A Child's Explanation of God

Everyone has atleast one if not a few people who you can count on to send you an email that atleast 450 other people have also received via a Forward. The subject matter of these types of emails general include a "cute" story, often accompanied by images of kittens, puppies and/or promises to increase your wealth, luck or general good looks if you forward it to 10 of your friends.

Having said that, there is a person who I worked with who I would NEVER have expected receiving such an email from. In fact, she was one of the most savvy people I have ever met. So one day I get an email message from her, looking surprisingly similar to a cute email. However after reading it it became apparent why she sent it. It is a letter claimed to be written by a rather self-confident 8-year-old boy named Danny Dutton from Chula Vista , CA. The claim is that he wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to "explain God."

I have since "Snoped" the article and it appears that although suspect, it is indeed difficult to determine who in fact was the original pen of this story. Snopes says it might be written by someone who meant to have been read as if "from the mouth of babes" solely for added poignancy, but in any case I still find it worth posting about. And that's why this is called BarryBlog. I decide. Again, the article's been around since 1993, but you might not have seen it — and as I've stated, is worth a post, so in my estimation worth a look.

EXPLANATION OF GOD:

"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.

"God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off.

"God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.

"Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church. Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him. But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K.

"His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important.

"You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time." "You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!

"Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway. "If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.

"But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.

And...that's why I believe in God."