Explaining who God is

[SciFiG33k]

Was with my 6 year old DSD today and I said to her please don't say 'oh God' because God doesn't like it and its not something me or my Grandmother who we see lots of would want to hear. Her patents aren't religious at all but I am.
DSD then of course asked me but who is God and why doesn't he like it. To which I fumbled through a terrible explanation making it clear though that not everyone believes and that's OK.
So my question is how do you explain who God is to a child whose parents don't believe.

Ofcom carried out a survey to investigate potentially offensive language and what might be acceptable pre and post-watershed. They found that most people considered ‘God’ -‘Oh God’ was not explicitly mentioned – to be mild language whilst ‘fuck’ was considered very strong.

metro.co.uk/2016/10/02/swearing-ranked-from-mild-to-strongest-6165629/

I must admit reading through the list of swear words left me feeling rather jangled. (Sheltered life!)

The cast of TOWIE would find it difficult without their OMGs. They’d have to train themselves to use random animalistic noises instead.

'OMG Eeek, he’s a fitty!! OMG Aaaargh, I’m wel jel!!’

I have to say, I find 'Jesus' used as a swear word really grating. I accidentally say 'oh God' myself, though I would prefer not to.

I think it's important children learn how to avoid littering swear words throughout their speech, because it is a really hard habit to break and not acceptable in all situations!

Ofcom have got 'Jesus (Christ)' and 'God' in the same mild language category. That doesn't seem right to me. I feel that 'Jesus (Christ)' is often used with more aggression and nastiness attached to it.

The English language is wonderfully rich and it does seem a shame to restrict yourself to 'fuckin' as an adjective!

My DDs little 4yo playmate used to use the phrase " Jesus suffering" as an expletive. It always made me chuckle.

I taught my kids to use the language of the people around them. I've since asked to be put into the 'grandmother' category, as their language gets 'richer' with each passing year. I can't take many more conversations on the relative shock factor of bollocks and bugger.

This is a huge matter and the lead must come from her parents.

Holy Mary mother of god don't visit Ireland any time soon op!

Somehow, 'Holy Mary mother of God', and 'suffering saints', and 'sweet suffering Jesus' don't sound so bad. Perhaps they express exasperation rather than anything harsher?
It's the short, casual, slightly aggressive, random thoughtless J's that make me flinch.

picklemepopcorn

Well if you don't understand the nuances of your "blasphemy" what hope do we have?

I wouldn't reprimand my kids for saying god or jesus.

There's no personal attack. Simply uttering the name of a fictional character.

I hate seeing tattoos- that's my problem- people have the right to wear tattoos and have them visible in public.

Don't expect me to have respect for a mythical beast.

Perhaps we could draw inspiration from the books of PG Wodehouse and bring back ‘By Jove’. Referencing Jove (Jupiter), a god from the ancient Roman pantheon, may be less likely to cause offence.

Would the cast of TOWIE find it acceptable though?

'OMG By Jove, I'm wel jel!'

Hmmm ....

God is not a thing and that is hard to explain especially to scientific realists for whom something existing in actual physical space is a part of their implicit philosophy. Children are still open to the numinous which is why they ask great questions.

It's perfectly reasonable to say 'please don't say "oh god" in my house because i don't like it.'

If that's followed up with 'why don't you like it?' then you would be perfectly reasonable to explain that because you think that God is real, and God is the creator of the universe and deserves respect, that it is therefore not good to use His name in this way.

That may then lead on to further discussions. Take it from there...

We try and have fun with blasphemy. Often substituting in other gods to mix things up a little. OMA (Oh my Allah, or Thor etc). RNGesus (Random Number Generator) is a fun one for good/bad luck. I always laugh at the 'Jesus wept' lament or 'WWJD' What Would Jesus Do. I think blasphemy helps makes our society more tolerant and equal. And dont get me started on the things the FSM gets up to with his noodly appendages lol. Now we just need to normalize 'Draw Mohammad Day'.

