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Out of the Mouths of Babes

Our Civic was stolen from our driveway over the weekend. Riley* was completely enthralled with the police man that came to file the report. Both boys kept saying the police man will bring the car back.
As we knelt down to say prayers, I told Riley we can ask Heavenly Father to help us find the car. His response…
“He can’t help us Mom!! Heavenly Father isn’t a police man!”
A wonderful lesson on prayer and God’s love followed, but with confusion about why Heavenly Father wasn’t coming to our house like the police man did :D haha love our conversations with Riley.
*name has been changed

I came across this post a few days ago from a friend on Facebook. I thought it was interesting that her 4 year old son, despite Sunbeam lessons endorsing the power of god, accused god of being unable to help them find something material. It’s a logical conclusion. God is not a policeman. That’s why his name is “God” and not “Officer God”. It’s depressing to think though that my friend and her husband approached his conclusion with shake of the head at how “funny” children can be and tried to explain to him that through god, the police officers would be able to find their car. Her little boy has a point though, with his “confusion”. How can god help if he doesn’t actually come to their house? Why doesn’t god make his presence known and ask questions and gather information like the police officer did? The answer his parents most likely provided: “Because god knows everything.”

Perhaps, if the child were a little older, his next question would have been along the lines of, “Then why did god let our car be stolen if he knew it was going to happen?” The unfailing LDS response would be, “Because god loves us enough to allow us to go through trials that may not be fun at the time, but will help up us grow closer to Him through these experiences. God is testing us. He wants to know if we truly rely on Him and trust His plan for us.”

Bull shit.

Although I doubt that would be the child’s response. I was in similar situations and had similar responses. God makes our lives hard because He loves us. What a self-serving deity. ‘I’ll make you suffer so that I can make sure that you do love me and so you will further rely on my divine understanding of where I want you to go in life, of which the end result will be to praise me for all eternity.’

Kids say the darndest things. I know this, and am frequently entertained by other posts from my friends with little children, but this one depresses me. The boy genuinely believes in the policeman’s ability to find their car, but is then told that he will only find it if god wants him to find it. How can a person trust anyone if it’s really up to an invisible god whether another individual, who is flesh and blood, can help?


I discovered early this morning that the police were in fact able to recover my friend’s car. What do you think the conversation with their little boy sounded like that night?  
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