Adolescent boy who has not been baptised

 

Welcome to the Forum

 

Sorry for missing this..

 

What a tricky situation. Did you talk to the boy's mom? What did she have to say about it?  You could not take the boy with out the parent's permission.

 

What did she say? How is the young man?

 

Hayfa 

Forgive me for writing this detail....  A single mom lives near me with her 11 year old son.  She did not marry the father and he no longer lives in the area.  The mother is herself the product of a confused home with her own father being a Jew and her own mother a Christian.  She is the fifth of five children who suffered the most from her parents' spiritual confusion and apathy in that she was not baptised nor taken to Church or the Synagogue as a child.  She was somewhat of a trouble maker in high school and had resentment for any type of faith.  She became pregnant in 11th grade and gave birth to her son 11 years ago.  Like herself, she did not have the boy baptised and never took him to a Church of any faith.  I am not specifically friends with either the Mom or the boy, but I say hello when I walk past - which is often enough in a small town.

 

Yesterday, I saw the boy was crying and I asked him what was wrong.  He told me he was a bastard and a heathen and that he would go to Hell.  I told him not to be silly, God would never punish him for things he could not control.  Plus, I told him he could be baptised if he was concerned about being a heathen.  I also told him that my mother didn't marry my father which meant I was a bastard, too.  The boy said his mother wouldn't let him be baptised.  The boy was still upset, so I mentioned to him that Islam would consider him a Muslim - so, he wasn't exactly a heathen just because he wasn't baptised.  He didn't believe me, so I told him to look it up with google or wikipedia.  After dinner, he came running over to me to say that he had looked it up and I was right - he was a Muslim.  He was very pleased with the idea that he belonged to a faith, but he was afraid to tell his mother.  He asked me if I would take him to Atlantic City where he could find an Islamic place of worship.  I told him we'd have to ask his mother - I couldn't just take him somewhere.  I also mentioned that I wasn't Muslim and I didn't really know what I was talking about.  This didn't really dampen his spirit, though he doesn't want to tell his mother anything about it.

 

So, I've really put my foot in my mouth.  I don't know anything about Islam.  I just remembered reading it somewhere and I felt bad about him being upset.  I'm not sure what I should say to his mother (I'm sure he will tell her sooner than later) or him, tomorrow.  I don't want to make something up and I couldn't find anything specific on the internet for something like this.  I mean, if Islam could bring him some peace, then I'll take him to Atlantic City so he can go to a Muslim temple and ask more questions.  If that is a bad idea for an 11 year old in this situation, then I'll tell him that he has to wait until he's older.  Either way, his mother is going to be furious with me.  I just want to do right by the boy now that I've said what I said.  He's thrilled to death to think he might actually belong to a faith.

 

Thank you in advance for the suggestions and advice.

 

Regards,

Steve