"Daddy, why do people die?"

The title isn't an awfully corny lead into a predictable lecture that ends with "But, Jesus can save you". That's true, but the question that is the title of this post was an actual question from my friend's six year old son. I find it very profound. My friend is an intelligent, thoughtful man, and so he struggled with how to answer this question honestly. He decided to answer his boy by telling him it was a big question, and that he didn't know for sure, but everyone had to find their own answer eventually. As my friend finished telling me about this conversation he said, "So, I'm glad I didn't take the opportunity to brainwash my son."



There are some very real, tangible dangers to post-modern philosophies, not the least of which is the eventual necessity to use might to determine "right", but my friend's comments point to another danger, and that is the loss of generational wisdom. That is, if all conclusions and all opinions are equally valid, it's unecessary to teach our children anything other than that simple principle. As they will eventually form their own opinions and come to their own conclusions, and those will by definition be as valid as that of their parents, teaching becomes not only unecessary, but since it is purposefully influencing thoughts and conclusions, it is actually looked on as brainwashing.



Now, if I asked my friend I'm sure he'd tell me that he teaches his son not to play in traffic, how to properly handle a knife, what he can eat and what he cannot eat, etc. He quite naturally does these things, and rightfully so in order that his son's physical health be maintained. This is necessary because there are rules that govern our physical well being, there is a design to our physical being that reacts well to some things and does not react well to others. Most post-modern thinkers do not disagree with this, but they draw a philosophical line between the physical and the metaphysical. They say there are rules and order to the physical (a post-modern would not suggest that scientific theory is invalid), but that there are no such rules or order in the metaphysical world. Francis Schaefer refers to this dividing line as the "line of despair". There is not, in my opinion any logical reason for this line, and it therefore follows easily that that about us that is not physical (I would call it spiritual) is also benefitted by some thoughts and actions, and damaged by others. We should therefore be at least as careful and intentional in teaching our children about spiritual health as we are about physical health, and to do this is no more to brainwash them than teaching them not to crawl into the oven.



Right now I'm not sure how I'd answer this question for my son, but I'm very grateful for the eternal wisdom of the Bible and the thoughts it offers on difficult questions such as this, and even more grateful for a God who has promised that love covers a multitude of sins...and those would be my sins it's covering.



As a side note, if you happen to be reading this and find yourself wondering firstly how you got here, it was probably not intentional, but let's go with it and answer your next question which might be around where to find some instruction on what is and is not good for the human soul. I would recommend Jesus, and more specifically the book of Matthew, chapters 6 and 7. These teachings are generally referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.