If your 20 or 30 something still practices the faith they were raised in

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:We never followed the ritualistic aspect of our religion, though we are spiritual. Our kids experienced the spirituality and ethical part of our religion through us.

They married outside the religion and they have embraced our faith more after the marriage. They want to understand more and they want to practice more. They like that the religion is based on morality, equality, humanity and inquiry/skepticism.


And many many people have all of those things WITHOUT religion. I thought the only difference was that someone who is religious believes in a god. Those other things actually have no bearing on whether or not you believe
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:If your 20- or 30-something still practices the faith they were raised in, what factors do you think contributed to that? How did your teen or college student "make their faith their own?"

We go to church as a family and pray at meals, try to live out the values of our faith, etc. Right now I would say our teens are nominal Christians. They would assent to the gospel and all that goes with it as being "true," but they don't orient their lives toward this truth.


If you practice the same faith that you teach them, if you show them through your actions and discussions how your faith has helped various areas of your life, and if you read the corresponding book with your husband, they will follow. You must be their first and genuine example—not a superficial one.

I converted to another religion because my family did not practice their faith at all, yet they told me to follow teachings they never lived by.

Be their first example, just as Jesus was the first example for the apostles.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your 20- or 30-something still practices the faith they were raised in, what factors do you think contributed to that? How did your teen or college student "make their faith their own?"

We go to church as a family and pray at meals, try to live out the values of our faith, etc. Right now I would say our teens are nominal Christians. They would assent to the gospel and all that goes with it as being "true," but they don't orient their lives toward this truth.


If you practice the same faith that you teach them, if you show them through your actions and discussions how your faith has helped various areas of your life, and if you read the corresponding book with your husband, they will follow. You must be their first and genuine example—not a superficial one.

I converted to another religion because my family did not practice their faith at all, yet they told me to follow teachings they never lived by.

Be their first example, just as Jesus was the first example for the apostles.


I agree with all of the above except "they will follow". There's no garuntee that your children will take up your religion any more than they will follow any other family traditions when they become adults. Even in the example above, pp did not follow their family tradition of having a faith that they did not live out by example.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:Its no different than enrolling kids in catholic schools or join church choir etc. There are sports, scouting, tutoring and other fun activities too. Commuter college is mostly due to cost and marriages are often based on similar culture and ethnicity.



The difference is that OP wants advice on how to insure that this childhood indoctrination continues into adulthood.

Another difference that that in the above scenario, the parents are purposely restricting their kids so they'll remain in their childhood religion as adults.


That's pretty much the essence of it. Religion is an inheritance which some kids want and others don't. There isn't much you can do so just don't make it an obsession. Show them by your conduct and give basic knowledge of religion. Once they are adults, it's their choice, not your obligation to keep them on your track.


Agreed. It's like Grandma's china. You can pass it down to your children, but you can't make them use it.


Like grandma's china, no need to keep passing on old crap!


Continuing the Grandma's china thing - it probably isn't dishwasher-safe, making it outmoded and inconvenient. It provides many fond memories of times past but has no current use.


It's also full of toxic lead.
Anonymous
Young people have access to so much information via the internet that they can figure out that most religions are full of holes and made up dogma. They are free to think with the information they have. That's good.
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