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Help me prepare my Sunday School lesson, please!

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Re: Help me prepare my Sunday School lesson, please!

  • CMGragainCMGragain member
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    edited October 2014
    "Who is God?"  This is a questions that humans cannot answer.  We cannot understand God anymore than an ant, crawling on the ground, can understand humans.  The Greeks created God in their own image.  God exists, and man did not create him/her.  God is responsible for everything in the universe.  Without God, there would have been no big bang, no time, no life anywhere.  The Bible books tell us what God has done, as interpreted through the minds of men.  It does not tell us how God did it.
    We can worship God.  We can pray to God.  We cannot control God.  God does not need our prayers - we need to pray to God for our own sake. God is not an old man with a white beard living up in a place called "heaven".  We cannot possibly grasp what God is.
    Faith opens up many possibilities in our lives.  I cannot imagine my life without faith, though when I was young, I experienced, and still experience doubt.
    God is good.  Man is flawed.  We can only gaze in amazement on the universe God created, and marvel.
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  • ShesSoColdShesSoCold mod
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    Is this really for your Sunday school or for an article you're writing?
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  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
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    ShesSoCold said:

    Is this really for your Sunday school or for an article you're writing?

    Really for Sunday school. I don't blog anymore.




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  • doeydodoeydo member
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    jdluvr06 said:
    Maybe you could tell them what God is to you and ask them their opinions. I think kids in that age group are more receptive when they are part of the discussion.
    This.  My high school English teacher from 12th grade was the bomb dot com.  He thought the conventional way of learning that we do in school is horrible.  He encouraged discussion and learning and openness and he didn't act like he was this better than you, brilliant dude but like we were all equals.  Our discussions sometimes got way off topic, but it actually was a good thing, if that makes sense, because it actually got us thinking and exploring the topics.  Anyways, I think opening discussion and asking them questions would help.
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  • CMGragainCMGragain member
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    edited October 2014
    daria24 said:
    I'm an atheist (ex-Catholic) so in my mind, god is a societal construct created to oppress people and keep them in line. 

    In middle school, one of my classmates always said that she pictured god to be a black woman, because a) she was sick of all the language referring to god as "he" "father" "him" etc. And b) she liked to imagine the shocked looks on peoples faces when they got to heaven and saw that god was the exact opposite of what they expected. The patriarchal language of "god" was one of the main reasons I started questioning what I was being taught. 

    I think one of the things I always struggled with was that I knew there were thousands of religious traditions that had a higher power, and they all had different physical descriptions/characteristics, so how could ONE of those religions be right when all the others were wrong. And my school did everything possible to avoid us learning anything about other religions and understanding their version of a deity. If we had spend more time learning about other religions, and other versions of god, and that (if god actually existed) she could be Yahweh, Allah, Zoroaster, Amon-Ra, Krishna, Vishnu, etc I maybe would not have abandoned all faith. I just hated the absolutism of Catholicism and that everyone else's religion was wrong (and they were all going to hell). 
    I understand why you were disappointed in religion.  I'm sorry that this was the only experience you know.  You might want to consider other faiths.  The Unitarian Universalist Church shares the views you expressed in your post.  The United Methodist Church is also very open, but includes the teachings of Jesus.  I hope that you are not completely closed to religious thinking.  God may be taking you on a journey through faith without your realizing it. 
    PS.  Yahweh (known as El), Allah and God are all synonyms, but in three different languages - Hebrew, Arabic, and English.  They are not different gods.
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  • ashley8918ashley8918 member
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    Some people's imaginary friend.
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  • CMGragainCMGragain member
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    edited October 2014
    When my daughter was three, she came home from nursery school and asked me, 'Mommy, what color is God?"
    I was startled, but knowing that she attended a multi-racial school, I said "What color do you think?"
    "Well, I think God is grey.  Mrs. Jones said so."
    "Really?  How did she say this?"
    My daughter confidently replied. "You know, God is grey, God is good, and we thank Him for our food!"  Yeah.  It was printed in the next month's school newsletter.
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  • lulu0405lulu0405 member
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    God is coming and she is pissed.
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  • martha1818martha1818 member
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    edited October 2014

    daria24 said:
    CMGragain said:
    I understand why you were disappointed in religion.  I'm sorry that this was the only experience you know.  You might want to consider other faiths.  The Unitarian Universalist Church shares the views you expressed in your post.  The United Methodist Church is also very open, but includes the teachings of Jesus.  I hope that you are not completely closed to religious thinking.   
    PS.  Yahweh (known as El), Allah and God are all synonyms, but in three different languages - Hebrew, Arabic, and English.  They are not different gods.

    Actually you will find that many Muslim groups do not consider Allah to be the same as the Christian/Jewish god. 

    And I assure you I have done many, many years of research and thinking on this topic. And I find smug, holier than-thou shit like the bolded to simply affirm my beliefs.
    @daria24, I think you are me! Why does someone not being religious affect you (not you, a general you)? Just believe what you believe, people, and don't concern yourself with me.

    ____________________________________________________________________________________


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  • emopnyemopny member
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    edited October 2014
    I am only a human, so I am not so narcissistic as to think that I know what god is. (It cracks me up to even think of an omnipotent being having gender. Wtf does something like that need a cock for?).

    I do however think it is unlikely to be some stodgy old white homophobe who approves of his 'flock' stripping other humans' right to be happy and using outdated references to justify oppressing others.

