I know this is a bit off topic, but this person you are referring to confuses me. If she considers herself so much to be a Christian, she should know that the Bible tells us to train up our children to know Christ as their Savior. This is what God calls us to do. Do I think that people can go too far and shelter kids? Absolutely...but it is still my job as a Christian parent to raise my children to know Christ...per what the Bible tells me to do. It IS in our hands. God may have the ultimate control, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't do our part and be responsible for what God calls us to do. God still works through us to teach our children about Him.
Really? I'm not sure. I've never heard that before. Nice post, Countrygal. I'm just not sure if you mean this part literally or what.
I suspect that Actressdancer's friend has a different interpretation than some of those here who are Christians. I suspect that she was raised Christian, and has decided that she can't agree with everything that a "good Christian" is supposed to believe, but she has gotten to the point where she realizes that Christianity is the way that she is most comfortable expressing her spirituality. And she has found that it is convenient to have a name for your spirituality in our culture, so she calls it Christianity even though you might not recognize it as Christianity. And so because her search for spirituality has been all over the place, she can't really fathom trying to indoctrinate her children into a religion that she is not fully apart of. Just my guess.
(and I don't agree with the coat analogy. I don't think if you aren't Christian, then you are d**ned. Sorry- I just don't buy that. I instill good values and good morals in my children because THAT makes them good people- and good people are 'saved', no matter what they believe) Well, here is a sticky situation. What measuring stick do we use to classify a person as "good"? If we use the world's measuring stick a lot of people qualify. If we use God's measuring stick--NO ONE qualifies as good- no one. I am not able to judge whether or not someone goes to heaven. Now as far as someone who has not heard the Gospel and has not had a chance to accept or reject Christ-I don't know. I do believe that any person who has heard the Gospel and understands it and chooses to reject it will go to hell. There is no "earning" heaven, so no matter how many good things we do-we can't get there. The only way to be forgiven and accepted into heaven is to accept Christ as Lord and Savior.
As far as brainwashing goes, I think teaching your children the truth and letting then know about the lies is the best way to go about it. By this I mean, I will strive to use books that correspond with my beliefs. We may discuss what the lies are and why they are not true, but I don't ever intend to present them as just another side to a neutral coin. In the Bible it tells us to teach our children the truth. The truth is the truth is the truth. No amount of stretching, bending, distorting is ever going to change the truth of what God has put into place. I think we cross a dangerous line when we dig so deeply into a subject that we "find" things that negate the truth of the Bible. Those things we find don't negate the truth, they just lead us to believe that we are wiser than God. VERY DANGEROUS.
:love:Amen:love: And if someone would like to argue this, they can take that arguement up with God, because He is the one who said it. We're just the messengers.
Thank you JenPooh. I know I step on some toes when I say things like that and I don't mind if people want to argue, but the real argument is with God. I am not the authority on salvation, He is. I don't have a choice but to proclaim the truth and not be flexible in that area.
Actually, no. She's a die-hard, Bible-believing Christian who just doesn't think it's her place to tel her children what to believe; even though she'll be the first to tell you she hopes they choose Christianity because she doesn't want them to go to H*ll (her words, not mine). She is very active in her church, but only goes when the kids are at her x-husband's. She's also working on recording a Christian album with her sister; her dad is a big name in Christian music.
Wow, I don't know how anyone can follow Christ and not share their faith with people especially their own children. Not to sound too harsh, but I hope she realized what a sin that is. The Bible also speaks to people about sharing and raising their kids in the faith. I once heard that Penn (of Penn and Teller) spoke of how a man shared the Gospel with him. He didn't become a Christian but was touched very deeply that this man was sincerely trying to extend the salvation message with an unbeliever. A very insightful quote by him really makes me think of what I need to do - "How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?" Here is a link:http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs...you-have-to-hate-somebody-to-not-proselytize/ So a person who loves the Lord will want to share and not keep the message to themselves. My mother pointed out that it isn't brainwashing when it is the truth. I think that is a good point. I don't think God is going to accuse anyone of brainwashing their kids if they tell them the truth.
Is it? It used to be the "truth" that the sun revolved around the earth. No longer the truth. And certainly, other things which we know to be the "truth" now, will no longer be the "truth" in the future.
Telling the truth is not brainwashing, but we must be careful to keep to what we know. "What is truth?" - Pilate "I am the ...truth..." - Jesus I agree with others that it's strange that a Christian would not teach her children about Jesus as the Christ. I do agree that non-essential matters should be taught in a sensitive and open manner, but the fundamentals represent our worldview - and everyone has a worldview. Without a firm foundation, there's little point in building a structure of knowledge. My problem is with "creep." More and more non-essentials are being added to the fundamentals, and we're rapidly reaching the point where, in the eyes of some, an entire curriculum must be pure. Someone kindly sent me a link that makes this point very eloquently - and reveals a very real danger.
Not only is he not a Christian, he's a tried-and-true atheist who HATES religion. That says a lot. I posted that video earlier (in this thread, I think), but hadn't rewatched it. I forgot about that quote. He's right, though. That's why I can't wrap my mind around people being offended that someone shared the Gospel message with them (or honestly, any other religious message, be it Islam or whatever). I can't understand being offended at HOW that message was shared sometimes, but not that it was in the first place. If I had a Muslim friend who gently, lovingly shared whatever their path to salvation was with me, I'd feel honored. That they took the time to try to lead me to a "better life", if done out of love, would speak a lot about how much that person cared about me. I'd be touched. It wouldn't make them any less wrong, but it would earn them my respect.
The truth is the truth is the truth. People have been mistaken, but the earth always revolved around the sun. To me when we get into relativism (is that the word) we open up a whole big door to let anyone do anything they want as long as they can assert that it is the "truth" to them. I believe that God gave us the Bible because He knew that we could not discern the truth without it.
The problem isn't with what truth is. The problem is how we use our interpretation of the truth. Do we become like the church that believed scripture said the sun revolved around the earth, and therefor torture Galileo until he recants of the his heliocentric belief? Or maybe we become like the Inquisition, and "root" out Jews because the church believed Jews were "Jesus killers"? Maybe we should be like Martin Luther who petitioned the Germany gov to kill Anabaptists for their belief in the separation of church and state, and non-resistance? As you say, truth is truth. But we use our interpretation of truth (which may or may not be correct) as a big sword to sever/ dislocate/remove anyone who does not agree with our particular "brand" of the truth. And this sword wielding goes on today with more than just young earth vs. old earth. It goes on with interpretation of end times, modest dress, food types and preparation, and KJ only vs. other interpretations of scripture. When we become unwilling to admit that we could be wrong in our interpretation of the truth, when we become unwilling to be teachable and learn, we run the risk of brainwashing our children into being unteachable and unwilling to learn. In my opinion that's the worst sort of brainwashing anyone can teach their children. After all do we want to demonstrate a proud, stuck up, stubborn and arrogant attitude or do we want to demonstrate humility that says "I don't have all the answers, so why don't we look that up and learn together." Marty