If I am really trying to swear it will be Jesus Fcuk**g Christ.

is a good way to show how bad adults are at relating to children.

God is the creator of the universe and deserves respect,

No, it's not god that deserves respect it's you.

Don't claim it's god that doesn't like when it is in fact you.

Have a grumble to yourself westray. I don't think you are that interested in other opinions, so I won't spend the time on it. I shall quietly mull over why Ardol O'Hanlon saying 'Mary mother of god!' is ok.

It would be an interesting conversation if it could be had without scorn.

Scientific studies have shown that people can withstand longer periods in contact with freezing cold water if they swear at the same time. However those who swear a lot in everyday life are unable to call on this pain tolerance technique because they have decreased the potency of swear words through overuse.

So it doesn’t sound like a good idea to completely inhibit the impulse to swear in extremis. But at the same swearing habitually is not a good strategy.

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130704153522/www.keele.ac.uk/pressreleases/2011/title%2C66305%2Cen.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20130704153522/www.keele.ac.uk/pressreleases/2011/title%2C66305%2Cen.html

The participants in the study were allowed to choose their own swear words. I suspect most were choosing something stronger than ‘Oh God’.

I'm perfectly position for a freezing swim then, outcrowd! Thanks for that!

Is blasphemy always swearing or is it just words that believers in a god disagree with? If I where to say, "gods foolish" that might be blasphemy but not swearing? So 'oh god' can be a good pleasurable comment, but some christians just dont like it. I might say it when I eat food I like and am certainly not swearing at the food.

God is not a thing and that is hard to explain especially to scientific realists for whom something existing in actual physical space is a part of their implicit philosophy. Children are still open to the numinous which is why they ask great questions.

Get them quick before they start thinking rationally!

Most Christians think in terms of not saying God's name in a disrespectful way, as a swear word.

Some people actively disagree with religion, and so take every opportunity to offend people who believe.

If you are neutral, it seems reasonable to me to avoid upsetting people who dislike hearing it. You don't really need to use it to comment on how good a food tastes, for example. I'm not offended by it myself, but try not to use it.

Explaining who god is to a small child:

"Remember when you used to be scared of going over bridges because you thought there might be trolls under them? And then, you found out that 'Billy Goats Gruff' is just a story, and that trolls aren't real?

Well, there's a story about something called 'god'. Some people think it's real, although it isn't. It's just a story; god isn't real.

But, you remember about always trying to be kind to other people? Those people who think the god story is real, they think it's rude to say things about god. So, although the story isn't real, we should still be kind to them and not say things about god, even though we know god isn't real."

That also works for related things like explaining why some people wear sacks on their head and so on.

And it gives a nice introduction to telling children the 'god' story, independently of superstitious import. My own children used particularly to enjoy the plagues of Egypt; 'Boils, aargh! Not the boils! ... Frogs! EEk! -- All useful stuff for general cultural background, just like Billy Goats Gruff, in a way.

(It will be plain I don't think we should take religion seriously. I do think we should try to be kind to people, though; that's something we all need to take very seriously indeed, and teach our children.)

I'm an atheist. I didn't let my children say "oh God" when they were little "Because it upset some people and we don't do things that upset people if we can help it"

I am interested in what the atheists who are commenting here would do if asked a question about God from a child that they knew came from a Christian family. Would you try and answer it with 'what I believe is......' or would you refer them back to their parents. I think if a child asks a question.then you should answer, but preface the answer with a comment along the lines of ' this may not be what you have been taught and there are different views on this but I personally think that.......' This gives the child a genuine opportunity to weigh things up in their mind and come to their own conclusions. The children who are only allowed to hear one viewpoint,either side of the argument are the brainwashed ones. The children who have been exposed to all sides of the argument can genuinely make their own minds up.

It depends on the question,. "Do you believe in God?" "No" "Who is God?" "People think lots of different thing- ask Mum when you get home"