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Page 22
Another typical difficulty is that children are often led to think of
God as a distant God. A favorite Sunday school hymn sings of "God above
the great blue sky." To many children God is "in heaven," and heaven is
localized at an immeasurable distance. Hence the fact of God's nearness
is wholly missed. Children come to think of God as seated on a great
white throne, an aged, austere, and severe Person, more an object of
fear than of love. And then we tell the children that they "must love
God," forgetting that love never comes from a sense of duty or
compulsion, but springs, when it appears, spontaneously from the heart
because it is compelled by lovable traits and appealing qualities in the
one to be loved!
The concept of God which the child needs.--The concept of God which
the child first needs, therefore, is God as loving Father, expecting
obedience and trust from his children; God as inviting Friend; God as
friendly Protector; God ever near at hand; God who can understand and
sympathize with children and enter into their joys and sorrows; God as
Creator, in the sunshine and the flowers; but above all, God filling the
heart with love and gladness. The concept which the child needs of Jesus
is of his surpassing goodness, his unselfish courage, and his loving
service. All religious teaching which will lead to such concepts as
these is grounding the child in knowledge that is rich and fruitful, for
it is making God and Christ _real_ to him. All teaching which leads to
false concepts is an obstacle in the way of spiritual development.
THE CHILD'S CONCEPT OF RELIGION
Gradually throughout his training the child should be forming a clear
concept of religion and the part it is to play in the life. This cannot
come through any formal definition, nor through any set of precepts. It
must be a growth, stimulated by instruction, guided by wise counsel,
given depth of meaning through the lives of strong men and women who
express the Christian ideal in their daily living.
Matthew Arnold tells us that religion is "morality lit up by emotion."
We turn to God for our inspiration, for the quickening of our motives,
for fellowship, communion and comfort; but it is when we face the duties
and relationships of the day's work and its play that we prove how close
we have been to God and what we have received from him. As there can be
no religion without God, neither can there be religion without morality;
that is, without righteous living.
Connecting religion with life.--One of the chief aims in teaching the
child religion should therefore be to ground him in the understanding
that _religion is life_. Probably no greater defect exists in our
religion to-day than our constant tendency to divorce it from life.
There are many persons who undertake to divide their lives up into
compartments, one for business, one for the relations of the home, one
for social matters, one for recreation and amusement, and _one for
religion_. They make the mistake of assuming that they can keep these
sections of the life separate and distinct from each other, forgetting
that life is a unity and that the quality of each of its aspects
inevitably colors and gives tone to all the rest.
The child should be saved the comfortable assumption so tragically
prevalent that religion is chiefly a matter for Sundays; that it
consists largely in belonging to the church and attending its services;
that it finds its complete and most effective expression in the
observance of certain rites and ceremonials; that we can serve God
without serving our fellow men; that creeds are more important than
deeds; that saying "Lord, Lord," can take the place of a ministry of
service.
Religion defined in noble living.--There is only one way to save the
child from such crippling concepts as these: that is to hold up to him
the challenge of _life at its best and noblest_, to show him the effects
of _religion at work_. What are the qualities we most admire in others?
What are the secrets of the influence, power, and success of the great
men and women whose names rule the pages of history? What are the
attributes that will draw people to us as friends and followers and give
us power to lead them to better ways? What are the things that will
yield the most satisfaction, and that are most worth while to seek and
achieve as the outcome of our own lives? What is true success, and how
shall we know when we have achieved it? _Why does the Christ, living his
brief, modest, and uneventful life and dying an obscure and tragic
death, stand out as the supreme model and example for men to pattern
their lives by?_
These are questions that the child needs to have answered, not in formal
statements, of course, but in terms that will reach his understanding
and appreciation. These are truths that he needs to have lodged in his
mind, so that they may stir his imagination, fire his ambition, and
harden his will for endeavor. These are the goals that the child needs
to have set before him as the measure of success in life, the pathways
into which his feet should be directed.
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