Do you believe in god?

[Unicorndreams24]

i have recently been thinking a lot about religion and wondering how many believe in god and also what made you come to the decision of believing?

Do you mean this bit ?

Gal 1:9 "As we have said before, and now say again: if anyone may proclaim to you good news different from what you received--let him be accursed!" (LSV)

So, Paul is saying " If you say anything different to what I say, then curse on you".

And that's how we end up with theocracies . It's also what dictators say.

So much for freedom of thought and all that stuff.

And here is the strange thing, to me anyway. Paul never even met Jesus. He just claimed to have a vision. He goes on to say:

Gal 1:11-12 " And I make known to you, brothers, the good news that was proclaimed by me, that it is not according to man, neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught [it], but through a revelation of Jesus Christ" (LSV)

So Its what Paul claims was told to him. To him personally. Never mind the Apostles who actually wandered around with Jesus and knew him. They are brushed aside.

And people believe Paul. Why? Why would Jesus appear, pick Apostles, call Peter his rock on which to build his Church, then apparently toss them all aside in favour of some dude he had never met, who on the road to Damascus, hundreds of miles away from where his mates, the Apostles, were doing their commune thing ?

Surely Christians should really be called Paulines. Or many of them anyway. Not the red letter Christians of course. The Jefferson Bible is better for them I suppose.

Incidentilly, a fella named Hong Xiuquan ( 1814-1864), did similar to Paul. Except he claimed to be the brother of Jesus. People believed him, and about 20 million died in the subsequent Taiping Rebellion. It's maybe not a great idea to believe people who claim visions.

Thank you for your question. We explain these things in age-appropriate, gentle ways, much like any parent explains big ideas such as right and wrong, love, justice, or consequences. There are excellent resources that help with this (for example, from the Good Book Company).

Heaven is spoken of as being with God, where things are made right and whole. Sin is simply the fact that people don’t always love God or others as they should—something children already recognise in themselves and others. Hell is explained as separation from God. Jesus is explained as someone we can have a personal relationship with. A lot of these have been explained in my previous posts on this thread.

It is also important to us that children understand they are free to ask questions, be curious, and make their own choices when they feel ready.

Quote :
"Sin is simply the fact that people don’t always love God or others as they should—something children already recognise in themselves and others."

My DD is 13. Are you saying your God has implanted something in her, Even though we live in a non Christian culture, and that beyond Santa she has never been exposed to Christianity ?

This was discussed upthread. Where it was stated that evolution clearly explains us knowing what is good or bad to do, us being a social pack species of animal.

Is my DD a sinner because she is only superficially aware of your God. I am pretty sure she does not love him. Just the same as she probably does not love Thor.

If you are saying your God has implanted her with something? If so, then surely that would contradict the whole concept of free will ?

I’m not saying any of that, and I think you may be reading claims into my comment that I didn’t make, or certainly did not intend to make. I’m sorry if it was construed that way. My post explained how I talk about these ideas with my own child, in response to a question I was asked; I wasn’t explaining them to yours. I appreciate that we may differ in what and how we teach our children — such is the reality of living in a diverse society, and of parents exercising freedom and responsibility in making choices for their own families.

For us, sin describes a shared human condition: that all of us are inclined to put ourselves first rather than love God and others perfectly. That tendency can be described theologically or observed through human behaviour. Love can’t be programmed, which is why faith is understood as something a person comes to freely, not something imposed.

I was asked what Christians believe and how we teach these things within our own families, and I sought to answer that. It was intended as personal commentary about our family’s approach, not a statement about what you should be teaching your children or what I would say to your child. I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear.

I am just trying to understand where you are coming from, what you believe. I know what I believed when I was a Christian.

And this is interesting. What do atheists believe ? Answer: we don't.

What do Christians believe ? Well that's complicated, and it depends on what one you ask.

:-)

Enough of sectarian arguments - let's get back to the question - "Do you believe in god?"

My starting point would be to define terms - what do we mean by god? A divine creator? An angry vengeful creator who wants to be worshipped? A disinterested force that instigated the universes? A being with an interest in how the world develops? A loving being? A being with whom individuals can establish a relationship? A petty overseer?

