Written by Danny Dutton, age 8, from Chula Vista, California,
for his third grade homework assignment
to "Explain God".

"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to
replace the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of
things here on earth.

He doesn't make grown-ups, just babies. I think because they are
smaller and easier to make. That way, He doesn't have to take up His
valuable time teaching them to talk and walk, He can just leave that to
mothers and fathers.

God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful
lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at
times besides bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV on
account of this. Since He hears everything, not only prayers, there must be
a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn
it off.

God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere, which
keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His time by going over
your parent's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.
Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there
are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church.

Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking
on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't
want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and
they crucified Him. But He was good and kind like His Father and He told His
Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and
God said OK.

His Dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His
hard work on earth so He told Him He didn't have to go out on the road
anymore, He could stay in heaven. So He did. And now He helps His Dad out
by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take
care of and which ones He can take care of himself without having to bother
God. Like a secretary, only more important, of course.

You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to hear you
because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.
You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God
happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God. Don't skip
church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach.
This is wrong! And, besides, the sun doesn't come out at the beach until
noon anyway.

If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will
be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to
camp, but God can.

It is good to know He's around you when you're scared in the dark
or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown into real deep water by
big kids. But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you.
I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He
pleases.

And that's why I believe in God."