(March 6, 2024 at 7:22 am)The Magic Pudding. Wrote:(March 4, 2024 at 8:00 pm)Jillybean Wrote: When I was a child listening to Mass, I remember thinking that his words to Peter "on this rock I build my church" was clearly metaphorical and only make sense if he didn't actually intend to start a church.
How old a child?
It bothered me from a very young age (maybe eight or nine) but of course I couldn't yet articulate that I felt it was metaphorical. I just sensed something "off." I was Catholic and was taught that the Catholic church arose directly from this statement of Jesus, because Peter went on to found the Catholic church.
When I was six years old, I remember saying to a friend in the church yard that I didn't think the Old Testament stories we were learning about (like Noah's Ark) were any more real than the stories in a book of Greek myths I had.
Her response surprised me: "Yeah, that sounds right."
Kids are a lot more perceptive and more capable of critical thought than most adults think.