Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

[Lost Sheep McUinnean]

After some extensive Bible Study the other night I think I saw something I hadn't noticed. That fear of the dark is a lack of faith in Our Lord and Saviour.

Granted it was 4a.m. and I had partaken of some Laphraoig to calm my uncomfortable feeling at the howling wind outside on that autumn night with branches scraping against the windo pane. The rain didn't help either to ease my lack of concentration. Nor did the owls. The Laphraoig did help me concentrate though.

The POINT:

I found these passages. And I fear my 5 yr old son might be open to sin or at least the suggestiveness of Evil.

He's asked me if there are demons under the bed.

Naturally I can't say no to calm his fear, as we know there may well be demons right there, so I told him of course there might be but to trust in God and that Daddy has a baseball bat anyway.

He asked to sleep with the light on, but I told him this displayed a lack of faith from what I had read.

In the end his mother got up and slept in the room with the light on. I was finding it difficult to focus on reading after that...due to fatigue of course, so I went to bed.

My point is: am I right to think this?

Here are the quotes that got me thiking while I was still able to read:


Proverbs 4:19The way of the wicked is as DARKNES: they know not at what they stumble.

Psalm 82:5They know not, neither wil they vnderstand; they walke on in DARKNES: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.


Ephesians 6:12For wee wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the DARKNES of this world, against spirituall wickednes in high places.

Isaiah 47:5Sit thou silent, and get thee into DARKNES, O daughter of the Caldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the Ladie of kingdomes.


OK. That last one kind of left me stumped but I still reckon 3 of the four hold good. Or bad. Depending.


Advice please?


YIC, McUinnean, of a brave darkness-mocking Ilk.

[Cranky Old Man]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

Advice please?

Make sure your children are so scared of Hell that nothing else scares them. Hitting them with a rod and then, when they are crying in agony, explaining to them that Hell is much much worse is very effective for that.

[Lost Sheep McUinnean]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

Make sure your children are so scared of Hell that nothing else scares them. Hitting them with a rod and then, when they are crying in agony, explaining to them that Hell is much much worse is very effective for that.

Hmm, interesting strategy brother; perhaps 'Don't worry about the demons under the bed because that's NOTHING to the aeternal fires of HELL son.'

Should I smile encouragingly to help him assimilate the wisdom contained therein?

YIC, McUinnean, of that Ilk.

[Lycia The Repentant]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

A very interesting question, Brother. On the one hand, I don't believe there is a single verse in the Bible that mentions that mentions darkness in a positive fashion (with the possible exception of those that tell us the Lord created it such as Isaiah 45:7), while on the other hand, the Bible makes it very clear that the only thing we should be afraid of is God. I would suggest reminding your child that, while darkness can indeed be a scary thing, he needs to put his trust in Jesus and "be not afraid".

Here are a few verses I suggest you remind him of:

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: Be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10

"Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." Matthew 10:31

To really let these verses sink in, why not lock him in a dark room for a while? That way, you could show him that there isn't anything to worry about and give him time to reflect on the meanings of those verses.

[Lost Sheep McUinnean]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

A very interesting question, Brother. On the one hand, I don't believe there is a single verse in the Bible that mentions that mentions darkness in a positive fashion (with the possible exception of those that tell us the Lord created it such as Isaiah 45:7), while on the other hand, the Bible makes it very clear that the only thing we should be afraid of is God. I would suggest reminding your child that, while darkness can indeed be a scary thing, he needs to put his trust in Jesus and "be not afraid".

Here are a few verses I suggest you remind him of:

A very helpful angle there sister. I genuinely appreciate that. God Bless you.
I notice that you have changed the nuance to fear over darkness. It figures actually. That's what the single malt was helping me to see.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7

He need not fear but be strong. That's what God wants from him.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18

Darn. I have a defective child. We shall have to remedy this.

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: Be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10

He likes to be given a high shoulder ride by me. Not sure if this is relevant here. Sorry.

"Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." Matthew 10:31

He's TERRIFIED of sparrows TOO! This IS uncanny.
I suspect something sinister.

To really let these verses sink in, why not lock him in a dark room for a while? That way, you could show him that there isn't anything to worry about and give him time to reflect on the meanings of those verses.

Good idea Lycia. We'll try tonight, as soon as I get home from work.


Thankings in abundance, YIC, McUinnean of that Ilk.

Any other wise words will be appreciated also.

[noble6]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

After some extensive Bible Study the other night I think I saw something I hadn't noticed. That fear of the dark is a lack of faith in Our Lord and Saviour.

Granted it was 4a.m. and I had partaken of some Laphraoig to calm my uncomfortable feeling at the howling wind outside on that autumn night with branches scraping against the windo pane. The rain didn't help either to ease my lack of concentration. Nor did the owls. The Laphraoig did help me concentrate though.

The POINT:

I found these passages. And I fear my 5 yr old son might be open to sin or at least the suggestiveness of Evil.

He's asked me if there are demons under the bed.

Naturally I can't say no to calm his fear, as we know there may well be demons right there, so I told him of course there might be but to trust in God and that Daddy has a baseball bat anyway.

He asked to sleep with the light on, but I told him this displayed a lack of faith from what I had read.

In the end his mother got up and slept in the room with the light on. I was finding it difficult to focus on reading after that...due to fatigue of course, so I went to bed.

My point is: am I right to think this?

Here are the quotes that got me thiking while I was still able to read:


Proverbs 4:19The way of the wicked is as DARKNES: they know not at what they stumble.

Psalm 82:5They know not, neither wil they vnderstand; they walke on in DARKNES: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.


Ephesians 6:12For wee wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the DARKNES of this world, against spirituall wickednes in high places.

Isaiah 47:5Sit thou silent, and get thee into DARKNES, O daughter of the Caldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the Ladie of kingdomes.


OK. That last one kind of left me stumped but I still reckon 3 of the four hold good. Or bad. Depending.


Advice please?


YIC, McUinnean, of a brave darkness-mocking Ilk.

Fear of the dark is a natural phase in a child's life. I myself was afraid of the dark from the ages 3-5. They aren't worshipping it or anything; its just a phase. My advice is to get them a night light.

[SUV]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

My God YES, Brother Sheeple! We True Christians Wish for Light™ ONLY

My heartiest Platitudes to you, in this, your hour of Grief

[Bob4God]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

What you have here is a great opportunity to teach your son faith in GOD.

You are correct so far in telling him that there could be demons under the bed. You can't prove there aren't any there, so it is the only scientific conclusion.

1 Samuel 16:14 gives us a clue though:

But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

When GOD withdraws His spirit from somebody or some place, sometimes He sends evil spirits to take His place to teach us just what happens to naughty little boys and girls who disobey Him.

If your five year old son has been masturbating a lot as children tend to do, it is fully possible GOD will get sick and fed up with such blatant sin and will remove His presence from your son's bedroom.

In this case, I would say there is a good reason to be afraid of the dark.

When I was a boy I knew this verse well, and was often nervous about being alone in the dark. When you're in the dark, you have time to think about all the evil things you did during the day and the gnawing fear they will come back to get you is sometimes more than a child can bear.

I think my father knew this, so sometimes he would get up late at night and make a sinister laugh outside my door, or bang on the walls while howling like a banshee. I would dive under the covers and read my KJV Bible till dawn.

I didn't find out till he told me years later it was him doing that, and that really spoiled the effect and caused me to have a crisis of faith again, for a short time.

As a True Christian, it's upsetting to me to find out a human puppeteer was pulling the strings behind my most compelling religious experiences.

I suggest you try banging on the walls of your son's bedroom and wailing in the night to strengthen his faith, but never let him know it was you.

