Christians - What DO you tell your children....?

Question

...when (and if) they ask "What exactly does chocolate bunnies, dyed eggs and marshmallow peeps have to do with Christ dying for our sins?"

Do you tell them the truth?(ie. "Christians stole these symbols of fertility from Pagans many years ago to help aide Christianity in making more converts, and they are all really just representations of the pagan Goddess Oestra.")

Do you tell them a half truth? ("Its a tradition!!")

Or, do you simply ignore thier desire for truth and information and say "Shut up and eat your chocolate!"??

Im really curious.....

AJM - :) Im just glad you knew I sent you one!!! Right back to you, girl!!!

(((((AJM)))))

Answer 1

My daughter is too young to start telling this too....

I think 2 or 3 or even a bit older is too young to explain the origins of Christian tradition and religious practices and culture...

I would probably explain it at 12 or 13 when she goes through Confirmation...

I would tell her the truth. My parents never hid the truth from me about religion. But I was always believed in Christ..not because they didn't tell me things or lied, but because they modelled what true Christianity meant.

The traditions of Christ, what He looked like, what denomination someone is, none of that matters as much as getting to the Truth of the Message.

I think early Christian leaders were wise to adopt certain things to achieve the much more important goal of conversion and salvation (i.e. celebrating Christmas at Yuletide, taking old drinking songs and making them into hymns, absorbing pagan decorations and remaking them into Christian ones).

Answer 2

I don't tell my children all of what I am listing below. Simply that the egg is a symbol of rebirth. I don't think the chocolate bunnies and marshmallow peeps have any significance except for the retailers .

From Robert C. Patch, professor of ancient scripture...
A number of Easter traditions have arisen over the centuries which have inspired some and puzzled others. In medieval Europe, a most popular symbol of the Easter season was a lamb, a symbol of Christ. Prayers for the blessing of these animals are dated from the seventh century, and even in modern Europe the meat becomes the main course for an Easter meal.

The most popular Easter tradition today is the egg. The story of the egg dates from ancient times in India and Egypt, where it was regarded as a symbol of cosmic beginnings. Some religions believed the universe was produced from an egg, thinking that an egg, regarded as dead, had the capability of releasing new life after having been shattered. Consequently, the egg early became associated with the theme of resurrection.

Answer 3

I tell them the truth: Easter was a pagan celebration, the traditions of which were incorporated into the Christian celebration of Christ's resurrection. This hybridization took place AFTER many of the pagan cultures converted to Christianity.

Christmas is a similar story. The wise men were NOT at the manger. Their presence in a Nativity is historically inaccurate. Santa Claus wasn't there either.

Every culture has its traditions and these are among the traditions of western civilization.

Your tone suggests an antagonistic vantage point so I doubt you'll respect any answer that isn't in line with your narrow perspective.

Answer 4

If I had children I would say,
"People tend to do things without thinking."

I would do this while eating hard boiled eggs or chewing on one of those See's fudgey Easter Eggs.

"The egg, the rabbit, and the bright colors that we put on things like that are just rituals from before Christianity that were part of the Spring festivals of sunworshipping idolatrous people who were pagan. They are fertility symbols and sunrise service is is a sunworsshippers ritual. They've been Christianized because they couldn't be overcome through history because they were so popular.

Now that buisness has entered into the fray, we have all this stuff to buy. Like the chocolate we are eating.

So it's important not to get the truth of it mixed up with the truth that God has behind Him. We are free from the festival because we know that Jesus is our Lord, and he set us free from these traditions.

Are you going to finish that?"

Answer 5

I was raised that way and was freaked out most of the time. Even when doing innocent little kid stuff, like picking my nose (gross I know, but I was a kid). My mom told me not to, I did it anyway, therefore disobeying her, hence - hell for me. Pretty sick. Your question is an interesting one. I wonder if any psychological studies have been done that could measure a person's maturation process (say in a more permissive but healthy environment that allows for mistakes and the learning which comes from making mistakes) and then compare that with a person who is/was raised in a stricter, fundamentalist Christian/Islamic/Jewish home where eternal punishment is always around the corner. I'd be interested to see whether or not that kind of indoctrination retards the normal psychological maturation process. Nice question.

Answer 6

I would be totally honest with them. Of course, the level of understanding would depend on the ages of the kids.

I've never heard about Christians stealing these symbols to make more converts. Just share with them the true meaning of "Resurrection Day".

The eggs, the bunny, and marshmallow peeps have nothing to do with the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

Answer 7

Well, I don't have children so I don't have to worry about answering those really tough questions that children seem really good at asking. :-)
But, I would tell them the truth, that these traditions have nothing to with Jesus's miracously rising from the dead, but that they have to do with more ancient traditions. That the Church (by which I mean the Catholic Church) adopted these traditions from ancient religions - yes to encourage others to convert - but also to show that we are the same. We may have different traditions and rituals, but these beliefs have the same underlying truth and purpose. The Church - in it's past - was far more accepting of other's beliefs and traditions and was far more willing to incorporate this traditions into it's beliefs - as long as they had the same underlying truth and purpose held in respect by the Church, than Protestant Christians are now a days.

Answer 8

If you should ever run across a Christian who celebrates Easter with dyed eggs and chocolate bunnies, please know that it does not have anything to do with their faith. There is a difference between culture and faith. The running pagonistic culture of America has largely been to celebrate all sorts of Christian and/or other holiday's in a pagonistic way. Its instilled in our culture, passed down from generation to generation, and it is near impossible to get people to stop doing something they and their surrounding families and friends have been doing for centuries. I personally tell children and other Christians that we are not bound to nor do we make Easter bunnies and such the god of Easter but we are reminded constantly the Jesus died on the cross, shed his blood for our sins, and was resurrected thee day's later and that is the true meaning of Easter. Just because Christians may dye eggs or eat chocolate bunnies doesn't mean that we do away with that fact!

Answer 9

I told my children - "the heathens were celebrating their mythological goddess Ester's day with rabbits and eggs so the Christian's decided to celebrate Resurrection Sunday on the same day. The children wanted candy, eggs and rabbits so we let them have them but in the spirit of the Lord and not in a heathen ritual practice. Christians are to overcome evil with good."

Gentile Christians came out of heathen cults. Only the Jewish people had years of knowing the Lord as their Redeemer from the bondage of Egypt who divided the Red Sea for them to cross in safety. The Canaanite idols of gods and goddesses even misled the Jewish people and God was very angry about this. Evil is like a slime. It can get all over you. Evil is like chicken pox or the measles, it spreads.

Answer 10

I tell them that Jesus chose the springtime to make his perfect and eternal sacrifice for sin, and rise again from the dead, knowing that there was a natural and clear connection between the hope that springtime engenders in the human soul, and the hope of our bodily resurrection in Christ.

Even a pagan can see it.

Hearing the gospel, and seeing the connection, that pagan might also choose to accept Jesus Christ as savior, and God.