{"id":42820,"date":"2024-12-02T16:23:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T21:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=42820"},"modified":"2024-12-02T16:23:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T21:23:32","slug":"parents-dont-need-government-to-protect-their-children-from-social-media-christmas-in-heaven-offers-kids-a-hope-filled-view-of-the-afterlife-animated-film-the-king-kings-set-for-easter-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2024\/12\/parents-dont-need-government-to-protect-their-children-from-social-media-christmas-in-heaven-offers-kids-a-hope-filled-view-of-the-afterlife-animated-film-the-king-kings-set-for-easter-r.html","title":{"rendered":"Parents don’t need government to protect their children from social media + “Christmas in Heaven” offers kids a hope-filled view of the afterlife + Animated film “The King Kings” set for Easter release"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 12\/02\/24<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Australia bans social media for kids under 16. <\/strong>From Forbes<\/strong><\/a>: A ban on social media for children under 16\u2014which drew criticism from social media companies and lead<\/em>e<\/strong>rs\u2014passed the Australian senate on Thursday, poising it to become the world\u2019s first law designed to keep young children off of social media.
\n<\/em>IMHO:<\/strong> While most of us agree on the emotional hazards social media poses – particularly for children – there is, in my view, a less complicated and more effective path that parents can take without any need for government action. That would be grassroots movement to simply provide their kids with what would now be considered old-fashioned basic flip phones with no internet connection<\/a>. Such a plan could be supported by local school districts and would have the advantage of providing kids the phone service they may need in case of an emergency while protecting them from the cyber dangers they are not prepared to deal with. Phone providers could even promote them as “child safe.” Parents, you have the power now. I say use it.
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\"17211925585786-265137.jpeg\"\"Anthony<\/p>\n

Author Anthony DeStefano (The Story of the First Easter Bunny<\/em><\/a>) offers kids a yuletide gift of eternal hope in Christmas\u00a0in Heaven<\/a><\/i>.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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 <\/p>\n

JWK: What drew you to write Christmas in Heaven<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony DeStefano: <\/strong>Well, I\u2019m always interested in writing books about the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas has obviously been secularized almost beyond recognition. I\u2019ve written several children\u2019s books already about the Nativity. This time I wanted to try something different.<\/p>\n

When I was a little boy growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I didn\u2019t understand why we gave each other presents at Christmas. I remember asking my father when I was very young about this and the way he explained it was that it was Jesus<\/strong>\u2019 birthday and, since we couldn\u2019t give Jesus a physical present because He was in Heaven, we should give each other presents since that was what made Jesus happiest. This was an easy concept to understand. All kids understand birthdays and gift giving at birthdays.<\/p>\n

That childhood idea is what led me to asking myself \u201cHow exactly do they celebrate Jesus\u2019 birthday in Heaven?\u201d Obviously as adults we know there must be great joy in Heaven at Christmas, celebrating the Incarnation but, for little kids, it\u2019s much more understandable to say that they are having a \u201cbirthday party\u201d of sorts. That naturally led me to ask myself\u2014\u201cWho would be at such a party?\u201d The answer was, of course, the angels and saints.<\/p>\n

The way I was able to finally make the idea into a story\u2014because everything is better as a story, especially for children\u2014is to have a little boy who is sad that his grandmother has died, and it\u2019s Christmastime, and he\u2019s wondering how she is celebrating Christmas in Heaven. So, his grandfather\u2014 the husband of the woman who has died\u2014 sits the boy on his knee and tries to paint a consoling picture for him of Heaven and the big birthday celebration that\u2019s going on there with all the angels and saints and, of course, Our Lord<\/strong> and the little boy\u2019s grandmother too. So that was the genesis of this book.<\/p>\n

JWK: What ages is it aimed at?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AD: <\/strong>I tell people that my children\u2019s books are written for kids who are 5 years old to 105 years old and I\u2019m really only half-joking. The illustrations and the simplicity of the general story can be understood by any child of reading age – but naturally we know that most times adults will be reading these books to the children in their lives. I\u2019m always keenly aware that parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and older siblings are the ones who are being asked by children to sit down with them and read them a story – and sometimes they are asked to read that story over and over again. Why would I miss the chance to evangelize that huge captive audience of adults? So I always try to include layers of meaning in my children\u2019s books that ONLY adults will comprehend. In fact, the reason I started writing children\u2019s books in the first place was because I\u2019ve always been awestruck by Jesus\u2019 parables. Young people can understand them and people with little education can understand them – but, at the same time, they have depths that the greatest theologians and philosophers are still exploring today. They work on so many levels. So, from the beginning of my writing career, I thought that it would be wonderful to try to do something like that in children\u2019s books. I want kids to be able to get the main message in a powerful, entertaining way but I also want the adults who are reading these books to the kids to get something out of them too, some deeper understanding.<\/p>\n