[Cranky Old Man]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

Fear of the dark is a natural phase in a child's life. I myself was afraid of the dark from the ages 3-5. They aren't worshipping it or anything; its just a phase. My advice is to get them a night light.

You want to turn your children into gay hippies? You should never give in to your child's silly weaknesses. You want them to become God fearing people!

[Lost Sheep McUinnean]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

What you have here is a great opportunity to teach your son faith in GOD.

You are correct so far in telling him that there could be demons under the bed. You can't prove there aren't any there, so it is the only scientific conclusion.

1 Samuel 16:14 gives us a clue though:

But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

When GOD withdraws His spirit from somebody or some place, sometimes He sends evil spirits to take His place to teach us just what happens to naughty little boys and girls who disobey Him.

If your five year old son has been masturbating a lot as children tend to do, it is fully possible GOD will get sick and fed up with such blatant sin and will remove His presence from your son's bedroom.

In this case, I would say there is a good reason to be afraid of the dark.

When I was a boy I knew this verse well, and was often nervous about being alone in the dark. When you're in the dark, you have time to think about all the evil things you did during the day and the gnawing fear they will come back to get you is sometimes more than a child can bear.

I think my father knew this, so sometimes he would get up late at night and make a sinister laugh outside my door, or bang on the walls while howling like a banshee. I would dive under the covers and read my KJV Bible till dawn.

I didn't find out till he told me years later it was him doing that, and that really spoiled the effect and caused me to have a crisis of faith again, for a short time.

As a True Christian, it's upsetting to me to find out a human puppeteer was pulling the strings behind my most compelling religious experiences.

I suggest you try banging on the walls of your son's bedroom and wailing in the night to strengthen his faith, but never let him know it was you.

Excellent insightful post Brother. I just have one doubt though; if I bang on the wall and make banshee noises....wouldn't I be toying with blasphemy there: i.e. playing 'God'? As in, doing something in order to deceive my son and acting the part of God?

I kind of have a dilemma with this. Any helpful Scripture or ideas to get round this?

[Lycia The Repentant]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

Excellent insightful post Brother. I just have one doubt though; if I bang on the wall and make banshee noises....wouldn't I be toying with blasphemy there: i.e. playing 'God'? As in, doing something in order to deceive my son and acting the part of God?

I kind of have a dilemma with this. Any helpful Scripture or ideas to get round this?

A very good point, Brother. You certainly do not want to run a risk of committing the one unforgivable sin!

Personally, I do not think you should be making banshee noises and impersonating demons. If you want to go this route, however, why don't you instead get a recording of a demon and play it? I personally cannot think of anything more horrifying and demonic than say, a Miley Cyrus record played backwards. This way, you aren't running a risk of blasphemy.

I still think your best bet is to lock your child in a pitch-black room for a few hours to let them realize that, with faith in the Lord, they need not be afraid of anything. There is a lot to be said for the other advice here though, so perhaps a synthesis of all of the suggestions you receive (not counting any you may get from unsaved trash) is in order?

A beating with a rod, followed by some time spent in a pitch-black room while listening to demonic noises seems like it should be able to do the trick.

[Bob4God]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

Excellent insightful post Brother. I just have one doubt though; if I bang on the wall and make banshee noises....wouldn't I be toying with blasphemy there: i.e. playing 'God'? As in, doing something in order to deceive my son and acting the part of God?

I kind of have a dilemma with this. Any helpful Scripture or ideas to get round this?

You're not playing GOD by any means. It's not like you're performing in vitro fertilization or something.

You would be playing the role of a True Christian father who is active in his son's life and wants to keep him on the straight and narrow.

You are not deceiving your son at all. You are simply pounding on the walls and wailing.

If he runs out of the room screaming then you know he has a guilty conscience.

If he immediately seizes his Bible and begins reading then you will know he is seeking the light of JESUS CHRIST.

If he is unafraid, then GOD is with him already.

