Sunday School Lessons

I have been talking with a friend of mine about her doomed marriage and how invasive her church seems to be in her life. I have been to some churches, but for personal reasons I decided to stop going. It had nothing to do with God, and had everything to do with the people in those churches. Though I don’t choose to go to church, I do allow my daughter to go every other weekend with her grandparents. However, while having these conversations with my friend, I started really thinking about the Sunday School lessons that my daughter might be getting.

I remember many of the Sunday School lessons I had as a child. Most of them were very generic and they had a great message. However, I do know some places are very radical, and I wonder if it is smart to expose children at ages 3 and 4 to the teachings of someone like that. There are many great churches, and I have no problems with them, but there are some that are just so off the wall you wonder if they have ever read the Bible at all. To me, these Sunday School lessons are akin to brain washing.

I think about how easily my daughter picks up and absorbs everything that I say and do, and what she picks up from those around her. She, like all other children her age, are not old enough to think about these things very deeply. To me, this means that she is hearing everything in Sunday School lessons as truth and what that truth might be might not agree with what my truth is. I want her to go to church if she wants to, but I also want to her make up her own mind about things, and to think for herself.

Sunday School lessons can be great tools for teaching children the difference between right and wrong, and how to treat others. However, I do know that some cross the line, and I don’t want my daughter to be exposed. I had a long talk with her grandparents about the theology of their church, and I was happy with what they told me. Otherwise, she would have been pulled. She has plenty of time to choose her own path, but I don’t want a certain church to choose one for her. A part of me thinks the lessons should begin when a child is old enough to say “why?”, and when they can then decide if what they are hearing makes sense to them or not.