Yesterday in my primary class the lesson was on Jonah, and the discussion turned towards where the Bible came from and biblical inerrancy. At one point an 11 year old kid that comes to church once a month with his Grandma suddenly perked up and started paying actual attention to the lesson. He raised his hand and said, "So, like dinosaurs could be real?"
My mind raced through everything I know about who teaches that dinosaurs aren't real, everything our church teaches about dinosaurs, evolution, science, and reconciling scientific evidence with contradictory religious belief. I was trying to formulate an answer that wouldn't offend the sensibilities of whoever taught this kids that dinosaurs are a myth, while still being as accurate as I could.
All at once I remembered that our church doesn't teach young earth creationism, and biblical inerrancy. This kid's parents (or whoever) shouldn't be surprised that he's hearing things in Sunday school that contradict those beliefs when they're sending him to a church that doesn't teach those things.
I have enough trouble teaching the things I don't agree with that actually are church doctrine, I'm not going to twist myself in knots to teach things I disagree with that aren't church doctrine.
