Kid Nation - They Chose The Books

I haven't really tapped into prime time shows much this fall, but I saw a promotional spot for "Kid Nation," a reality show where 40 kids spend 40 days as "pioneers" in a fictitious town called Bonanza City.

It's a true reality show with team challenges and rewards. This past Wednesday the show's theme dealt with religion. I was curious to see how a diverse bunch of 8-15 year olds dealt with issues of faith.

In this episode the town council receives a journal directive that says, "You've been so busy feeding your bodies that you don't have time to feed your soul." And thus they had to decide how to handle religion and hold a religious service (or services.)

The discussions about religious differences were as real as something you might hear among grown adults. One kid tries to explain Hanukkah, while the other has no tolerance about even hearing of it's significance to the other child.

In the end, a group of kids gather in the evening by the bonfire and have an impromptu, inter-religious prayer service. It was a visibly a moving experience to many of the kids.

And during the typical reality show "challenge" later in the show, every team completes the task under 30 minutes and gets to choose between 2 rewards: instant gratification or spiritual salvation -- A giant miniature golf course for the center of Bonanza City OR a library of religious books from various religions.

The kids overwhelmingly voted for the library of books. And near the end of the show, the boy reading from his Jewish book, and the boy reading from the complete King James Holy Bible read through Genesis 1 and the creation. And they realize it says the same thing, and that they believe the same thing about creation, exclaiming, "That's pretty cool."

Yes, it was pretty cool.

Eight or ten years from now, how would Colin react in a similar situation? Would he rally the troops and be respectful and knowledgeable of other religions while being firm about his own beliefs? As a parent, it really made me think. And pray. What an awesome responsibility we have to raise our children in the admonition of the Lord. Colin's faith will be his own, but I have such an awesome responsibility to teach him. I am humbled.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6