How should I handle this?

[Elephantjuice]

Hi everyone,

Would really appreciate your advice.

My ds(5)- always strong-minded - has decided that God is "not real". He is telling everyone who will listen. When I gently pressed him about this he told me he has done an experiment which showed him that God does not exist. He would not explain to me what that experiment was!

I know he doesn't really understand what he is saying. But it upsets me anyway to hear him say this. We are Christians and all our 3 dcs go to Sunday school and say they enjoy it.

What should I say to him?

Could you try getting the Sunday School teacher to talk to him?

I am a Sunday School teacher. I wouldn't be too concerned; next time he says it, reply "and what if God doesn't think you exist either?"

Or this old chestnut which he won't understand "If God hadn't existed it would have been necessary for us to invent him."

If it persists - and it may do if he realises he's found a fun new way to wind you up - you could ask him to suspend disbelief.

Sorry, I mean "What if God thinks you don't exist either?"

and

"Oh dear says God and goes on to disappear in a puff of his own logic" (Douglas Adams, RIP).

I would try to explain to him that you can't do an experiment to see if God exists.

Tell him he does, and he should feel it in his heart, like the love he feels for mummy.

Some things we can't see like 'air' but we know its there because we breathe.

Tell him God is all around us but he's not a person, he is anything that makes your DS happy.

He might be getting confused because he cannot see God. Perhaps a chat about the wind - How do we know the wind is there, as we can't see it? We see the leaves on the trees moving, we feel it in our fingers.

Try not to get upset about it - I'm sure God would rather your son find out He exists for himself, a real faith, than just taking your word for it. He is too young to go off the rails!!

He is entitled to an opinion though, so why not explain that you and daddy etc believe, although yes, some people don't, and everyone decides for themselves. And leave it at that - no pressuring the subject. It could just be that he's found the thing that presses your buttons, and will forget about it.

He is entitled to his own beliefs - I certainly don't think that at 5 years old you should be answering him with some sort of philosophical retort as elasticwoman suggests!

Thanks - great suggestions!

I tried telling him that there are lots of things we can't see. He loves to argue and is not easily convinced!

My dd didn't help the situation today by telling ds "God's inside you!" Don't know what must be going through my ds's head now....