D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

My youngest son, Dakota, leaped out of bed to get dressed for school while exclaiming “6 more days until Christmas!” — That put a smile on my face.

The smile was straightened with the realization that these may be the last years that my boys believe in Santa Claus. The older two are already pretty much non-believers, but still say they do believe for fear of not getting anything under the tree. Kinda like how people say they believe in God, just because they don’t want to burn in hell if there is one? And how ironic is that, that this conversation is actually about Christ’s birthday party. Sometimes I feel guilty that my other two sons, I never taught them much about Christianity like i was raised in. My dear ol’ Dad use to make me dress in a suit. But just like believing in Santa Claus, the older I got, the more the stories I heard in church didn’t sound true to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in God or a higher power– but something in me saw what was really going on as the collection plate was passed around.

Oh geez– where did this train of thought come from? This blog isn’t going to be all about religiousy stuff, UGH!!!

NOW– my oldest son knows all about the bible because his grandmother took him to Sunday school… he’s often surprised his old Dad here knows so much about the bible as well, but I don’t talk about it. I’ll all of a sudden drop a bible story bomb on him and he’ll be shocked that I know it. And the kids are way too young for me to tell them what I believe— There’s this weird cult like thing about churches that I don’t like… I know it’s probably just people being NICE, but it seems like in a way to recruit new young kids, families invite the kids into church functions, tell them how fun Sunday School is, etc etc…. one time a cousin of ours invited the kids to the same Wednesday night “Youth Group” I had attended when I was a kid. But for some reason I didn’t want my kids to go. It just seems ODD to me… people you barely know, sending your kids off with them. A family friend saying it’s “Movie night!” and all the kids come over to watch Evan Almighty, and then they pray or teach the kids a bible lesson.

So what do I do as a parent here? It’s a balance. I just flat out teach my kids about right and wrong. Good and evil. One thing I REALLY didn’t like about the churches I had been associated with in the past (Protestant & Methodist) and not just them, mostly ALL churches, is that they sort of scoff at other beliefs in private. They make fun of catholics– they in turn think other religions are idol worship, Buddhism, etc… and in today’s climate, they think Islam is PURE SATAN or something– It’s crazy. I don’t want my kids to be a part of that in anyway. So I teach my kids that there are many religions and you should respect a person’s personal beliefs, no matter if they worship mother nature, the stars, a holy trinity, etc… The important thing, and that a lot of people miss, is that mostly all of these religions teach the same thing, but they barely ever practice what they teach. I just teach my kids right and wrong.

I mean, it’s common sense that these old scriptures are pretty much allegorical, and teaching you by telling stories, because that’s how they did it in the beginning times. The told stories about right and wrong… about where sins would get you. If you steal, murder….. some beliefs taught KARMA, some taught heaven and hell… but all of them taught right and wrong. I hope when my kids are older they will just educate themselves thoroughly and they can believe whatever they like to. I’d like to tell them that if there is a God, he surely wouldn’t let humans figure it ALL out– so these religions, beliefs.. are all pieces to a big puzzle, that if you put it together, maybe you’d have a friggin utopia or something.

Hell, they’d probably think their old man here was CRAZY if I spilled some what I believe on them….

I’m not going to tell my kids that sometimes I think spirits guide me. Sometimes you can ALMOST feel something, like someone you knew once is giving you a mystical high five from beyond. But other times…. that seems like fanciful imaginative bullshit. But the older you get— the more you believe the first part. ; )