my son keeps asking me about jesus

[jeep]

what do i say? i'm not particularly a believer but think it helps with a guide for life

What do you already know?

not that much. i'm really not interested - but he is for some reason

he is 8

1. Jesus is the Son of God

1. God came to us as a baby (the nativity story)

1. Humans are sinners and the only way we could get close to God was if Jesus died for us on the cross.

1. All we need to do is accept him into our hearts and lives, ask for forgiveness for our sins and we will be saved.

That is really what I knew about Jesus at your sons age along with some bible stories e.g water into wine, some of Jesus' parables (like building a house on sand and on rock etc), feeding of the five thousand etc etc etc

I think that is a good start for an 8 year old.

why not get him to read a Gospel - isn't Mark supposed to be the earliest? then you can get him to tell you what he has learned/what he thinks about it, and can discuss it further.

You can get books about Jesus for kids from religious bookshops. Might be easier than trying to explain it yourself, esp if you've no particular interest.

Well dd has had no real religious education up til now. School is secular and we are complete atheists.

I am conscious though that religion plays such a big part in culture that you can't avoid it, no matter what you believe.

So this year, we visted the cathedral in Mechelen (Belgian equivilent of Canterbury) and I told dd that some people believe that God is up in the sky and looks after us all, and that when you die you go up there too, to heaven.

She likes that idea (genetic protestant that she is). We are just doing the baby jesus and all that. She is 5.

Next year I plan to open it up a bit. Hell, even i need some education about other religions.....

At our library (kids section) they have lots of books about all the main religion plus books with Bible stories - rather than the whole Bible. It's also cheaper than buying books!

You could take DS to church over Christmas - as lots of them do child-friendly services at this time of year.

My DD goes to a Baptist church Sunday School- I'm not a Baptist and just drop her off each week- and she has a great time. The services are lively (lots of loud music / bands) and really welcoming to young children. (I once took her to the local C of E church and it was soooooo boring in comparison).

What about a kids Bible?

For an 8 year old there's a great one my ds (nearly 8) has called "My First Message" - its a more modern translation and had questions to answer etc ..

We are CHristians and I usually find that sticking to what the Bible says with kids is easiest! Bible stories about Jesus can raise a lot of discussion - dd1 (9) is currently into selling all she has and giving to the poor which is challenging!

I would tell him that Jesus was a man who (probably) existed a long time ago. That he was good and kind.

And that some people believe he was the son of their God and had magic powers and that's why they celebrate his birth.

Portofino, if you are "complete atheists" why do you feel the need to teach your children about this?

Jeep, I'd go with pretty much what Bunny said. Melted's version is only appropriate if you're a christian family.

I'd start with 'Jesus is an important person for Christians. Christians are people who believe in God.'