Driving into Philadelphia on Sunday, Sparkle asked why she sees so many black people in the city and not many around our neck of the woods. I suggested she ask her Uncle Jeff that question; he would surely know the answer since he has lived in Philly for more than 5 years.
So a few hours later we posed the question to her uncle. What came next was an answer that eloquently weaved the historical plight of African-Americans with current and past socioeconomic, cultural and political factors. There was even a small tribute to the Civil War somewhere in there.
In other words, Sparkle had no idea what he was talking about. "I think you lost her at immigration, economic and preservation," I said as Sparkle looked at me glassy-eyed.
So Aunt Marnie chimed in and gave her best effort at explaining basic sociology in relation to urban trends. That led to several more questions by Sparkle.
Then, together they concluded, "Hmmmm, we're really not sure."
I was laughing the entire time because that was exactly the reason I had told her to ask them; it is really, really difficult to explain complicated topics to children. I've got an entire head of grey hair just from trying to explain the many mysteries of life that seem to hide on every street corner. Why doesn't it rain at Nana's house when it's raining at our house? Why do you only see the moon at night? Does God still hear your prayers if He doesn't life in your heart?
Sometimes the chore is in answering the question, but most times it is in answering on a child's level. There are so many words we use that have absolutely no meaning in a child's vocabulary, so those have to be defined before we can move forward.
I got tongue-tied today trying to explain why there were so many trucks on the Miracle Mile as we traveled through that area. Words and phrases like "gateway to the east coast" and "access" simply caused more questions and confusion.
But I have a theory that you will know how well you really understand a subject if you can explain it well-enough for a 5-year-old to understand. My failed attempts at explaining photosynthesis and Chinese culture just prove that I really don't know much about those subjects when I can't hide behind big, fancy words.
Which brings me to the point of this post: how well do you do at explaining the basic plan of salvation to a 5-year-old? Or to an adult who has no church background? It's tough when you assume people understand 25 cent words like redemption, born again, saved, transgressions, or justification because those are the words we throw around all the time in the church. But what if you couldn't use those words...could you still make a compelling and comprehensive case for why someone needed Christ in their life?
Just a little of what's on my mind this week...
Thursday, August 02, 2007
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2 comments:
i feel like i'm right there with answering the questions. we are asked all sorts of interesting questions i can't explain that well.
about the plan of salvation though...i have some interesting stories on that. i recently did a very cool salvation message at our vbs. even the little ones went home to explain it again to their parents. God can break through our language barriers.
On my mission we would make an illustration of the plan of salvation to help those that didn't have much religious background, or for younger kids. If you would like me to email it to you with some simpler explanation, email me.
rh262 (at) byu (dot) edu
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