put the sanity back in christianity

Along the same lines as the post below, I have to vent about something else- (And I'll probably offend a bunch of people in the process, but so be it.) :

What is up with Christianity?

Seems like most of us look at the history of Christianity and say -oh, well, yeah, in the past people have done some terrible things in Jesus' name. But now it's the 21st century and we're all enlightened.

Yeah, right.

In fact, I just attended a [run-of-the-mill laid-back Presbyterian] church service where they showed a bunch of 4-7 year-olds a video about Sin. "A long time ago" [the video began], "God created the Earth, and it was perfect. But then people did bad things." Yes, people started to sin. And 'Sin' was shown as two kids fighting in karate-style stance; two other kids whispering "She's so weird!" about another girl.

And what's the lesson being taught? - "The price of Sin is Death!", the narrator intoned, while the video showed these kids a photograph of a gravestone in a cemetery. "But Jesus died for all our sins, and Jesus will make us live forever."

-How the hell is a 5-year-old supposed to understand the abstract concepts in this message?! I can barely get my brain around them myself. And is watching this video going to make these children more loving? Is it going to make them feel warm and accepted? Is it going to give them a personal comfort level with the concept of "God"? Is it going to make them understand, on a practical level, why gossip and fighting might be harmful to those they love? Yah, I think not.
And how would Jesus feel about that message? Nauseous, I imagine.

The whole thing makes me incredibly uncomfortable. Made me so uncomfortable and angry that I almost got up and walked out of the service; in retrospect, I should've. How can responsible, educated parents sit back and let their kids be exposed to narrow, damaging messages like that? Or worse, endorse those messages? That's 'Sin' in my book.

It just doesn't make sense to me. It just doesn't make any freakin' sense.