yeah."
"Why is it wrong?"
"Because it hurts me."
"Is it wrong to hurt people?"
"Yeah."
"Why is it wrong to hurt people?"
"Because we shouldn't hurt people."
"So...it's wrong to hurt people because hurting people is wrong??? But why is it wrong to hurt people?"
...uh....erm.... Oh, would you just leave me alone?!"
"Typical atheist." I told him. "I had that exact conversation with an atheist only is was about rape in the Bible that God never sanctioned. It ended the same way... something along the lines of 'Shut up, you stupid Christian.'" (He's giggling at this point).
Jesus would call this kicking against the pricks.
"I was just trying to get you worked up." says he.

Yeah, I know I could have talked about the suffering of the saints and how Jesus even warned us that suffering was not only possible, but iminent, but we weren't discussing Christianity. We were discussing the existence, or rather, non-existence of God, and this "God doesn't exist because if He did He wouldn't allow evil" is an incoherent argument. If there wasn't a God, evil wouldn't exist either...so what are you yapping about in the first place??

I think the biggest problem we have when it comes to our children is that we spend too much time telling them what to think, and not enough time teaching them how to think. Not that I'm anyone to talk. None of my kids are grown yet, but it's just something I've observed from my own childhood and others I know.

I was thankful though because this sparked a good conversation.
Anyway, I went online to try to find some resources to answer some of his questions, and I came across this video. Produced by a Muslim, but very interesting as long as you correct the "millions of years" statement and the citing of a Qur'an passage.