christ-on-a-stick

I remember quite clearly being very young, probably five or six (in kindergarten), and attending the Sunday School at a relatively fundamentalist Christian (Assemblies of God) church each week. Many times, particularly if there were "new" children in attendance, the hour would be ended with a prayer in which the teacher would encourage anyone who had not yet "accepted Jesus into their heart" to follow her lead in prayer and do so.

I know that this wasn't unique to my church as throughout my fundy upbringing, I noticed countless times that individuals giving their personal testimonies would state that they had "been saved" at the age of 5, 6, 7 etc.

While this didn't seem strange to me for the many years that I was cocooned in Christianity, after I started thinking critically and deconverted, it occurred to me that this is totally bizzare. After all, the vast majority of parents (properly IMO) do not let their children make their own decisions about extremely important matters *because* a child does not have the accumulated life experience/knowledge/developed critical thinking skills to make an informed and discerning decision.

So my question, primarily for the Christians here, is why do Christian parents so often encourage their children to make what is supposed to be a serious, life-altering decision if they do not believe them capable of doing so in *all* areas of life?

Thoughts and comments appreciated.

Biff the unclean

I don't get it? What decision has the child made? How has their life been altered?
They are born into Christian households and have had Christianity fed to them every day from their births. Why pretend that it is other wise?

christ-on-a-stick

Hi Biff,

That's sort of of my point - the child HASN'T really made this monumentous decision, in reality, just repeated after an adult generally (I'm talking about 5-6 year olds here). However, Christian parents and Christian adults DO believe that it is a meaningful decision, which is why I am asking them why they believe a small child is capable of doing so.

JaeIsGod

One word : Hell

Postcard73

Well, I'm not a xian anymore, but I know what you're saying and asking. I would think that one of the main reasons xian parents allow their children to make this important decision at an early age is because they want to make sure the child is saved. If Junior waits 'til age seven, then he faces seven years where he would be unsaved at death and thus doomed to spend eternity in hell. Remember, we are lost as a result of man's fall. Even a newborn infant is tainted by that event...

Now the obvious problem with this, and the one you brought up, is how can a child be expected to even understand the magnitude of such a life-affecting decision? The obvious answer is that a five year old child can't grasp the implications. However, one of the concerns I saw discussed over and over again when I was still a xian was whether or not a child is blameworthy if he dies before he is old enough to accept salvation. If a young child at least goes through the motions of accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, the parent can rationalize that this is no longer an issue...

Or you could just say that parents encourage this decision at an early age for the same reason they encourage potty-training at an early age. It's a milestone in the child's socialization...

beastmaster

Hi Sticki, just to be a pain in the ass , I don't think this is super-problematic from either the child's or parents' perspectives.

From the child's perspective
How is this different from persuading a child that Santa Claus exists? I don't think it's any more momentous, meaningful or life-altering for a five-year old to pray to a non-existent Jesus than it is is for a five-year-old to leave out cookies and milk for Santa. Belief in imaginary friends is pretty common among children, but they usually grow out of it. It is the reinforcement of Xn dogma well past those early years that is potentially life-altering or momentous.

From the parents' perspective
Are you arguing that Xns secretly believe that conversion is a trivial matter because they let even kids do it? I think a fair-minded view of Xnty would hold that there is no reason to withhold the opportunity of conversion to any person great or small. I don't think that betrays any lack of belief in the significance of conversion, even for children.

As a parody: the decision to eat or not eat food is a serious, life-altering decision; do you think it is improper for parents to encourage their children to eat food even though the children are not capable of making serious decisions in other aspects of their lives?

PopeInTheWoods

Not the greatest parody or analogy or whatever. Most parents control what and when their children eat. Unless your point was that most parents control what their kids believe as well....

Andy

christ-on-a-stick

Well hello beast True. I am thinking about this more from the parents' perspective, wondering how they mentally "get around" the contradiction. On the contrary, I am arguing that they (seem to) *genuinely* believe that these childhood conversions are monumental and meaningful - while not believing that their children are mature enough to make other decisions due to their importance (i.e. what to eat, whether or not to go to school, etc.)

beastmaster

Ok, I'll sit on the sidelines and wait for an honest-to-goodness Xn to come along. I can see several possible reconciliations but I won't spoil yer fun in socializing with the Jebusers.

Biff the unclean

Well I left Catholicism so long ago it was still the "one true religion." They are big on babies being Catholic.
But I don't understand this part of Prod-ism. How can a kid "convert" to a religion they have been born into?