[email protected]

In a message dated 12/14/2001 4:26:33 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:


> Heck, sometimes when I'm arguing with my husband, I wish *I* were a lesbian.
> ;)
>
> Pam
>
>
Nah...It doesn't help :)

Kathryn



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

Well, back on that religion topic: I got a call today from a friend who went
to an allegedly all-inclusive support group meeting with her kids. The kids
were off playing, and several moms asked her what church they attended. She
said they were Buddhist, and there wasn't a nearby place of worship.
Silence, then "You're raising your children that way?" "Yes..." Silence.
Then "And it doesn't bother you that they'll go to hell?" She made her
excuses, and gathered the kids up.

Seething, she wasn't talking to the kids much on the car ride home. Then her
older son (9) said, " Mommy, do we have to go there again?" She asked why and
he said, "Because all the kids wanted to talk about was stuff God didn't want
them to do, and I was afraid that if I said I did some of those things, God
would be mad."

As you would imagine, much processing ensued.

Kathryn


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 12/22/2001 10:01:38 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:


> Are we also emotionally inferior to God? Especially since I've become a
> parent, the entire Christian/Father/God thing bugs me. I don't understand
> how
> ANY parent could turn their back on their child, or punish them eternally.
> Doesn't make sense, especially not a healthy sane loving parent. And as
> human
> and imperfect as I am, there is nothing in the world that my son could do
> that would cause me to wish eternal suffering or punishment on him. And I
> don't need anyone to come and take the rap for something my son did, that
> would be silly. Am I a better parent than God? <snicker snicker> Besides,
> what kind of parent would put two kids in a big garden/playground and tell
> them they could have anything but the fruit from the big tree? I personally
> would have planned a bit better. <g>
>
> As parents, we (most of us I think?) don't set up all these guidelines at
> birth of how our child will act and how much love will be doled out
> accordingly. It isn't, "Well, if he breaks any one of these ten rules,
> that's
> it, we're throwin him to the dogs." We parent, we guide, we love, we
> nurture,
> we support, we forgive. It isn't our children's job to strive to
> please/worship us, it is our job to provide for them. I can't imagine a God
> who is supposed to be so much larger than human to not have these basic
> qualities.
>

Well, by some of these standards, God is a mean bastard. He creates people
all over the place. Say you have a baby born to Muslims, Jews,
Buddhists...whatever. Baby grows up in her family's religion, and is not
exposed to the idea that you have to follow Jesus Christ or you're damned.

Why would God set things up that way?

I stopped being friends (we weren't very close anyway) with a woman who I
believe is psychologically abusing her children. She has told her children
if they sin and do not follow God's wishes and accept him totally, that they
will never get to go to heaven, but go to hell. And because mommy is going to
Heaven, and God wouldn't want her to be sad that her children went to hell,
he would make her forget about them. They're 5 and 7. Funny...it's legal to
do that to kids.

This seems totally inconsistent with what Jesus taught.

Kathryn


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

kayb85

> Well, by some of these standards, God is a mean bastard. He creates
people
> all over the place. Say you have a baby born to Muslims, Jews,
> Buddhists...whatever. Baby grows up in her family's religion, and
is not
> exposed to the idea that you have to follow Jesus Christ or you're
damned.
>
> Why would God set things up that way?


God didn't set it up that way. Originally, everyone knew about
Jehovah God. Following the tower of Babel , some entire
people groups deliberately rejected God and refused to pass on God's
truth to their children. Sometimes bits and pieces of the truth got
passed through the generations, and sometimes when missionaries went
to tell them the truth, the pieces fell together and people again
turned to God. Sometimes they still refused to follow God. So there
is no people group who never knew of God. Those who don't have any
Bible or knowledge of Jesus Christ are that way because at some point
in history, their ancestors rejected God.

The Bible says (Romans 1) that God reveals Himself to people through
nature. So when people are convicted with the truth of a Creator and
desire to know more of Him, He finds a way to reveal Himself to them.

> I stopped being friends (we weren't very close anyway) with a woman
who I
> believe is psychologically abusing her children. She has told her
children
> if they sin and do not follow God's wishes and accept him totally,
that they
> will never get to go to heaven, but go to hell. And because mommy is
going to
> Heaven, and God wouldn't want her to be sad that her children went
to hell,
> he would make her forget about them. They're 5 and 7. Funny...it's
legal to
> do that to kids.

I disagree with your ex-friend if she tells her kids that their
citizenship in heaven is dependent on whether or not they sin because
I believe the Bible teaches that our salvation is based solely on our
acceptance of Jesus CHrist as Lord and Savior and that a desire to
live our lives for Him should come naturally after our salvation.
However, I respect her right as a parent and, if she's in the U.S., as
a citizen of a (supposed to be) free country to raise her children as
she sees fit. Or do you think that people shouldn't have the right to
pass on their religious beliefs to their children?

Sheila, who is going to have to stop all this posting on the net if
she is going to finish wrapping up all this Christmas stuff!