JWK: What do you hope kids take from the book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AD: <\/strong>I don\u2019t think there can be too many books about the true meaning of Christmas. There\u2019s been a systematic attempt by the secular culture to take our most sacred holidays and transform them into almost-pagan rituals and celebrations that don\u2019t have any trace of Christian teaching or Christian morality. It\u2019s not just Christmas. It\u2019s Easter too, with the Easter Bunny. So, I\u2019m always trying in all my writing not only to entertain children and to impart a theologically correct Christian message but, where possible, I want to do my little part to take back these holidays.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why last year I wrote a children\u2019s book called The Story of<\/em> The First Easter Bunny<\/em> which is about a rabbit who witnesses the Crucifixion and Resurrection. It\u2019s all part of the fight to take back and reclaim from the culture what belongs to us.<\/p>\n

In terms of what I want people to get out of this<\/em> book, I\u2019d say three things. First\u2014the true meaning of Christmas\u2014which is that it\u2019s Jesus\u2019 birthday; Second\u2014the fact that Heaven is a joyful, wonderful place, nothing for children to be frightened about; and third\u2014I want children to at least get a glimpse of the world of the saints, which is really a glimpse of the beautiful belief we have in the Body of Christ\u2014a Body that exists not just here on Earth but in Heaven too; a belief that says there\u2019s a lot more to life than just what we see around us; that there is an invisible, spiritual world that\u2019s just as important and that the saints in Heaven are real and they\u2019re alive and that, hopefully, one day we will be there among them.<\/p>\n

Christmas is such a magical holiday but it\u2019s also a very sad time of year for many people who have lost loved ones. I\u2019d like to impress upon children that, even if people have died, Christmas can still be a joyful time because those loved ones, hopefully, are in Heaven and we WILL get to see them again someday. I tell my atheist friends that the difference between Christians and unbelievers isn\u2019t that Christians suffer and grieve any less than them; it\u2019s that we suffer and grieve with hope<\/em>. That\u2019s the main message I\u2019d like to get across to readers, young and old alike.<\/p>\n

JWK: <\/strong>It seems to me to be a very explicitly Catholic and child-like view of the afterlife. Do you feel its important to offer Catholic parents a<\/strong> simple view of Heaven that they can grasp?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

AD:<\/strong> I disagree with this characterization of the book. Yes, the book has a more Catholic flavor because it depicts saints that Catholics are more familiar with – but Protestants believe in saints every bit as much as Catholics do. Saints are just followers of Jesus who have been saved and are in Heaven now with the Lord. Many of the saints I portray in this book are taken right from the pages of the Bible<\/strong>\u2014 St. Gabriel<\/strong> and St. Michael the Archangel<\/strong>, St. Peter<\/strong>, St. Joseph<\/strong>, St. Matthew<\/strong>, St. Luke<\/strong>, St. John<\/strong>, St. Mark<\/strong>, St. Martha<\/strong>, St. Jude the Apostle<\/strong>, Mary<\/strong>, the mother of Jesus, and of course, the Lord Himself whose birthday is being celebrated.<\/p>\n

The book is steeped in the Bible. And yes, while the idea of a \u201cbirthday party\u201d in Heaven is child-friendly, it\u2019s certainly a true idea that is based in Scripture. Indeed, Heaven is described in many places in the Bible as a \u201cbanquet.\u201d Certainly there is great joy there at Christmastime – the celebration of the Incarnation; the celebration of God emptying Himself and becoming One of us in everything except sin. Thus, this is really a profound idea I\u2019m trying to convey in this book and, while it is written in a simple way and accompanied by colorful, beautiful illustrations, I believe that is how we can make this sublimely profound idea of the joy of Heaven and the Incarnation understandable to children. Also, the fact that the saints (are) alive in Christ Jesus and are doing things and (are) actively engaged in worshiping and praising the Lord is also a deep concept.<\/p>\n

So many people have a simplistic and overly spiritualized view of Heaven. They think that Heaven is just white and cloudy with wispy angels flying around with flowing robes! How cartoonish! Christians believe that Heaven is REAL. If this world we are living in now is real, Heaven is not going to be less real than that! Heaven\u2014 after the Resurrection\u2014 is going to be more colorful, more dynamic, more full of activity and love and joy than anything we\u2019ve experienced on Earth.<\/p>\n

As the Bible says, \u201cEye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9<\/a>). That means that, if your mother has died and gone to Heaven, someday after the Resurrection when you see her again you\u2019re not going to be seeing a ghost. You\u2019re going to be seeing someone with a real, living glorified body. You\u2019ll be able to run up to her, hug her, kiss her, feel the warmth of her skin and hear her voice again. That\u2019s what Christians believe about Heaven and THAT\u2019s the truth I\u2019m trying to convey in this little story. So, I don\u2019t (think) it\u2019s either too Catholic or too child-like in its view of the afterlife.<\/p>\n

