Religious families-Do your children easily love God?

[Anonymous]

I honestly think that a lot of people who say they don't believe in God are really just angry with God. There is a difference. It does not hold true for everyone, but folks who get angry at others because they have faith. That's anger towards God, not unbelief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

you'll be "called to task?" by God? do you mean you're indoctrinating your kids with beleifs you have no evidence for because you're afraid that if you don't, then you'll be punished in the after life by God? If what God wants people to believe is so good for them, why does god have to threaten loving parents to get them to teach their kids about it?

I am not the pp to whom you are responding, but I am a person of faith who teaches my kids about God and we most certainly do not teach OR BELIEVE that God is going to punish us. You do realize that not everyone of faith believes the same thing?

Yes, of course I do. I know it's very common for people to pick and choose among the tenets of their religion a and decide what suits them and then decide what they will teach their children to believe. I'm glad religious people do that, when it means teaching children a less punitive form of religion.

Boy are you off the mark. It's not picking and choosing. Its a matter of people having different interpretations. Geez

So people just make up aspects of God that the want to believe in and want their children to believe in? Sounds like picking and choosing to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think that a lot of people who say they don't believe in God are really just angry with God. There is a difference. It does not hold true for everyone, but folks who get angry at others because they have faith. That's anger towards God, not unbelief.

Could be. Or sometimes I think they just worry if there's a teeny tiny chance they're missing something: THEY'VE determined there's no God. . .so they feel EVERYONE must determine there is no God. And if they don't, it must mean that maybe there is a tiny chance the other folks are right and thy are wrong Some people just need other people to agree with them to validate their own opinions and feelings. My two cents. . .

Keep on keepin' on, fellow religious folks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think that a lot of people who say they don't believe in God are really just angry with God. There is a difference. It does not hold true for everyone, but folks who get angry at others because they have faith. That's anger towards God, not unbelief.

and don't forget the people who are angy with people who don't believe in god because they find it threatening that pp can get by perfectly well in life without a god-belief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think that a lot of people who say they don't believe in God are really just angry with God. There is a difference. It does not hold true for everyone, but folks who get angry at others because they have faith. That's anger towards God, not unbelief.

and don't forget the people who are angy with people who don't believe in god because they find it threatening that pp can get by perfectly well in life without a god-belief.

Don't know many of those. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think that a lot of people who say they don't believe in God are really just angry with God. There is a difference. It does not hold true for everyone, but folks who get angry at others because they have faith. That's anger towards God, not unbelief.

and don't forget the people who are angy with people who don't believe in god because they find it threatening that pp can get by perfectly well in life without a god-belief.

There are definitely those people as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think that a lot of people who say they don't believe in God are really just angry with God. There is a difference. It does not hold true for everyone, but folks who get angry at others because they have faith. That's anger towards God, not unbelief.

Could be. Or sometimes I think they just worry if there's a teeny tiny chance they're missing something: THEY'VE determined there's no God. . .so they feel EVERYONE must determine there is no God. And if they don't, it must mean that maybe there is a tiny chance the other folks are right and thy are wrong Some people just need other people to agree with them to validate their own opinions and feelings. My two cents. . .

Keep on keepin' on, fellow religious folks!

Turn that around just a little, and it could be describing religious people considering that they are missing something:
"THEY'VE determined there IS a God. . .so they feel EVERYONE must determine there is a God. And if they don't, it must mean that maybe there is a tiny chance the other folks are right and thy are wrong Some people just need other people to agree with them to validate their own opinions and feelings."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

you'll be "called to task?" by God? do you mean you're indoctrinating your kids with beleifs you have no evidence for because you're afraid that if you don't, then you'll be punished in the after life by God? If what God wants people to believe is so good for them, why does god have to threaten loving parents to get them to teach their kids about it?

I am not the pp to whom you are responding, but I am a person of faith who teaches my kids about God and we most certainly do not teach OR BELIEVE that God is going to punish us. You do realize that not everyone of faith believes the same thing?

