They must not believe in God

“They must not believe in God.”

These words from my daughter came after a
conversation we had been having at bedtime about someone who she had
heard yelling at their baby.  For her, it was clear: someone who
believed in God simply would not do something as monstrous as scream
“shut up!” at an infant.  People who believe in God don’t do such
things, after all.  Right?

Needless to say, an interesting
conversation followed.  We talked about how all kinds of people who
believe all kinds of things exhibit all kinds of behaviours.  We talked
about belief and behaviour and the connection between the two.  We
talked about how we don’t always do the good we ought (or want) to do
and how we sometimes do the bad we don’t want to do (Romans 7:14-25).  We talked about repentance and forgiveness and redemption.  It was an eventful bedtime—at least, more eventful than usual.