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SeaStar
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| Posted: March 14 2016 at 11:26am | IP Logged
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My 7th graders are deep thinkers. If you have a good answer to either of these, please let me know! I looked around on line but could not find official Church teachings for either of these. Maybe officially no one knows about Judas...
A soul in purgatory cannot pray for himself, but he can pray for us (everyone on earth). So... can the holy souls in purgatory also pray for each other?
Is Judas in heaven if he was really, really sorry for betraying Jesus?
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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jawgee
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| Posted: March 14 2016 at 1:39pm | IP Logged
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My 8th grader is a deep thinker like that, too. Once he disputed a book we were reading that said that the Ark of the Covenant contained "God's things". My DS said that, no, the Ark actually contained God also because "the Word was God".
I had no idea how to answer that. He made an appt with our parish priest to get all of his deep thoughts answered.
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Monica
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SeaStar
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| Posted: March 14 2016 at 5:57pm | IP Logged
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That is a good idea... I should think of bringing in a priest to field some of these questions. Alongs with those two, on Sunday I also got:
What *exactly* are the holy souls doing down there? (we had been talking about Jesus descending into hell after he rose from the dead). Atoning for their sins did not cut it for an answer... they wanted specifics: are they on fire? Are they doing hard labor? Do they eat?
Do you think that while he was on the Cross (and/or after) Jesus was thinking of taking revenge on everyone who betrayed him or didn't help him out?
This was my favorite... Is hell real? Or do you think it's possible that God is just trying to make it seem really bad so we won't want to go there or to make us behave better? Also- even in the Bible could God have been just trying to make hell look bad to fool us?
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: March 14 2016 at 7:13pm | IP Logged
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I would also make sure he has a good library of Apologetics books on hand to read for fun and look up in the index. Show him HOW TO FIND THESE ANSWERS on his own. I'm not saying you shouldn't talk about them...but he's at the age where he should start looking to someone else other than mama and papa for answers to anything. A lot of the questions he is asking are easily found in those books or with a quick search on the web (by you first of course). Also, make sure he has his own copy of a catechism or knows how to look up catechism things up on the internet.
You could also introduce him to a forum like "Catholic Answers" so he can either listen to podcasts, post questions on the forum, or email the apologists directly. I'm sure they would LOVE to converse with a 7th grader about these things...they LIVE for that stuff! Encourage him to download the app and listen to the topics that are interesting to him and formulate questions and call in! So fun!
I would answer the questions I could. But, then if you thought your discussion didn't "do" enough for him, encourage him to keep a section in one of his notebooks for all his questions and try to find a priest who is willing to meet with him for 30 min on a regular basis ....maybe every 8 weeks. And, yes...tell him to bring a timer so it doesn't go over 30 and shows respect for the priest so he will continue to do it. This is EXCELLENT practice for SO MANY THINGS.....research, interviewing, deep thought, dialogue, source citation, using the catechism, education about the Church, etc.
I would also set aside some time once/week to research one or two of the topics he is asking about and send him a few links and good articles that you find.
He is giving you an opening....an interest....wonder...now you just have to start him in the right direction and he will take it from there. It's not your job to spoon feed him the answers like in the past....sounds like you are raising a thoughtful, curious, intelligent little man...so now you just need to begin to launch him out on his own with his AWESEOME questions!
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Suzanne in ID
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 15 2016 at 12:14am | IP Logged
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Also, isn't there a Saint who was granted a vision of hell? That might be useful.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: March 15 2016 at 5:46am | IP Logged
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JodieLyn wrote:
| Also, isn't there a Saint who was granted a vision of hell? That might be useful. |
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Yes- I mentioned that in class on Sunday. It seems hard to think that anyone would even ask this question, but I could tell the student was really struggling with this. He is one of the deep thinkers in my class.
I have used Catholic Answers with the class- luckily I have internet access and a TV in my classroom at church, so I have been able to show them you tube videos from Catholic Answers and other resources.
It amazes and fascinates me what they come up with. So many of them do not receive any faith life/education from their parents, and yet they are so interested in learning.
Last week some of them were astounded to learn about transubstantiation. If they ever learned about it, they had long forgotten it. During a discussion about Jesus's passion we talked about how the soldiers stripped Jesus of his clothes and cast lots for them. It took a moment for this to sink in, and then there was pandemonium in the class room. One boy actually jumped out of his chair and said, "Mrs. X, what are you saying???" Another student pointed to the crucifix on the wall and said, "But look- they didn't take all his clothes, He has that little cloth thing on."
Sheesh- I never know what will get their wheels spinning. 
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: The questions you get asked...