It would be good to address these options without recourse to scriptures, which hopefully most people are aware are the work of human beings trying to answer the above questions in their time?

Quote : " It would be good to address these options without recourse to scriptures, which hopefully most people are aware are the work of human beings trying to answer the above questions in their time?"

Erm, putting on my best Monty Python voice, " we haven't got that far yet, sorry".

:-)

Having read this post it confirms 100% how right DH and I were as parents to bring our DC’s up as atheists.

There are no gods - none at all. Are we talking about a particular god?

I imagine that most people feel they are bringing up their children in line with their own values and beliefs.

I assume this post is for non-Christians and am interested to read other views. Thanks for the interesting question!

Yes, I believe in God, pray to Mary daily, regard myself as a Catholic although I'm very limited in what I will support around the institutional church because it's an agent of the oppression of women.

DC’s are fully aware that they are not sinners and will never be. They understand that the term is just a scare tactic to try and force a particular behaviour.
They know that heaven and hell don’t exist, there is nothing bad going to happen to them as atheists

The scriptures aren’t necessarily true - they are numerous recollections, translations many times and some totally untrue and pure fantasy. Common sense needs to be applied.

I’m glad your children feel secure and confident in the values you’re teaching them. As I said earlier, I was answering a question about how Christians explain these ideas within their own families, not making claims about anyone else’s children. Different families will naturally teach different beliefs, and that’s part of living in a plural society. I hope that makes sense.

I think it’s totally wrong to let a child think they are a sinner - cruel.

I kindly disagree, but I respect that we see this differently. In our family, the concept of sin isn’t taught as a label of worth or a tool of fear, but as part of a wider framework explaining the way in which the world is and how we relate to others and God, through grace, forgiveness, responsibility, and love.

As with many parenting choices, families will approach these things differently according to their beliefs. I was explaining our approach, in response to a question asked of me, not asking others to adopt it.

I found my children understood the Christian faith very well from a young age as they were always taught things in a very age appropriate way. Frightening children is abhorrent, whoever is doing it, and fear certainly wasn’t the childhood experience of my children, actually the opposite. They knew they were loved by their family and by God.

Thank you, I agree with this. And you put this very helpfully; it has been the same experience as for us. I didn’t express it quite as you did! Thank you!

To be fair, you did pick up on the two sentences I thought - after posting - I should've changed. Please read You would doubtless call this as Some might call this, and eliminate the likely to get cross sentence. Is it any better for you now?

I'm not massively apologising for potentially unwelcome phraseology while writing what was, for me, a self-exposing post at 2am. I do, though, appreciate that you found those phrases unpleasant and, for that reason, am sorry I didn't have time to edit them.

I'm more interested in whether you're offended by my whole position - that people do have similar experiences yet interpret them in very different ways which, being individual and personal, are equally valid.

Events that some experience as communion with God, others experience as communication with themselves. Yet others experience them as union with nature, the universe, spirits or all humanity (and more). And some dismiss them with barely a backward glance.

Apology accepted, thank you.

“people do have similar experiences yet interpret them in very different ways”

but you don’t know what I experienced.

You made a huge assumption and attributed my 45 years of experiencing God in my life as psychosis.

Which is what I expected an atheist to do, as stated in my original post.

Understood, I think. What I consider an aspect of the human condition, including the experience people call 'inspiration', is nothing like receiving a personalised communication from a divine entity.

Pity. I'm quite interested in exploring what congruence there might be between the two phenomena (or not) but I know when I've been shut down!

Oh I know when I’ve been shut down too. It’s not very pleasant.

I took a chance and revealed something incredibly precious to me, just a glimpse of it, nothing like the whole. More than a “personalised communication”, much more.

And, sadly, as expected, without any attempt at comprehending what my experience has actually been it was written off as nothing more than a surge of hormones, a glitch in the amygdala, a psychotic episode.

I knew that would be the response, but my goodness it’s sometimes very tedious to be right.

Of course I'm interested in what you experienced. I had the impression you were choosing not to share details, as is your right.

eta: If I'm understanding properly, that revelatory experience would actually be the answer to "Do you believe in God and, if so, why?" It's intriguing.

No child is ever a sinner