By Danny Dutton, age 8
Chula Vista, California
Third-Grade Homework Assignment

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 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.