just thinking  No Favoritism

I picked up an old book at the church library today, about telling stories to children, (Religious Education Through Story-Telling, Katherine D. Cather, Abingdon Press, 1925). I like old books because they give a different perspective. Here's a quote I find interesting and different from today. Whether the effect on children would be as the author says, I don't know, but at first glance makes a certain amount of sense.

"For a boy or girl to understand very early that there is no favoritism in God's plan is to render him more amenable to both the moral and the religious code. It makes it possible for him to fit harmoniously into conditions of life that are disagreeable and hard to him, against which, without having gained this knowledge, he might be inclined to rebel.

"In other words, the child should be led to see that God's plan embraces the great universe. It is not designed for the comfort or convenience of one individual. No matter how great the desire of that individual may be, it does not bend because of his pleasure. It is a plan of love mighty enough to include all mankind, and to cover not only an hour or a day of life but the entire course. Therefore what ofttimes seems hard about the working of God's laws, is hard only because we do not see our own lives or those of others in an unblurred perspective."

I'll share more later.

9/21/2003 12:57:00 PM | Permalink | 0 comments

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