JWK: <\/strong>How important is that foundation as children move into adulthood?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AD:<\/strong> I think it\u2019s very important to be honest with our children about death and grieving and the afterlife. I never shy away from talking about death in my books because that\u2019s something all of us, including children, have to deal with. We all have to deal with the death of loved ones at some point. Children often grieve over the death of pets, the death of grandparents and there are many other kinds of permanent loss they experience as well. It\u2019s very important that we don\u2019t sweep these sad feelings under the rug where those feelings can fester and transform into complexes and depressions and phobias and all kinds of psychological problems.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, as Christians, we believe that death doesn\u2019t have the final word. The final word is resurrection and life everlasting in Heaven. That\u2019s a tremendously consoling belief that can help us deal with grief in a healthy way. Also, I believe that it\u2019s good to talk to children about Heaven from a very early age. The subject of Heaven, when you think about it, is so simple for children to understand. Heaven is just God\u2019s home. When people who love the Lord die, they go to live in God\u2019s home. They just move homes. They go from their home here on Earth to God\u2019s home in Heaven. That\u2019s something all children can understand because they\u2019re very familiar with the concept of going over to their grandparent\u2019s home, or their aunt\u2019s home, or their neighbor\u2019s home, or to different building to school. They understand the concept of moving from place to place. So, the more we\u2019re able to show children how wonderful a place Heaven is the more consolation they\u2019ll experience when they\u2019re grieving about a loved one who is moving to that place.<\/p>\n

JWK: This is actually your fifth children\u2019s Christmas book. Can you tell us about the others?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AD: <\/strong>Yes, in my five children\u2019s Christmas stories I\u2019ve tried to impart the true meaning of Christmas from different perspectives with each book emphasizing a unique part of the Christmas message. As I\u2019ve described, Christmas in Heaven<\/em> addresses the theme of hope and eternal life as a young boy imagines his grandmother celebrating Jesus\u2019 birthday in Heaven.\u00a0The Grumpy Old Ox<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0follows a blind, embittered ox who is transformed by grace after witnessing Christ\u2019s birth, showing a journey from pride to faith and healing.\u00a0The Beggar and the Bluebird<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is a modern fairy tale about selflessness featuring a little bird who delays his migration southward to fulfill a beggar’s requests, discovering divine love and reward in unexpected ways. Joseph\u2019s Donkey<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0tells the story of the loyal donkey that carries Mary and Jesus, introducing children to Joseph’s character as a strong, hard-working and just man. Finally,\u00a0Little Star<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is about the smallest star in the heavens who alone recognizes Jesus as the King of Kings, shining brightly to warm the Holy Family and guide the Magi and, in the process, demonstrating the meaning of true love. I\u2019m trying in all these Christmas stories to impart to children, as well as adults, lessons about hope, faith, sacrifice, love, and humility.<\/p>\n

JWK: What’s next for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AD: <\/strong>I\u2019ve got several children\u2019s books coming out next year but I also have one non-fiction book for Christians that will be published in June that I\u2019m very excited about. It\u2019s called The Miracle Book: A Simple Guide to Asking for the Impossible<\/strong>.<\/em> Everyone needs a miracle sometime. The miracle might have to do with a person\u2019s health, or finances, or job, or marriage, or children, or general feelings of anxiety and hopelessness – but, at some point, regardless of a person\u2019s level of religious faith, there comes a time when he or she just needs supernatural help<\/em>. Many books have been written on miracles before but very few of them really explain in clear, theologically sound language how to pray for one<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So many people in the world are suffering at this very moment. They beg God, plead with him, \u201cnegotiate\u201d with him, and promise him they will change their ways, if only<\/em> he will grant them this one request. Then, if God fails to answer their prayer, they lose faith, or get angry at God, or become anxiety-ridden, or sink into despair. Even Christians are genuinely perplexed when it comes to the subject of miracles. Is obtaining a miracle like winning the lottery\u2014overcoming odds that are ten million to one? Or is it true that \u201cmiracles happen every day\u201d?<\/p>\n

What can Jesus have meant when He said \u201cAsk and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you,\u201d<\/a> when it seems that most of the times people ask for a miracle they are met with either a refusal from God or silence? There must be an answer. There must be a method of praying for a miracle that at least guarantees the best possible chance<\/em> of God saying \u201cyes\u201d or that at least results in God giving us an answer that satisfies and alleviates our anxiety. This book explains that method and, in the process, hopefully demonstrates exactly how God can infuse courage into our souls, help us to overcome our fears and experience the \u201cpeace that transcends all understanding\u201d (Philippians 4:7<\/a>).
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Angel Studios has added The King of Kings<\/em> to its 2025 slate.<\/strong> The animated family film inspired by the short story The Life of Our Lord<\/em> by Charles Dickens<\/strong> will open exclusively in theaters just in time for Easter on April 11th. Check out the trailer below.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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