[handmaiden]

Right now, out there in the non-Biblically concerned world, there is a discussion going on as to whether parents have a moral responsibility to feed their children's guests.

At first, I was willing to ignore this discussion because no one was presenting a Biblically-supported point of view. But now, I realize that Landover Baptist Church has a spiritual responsibility to weigh in on this issue.

So, is it Christian and American to feed your children's little friends when they come to visit? Or is that a way to encourage communism and allow other parents to shirk their duties?

The great irony here is that discussion centers on this cultural practice of not feeding freeloading children in Swedish households. Sweden, as we all know, is a tragically over-taxed hotbed of sex and socialism as well as the suicide capital of the world, beating out even Japan.

As a mere female with only a layperson's knowledge of the Bible, I would like to know what our learned senior membership has to say on this subject. No doubt True Christian™ parents may have a perspective as well.

[Jeb Stuart Thurmond]

If the kids are needy, they are allowed to harvest the dandelions from the edges of your lawn.

Which reminds me, the standard way people deal with this problem is become health-food nuts, or some kind of super-vegan weirdo. Or just tell them you're a dumpster diver.

Can you tolerate very, very, very spicy food?

[Johny Joe Hold]

This can be a teaching moment. Have a kid call up a pizza place and order a pzzia. Then have the kid watch the pizza place's dumpster. After an hour or so the place will toss his pizza in the dumpster, and he can dig it out.

When explaining this to a child you can repeat a wise saying, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

[Joanna Lytton-Vasey]

The Swedes are as a rule all-round-unacceptable and I have little time for their curious ways, but in this case their behavior seems entirely reasonable. Just think about the practicalities. Imagine if, say, the Hutchins boys were round at your place and you were expected to feed them all. Worse still if it were my boys!

No, it is a parent's responsibility to feed their own children, when and if appropriate. I hope that is helpful, Sister?

[Roland]

Originally Posted by Jeb Stuart Thurmond

If the kids are needy, they are allowed to harvest the dandelions from the edges of your lawn.
[...]
Can you tolerate very, very, very spicy food?

I can weigh in on this one. Dandelions are not spicy. You need to toss in some chilies for that. Dandelion pasta is even more tame than the spinach one I posted earlier. For chili try this one, it is an easy recipe:

[Bezukhov]

"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat" ( 2 Thessalonians 3:10 KJV )


I'm sure in every Christian home there's wood to be chopped, crops that need to be harvested, a dozen or so acres that need to be plowed...

[Johny Joe Hold]

Originally Posted by Joanna Lytton-Vasey

The Swedes are as a rule all-round-unacceptable and I have little time for their curious ways,

Maybe if mothers offered other people's kids the food Swedes and Norwegians eat the kids would go begging elsewhere. Swedes and Norwegians eat only white food, boiled white potatoes, white bread and white codfish. "Eye appeal" and presentation is not in their culture.

[Jeb Stuart Thurmond]

At least they're not closeted Pastafarians.

[Elmer G. White]

Based on my extensive Biblical knowledge and lots of sincere Prayers, I find that the premise of this question is where the problem lies: "Children's Friends"? Why by Jesus Christ our redeemer and Savior should children have friends? Friends can make our life tolerable, in direct opposition to what Jesus strives to achieve!

Luke 14:26
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

If children have friends and - even worse - if these friends can come over or - even worse - if there is a sleepover, it will make life less painful for the children in addition to the inevitable experimentation with sodomy. I say: if the situation is so much out of control that the children have friends, Satan is already wrapping his throbbing tallywhacker into coils of barbed wire ready to rape these younglings the very moment they - and their so-called friends - perish and fall into the abyss. Feeding is of course and obviously a no-no. Jesus will eventually take care of that if He pleases.

Revelation 7:17
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.


Yours in Christ,

Elmer

[WWJDnow]

I'm going to go against the grain here and suggest that it is OK to feed your children's friends, provided that you give them a Bible lesson while they're eating. You never know, they may not be learning at home about the dangers of homosexualism or letting women work or watching media that support witchcraft or giving minorities equal rights. This is your chance to drive those messages from Jesus home to these impressionable youths.

[Mary Etheldreda]

Originally Posted by Elmer G. White

Based on my extensive Biblical knowledge and lots of sincere Prayers, I find that the premise of this question is where the problem lies: "Children's Friends"? Why by Jesus Christ our redeemer and Savior should children have friends?

As a mother of many children I am therefore blessed to be an expert on all things related to children, and I wholeheartedly concur. There's a reason the Good Lord created women with such hard working, non disposable wombs that are not meant to be thrown away after one use, but rather utilized again and again and again. Menstruation in a married woman is a shame; Satan's Waterfall curses women who are have not put their faith entirely in Jesus and secondarily their own husbands.

Children need chores and responsibilities, not play-dates. Their time should be spent learning how to hone in their God-given craft, be it to provide and protect for the boys, or to grow up to be a help-meet for the girls. Children who grow up with a plethora of siblings have casual conversations that reinforce parental teaching. Children who grow up with friends have casual conversations that challenge those teachings. It is a dangerous precedent to allow a child a friend. Nowhere in the Bible do we read about Jesus playing with little friends when he was a child, exploring secret hideouts and poking dead animals with sticks. True Christian parents raise their children to be Christlike, and that includes no friends. This is for their own good and it shows love and care.

[handmaiden]

Originally Posted by Mary Etheldreda

Nowhere in the Bible do we read about Jesus. . . poking dead animals with sticks. True Christian parents raise their children to be Christlike, and that includes no friends. This is for their own good and it shows love and care.

All of your sentiments are wise and well-reasoned, Sister Mary. No doubt The Lord has blessed you with insight due to the fact that you bravely opened your womb to His service again and again.


I do have to ask one question, though. Whatever little boy Jesus may or may not have been up to in His childhood, don't you think that He would have been more likely to resurrect those dead animals than just leave them there to rot?


But, of course, your real point is that Jesus wasn't running around unsupervised in the first place, so it is unlikely that He would have encountered dead frogs or other creatures. He was probably kept busy helping out His foster father in the family carpentry business.


And being Our Lord and Savior, if He ever did hang out at a friend's house around suppertime, He would have multiplied the contents of whatever the family was serving at the table. Since ordinary children can't possibly hope to do such a thing, excluding them from a meal while they are visiting one's house is probably acceptable.