No, you are not deceiving your son, but rather you are testing his devotion and love of GOD. If your son was attracting or even inviting demons into his room, wouldn't you want to know?

[Lost Sheep McUinnean]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

You're not playing GOD by any means. It's not like you're performing in vitro fertilization or something.

You would be playing the role of a True Christian father who is active in his son's life and wants to keep him on the straight and narrow.

You are not deceiving your son at all. You are simply pounding on the walls and wailing.

If he runs out of the room screaming then you know he has a guilty conscience.

If he immediately seizes his Bible and begins reading then you will know he is seeking the light of JESUS CHRIST.

If he is unafraid, then GOD is with him already.

No, you are not deceiving your son, but rather you are testing his devotion and love of GOD. If your son was attracting or even inviting demons into his room, wouldn't you want to know?

Most persuasive arguments that set my mind at ease there Brother Bob. In the absence of him being able to read though I read to him myself. My wife has asked about children's versions of the KJV1611, but to be honest I find the idea repulsive.

The official one should be the only one, I suppose. Right?
It's also a good way to update and improve his knowledge of essential early 17th Century vocabulary I should think too.

Thoughts?

[Bob4God]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

Most persuasive arguments that set my mind at ease there Brother Bob. In the absence of him being able to read though I read to him myself. My wife has asked about children's versions of the KJV1611, but to be honest I find the idea repulsive.

The official one should be the only one, I suppose. Right?
It's also a good way to update and improve his knowledge of essential early 17th Century vocabulary I should think too.

Thoughts?

Avoid children's Bibles at all costs. Children's Bibles are often designed by liberal fluffy bunny Christians to make GOD seem less terrifying than He actually is, and as a result, children do not grow up respecting His awesome authority.

It's good that you read to him and are there to answer his questions. Of course I'm sure you're the only one who reads to him, and your wife stays in her place.

Part of the reason we have so many false Christians running around these days is because their mothers tried to explain the Bible to them, and those silly women just get it all wrong.

Suffer not a woman to teach!

[Bob4God]

Re: Is my 5 yr old son's fear of the DARK potentially sinful?

A very good point, Brother. You certainly do not want to run a risk of committing the one unforgivable sin!

Personally, I do not think you should be making banshee noises and impersonating demons. If you want to go this route, however, why don't you instead get a recording of a demon and play it? I personally cannot think of anything more horrifying and demonic than say, a Miley Cyrus record played backwards. This way, you aren't running a risk of blasphemy.

I still think your best bet is to lock your child in a pitch-black room for a few hours to let them realize that, with faith in the Lord, they need not be afraid of anything. There is a lot to be said for the other advice here though, so perhaps a synthesis of all of the suggestions you receive (not counting any you may get from unsaved trash) is in order?

A beating with a rod, followed by some time spent in a pitch-black room while listening to demonic noises seems like it should be able to do the trick.

While your efforts are commendable, you are still a woman and it shows in your post.

The one unforgivable sin is not giving your child a glimpse of hell (which we do yearly at our Hell House), but rather it is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. -Luke 12:10

We can see here that speaking a word against the Son of Man can be forgiven. It was JESUS Himself who taught us to turn the other cheek.

The other two members of the One True GOD Head do not take as kindly to blasphemy as the Son, and the Holy Ghost will not abide such behavior.

Speaking a word against -that is, going out of your way to deny, insult or dishonor- the Holy Ghost is the one unforgivable sin.

Recommending that Brother Sheep expose his child to Miley Cyrus music is just a bad idea. Going out of your way to purchase the devil's music, bring it into your home, and play it backwards to reveal its authentic Satanic messages is outright dangerous.

The results of such a thing are wildly unpredictable, and could range anywhere from the boy becoming a gay transvestite to suicide.

However, your last idea is a good one, and I assume you got it from a man. A good beating is always in order, and locking him in the dark could do wonders for his faith.