As an Atheist, what do you tell your little kids?
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Anonymous
+1 Why doesn’t the Bible reference anything that happened in the billions of years before Christianity was made up? The universe is 3B years old. 95% of all species that ever existed are extinct. The whole Adam and Eve thing is scientifically disproven. Oh but insert explanation as to how that isn’t a literal story. We’re only supposed to truly believe the parts of the Bible that can’t be disproven or that have some historical truth (like Jesus may have been a real person). Disregard the other thousands of religions on Earth. Because the religion you were born into just so happens to be the real one. Those kids in African villages just have silly beliefs. And the Ancient Greeks and Romans didn’t have the benefit of Jesus so they made up fake Gods, but your God is real. Also let’s talk about heaven and souls. Do just humans have souls? What about animals? Can my dog go to heaven and if so, why not the blob fish at the bottom of the ocean? What about fleas and bot flies? What about bacteria which is technically alive? Where do you draw the arbitrary line about which lives God cares about enough to provide eternal salvation? Just the cute animals that are our companions? In our consciousness somehow more special than other living beings? What about the fact that your entire personality and belief system can be altered by things like a tumor or head injury. Or that there are anatomical differences in the brains of many psychopaths and pedophiles? Why would God make them be born that way? Does that really seem more likely than these people be fluke outliers of evolution that went too far in one direction? I’m sure you’ll have all sorts of woo woo explanations for this. |
Anonymous
Zero proselytizing. Knowing the truth about Christianity is not believing Christianity. It’s obvious the majority of atheists posting here do not know the basics of Christianity, as evidenced by the way two or more had false information about how Christianity believes Christians go to heaven. Your opinions about Christianity are not factual. |
Anonymous
There are, in actuality, over 45,000 sects of christianity. |
Anonymous
| ^I was referring to the PP before the one that I was +1 ing to be clear. |
Anonymous
Part of atheism IS letting children think for themselves. It's not filling their minds with something for which there is no evidence other than a Bronze Age book, which then controls them for the rest of their lives. It is precisely the opposite of NOT thinking for yourself. |
Anonymous
Do pets go to heaven? https://www.gotquestions.org/pets-heaven.html What does the Bible say about pedophilia? https://www.gotquestions.org/pedophilia.html What is original sin? https://www.gotquestions.org/original-sin.html You don’t have to believe any if the above. It is what a majority of Christians believe. No one is insisting you believe in God or become a Christian. You can live your life as someone who has no religion or faith beliefs. Why do the beliefs of Christianity matter if you don’t believe them and have no requirement on any level to believe them or follow Christianity? It of course is something you can learn about, but don’t have to worry about believing or following. Other people’s religious beliefs bother you so much? |
Anonymous
Not if you are teaching your children that religious beliefs are crazy, and that religion is harmful to the world. You are indoctrinating your children into atheism and not allowing them to make up their own minds about religion. |
Anonymous
I’m not sure this is the great comparison you think it is. I also judge these parents. And I will agree it is wrong for parents to teach their kids that religious beliefs are crazy. I have one kid who is pretty pragmatic and has never really believed and another who talks about maybe God is like X or Y. I listen to them both and ask open ended questions. I would caution them about groupthink and how it has been used to support wars and other atrocities throughout human history. And that while they have to be respectful of others beliefs, but that it is also disrespectful for someone to try to make them follow their beliefs. Also I’m willing to bet a lot the Christians who want their beliefs respected in schools and in laws (e.g. overturning Roe) would have an absolute meltdown if the government and schools were suddenly infused with Muslim beliefs. It’s always their own beliefs that religious people want to have others follow, while having no interest in being held to the standards of other people’s beliefs. |
Anonymous
It’s funny how whenever you question Christianity they start throwing Bible passages at you. Like yes please cite the Bible and a bunch of thought pieces from people who believe in the Bible as “support” that the Bible is real. It’s like saying you don’t believe in Santa and then someone reads you ‘‘twas the night before Christmas. |
Anonymous
Letting children "make up their own mind" about harmful things is usually called "bad parenting" Let them make up their own mind about cigarettes. Let them make up their own mind about racism. Let them make up their own mind about what they eat and what medicine they take. All stupid. |
Anonymous
I’ve worked and lived in Muslim countries. They do not allow other religions in their countries. We allow and respect other religions in our country. Religion in the United States is both widespread and diverse, with higher reported levels of belief than other wealthy Western nations.[2][3][4] Polls indicate that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe in a higher power (2021),[5] engage in spiritual practices (2022),[6] and consider themselves religious or spiritual (2017).[7][8] Christianity is the most widely professed religion, with the majority of Americans being Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, or Catholics,[9][10] although its dominance has declined in recent decades, and as of 2012 Protestants no longer formed a majority in the US.[11] The United States has the largest Christian and Protestant population in the world.[12] Judaism is the second-largest religion in the US, practiced by 2% of the population, followed by Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, each with 1% of the population.[13] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States |
Anonymous
