catapult magazine

Small, sheltered, Christian communities that distort the truth—known as “bubbles.” This was once an extremely hot topic in this area—perhaps worth some discussion.

What is The Bubble?

The Bubble, as I mentioned before, is a very sheltered community. Protective, perhaps, is a better word for it. In this case, The Bubble mostly refers to the situation children of very conservative, Christan parents find themselves in. These children (and youth and [sometimes] adults) know very little of what the real world actually is. Everyone tangled and wrapped in such a community are wearing the blinders of tradition—Chaim Potok hits on this in his classic My Name is Asher Lev—the fact that tradition can often blind us from the truth. The Bubble, The Blinders, whatever you want to call them, distort reality. And, like everyone at *cino knows, that’s bad.

On the other hand, it can be a big help. Keeping children and youth from the dangers of the world is a noble goal. Sheltering them from sin and evil has a good purpose. Letting them grow up in security can only help them.

But how much is too much? Where do they realize the truth about the world?

Thanks.

All the points above are very true. Everything we do is tainted with sin, however don’t you think that God can work through that? Doesn’t He have the power to do that? Does that mean it’s worthless to try and do anything because all we do is tainted with sin? It’s true that God doesn’t have to use something like the bubble to help teach Christianity….but can’t it help out, even if it is just a little?

Is the argument here that the bubble does more harm than good, so we should just get rid of the idea completely?

The way I was raised I consider parenting and mentoring to be a main part of the bubble. The ignorant bubble is our problem here. It is so seductive just because of parents concern for their children’s well being. An overprotectiveness that causes them to feel the need to cover their entire house in bubble wrap(oooooo, no pun intended) and in their vigor for trying to protect their children the cover up all the doors and windows. Thereby not letting their children see anything for themselves(or when they do it’s destorted) and nothing can get in or out. That bubble doesn’t prepare a kid for the world, it prepares a kid for life in a box.

However, I think it is possible for parents to bubble wrap wallpaper. Okay stick with me here, but I think this metaphor works. If parents still want to have some kind of protection for their children the can still bubble wrap their house but with eyes open to the fact that they can’t bubble wrap the doors or windows, they can still go outside and people from the outside can come in. I think that that can happen and does happen, think about when non-christians step inside your “bubble-wrap house” they’re weirded out at first but then they want to know more, why you lived that way and what not.

Tell me if I’ve lost anyone, sometimes things make much sense in my own mind but when I try to convey those things people get confused. That’s my fault, sorry.

I guess I would emphasize the second part of my last sentence — that the bubble shouldn’t protect our kids. I see it like this. We are called to transform the world. That means that we don’t try to hide from it, even in the way we bring up our kids. Rather, we bring them with us out into the world — but protect them more as a guide would. We walk with them through the wonderful and sometimes scary world. We answer their questions as best we can. We stay near them so they are safe, but not blinded. And, when they grow up, they are better prepared for they great calling for transformation.

I hope incidentally that I haven’t conveyed the notion that one needs to go away to the big city or out to the country to see the world. The world, in all its wonder and troublement, is right outside the door (unless you live in a gated community or something) and one just needs to open one’s eyes to see it.

Thank you for the excellent discussion. I haven’t visited *cino for a long while…I’m wondering if all of your children are younger not older? As I’m reading it takes me back to struggling with the bubble when my children were young (they are now teenagers deluxe). Now I struggle with it in different ways…as do they. The bubble isn’t just a parenting issue though is it…the bubble is the issue for Christians…and as BBC stated, is about transformation and that is as relevant to our children as to us and others who are the Church. But something lacking in your discussions from my point of view is compassion…love. The whole point of bringing our children with us into the world is to teach…discernment, compassion, tolerance, mercy, love…. because that is what God through Jesus teaches us. He was with and loved compassionately the poor, the different, the sinners, the lost, the ugly, the smelly…..and me. He transformed through his love. And he wants us to be/do the same.

Hi Alice, It is good to have you back.

I think you raise a good point. Maybe there is a different type of bubble that is inevitable. Christians should be different than the rest of the world in some ways. I suppose that if I raise my daughter in a truely loving, Christian environment, pointing out the injustices in the world, and calling her to transform it, she will end up feeling a bit apart from everything. This is not, however, a bubble in which i am trying to shelter her or turn her away from the world, rather it is a bubble of perspective. And it seems to me that this bubble of love that Alice is describing would be an expanding bubble, always trying to pull the world into itself. The bubble that Go Drama originally described seemed to me to be at best static, but in all probablility, shrinking. To connect up with what Alice was saying, I guess I’d argue that a bubble of love is, but its nature, expanding. I guess maybe that means that if your bubble is shrinking, it is a bubble of hate (or at least, mistrust).

Shrinking, expanding.. Is that a helpful distinction?

Could you possibly describe in further detail the distinction between these two bubbles?

…All you need is love! ….ba ba da ba da….All you need is love!…ba ba da ba da….

(please excuse the spontaneous bursting into song if for some reason it offends you in anyway, sometimes I just can’t hold it in any more.)

bu-bu-bu-bu-bubblin’, bu-bu-bu-bu-bubblin’….Jesus’ love is a bubblin’ over…Jesus’ love bubblin in my soul….bu-bu-bu-bu-bubblin’….bu-bu-bu-bu-bubblin’….bu-bu-bu-bu-bubblin’
: ) more later….i’m percolating.

Ah ah ah ah

Well you can tell by the way I use my walk that I’m a ladies…

…ahem…

Sorry about that.

Alice—yes! Excellent points. Right on.

Drama brought up an interesting point about God working through our sin. God can and does work through our sin everyday. But that doesn’t give us the right to be ignorant (sound familiar? cough cough bubble cough) of his teachings and will for our lives. Even in my own life off the top of my head I can name ten grand examples of God working through my sin—but we still have a responsibility as Christians to our Maker.

That means we can’t sit idly on our buklummers because it’s comfortable for us and proclaim “God is working through me!”

But we are still very sinful. So the question then becomes, what is our responsibility? Off track a bit, I know. Maybe we should start a seperate Topic for that one.

And Drama—I had a hard time following your analogy, but to try to make a bit bigger distinction between the two bubbles using your particular example:

It’s not what you bubble wrap, it’s how.

That’s always the question isn’t it….how much do we really have to do with it vs. how much God has to do with it…..this can be applied to so many other things (i.e. salvation).

of course we have to do something, but it’s also obvious that God does most of it….but how much?!

Alright this is most certainly a tangent, tangents arn’t nessesarily bad all the time though.

Shrinking bubble — expanding bubble. Seemed to me like a really significant turn in the discussion. Yep. I was really thinking I had figured it all out. Turns out, though that apparnetly I had unwittingly created a subliminal message which said:

Abandon the current thread of the discussion. Sing, dance, create words like buklummers (whatever those are).

I apologize for taking over your minds. Please forgive me.

Now about this shrinking, expanding bubble thing. What do you think?