How Would You Handle This?

Undecided

Hi All,

I've been expressing myself about some of my doubts about God being an active creature in our life and my doubts about Christ being the son of God. I didn't know the young grandkids were listening sometimes when I was talking to the adults. My daughter was telling my wife that her 10 year old son was crying to her because he was afraid of dying since God and Christ wasn't real. Evidently her heard me discussing God with my sister-in-law one night while he was down at my house. She is somewhat fanatical about religion and I enjoy debating with her.

I don't want to influence their religious life, I think it's their parents who should guide them until they are able to make up their own minds. I guess he thinks I know more than his parents or he can see through some of the religious BS himself.

What should I do, tell him I really don't know anything but was just expressing an opinion and am probably as wrong as anyone else about God? My kids are a little upset with me right now. I haven't discussed religion with them or tried to destroy their faith, I think it is a personal choice.

I will be more careful about my remarks about religion when they can hear me and not discuss it so much with my sister-in-law. I sure don't want to become an anti-religious fanatic and make myself a copy of their sort.

Ken P.

JamesThomas

Karl Marx was correct in saying that "religion was the opiate of the masses."

Few are willing to have their drug of choice taken away; and is it our place to do that?

As regards family and the search for truth, I would ask them if they would be interested in hearing information that may expose their cherished beliefs as bogus? Or would they rather just not know? Would they rather just stay warm and cuddly in their blankie of false beliefs?

If people consciously choose to keep their heads in the sand....so be it. They may come around at some later time.

My sense is that all religions are false and man made. This does not mean that there is not a true Source of this marvelous universe, that we have come to call "God". It is just infinitely beyond such trivial little belief systems.

Letting go of what is false, may allow us to come to embrace Truth, by removing the "glass darkly".

JamesT

WildHorses

Hi Ken,

I would just tell him, that no one knows for sure, but that everyone has their own opinion as to if there really is a God. I would also say that if you believe there is. It is fine to do so. It's nice to believe in something.

OUTLAW

Hey Ken,people die whether there`s a god or not.Tell them they won`t die until they get way older than you,that ought to cheer them up.Kids always think grandma&grandpa are ancient..Now take them out for an ice-creme.....OUTLAW

garybuss

Seems to me that one obvious choice involved in the of freedom of religion, is freedom from religion. To be taught like I was, that there is no freedom from religion, is to control, not inform. In my opinion, an education that does not include the option to look at the history of the invention of the idea of gods, and understands that that history has equal merit, is not an education at all. Equal, that is, to the dogmatic claims of the believers that blind belief without proof is rational.

To deny the history of the invention of god is to label all history deniable, and teaches the student that she may, at will, deny all history that she chooses to not look at, that does not agree with her resolutions. That brain that rejects the rational for the irrational will accept the requests of the irrational dictator or the irrational cult leader without question, based on the learned ability to filter information and substitute opinion for fact with seeming impunity.

I say teach the students the facts and let them make their own minds up. And never require them to make a decision with lifelong consequences, like I was coerced into doing, without full disclosure and the benefit of adult maturity.

Just my thoughts . . . . .

Pistoff

Jamesthomas wrote:

As regards family and the search for truth, I would ask them if they would be interested in hearing information that may expose their cherished beliefs as bogus? Or would they rather just not know? Would they rather just stay warm and cuddly in their blankie of false beliefs?
If people consciously choose to keep their heads in the sand....so be it. They may come around at some later time.

This is more than a bit condescending. Why do you think that your belief system is more valuable or viable than with one who believes in God, as they understand him?

It is one thing to help someone struggling to find their beliefs, and another to basically judge them as intellectually lazy for believing.

layla

I agree with wildhorses,,,,its good for them to believe in something while they are still young....anyways....once they get older... they will have their own opinions.

jgnat

Looking back, I am sorry I was so literal with my kids and denied the existence of fairies and other wonders. Looking at the delicate filigree of frost on my window reminds me there is plenty of magical and unknowable things in our universe. There is something about the faith of a child; the rosy glow of hope, the starry eyes full of anticipation and wonder.

Ken, I would promise the parents that you will not share your doubts out loud in front of the children.

Also, a universal fear of all children is the loss of their parents or other loved ones; either through death, divorce, or some other calamity. You can do a lot for a child by taking them in your arms and promising to love them and be there for them forever and ever and ever and ever.

That is not to say you can't question and search out your own answers, or challenge your family snug in their unquestioned faith. I am only suggesting such doubts are more than most children can bear.

Phil

jknat:

I'm with you on this one.

JamesThomas

Pistoff wrote:

"This is more than a bit condescending. Why do you think that your belief system is more valuable or viable than with one who believes in God, as they understand him?
It is one thing to help someone struggling to find their beliefs, and another to basically judge them as intellectually lazy for believing."

Where did I say that my belief system is more valuable or viable? I have no "belief system". People can believe in God anyway they choose. Some of us though, rather than just blindly following others, do some researching, as Undecided seems to be doing. There are people who are not afraid to discover truth; not afraid to have their sacred cows slaughtered. There are also those who are very much afraid; and do not want their cherished beliefs to be exposed as false. Even though the information is there, they choose to not know. To know would cause too much disruption in their life, and the reorganization would take too much effort. I did not use the term "intellectually lazy", you did, but it certainly fits. Is it condescending to say that there are those who make the effort to uncover what is false and what is true, and there are those who sleep through it? Why get pistoff at me for stating facts? You tell me....is it more noble to actively seek Truth? JamesT

How Would You Handle This?

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