How to introduce the concept of God to young children??

[MelbourneMum]

I would describe us as Christian in that we believe in God and Jesus and living the very best life we can but we are not religious. I am wanting to introduce our boys (almost 3 and almost 5) to an understanding of spirituality but really have no idea where to start. Is a 'my first Bible' type of book appropriate even if we don't necessarily believe everything in it? Does it matter if DH and I don't believe in everything that we share with the boys so that later they can make their own choices? Any advice gratefully received.

My husband and I are fairly devout atheists. We sent our dd to a jewish preschool (I am jewish and it was a good school). Her teacher there was religious and spoke a lot about the rituals of the faith and told them (4 and 5 year olds) stories from the bible. A year later, my dd still "believes in God" despite having 2 atheists parents (who don't contradict her beliefs) and one 7 year old atheist brother (who loses no opportunity to remind her that God doesn't exist and constantly presents lots of "evidence" to that effect). Dd has conceded that the Big Bang might have made the earth and all the rocks, but that God definitely made the people and cars.
All of this is to say that however you choose to introduce religion to your children and whatever your own beliefs, the results will be what their personalities make of it. If you show them what is there in a balanced and informative way, and don't ridicule anyone else's way of believing or practicing, they will work their own needs out for themselves and be better people for it.
And as an aside, personally, I don't think you have to believe in God to be a good and spiritual person. And of course vice versa: believing in God doesn't automatically make you good or spiritual either.

The Big Picture Story Bible, by David R Helm, is an excellent place to start.......
(for the children)

and

The Case For Christ, by Lee Strobel, might be good for you to read......

i just heard about the case for Christ book this weekend. Very highly recommended...

I think those "first bible" books can be a really good choice. My dd's favourite was "My first bedtime bible". I think at this age, you don't need to distinguish between what you see as true and what isn't.

thanks so much everyone, much appreciated