Teenagers: seriously questioning their faith?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the "I'll pray for you" PP, or the "atheists should STFU PP or the "why do atheists insert their two cents PP." But I am a 3rd? 4th? 5th poster who thinks the atheists should show a little respect and courtesy.

That is, if you actually care about all that stuff about "be good for goodness sake" and "Good without God." Otherwise, sorry to say, the rest of us look at your behavior here and think those slogans are just a big, huge load of BS.

You're not providing a very good example of treating people with different beliefs with respect and courtesy: big, huge load of BS? really, WDJS?

See, you deliberately misunderstood, and that's part of the whole problem with some atheists' behavior. The "big, huge load of BS" is obviously not atheism itself: it is, obviously, the hypocrisy of saying "I'm good without God" at the same time you're accusing believers of being brainless (21:23 on page 1). And then the hypocrisy of pretending you don't know exactly how badly some of you atheists behave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the "I'll pray for you" PP, or the "atheists should STFU PP or the "why do atheists insert their two cents PP." But I am a 3rd? 4th? 5th poster who thinks the atheists should show a little respect and courtesy.

That is, if you actually care about all that stuff about "be good for goodness sake" and "Good without God." Otherwise, sorry to say, the rest of us look at your behavior here and think those slogans are just a big, huge load of BS.

You're not providing a very good example of treating people with different beliefs with respect and courtesy: big, huge load of BS? really, WDJS?

See, you deliberately misunderstood, and that's part of the whole problem with some atheists' behavior. The "big, huge load of BS" is obviously not atheism itself: it is, obviously, the hypocrisy of saying "I'm good without God" at the same time you're accusing believers of being brainless (21:23 on page 1). And then the hypocrisy of pretending you don't know exactly how badly some of you atheists behave.

You're just all over the place today, aren't you? Kind of like a troll, except trolling wouldn't be considered very Christian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the "I'll pray for you" PP, or the "atheists should STFU PP or the "why do atheists insert their two cents PP." But I am a 3rd? 4th? 5th poster who thinks the atheists should show a little respect and courtesy.

That is, if you actually care about all that stuff about "be good for goodness sake" and "Good without God." Otherwise, sorry to say, the rest of us look at your behavior here and think those slogans are just a big, huge load of BS.

You're not providing a very good example of treating people with different beliefs with respect and courtesy: big, huge load of BS? really, WDJS?

See, you deliberately misunderstood, and that's part of the whole problem with some atheists' behavior. The "big, huge load of BS" is obviously not atheism itself: it is, obviously, the hypocrisy of saying "I'm good without God" at the same time you're accusing believers of being brainless (21:23 on page 1). And then the hypocrisy of pretending you don't know exactly how badly some of you atheists behave.

You're just all over the place today, aren't you? Kind of like a troll, except trolling wouldn't be considered very Christian.

Not to belabor the obvious, but you're here being nasty too, aren't you?

[Anonymous]

Not really, no. I pointed out that you are being a troll. Is that nasty? Or was it nasty to suggest that trolling wouldn't be very Christian?

I'm not sure what your post in this thread about hypocrisy and atheists has to do with teens questioning their faith, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP~ I don't see a problem. Your kids will likely be good people with or without religion in their lives. Make sure you don't wreck your relationship with them over this. That wouldn't make you a very good person.

+1

Give your kids some respect.

[Anonymous]

The guilt trips and the attempts to make sure that I thought as they did only made me pretend to think as they did.

They are who they are, OP. They are not your puppets or clones. You can have their opinions and allow them to create their own. That may lead them to share your opinions, or disagree with them. Either is ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, let them explore their doubts. Reality says only THEY can decide what they believe and don't believe. Don't discourage their questions, it's a good learning phase.

I no longer believe, but the more I was pushed the less likely I was to attend services etc.

I do still practice my childhood faith but believe this is good advice. Part of being a teenager and moving into adulthood is figuring out your own morals, values and beliefs. As parents we hopefully all do the best we can to lay the groundwork as to the type of morals, values and beliefs that we believe are best. As a result, as your children make their own decisions, they are starting from a solid foundation.

