I should also add that when I was first introduced to Narnia as a ten year old, I was also a fairly new Christian. Although I did grow up in a Christian home, so I knew about Christianity, at the time, I had only became a Christian at a Vacation Bible School. Although they're not always direct, and Lewis himself repeatedly said that Narnia is not an allegory, but rather supposal. But nonetheless, the Christian elements were still there.

Now having been in children's ministry for a while, it's especially essential to teach children, because they are the future generation.

My mom and I have been attending a woman's Bible study, and we're going through a series called Exile and Return, and we were just going through Daniel. He was most likely taught at a young age, so he was prepared for when he faced challenges, like being offered the king's food and when another king made the decree that no one could worship anyone but him, Daniel continued to pray to God.

I was just thinking of how Narnia has some examples of characters being taught at a young age so they were prepared for the challenges they would face. Prince Caspian was taught about the Old Days of Narnia at a young age by his nurse and later his tutor Dr. Cornelius. So when the Telmarines tried to erase Narnia's history, he knew the truth. Even King Tirian was most likely taught at a young age, considering how when he confronted Shift when he made the claim that Aslan and Tash were one and the same, and that when he was tied up to a tree, he remembered how in Narnia's past, whenever things were at their worse, Aslan or children from another world came to help.

So as someone who's been in children's ministry (I'm sure that some of you here on the forum that are also in children's ministry would know this, too) , teaching children is important since they are the future generation. But teaching them is not just throwing facts at them—it's something deeper, something that sticks

@jasmine_tarkheena Now having been in children's ministry for a while, it's especially essential to teach children, because they are the future generation.

Yes, the church I attend has a regular Sunday school program, & we also have lay preachers who are assigned to teach scripture in local schools.  As a rule, where I live, ordinary state schools when I was young, had general, often non-denominational religious instruction at primary school level, but by the time my children went to school, such religious instruction was divided into Catholic & Protestant only at primary school level in State Schools. When I was young, scripture classes for Anglicans included a couple of Orthodox students as well, whilst Catholic & Jewish fellow students missed out entirely, though I have been told that the Jewish children also went to Sunday school, as part of their own religious training at synagogues.

I don't know the situation very well at the moment, when the demographics have changed enormously. There has always been Catholic schools who continue to have their own system, & though there continues to be also private non-denominational Christian schools available, there are now also schools catering for different faiths, not only Jewish, around for a while, but also several for Islamic students. So, it is vital to teach our children the basics of Christianity, despite pressure from atheistically inclined parents at state schools.  

Today, we mourn a terrible event which happened at Bondi Beach, a famed Sydney tourist destination in Australia, where gunmen mowed down people assembled there, to celebrate Hannukah, a Jewish rabbinical festival, the historic significance of which is explained in the History buffs unite thread. Although we have been proud of gun laws which have provided protection against such mass shootings, since such a mass shooting on 28th April in 1996, at Port Arthur, it seems it wasn't enough to prevent this current massacre from happening. When it has happened on the anniversary of another overseas-inspired incident in December of 2014, and after international unrest in the Middle East, for the past two years, it is easy to point one's finger at likely culprits, from loners to Neo-Nazis, some more extreme Islamist types, or even vandalising activist types. Enquiries are still ongoing to establish the actual motive for this otherwise antisemitic incident. 

But the stand-out hero of yesterday's Sunday evening, was someone called Ahmed Al-Ahmed, with an obviously Muslim name, who crept up behind one of the shooters, grabbed hold of him and disarmed that shooter, pushing away the gun. He is ranked up there with the Ahmadiyyah Bondi Westfields bodyguard, who died when he confronted Joel Gauci, who also killed five other people by stabbing, as well as injuring many others before finally he was shot by a policewoman, a year ago in April, 2024, not far from Bondi Beach. And the main leaders of the Muslim community, itself, has also spoken up in support of the Jewish people who were attacked in last night's incident. So far, there have been 16 people who have died, at least 2 of whom perished in hospital. Initially, 12 people were killed at the location. About 42 or thereabouts were injured, including the police, themselves, stepping in to stop the massacre. One of the shooters has died, & another is in hospital in a serious condition, & under police guard. 

