My Sons Christmas Present

by Mystery 11 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Mystery

  Thank you for all your responses.

  After looking over the reviews, it doesn't sound as condemning as the cover makes it sound. My son is 16 and even though none of his friends or brother goes to church he still goes. I guess I had a flashback of "never being good enough to serve Jehovah". I don't want that to happen to my son and his God. I have told him he does not have to be perfect and that we all fall at times, but for him to keep doing what is in his heart.

  He has been given the "Christian" books that condemn you to hell if you don't "tell everyone that they have to be saved or they are going to burn in hell". At first glance this is what I thought of when seeing it.

  I know Colin thought the same thing when he saw it; his eyes actually teared up as he laid it on the table. I really care about his grandfather; I have been surprised the past 10 years that he has not called them. I guess he is still upset with me leaving his son.

  Thank you for sending me the reviews; now after I have calmed down a bit I will look through it and talk with Colin about it. I wish his grandfather would have sent a note with it.

  I was upset yesterday and still upset his morning. I knew I was in no shape to write him a letter this morning. So I came here.

  Thank you again for your concern. I haven't had "flashbacks" in quite a while and I never want my son to have feelings that he is not good enough for God. He has chosen to believe in God; no man is going to tell him he isn't good enough.

  If he choices to read the book, i will read it with him and we can discuss it. We have with several other books that he has either bought or been given.
• 

  Scully

  Maybe a letter to Grandpa is still warranted.

  Really he should know that the book he chose to give your son created a lot of anxiety for him and you, due to the title and the brief snippets on the book jacket. You can add that you were ready to take offense had it not been for some friends and reviews of the book to make you realize that the author's intention was to help people understand that they don't need to "prove anything" to God through works. If Grandpa had taken a few minutes to write a note about what he thought of the book, you both would have been spared the anxiety.

  You can say some really positive things about your son's choice to attend church of his own accord, and how you are proud of him for taking on this search for spirituality on his own.

  Maybe your son will let you read the book first, and then you can go over it with him when he's ready to read it himself.

  At 16, you're fortunate that he is interested in spiritual things, and not surfing the net for p*rn.