How can a loving God send someone to hell? To address the question of how a loving God can send someone to hell, we need to define a few terms and, most likely, correct a few assumptions. We must first define the term loving. Our culture tends to think of “love” as a completely non-confrontational, tolerant approval of whatever the loved one wants to do. But that is not a biblical definition. Love, according to the Bible, is goodwill and benevolence shown in self-sacrifice and an unconditional commitment to the loved one. Love is action promoting the well-being of another person. Implied in the question “how can a loving God send someone to hell?” is the assumption that sending someone to hell is unloving on God’s part. But God’s very nature is love (1 John 4:16). He cannot do anything that is unloving because His every action and every thought is an expression of His nature. God alone loves in the highest sense of the word; He loves with perfect freedom and objectivity. If we say that God is somehow wrong to punish unrepentant sinners in the manner He has chosen, then we have declared that we are more loving than God is—and wiser and fairer and more righteous. But it is impossible for us to be more loving than Love Himself. And our feeble notions of what is “wise” and “fair” will always fall short of God’s perfection. Another assumption we must guard against in asking the question “how can a loving God send someone to hell?” concerns the word send. Yes, God is the one—the only one—who sends people to hell (Luke 12:5; Revelation 20:15). However, when someone is sent to hell, it is not a unilateral action on God’s part, and the person being sent is not a passive victim of circumstance. God has given human beings freedom to participate in their life choices and eternal destinations (John 3:16–18). God has entrusted personal responsibility to each of us. And, in His love, God sent His only begotten Son into the world to save sinners. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “How can a loving God send someone to hell?” Romans 1:18–20 lays the foundation for the answer: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (emphasis added). There are several key points in this passage. First, people actively “suppress the truth.” Everyone has been given enough truth to know about God and surrender to Him, but they willfully refuse to accept the truth. They love darkness rather than light (John 3:19). Dr. Thomas Nagel, an atheistic professor of philosophy and law, has said, “It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that” (The Last Word, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 130). Second, Romans 1:19 states that God has “made [the truth about God] plain to them.” In other words, the Creator took the initiative to make His truth obvious to everyone. History has proved this since time began, as every culture and civilization has sought an understanding of a Creator to whom they owe allegiance. The innate understanding that God exists is due to our being created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Third, Romans 1:20 says that people “have no excuse for not knowing God” (NLT). There is no defense, no justification for continuing to reject God’s offer of salvation in Christ. In love, God gave each of us enough truth to turn toward Him rather than away from Him. When considering the question “how can a loving God send someone to hell?” we must not try to separate God’s love from His justice and righteousness. God’s attributes exist together, and they cannot be plucked out and made to stand alone. God is love, and that shapes His justice; at the same time, His justice affects His expressions of love. Justice requires adequate payment for crimes committed; love requires the extension of grace to the criminal. The cross shows both justice and love. As Jesus died on the cross, He bore the punishment for sin that justice demanded, and He extended the grace of forgiveness to sinners. Thus, both the justice and love of God were at work. “Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed” (Psalm 85:10, NKJV). The question “how can a loving God send someone to hell?” has a logical counterpart: “how can a just God send someone to heaven?” The answer to both questions is, again, the cross. For those who believe in Christ and accept His loving sacrifice on their behalf, God’s justice falls on Jesus. For those who turn away from Christ and reject His sacrifice, God’s justice falls on them. Hell was originally created for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). When humans joined the devil’s rebellion against God, hell became their fate, too. But God, in His love, provided a way of escape. He proved His love at the cross of Christ. Those who are in Christ have been forgiven of their sin by the grace of God. But those who reject Christ are spurning God’s love and refusing His offer of salvation. If we decline the payment offered by another, we must pay the price ourselves, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Sinners are sent to hell, in spite of God’s love, because they reject God’s loving provision of a Savior. Jesus revealed the heart of the Father when He lamented those who spurned salvation: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37; see also Isaiah 5:1–7 and Hosea 7:13). Hell does not negate God’s love any more than heaven negates God’s justice. “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” (2 Corinthians 5:20, NLT). https://www.gotquestions.org/loving-God-send-someone-hell.html ^this is what Christianity teaches. If you don’t believe in Christianity and don’t believe in God, you do not believe this. People have a right to believe this, and people have a right not to believe this. If you don’t believe it, you also don’t have to worry about people who do believe it. |
Anonymous
You cannot be a parent, because when children reach adulthood, they absolutely make up their own mind about everything. Good parenting doesn’t mean you brainwash your child to think like you. Children absolutely go to college (from good parenting families) and smoke cigarettes and do drugs. Did their parents fail? They eat taco bell and binge drink beer and liquor. Did their parents fail? You cannot be a parent and if you are, you have very young children if at all. Also you must have led a very sheltered life. Do you think President Biden failed his son? |
Anonymous
You don’t have to believe the Bible, believe in God, go to church. You also should understand the people who do believe the Bible, believe in God, and go to church have that right. Why do their beliefs make you upset and why must you disparage them? You aren’t making yourself look “better” by judging others and making fun of them. Everyone has their own life, and choices. If that bothers you and makes you uncomfortable, and you are on a mission to prove others are wrong, that’s a you problem. |
Anonymous
This is another dumb post. Answer this question: do we try and teach our kids or not? If you think we DO TRY, (the logical, non-stupid position) then you should have no issue with parents teaching kids about the pitfalls of anything bad for them or society in general. If you think we DON'T TRY because they make up their own minds anyway (the illogical, stupid false dichotomy) then you agree to not teach your kids bronze age myths and values. So, either way your position is untenable. Fail. |