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I thought my brain was going to explode today.


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Either that, or I'd bite right through my tongue. I overheard the craziest exchange between a couple and their son today. This is nearly word for word, and they were all very serious about this, trust me.

 

I was at the center where my son goes for therapy. There is a toddler play area at one end of the very large lobby. Sometimes older kids come down there to watch the television mounted on the wall. At the end of the play area, there is a wooden tree on the wall. It has wooden apples and a little bluebird perched in its upper "branches".

 

The boy (who looked about 5 or so) came running up to the area and said, "Oh boy! I'm going to eat some of those apples!"

 

Mom: (gasps audibly) You will NOT! God doesn't WANT you to!

 

Kid: I want the apples. Nom nom nom They look delicious, don't they?

 

Dad: (in a stern voice, wagging finger at kid) What did God tell you about this?

 

Kid: Nothing. God has never talked to me.

 

Dad: GOD DOES NOT WANT US TO EAT THE EVIL APPLES! Remember the Garden of Eden?!? Do you want to be like Eve?

 

Kid: (smiling) They're just apples. They aren't even real.

 

Dad: God has spoken to us about the Tree of Good and Evil. We must never eat of the apples!

 

Mom: I can't believe you're acting like this. God will be angry with you! (looks absolutely distraught)

 

Kid: (shrugs) God is dead. I don't care.

 

Mom and Dad gasp. Dad grabs kid by his shoulders and shakes him.

 

Dad: Don't you EVER say that!!! Why would you say that?!?

 

Kid: My gods are dead.

 

Dad: NO!!!! Don't you EVER say that! Why would you say that?

 

Kid: Why not?

 

Dad: (spluttering) It's preposterous, that's why!

 

 

At this point, the therapist for the boy walks up, and mom and boy leave. Dad and baby sister sit down and proceed to seem perfectly normal. I was all :blink: and trying not to stare. I was so incredibly glad that my girls were at the other end of the area and missed the entire evil apple exchange!

 

What in the world? It still boggles my mind.

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Waaaaaaaa . . . . ??? :001_huh:

 

Evil apples? I'm . . . I have no words. Where does that come from? I've heard some wacky religious beliefs, but no apples?!? Where does that come from?

 

The part that gets me is the disconnect between the kid's thinking and the adults. I wonder if they are his parents or just brought him to the doctor?

 

Very weird.

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The part that gets me is the disconnect between the kid's thinking and the adults. I wonder if they are his parents or just brought him to the doctor?

 

Very weird.

 

I considered that, too. The boy did greatly resemble the mom and baby sister, though. If they were foster parents or something, I think it would be even MORE disturbing that they were saying these things.

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I'm thinking maybe the kid is bringing the parents for therapy and is taking them back one at a time??? It's really the only explanation that makes sense. :tongue_smilie:

 

How incredibly bizarre!

 

ETA: Now I see--wrong kind of therapy. Well, here's betting the poor kid will probably end up needing the other kind later on, unfortunately.

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"You know they have medicine for that kind of thing. To make the apples not evil anymore. If you tell your doctor, I am sure he/she can help you. It will work on all apples, even the pretend ones"

 

 

Too bad we have sensors :lol:

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My dh and I lived overseas for a few years. While we were there, we met Christians who truly believed that apples are the actual forbidden fruit Adam and Eve ate in the garden. Some bad teaching took place somewhere over there!

 

Although, most of the Bible stories and pictures of the Garden of Eden from my youth seemed to portray the apple as the forbidden fruit. I ate apples, but I used to wonder why we are able to eat them now when they had been bad before. It wasn't until I was a little older and read the Bible on my own that I discovered it says "fruit", not "apple".

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It's Occupational and Speech therapy. I don't think those are going to help this kid with his parents, lol!

 

I mean, how often does a 5/6 year old get to sound like the rational one in an exchange with his parents?

 

Well, when the parents sound like that, it's easy for the 5/6 yo to sound sound rational...;)

 

Poor kid.

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Someday, those people are going to do some research and discover the bible really only says "fruit," not what kind, and feel very, very ashamed of all the bananas they've consumed.

 

How can you be that incredibly fundamentalist about something like that without having even looked into it? A twenty second google search would probably leave them feeling rather silly.

 

Of course, I'm sure if apples are forboden, the internet is downright evil.

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Straying a little from the original topic.... but I've read that some people think the forbidden fruit must have been a fig. I find it fascinating considering that Adam and Eve made themselves coverings out of fig leaves afterward. But then again, I believe the fruit is metaphorical so I find myself wondering about the philosophical relationship of the fruit and the leaves. :-P

 

The conversation between the child and adults does seem bizarre.

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:iagree: Wow. I hope the parents are getting some therapy, too.

 

ETA: Didn't read all the responses before I originally posted. It would be nice to think that that was an episode of performance art. Hard to imagine what else those kids will have to endure, BUT, it could be that the kid is pushing buttons. I've had to expressly forbid my son from talking about the non-existence of God in front of my mother. She goes batty, and thinks we're telling him there is no God. While we are not religious, I do believe in a supreme being and call it God to my children. They do go to Sunday school at a reform temple and learn about "G-d" there. My son does this intentionally to aggravate my mother.

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Someday, those people are going to do some research and discover the bible really only says "fruit," not what kind, and feel very, very ashamed of all the bananas they've consumed.

 

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

My first thought was the family was being goofy about the apple part, and then it went too far and maybe they were genuinely upset about the God is dead part. I mean, people don't actually talk/think like this about apples, right? (Someone start a spin-off thread and ask!)

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My dh and I lived overseas for a few years. While we were there, we met Christians who truly believed that apples are the actual forbidden fruit Adam and Eve ate in the garden. Some bad teaching took place somewhere over there!

 

Is it possible this family was not from the U.S. and come from a country with different teachings or traditions? It sounds weird from an American perspective, but if they converted to Christianity from a belief system that was much more serious on items that were sacred or forbidden, perhaps those things carried over into their new religion.

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Someday, those people are going to do some research and discover the bible really only says "fruit," not what kind, and feel very, very ashamed of all the bananas they've consumed.

 

How can you be that incredibly fundamentalist about something like that without having even looked into it? A twenty second google search would probably leave them feeling rather silly.

 

Of course, I'm sure if apples are forboden, the internet is downright evil.

That is easy. They've never been allowed to think for themselves. Their religious head is second only to God and what he says goes. They are not allowed to question. If they question they have a lack of faith. If they question they do not believe. So to get along with the group they do not question.

 

Or they've been told the same thing (about the apples) since birth and probably do believe everyone else has it wrong. No amount of evidence will convince them that Milton threw the apple into the mix with a (offhanded?) comment.

 

They probably have little contact with anyone outside their religious social circle. They in turn all feed off one another.

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Straying a little from the original topic.... but I've read that some people think the forbidden fruit must have been a fig. I find it fascinating considering that Adam and Eve made themselves coverings out of fig leaves afterward. <snip>.

 

I sincerely hope not. Fig leaves are very itchy!

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You just have to hope these aren't people that we will read about in the newspaper someday. It reminds me of the woman who drowned her kids (I hate to say that, but it's that kind of weird). I can't imagine how God himself feels when people misconstrue everything about Him.

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