International leaders, including the USA President, and King Charles III, plus the Prince & Princess of Wales, have all expressed their sorrow & horror that this event should happen in a free Western Country. Our own leaders have also spoken against this terrible event. I'm just also expressing how terrible I feel for the people that this sort of thing could happen, here, when Australian Jewish people have been part of Australia's settlement from the First Fleet onwards, & are every bit as Australian as the rest of us. There should be no place for religious intolerance in a civil society, however secular it claims to be. 

@waggawerewolf27 I second everything you say, Wagga, and really don't have anything to add, except that my family, back in Australia, have been following the news and are as appalled as I am. But we're also heartened by the heroic actions of Ahmed, and the way people are coming together across communities to condemn this horrific act of terrorism and to support the victims and the wider Jewish community.

I also add my heartfelt agreement to all that @waggawerewolf27 wrote.  It's heartbreaking and horrible that such evil can occur in Australia all due to the evils of antisemitism. But likewise, I'm heartened by the actions of that man Ahmed who tackled the gun away from one of the shooters, and also a brave pregnant woman who lay on top of a little 3 year old girl (not her own) and comforted her to shield her from bullets, rather than running away to protect her own life.  My love and prayers go out to all who are affected by this horrible incident.  

Today's news is still referring to this Bondi Massacre, & it seems it is in international press reports as well. There are still 25 people in hospital, to recover from injuries, including the hero, Ahmed Al Ahmed, who was shot in the arm & shoulder. Other heroes have been revealed, like Detective Sergeant Mulligan who came from as far away as Burwood, to decisively lead the restoration of law & order, plus the policeman who felled one of the shooters using only his service pistol from 40 metres away. The death toll has been confirmed as15, one of them a 10-year-old girl, named Matilda, as well as an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor. Ben Fordham, who, yesterday morning, was close to tears even as he presided over his morning 2GB radio talkback spot to report & discuss what happened. This morning, James Willis took his place. There is already talk of tightening gun-laws but the elephant in the room still remains antisemitism, & how it has been allowed to spread & get out of control. 

The culprits have been revealed as Sajid & Naveed Akram. Sajid, a licensed gun owner of 6 guns, died at the scene following a shootout with police, and Naveed remains in hospital under police guard with critical injuries. Naveed is an Australian-born citizen whose father arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa. The elder Akram transferred in 2001 to a partner visa and has been on resident return visas after making three overseas trips since then, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters on Monday.

An ISIS flag was found in their car, and on my MSN feed, Sanaa Shooka, a Chaldean Christian who fled Iraq to Australia as a refugee, said the trauma of seeing the carnage at Bondi immediately transported her to darker days. "We left Iraq because of these terrorist acts. We came here from Baghdad escaping ISIS in 2014 after they came to power," she told AAP on Monday, referring to the terrorist group that took over large tracts of Iraq and Syria. "We expected safety here but it seems like ISIS have spread everywhere."'

It isn't only Jewish people who are vulnerable to such antisemitism, spread by the Pan-Arab movement after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, when in 1941, they vociferously opposed even sending Germany's Jewish people to the 1922 League of Nations created Palestine Mandate. During WW2, Hitler's men admiringly described the likes of the then antisemitic Pan-Arab Grand Mufti of Jerusalem as "the Third Reich, Wahhabi-style", according to Peter Frankopan's 2015 The Silk Roads p382).  Such religiously intolerant terrorism affects Christians as well, many of whom came from Iraq & the Middle East, not only Chaldean Christians but also Assyrian Christians. Thank you, @coracle, @pete & @courtenay for your support for what I have said so far. 

I went to church today, for the 8.30 am communion service. Before we line up for communion the minister prays for the powers that be, that they might be wise, & that, today, included senior leaders for both the Muslim & Jewish communities as well as the Premier & Prime Minister. He also prayed for the mourning relatives and friends of the 15 people who died, many of whom have been farewelled throughout the week. We were asked to observe a minute's silence at 6.47 pm on Sunday evening. Somewhere we were asked to light a candle for Matilda, aged 10, the youngest victim, shot whilst enjoying seeing the animals at a petting zoo, at the Hannukah festival. We did light a candle at home, tonight after dinner, whilst discussing events. This 10-year-old girl would be the same age as the Pevensies, Lucy, perhaps, as well as many children who might read the Narnia stories. Her parents had been so glad to come to Australia to live, that they named their elder daughter after a well-known song, that briefly was our national anthem. "Waltzing Matilda" won't waltz anymore, it seems.