violent bible stories...

i have had many people ask me how do we teach around violence in the bible?  how do we handle it with the kiddos? 

personally, i think we need to proactive in teaching our kids some of these things.  sure there are certain details and stories to avoid.  i do not think it is best to explain all of the gory details of battles or sexual sin your 3 or 4 year old. we are not trying to terrify them. but i do think that we need to prayerfully consider how we can prepare our kids rather than shelter them. (prayer being a key part to that, since every child is different)

we live in a violent and dark world and if we work too hard to shelter our kids from this, especially in the bible, then they are not going to know of the almighty, powerful god. they may know a loving god, but they will not know the god who can save them from the darkness and sin in this world. and they need to know both because our savior is both. my goal is that when a child faces a scary or ugly situation either now or later, that they will know that they have a god who has been defeating these kinds of situations from the beginning of time. a god who will never leave them or forsake them. a god who fights for his name and his children and is more powerful than the scariest thing we can imagine.

don't get me wrong, this is hard. trust me. it is much easier to water it down and make it cute and safe. but since when has our god been cute and safe?  it takes much prayer and proactive thinking, but the good news is that that same god lives and dwells in us, his spirit guiding and leading us.

for the sake of those looking to us for direction...