Having your children simply blindly follow any given doctrine isn't the same as belief. Allow them the freedom to question. That's not the same as endorsing atheism, rather it's helping them in this aspect of their lives in the same way that you might help them when it comes to relationships or alcohol/drug use or education and career paths. Some PPs have offered good advice about how to welcome conversations about specific beliefs, spirituality and so on in a way that allows you to share why your beliefs are valuable to you and are the way you raised them, but also allow them to articulate their questions and doubts and work through them.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

This is the age that kids first reflect on the teachings they grew up with. Doubting is a natural thing, so let them -- they have to doubt sometimes to ever develop mature faith.

If you ask me, the best thing you can do to keep them Catholic is to have them see day-to-day evidence of how Catholicism makes you kind to your community, the downtrodden and the planet.

Substitute any other word for Catholicism, and it will work for the rest of you.

[Anonymous]

OP again, thank you all again for helpful words. =)

[Anonymous]

My kids' former principal (just retired) is a brilliant, sharp, wise old nun. She said that it's important to establish the foundation, so *when* they go off in their older years and 20s/30s, etc, they have something to come back to. "And they will go off," she said.

And I remember her saying that because that's precisely what happened to me. I can't believe I'm sending my kids to a Catholic elementary and going to church.

This is that classic "if you love something set it free" stuff…teenagers want to think they have original thoughts. I'm ok if my kids question the existence of God when they get older, or take issue with some, or all, of the Church's teachings. Heck, I still do. But what I've found as I got older is regardless of if my faith is strong or weak, I'm happier in the Catholic community. I've got all these issues with the Church on the macro-level, and I think it's dysfunctional and in some respects reprehensible, but on the micro-level--our kids' school and those school families--I don't have those issues. The school is well-functioning and the parish we're in is well-functioning, the people are lovely, and I believe the environment is helping not just my kids, but me--to be a better person.

I think part of getting older and wiser is recognizing those areas in your life where there is cognitive dissonance, and instead of trying to make everything consistent--which is impossible, to accept that there are areas that you are ok with the cognitive dissonance. So when I was younger, I couldn't reconcile stuff like the leap of faith with hard logic, or miracles with nature, etc, so I rejected it all. Now I don't worry about it. Part of my brain believes in God; another part thinks it's totally not logical. But I've let myself become comfortable with that, and accept that I'm drawn back to the fold, and it makes me *happier.* Now that I'm older, I *feel* that there's a baby somewhere in that bathwater, and I can't put my finger on where, but it's there.

[Anonymous]

Whatever floats your boat. Really. As long as it makes you feel good and youre not a bigot.

[Anonymous]

For Pete's sake! Kids explore... It's normal. Once they have kids , or get cancer, or get addicted , they remember that they can be born again.

It's a wrestling match with God the loving older brother .
Btw. Only God is good the world is a sewer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For Pete's sake! Kids explore... It's normal. Once they have kids , or get cancer, or get addicted , they remember that they can be born again.
It's a wrestling match with God the loving older brother .
Btw. Only God is good the world is a sewer.

Because naturally, the omnipotent, omniscient deity who has a plan for everything in the universe had nothing to do with their getting cancer or getting addicted.

If you think God is good and the world is a sewer, then God is forcing you to live in a sewer until God decides its time to release you from the sewer - and if you decide to leave the "sewer" before God wanted to let you out, you get punished for all Eternity (but, of course, God is omniscient so knew that you were going to get to the point where you would kill yourself and let it all happen, anyway, and then sent you to Hell for it). Sure sounds like love to me.

Sheesh. Talk about cognitive dissonance.

[Anonymous]

God will come to everybody in a way they can understand,

To Joshua the military man, he came as a warrior

To the conniving Jacob , as a wrestler

To the astrologer/astronomer wise men , as a star.

God shows himself and the saved respond . It is out of your hands.

[Anonymous]

OP, you need to put them out immediately!!

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ... Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." -- 2 Cor.6:14-17