raymor

I don't really mean dumbing down. I mean presenting core principles without dumbing down to a kid level. There are many intelligent adults who got the little kid version but never anything beyond that. Adults need to hear something with more depth and weight, without assuming the core ideas have already sunk in fully.

So much of what I hear sounds to me a lot like "no animal actually says 'moo', so therefore cows don't exist." I'm wondering how we present the idea that just as underneath the physical level of things lies the mental level of thought, so too does thought overlay the spiritual level, without dumbing it down into a picture book with an old man with a long beard.

How do you share with a grown up the idea that while God is not necesarily a person who has a favorite football team, the "God principles" of hard work, respecting your body as a gift rather than abusing it with drugs, treating others right, etc. do lead to a good life. Adults are perhaps rightly skeptical when they picture the kid's character of God reaching out to Tim Tebow. Is there a way to present that in a more mature way; that since Tebow
learned well from his parents, doesn't spend his time fucking groupies, doesn't go around telling lies about his teammates, or needlessly inciting jealousy and resentment with the Broncos other quarterbacks, following those kind of principles is leading him to a successful career. Those things I listed are of course five of the ten commandments. Perhaps presented that way adults who haven't had a vital experience could see that these are good sound principles, principles at a different level than throwing force, and we call this other level the spiritual.