Rilyn asked what a ‘Christian’ was because she heard the word on the radio in the car.
I told her that a ‘Christian’ was someone who wanted Jesus to be King of their life and they realized that they are a sinner and need Jesus to forgive their sins.
She then asked what a ‘sinner’ was.
I told her that ‘sin’ was any wrong choices and that we all are sinners. (She told me she wasn’t a sinner so I immediately knew this conversation wasn’t going to be ‘her coming to Christ’ moment.)
She wanted to know how I sin so I told her “one way mommy sins is when I get angry at you or daddy.”
She then asked me if Jesus was a sinner and I told her “No. Jesus is the only person who has never sinned.”
She then thought for a moment and said, “What about when Jesus tipped over the table in the temple (John 2:14-16)? He was angry then and you said being angry is a sin!”
I told her we will talk about this later with daddy. How do you explain “righteous anger” to a 4 year old?
I guess I would say that being angry isn’t a sin; it’s what you do because of your anger. The Bible says “In your anger do not sin.” Luke gets angry and starts yelling at me (disrespecting parent) or his siblings. I have to talk to him about what to do with his anger when it rises up.
But that is a hard explanation in Rilyn’s case since she’ll be like, “So can I knock a table over when I get mad?” I guess his motivation in his heart was to get the people’s attention, and he has the authority to do so. I think of it like a judge with his gavel.