Our daughter has maintained a connection on social media with the mentor of her sorority pledge chapter at UGA from 2012 who is now the director of youth and young adults at a Presbertyerian Church – Margie Quinn. She received her B.A. in Women’s Studies at the University of Georgia. She then moved to Seattle, Washington for a few years to work in homelessness advocacy. She pursued her Master of Divinity at Duke Divinity School and received her M.Div in the spring of 2019, with a concentration in Preaching and a certificate in Gender, Sexuality and Theology.
Here are some sticky note threads from a conversation with the kids at her church.
- How Did All the Animals Fit on the Ark?
- Will people that don’t believe in God go to Heaven?
- How do you know if you are going to heaven or hell?
- There really is no hell because ALL of forgiven, right?
- Everyone says God loves you not matter what .. but what about everything you have to do for him to accept you?
- Is Christianity one big cult?
- What if we are the wrong religion?
- Was there every really a beginning?
- Is there politics in heaven?
- Who came up with the idea of God?
I am here to say I do NOT have the answers to these questions but just to acknowledge that these are GREAT questions and finding answers to any of them will make for a fantastic spiritual journey…and it might just change everything.
~Lydia Patrick
I would like to be part of the discussions on some of those questions…..
Oh My , I wonder how Dr. Quinn answered. Children’s cognition of the divine or the spiritual world evolves like all the other dimensions of self ; physical, emotional, social, etc . Most kids aren’t capable of Abstract thought until after the age of reason
( < 7 yrs ). Strange that the age of reason is the same age they are faced with God and faith, where rational thought falls very short of answers. My grandson (6 yrs ) was listening to a favorite song by Philip Phillips and was singing along. I asked him why he liked it so much. He said "it's Godish". Here's a boy that has NO exposure to religion or faith community yet he is approaching a level of " spiritual" identity. I think he would be asking one of those questions Dr Quinn is faced with answering, but it would have to be reasonable.