Yes, of course I do. I know it's very common for people to pick and choose among the tenets of their religion a and decide what suits them and then decide what they will teach their children to believe. I'm glad religious people do that, when it means teaching children a less punitive form of religion.

Boy are you off the mark. It's not picking and choosing. Its a matter of people having different interpretations. Geez

So people just make up aspects of God that the want to believe in and want their children to believe in? Sounds like picking and choosing to me
I get how you feel that is picking and choosing but ok. Just like different economists can look at certain data and interpret it in different ways. It's not picking and choosing, it's INTERPRETATION, which is different. I'm not really arguing or even debating here. I believe in God and teach my offspring the same. You do not believe, and that is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Love goes both ways. You want to receive, but not give? What about your parents? They love you, but you don't love them? I don't worship God because I have to. I worship God because it fills my life with so much joy. I can't imagine going about my daily life and not loving God at every waking moment. How can you not love such a sweet and gentle being like God?

There's that crafty atheist again! Good job at stirring up controversy, raising the fallacies of religion and trying to make believers look naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think that a lot of people who say they don't believe in God are really just angry with God. There is a difference. It does not hold true for everyone, but folks who get angry at others because they have faith. That's anger towards God, not unbelief.

There is a lot of truth in this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Love goes both ways. You want to receive, but not give? What about your parents? They love you, but you don't love them? I don't worship God because I have to. I worship God because it fills my life with so much joy. I can't imagine going about my daily life and not loving God at every waking moment. How can you not love such a sweet and gentle being like God?

There's that crafty atheist again! Good job at stirring up controversy, raising the fallacies of religion and trying to make believers look naive.

+1 I am just ignoring him/her from now on. Why don't we get back to the poor OP's question? It has become buried underneath all this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

So, back to OP's original question: how do you get your children to love God? Here is what I do:

1) Model it at home: family prayers before bedtime, grace before meals, conversations about it in our day-to-day life, books, etc.

2) Send my child to Catholic school.

3) Because of #2, this means that some of her extracurricular activities (which are through the school) also have a Catholic bent: CYO sports, her Brownie troop, etc.

4) All of our extended family on both sides is Catholic so our beliefs are confirmed and strengthened on family vacations as we all go to Mass together, her cousins go to Catholic school too, etc.

5) DD, for what it's worth, likes the fact that "catholic" as a word even means "universal" and this seems to mean a lot to her, in emphasizing, that Catholicism is the one, true faith, for everybody. Jesus came for everybody and died for everybody.

6) I pray! I pray to St. Monica that my children learn the faith. St. Monica was terribly worried about her son St. Augustine b/c he had moved far away from the faith, but her prayers were finally heard and he became devout, and, in fact, a saint.

Sorry this has a Catholic bent to is but I couldn't take it out as it pertains to so much of what we do. . .but hopefully it is helpful both to fellow Catholics and others who are trying to raise theirc hildren in their own faith. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

you'll be "called to task?" by God? do you mean you're indoctrinating your kids with beleifs you have no evidence for because you're afraid that if you don't, then you'll be punished in the after life by God? If what God wants people to believe is so good for them, why does god have to threaten loving parents to get them to teach their kids about it?

I am not the pp to whom you are responding, but I am a person of faith who teaches my kids about God and we most certainly do not teach OR BELIEVE that God is going to punish us. You do realize that not everyone of faith believes the same thing?

Yes, of course I do. I know it's very common for people to pick and choose among the tenets of their religion a and decide what suits them and then decide what they will teach their children to believe. I'm glad religious people do that, when it means teaching children a less punitive form of religion.

Boy are you off the mark. It's not picking and choosing. Its a matter of people having different interpretations. Geez

So people just make up aspects of God that the want to believe in and want their children to believe in? Sounds like picking and choosing to me

I get how you feel that is picking and choosing but ok. Just like different economists can look at certain data and interpret it in different ways. It's not picking and choosing, it's INTERPRETATION, which is different. I'm not really arguing or even debating here. I believe in God and teach my offspring the same. You do not believe, and that is fine.

