This post addresses something that has bothered me for quite some time. I’ve long felt that too many Xians — upon reading the admonitions to become as little children — impose their own modern sentimental ideas about chidren onto the text. From what I’ve gathered (and please correct me if I’m wrong), the people of the first century didn’t tend to view children that way. That Jesus meant was to come as one who was powerless, dependent, and had no rights to claim.

Also, here’s a George MacDonald quote you might like:

“There is a childhood into which we have to grow,
just as there is a childhood which we must leave behind;
a childlikeness which is the highest gain of humanity,
and a childishness from which but few of those
who are counted the wisest among men have freed themselves,
in their imagined progress towards the reality of things.”

– George Macdonald