    But that is definitely a message you don't want to hear OP.
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  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
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    @emopny‌, I'm not as judgemental as you may think. And, funny fact, at our particular church, only one of our 3 prests is white. One is Nigerian and one is Guatemalan. And I absolutely agree that we as humans cannot define God.




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  • theartistformerlyknownastheartistformerlyknownas member
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    holyguacamole79 said:

    @emopny‌, I'm not as judgemental as you may think. And, funny fact, at our particular church, only one of our 3 prests is white. One is Nigerian and one is Guatemalan. And I absolutely agree that we as humans cannot define God.

    How is that funny? And that doesn't mean they don't still believe/teach God is a stodgy old homophobe.
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  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
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    edited October 2014
    lolo883 said:

    holyguacamole79 said:

    @emopny‌, I'm not as judgemental as you may think. And, funny fact, at our particular church, only one of our 3 prests is white. One is Nigerian and one is Guatemalan. And I absolutely agree that we as humans cannot define God.

    How is that funny? And that doesn't mean they don't still believe/teach God is a stodgy old homophobe.
    @emopny‌ originally made a generalization regarding clergy being old and white. I'm just pointing out that generalization is not accurate specifically in our church.

    Eta: I just re read the comment. I read it too quickly earlier and thought she was referring to the clergy. I apologize.

    Yeah, the gender / age / skin color of God didn't even come into the discussion.




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  • bethsmilesbethsmiles member
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    south park animated GIF


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  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
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    edited October 2014
    When I read @CMGragain‌'s comment, I just took it as her suggesting communities of faith that may align with those beliefs. I didn't take it to be anything else. I know several UU ministers and they have told me that they have quite a few atheists in their congregation.




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  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
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    larrygaga said:
    holyguacamole79 said:
    Can you elaborate, @larrygaga‌ ? Let me also provide more insight regarding this group of students. They are brand new to Christianity. They are in the "inquiry" stage. I was hoping to get a variety of views to help them see that believing in God is not easy, and it's okay to doubt.
    Love and accepting everybody means loving and accepting gays, strippers, minorities, and people of other faith or ideas. That's why I don't go to church anymore, but I pray daily. 

    If you teach them anything, teach them to love their neighbor with no exceptions. 

    @larrygaga, I hope you'll like / appreciate this. I had one of them read the Scripture passage that God is love and talked about how that was the one thing I hope they got from this discussion - that God is the greatest example of love.q




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  • hellohkbhellohkb mod
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    This is a question I've been asking myself for a long time. I was raised Unitarian Universalist and so I have always been encouraged to study different religions. When I was in my teens I found a book that described a world where all deities were in existence and I always found that to align with my beliefs the most.

    I am highly spiritual and think about God and whatnot pretty often. I actually find nature, particularly the beach, to be a very powerful and spiritual place for me. I've taken a lot of tests and it always says my beliefs are the most like Pagans and UUs.


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  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
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    Here's what the kids came up with when I asked them "Who is God?" image




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  • hellohkbhellohkb mod
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    Cool! Very nice presentation, too :)


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  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
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    Thanks, @hellokb! I was writing their answers on the board as they were shouting them out to me (and I was throwing them Halloween candy in return for an answer.)

    Oh, kb - a UU minister once told me a joke I thought you might appreciate.  What do you get of you cross a UU with a KKK member?  A burning question mark on peoples frint yard.  




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  • climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
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    STARMOON44 said:
    I think a good general rule is to never joke about the KKK.
    Yeah, that joke is pretty gross. 
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  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
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    I apologize. A UU minister shared it with me, and I got a laugh out of it.




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  • princessofgenoviaprincessofgenovia member
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    ohannabelle said:
    My parents are/were Unitarian Universalists.
    My mom sent me this one:

    Q: How many Unitarians does it take to change a light bulb?
    A: We choose not to make a statement either in favour of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey, you have found that light bulbs work for you, that is wonderful. You are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your personal relationship with your light bulb. Present it next month at our annual Light Bulb Sunday Service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life, and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.


    Now this one made me laugh as I know a few people who attend UU churches. 
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  • thisismynickname2thisismynickname2 member
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    emopny said:
    I am only a human, so I am not so narcissistic as to think that I know what god is. (It cracks me up to even think of an omnipotent being having gender. Wtf does something like that need a cock for?). I do however think it is unlikely to be some stodgy old white homophobe who approves of his 'flock' stripping other humans' right to be happy and using outdated references to justify oppressing others. But that is definitely a message you don't want to hear OP.
    I know I'm late to this thread and OP's Sunday School session is over, but I felt like commenting. It's so interesting to me that so many of us could be raised Catholic but still be raised so differently. My Catholic K-8 and my Catholic high school never, ever taught me anything other than, in a nutshell, to love my neighbor as myself and to treat others how I would like to be treated. We were taught evolution alongside the creation story. I was never taught that others shouldn't have rights or should be oppressed based on what's in the Old Testament. We focused a lot on virtues and personal morality. Heck, the priest my junior year even encouraged us to date a lot so we'd know for sure the person we'd eventually marry was truly right for us. 
    Now, I live a stone's throw from Boystown and attend a Catholic parish smack in the middle of the highest gay population around.  Everyone is welcomed in the parish. 

    Perhaps I don't really have a point here but to say everyone's experiences are different, even within the same religion. It saddens me to hear others have had such negative experiences with some religion or another. For what it's worth, we were more or less taught that God was how CMGragain described it. 
    ________________________________


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