i compleatley agree about the experiancing the world first hand thing...because i'm me and ur you so we experiance things differantley. i think that's the main reason why i left my church. is because i felt that it's important for all of us to experiance the world and be our selves. and you are right that if you don't believe you are looked at as a failure by the believers...
you're being a little abstract and unspecific no person, living or dead, can force any other person to believe in a certain set of ideas. that is a personal choice what i think you struggle against is socio-religious pressure, typically prevalent in families it is wrong to impose your own beliefs and ideas upon another person, within your family or out if it however, it is not wrong to educate others in your own beliefs, and then to allow them to experiment and form their own convictions.
i feel fulfilled within the standards after which i have chosen to pattern my life. what else is there to experience?
I grant that my post IS abstract and unspecific....but I still don't see how you believe children at age 8 can choose to believe and get baptized. What else has the child been exposed to at this point besides the beliefs of the parents?
If you're told that God is real your whole children then why would you claim that a child "chose" to believe in the religion. I think yes, eventually (like at your age) you choose to believe it....but not at age 8 when I was baptized. I remember thinking "I hope my dress looks pretty" and I was a child...so who could blame me?
What do YOU mean by the standards which you have chosen to pattern your life? And what do you mean by "what else is there to experinece?" you mean...besides religion?
"it is wrong to impose your own beliefs and ideas upon another person, within your family or out if it however, it is not wrong to educate others in your own beliefs, and then to allow them to experiment and form their own convictions."
Isn't going to strangers' houses and asking them if they have heard of the bible a sort of form of imposing?
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but if people truly wanted to be educated about it, they would contact you to educate them..not wait for you to come around with a knock on the door.
I'm making the claim that children can't "choose" to be religious because they usually have not been exposed to opposing beliefs other than what contradicts theirs.....
I agree with most of this other than the psychological experience of the child part. I think that regardless of what any specific person is "raised to believe", there eventually be a point of questioning for the child (or perhaps the young adult
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Yeah, that statement said alone is not even an argument. I honestly was ranting when I said, "religion stunts your ability to think...and truly experience the world for what it is"
BUT what my overall argument is that I don't understand how anyone thinks that a child "chooses" to believe religion or is "called" in any religious manner. I don't think anybody can truly be religious until they are old enough to question it and think about it. I'm not setting some specific age where children choose to follow the beliefs of their parents I'm mostly pointing out the fact that the child simply does not know enough at this point to know that their parents are right or wrong.
I said nothing about the role parents should play and I think you should have the freedom to raise your child however you want! I'm simply giving a subjective view that religion (in my experience) stunted my ability to see the world the way it is...outside the lense of a Christian perspective of Heaven, Hell and free will etc.
Also, I said in response to Josh that at his age he has legitimately chose to believe what he believes..
I just don't think an 8 year old has that ability...I just don't..maybe if the kid had their parents reading him philosophy and the Bible etc at age 5...but I highly doubt a kid has this much critical thought at ate 8.
I'm not saying once you get into your teens (depending on the maturity of the kid) they don't have legitimate religious beliefs.
well...at least 8 is better then infancey like other religions. i think it's age 8 because those rules or whatever u want to call them were put into place a long time ago when people didn't liv as long and back then an 8 year old had experianced a lot and was more mature as far as thinking went. i think most religions are out dated. for example, some religions still let the men have all the power in the religion. like it's the 50's or something.
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no person, living or dead, can force any other person to believe in a certain set of ideas. that is a personal choice
what i think you struggle against is socio-religious pressure, typically prevalent in families
it is wrong to impose your own beliefs and ideas upon another person, within your family or out if it
however, it is not wrong to educate others in your own beliefs, and then to allow them to experiment and form their own convictions.
i feel fulfilled within the standards after which i have chosen to pattern my life. what else is there to experience?
josh
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If you're told that God is real your whole children then why would you claim that a child "chose" to believe in the religion. I think yes, eventually (like at your age) you choose to believe it....but not at age 8 when I was baptized. I remember thinking "I hope my dress looks pretty" and I was a child...so who could blame me?
What do YOU mean by the standards which you have chosen to pattern your life? And what do you mean by "what else is there to experinece?" you mean...besides religion?
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however, it is not wrong to educate others in your own beliefs, and then to allow them to experiment and form their own convictions."
Isn't going to strangers' houses and asking them if they have heard of the bible a sort of form of imposing?
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but if people truly wanted to be educated about it, they would contact you to educate them..not wait for you to come around with a knock on the door.
Just sayin'.
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I'm making the claim that children can't "choose" to be religious because they usually have not been exposed to opposing beliefs other than what contradicts theirs.....
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BUT what my overall argument is that I don't understand how anyone thinks that a child "chooses" to believe religion or is "called" in any religious manner. I don't think anybody can truly be religious until they are old enough to question it and think about it. I'm not setting some specific age where children choose to follow the beliefs of their parents I'm mostly pointing out the fact that the child simply does not know enough at this point to know that their parents are right or wrong.
I said nothing about the role parents should play and I think you should have the freedom to raise your child however you want! I'm simply giving a subjective view that religion (in my experience) stunted my ability to see the world the way it is...outside the lense of a Christian perspective of Heaven, Hell and free will etc.
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I just don't think an 8 year old has that ability...I just don't..maybe if the kid had their parents reading him philosophy and the Bible etc at age 5...but I highly doubt a kid has this much critical thought at ate 8.
I'm not saying once you get into your teens (depending on the maturity of the kid) they don't have legitimate religious beliefs.
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