A Conversation with Dom about Evil- The Cheerful Coffin

How do you talk to your kids about good vs evil? It can be a tricky subject these days. There is little on t.v. , in music, and in books that is pure and only good. Are we to throw out our tv, and ban all music? How can I teach my children to discern good vs evil for themselves so they are not just always relying on what I say? How Can I teach them to live in the world and know how to make wise decisions without me right by their side? These are questions I wonder about and am working through the awnsers to. I sometimes do want to just ban tv all together and other things as well, but I think a part of me is afraid to shelter the children to much for fear that they will rebel when they are a bit older and go off the deep end. I want their spiritual convictions to be their own. I want them to know in their own head and hearts the why's of right vs. wrong and good vs. evil. So far I have been teaching them that if something on t.v. appears evil, we aren't going to watch it. We have read the verse together that says, " abstain from every form of evil" (1 thes. 5:22) and another one I really like for the kids (short and easy) is in Psalms 101:3 which says, "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes" We read the verse and then we have a discussion about what it means and I try to relate it to their everyday life. The first time we read this verse and talked about it, Domenic asked me "well, is star wars evil?" (mind you this is his favorite show and game which he plays daily). I was like uhhhh. I didn't know what to say. They do harness powers that come from "the force" and not from God. Could we just say that "the force" is God? I really didn't want to tell him it was possibly evil, atleast the good guys anyways. Here is where you can see how I might be compromising, or "grey". I instead turned the question around and asked him what he thought. He said he thought it was evil and vowed that he would never watch it again. Ofcourse he was back to it the next day. Should I have told him he shouldn't watch it? Am I helping him compromise something he was convicted about? I don't know! from a young age with Domenic I have tried to point him to discerning what is right and wrong with what he sees. I would comment on a show if the charactors were having a bad attitude ect.. with the hopes that he would begin to recognize those things himself and think a little more about what he sees

Ok, so that brings us to the situation at hand. Sorry about the drawnout intro! I found in Domenic's lunch bag the Yu-Gi-Oh! card pictured above. I really know nothing about them, except from what I am seeing on the card, and to me, well, it looks a little evil (When I found the above pic online, it said that the original Japanese card had a cross on the coffin). I asked Dom what it was and he told me that his friend at school gave it to him and keeps giving them to him. I asked him if he knew what it said, he didn't know so I told him. Then I asked him if he knew what a coffin was. He didn't so I told him. You should have seen the look on his face. I then asked him if he thought that this was good? He awnsered, "No, I don't think so" with a tone of sarcasm and a raised eyebrow. I told him that he should just give it back to his friend at school that day but he had a different idea. He told me,"No way! I am tearing this into a million tiny peices and throwing it out" and he did. It was pretty funny, but I was proud of my little man! I really don't want him to just follow the crowd. I want him to think for himself and stand by his own convictions. Being a mom with the goal of raising my kids to follow Christ is hard. Kids don't really see grey like we allow ourselves to sometimes. It is black or white, good or evil. I need to be more like Domenic some days. He has a heart that is pure and undefiled by compromise and apathy. Christ said we need to become like little children and I am understanding that statement more and more as I raise mine.