When to tell kids about the crucifixion?

I remember being 5 and not understanding the crucifixion, now I’m 20 and I can cope with it. I still think its gory but I kinda see the message behind the whole thing. Like, what mankind is able to do.. I couldn’t understand that with 5 years old. Maby it’s best to wait? Bc it is kinda scary and I remember not being able to comprehend the whole story. It just didn’t make any sense to me then.

I first explained the resurrection after death. A couple of years later explained the crucifixion (when I was asked how he died). I don’t remember the exact ages, but with any understanding of death this would work.

I am not a Christian, but I don’t see why the gory details are necessary, especially at a young age. The message of Jesus and Christianity is to be loving, help your neighbor, etc, can be taught without the horrors. At the age of 5 we are trying to instill appropriate behavior and a caring heart in our children. The Golden Rule seems to me the biggest lesson for everyone, no matter what religion. Jesus was nailed to a cross, because that was the punishment of the day. If he had been in another country or lives in another time he might have been killed by firing squad, and Christians would be wearing bullets around their neck. The positive messages, stories, and philosophical lessons are what is important in my mind.

If a child that young has not bothered to ask, “how did he stay up on the cross?” I would avoid telling until a little older. I think as young as 5 they migt not understand that Christ died that way, unless told, and not telling him for a while seems ok with me. If you don’t allow your child to watch violent movies, then I think it is still not time yet to know the violence Christ endured.

Thursday afternoon, around about tea time.They’ll cross that bridge when they’re good & ready, i’d imagine.

Best to stick with sponge bob at that age! :-/

Ah, I still remember the good ‘ol ‘crucifixion talk’ from my childhood. Oh, wait. That never happened. And yet I know all about it. Jesus’ suffering is important for everyone to know about but it’s not like a sex talk… I guarantee that your brat will learn about this fact in his own time and not get pregnant because you didn’t warn him of the dangers of ancient Roman forms of torture.

Why sugar coat it and why hide what you believe if your faith is so strong? I say every Christian should dismiss this Easter bunny nonsense and give it to them straight.

You can tell this story to a child at most any age. But don’t tell him what to believe. This is something every person needs to decide on for themselves, without any pressure…

You might try talking about how Jesus had those long drawn out talks with his Dad about not really wanting to, but his Dad convinces him that it is all part of the plan.
Then ease into the whole Sanhedrin-Roman conspiracy and the rat fink Judas thing and then briefly mention his death and then explain how Christians believe that Jesus then came back to life some 3 days later.

If you and your spouse live your lives in a manner pleasing to God, all else will follow, including your children. “So live your [ OWN ] lives before men, so that they may see your good works and praise your heavenly Father.”

I say tell the kids that Christ was killed for our sins so that we could go to Heaven, and remind the kids that he rose again. Leave out the gory details until you think the kid can handle it. Also, it all depends on the kid.

Why would you ever repeat such a story? They child may be able to cope with the gory details, but the next question is ‘why?’ The Christian answer to this is that all of us, including the child, are inherently evil and we caused this brutal death. Is that really the message you want to give to a developing mind? Just tell them to practice peace, love and understanding – that is enough.

@FireMadeFlesh

The original sin/inherently evil thing is so much bullshit…I don’t understand how anyone can buy into that crap.

@davidbetterman I hate the original sin thing also. A perfect child is born and I am supposed to believe there is sin there. Come on!

@davidbetterman Me either. Evil is a learned behaviour, and someone else dying in the place of a person who practices evil is irrelevant. The idea of having a perfect law giver is what really gets me though, are we meant to believe we are responsible for the death of Jesus, when it was his own law that dictated it? Evil has areas of grey, so there can be no absolute ethical law to adhere to.

I have a 4 year old and she has already heard the stories of the crucifixion. Not all the gory details, but we have told her that some men hated Jesus and nailed him to the cross, where he died to pay the price for all we’ve done wrong. She gets it to an extent and has asked a few questions about it, which we answer as far as we feel comfortable. She knows it’s a bad thing and she says she “feels bad for Jesus”, but she hasn’t seemed disturbed by it at all. I wouldn’t dare let her watch the Passion movie yet, until she’s maybe 12 or 13, since seeing it happen is quite different than knowing it happened…

I guess it all depends on the child. Our daughters (the other one is 10) have always seemed very mature for their ages and able to understand and cope with things that perhaps other kids their age might not be ready for. They both actually appeared to be moved by the church service this morning. I’d say you will know when your kiddo is able to handle it. :)

6 – 8

I personally find that the gory aspects of the crucifixion is much to prominent within Christianity. The gory crucifixion of Christ has become a church staple since the Baroque art period, where they used violence, clashing colors, and distorted angles to give the viewer an uncomfortable feeling and prompt them to attend confession; a perfect marketing campaign as the church at that time could/would charge to hear your sins. It is His Glorious Resurrection that is important to always emphasis. His triumph over Hell and Death. His opening the gates of Heaven!

So, when it comes to teaching your child, let him know about the crucifixion. It is alright for a child to learn about suffering and it is alright for him to understand that his Christ suffered for him. Explain why people did it. Children can and should learn about social wrongs committed by the masses, it is a good way to ingrain in them that the crowd is not always right (Yes, even the church applies to that) It is wrong to leave that part out. But always turn the darkness that is humanities failings into light by repeating the Glorious celebration that is the Resurrections.

oh but P.S.: when talking about the masses, steer clear of ascribing it to “the Jews”. Children easily link wrongs with specific people therefore it is better to describe it as humanity’s failings, not a particular religion (especially when that religion is tied with a “race”)

@ThrallKiller I don’t mean to be rude or anything but The Passion of the Christ movie is R rated so is NOT meant to be seen by a child of any age and you think thats suitable viewing for a 12–13 year old??? you get that you’d be breaking the law, not to mention being a dreadful parent putting such graphic imagery (R rated remember) into such a young mind. Your poor daughter would need a very good therapist to be able to sleep nights after that. As I said, apologies but your reply just horrified me. The link above takes you to the parental guide page for the movie at the IMDB. Apologies again but I couldn’t cope with it and I’m an adult, and the ratings system is there to protect youngsters, no matter how mature their parents think they are.
hugs xx

@AZByzantium Most people do not consider Jews to be a race. Some do, but most don’t. Very few Jews do. My husband and I are Jewish and I would say we are different races. He is Sephardic and I am Ashkenazi, We are from very different parts of the world. He looks like he is from the Mediterannean, black wavy hair, dark skin, amber eyes, kind of looks stereotypical Greek. I am very pale, blue eyes, medium brown hair, which goes with my eastern european background. Judaism is a religion, not a race in my mind, but in the US there certainly is cultural similarities among Jews sometimes I say ethnic similarities.

@JLeslie Oh, I know and agree. But taking history into account, it is always better to tread cautiously on contentions issues until the child is educated and old enough to have a mature understanding of race and religion.

I think you should tell your son the truth that you don’t know for sure jesus even existed (considering there is exactly zero documentation outside of religious books that support his existance). Does your son have the capacity to understand religion? Is he a christian? Is he a democrat? A republican?