OK - let's not quibble over words. You interpret God (let's say) as kind and gentle supreme being who would never send anyone to hell despite the dogma and doctrine of Christianity. Another parent teaches their children that God is kind and gentle and also gets angry and sends people to a fiery hell if they displease him - as described in the bible and in Christian doctrine. This is the same god -- maybe even two families going to the same church, but with two very different "interpretations."

It could also be interpreted as different beings defined by parents with different beliefs and child-raising philosophies to handle their children in different types of ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

you'll be "called to task?" by God? do you mean you're indoctrinating your kids with beleifs you have no evidence for because you're afraid that if you don't, then you'll be punished in the after life by God? If what God wants people to believe is so good for them, why does god have to threaten loving parents to get them to teach their kids about it?

I am not the pp to whom you are responding, but I am a person of faith who teaches my kids about God and we most certainly do not teach OR BELIEVE that God is going to punish us. You do realize that not everyone of faith believes the same thing?

Yes, of course I do. I know it's very common for people to pick and choose among the tenets of their religion a and decide what suits them and then decide what they will teach their children to believe. I'm glad religious people do that, when it means teaching children a less punitive form of religion.

Boy are you off the mark. It's not picking and choosing. Its a matter of people having different interpretations. Geez

So people just make up aspects of God that the want to believe in and want their children to believe in? Sounds like picking and choosing to me

I get how you feel that is picking and choosing but ok. Just like different economists can look at certain data and interpret it in different ways. It's not picking and choosing, it's INTERPRETATION, which is different. I'm not really arguing or even debating here. I believe in God and teach my offspring the same. You do not believe, and that is fine.

OK - let's not quibble over words. You interpret God (let's say) as kind and gentle supreme being who would never send anyone to hell despite the dogma and doctrine of Christianity. Another parent teaches their children that God is kind and gentle and also gets angry and sends people to a fiery hell if they displease him - as described in the bible and in Christian doctrine. This is the same god -- maybe even two families going to the same church, but with two very different "interpretations."

It could also be interpreted as different beings defined by parents with different beliefs and child-raising philosophies to handle their children in different types of ways.



I hate to even mention this -- but the Bible does not say God "sends" anyone to hell. It says the wages of sin is death, sorta like people send themselves there. Anyway -- still interpretation, especially when it comes to the definition of "hell".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, back to OP's original question: how do you get your children to love God? Here is what I do:

1) Model it at home: family prayers before bedtime, grace before meals, conversations about it in our day-to-day life, books, etc.

2) Send my child to Catholic school.

3) Because of #2, this means that some of her extracurricular activities (which are through the school) also have a Catholic bent: CYO sports, her Brownie troop, etc.

4) All of our extended family on both sides is Catholic so our beliefs are confirmed and strengthened on family vacations as we all go to Mass together, her cousins go to Catholic school too, etc.

5) DD, for what it's worth, likes the fact that "catholic" as a word even means "universal" and this seems to mean a lot to her, in emphasizing, that Catholicism is the one, true faith, for everybody. Jesus came for everybody and died for everybody.

6) I pray! I pray to St. Monica that my children learn the faith. St. Monica was terribly worried about her son St. Augustine b/c he had moved far away from the faith, but her prayers were finally heard and he became devout, and, in fact, a saint.

Sorry this has a Catholic bent to is but I couldn't take it out as it pertains to so much of what we do. . .but hopefully it is helpful both to fellow Catholics and others who are trying to raise theirc hildren in their own faith. . .

Good luck - with all the heavy lifting you're doing for God, the least he could do for you is have your daughter become a life-long, devout Catholic. It would be interesting to know the percentage of kids who leave Catholism after this type of intensive, enveloping childhood experience you've created for your child. I know a few.