Why is religion introduced at such a young age?

[Said1]

He's just having a moment and WE are indulging him.

You're right, my bad. :spank3:

 

[Gunny]

You're right, my bad. :spank3:

From what I see, I think he wants us to convince him he's wrong.

 

[Said1]

From what I see, I think he wants us to convince him he's wrong.

I get it, he WANTS to be saved.

In that case, I would recommend he start with this -----> and progress onwards. And PM, the actual cow you will be worshipping must be gold. No exceptions.

 

[Gunny]

I get it, he WANTS to be saved.

In that case, I would recommend he start with this -----> and progress onwards. And PM, the actual cow you will be worshipping must be gold. No exceptions.

That's a lot of krugerands to melt down ......

 

[Said1]

That's a lot of krugerands to melt down ......

Yes, anything less would be sacrilegious and result in instant banishment to hell or somewhere really bad, like Inuvit.

 

[Gunny]

Yes, anything less would be sacrilegious and result in instant banishment to hell or somewhere really bad, like Inuvit.

I say we keep the gold for ourselves and just send him down to the nearest tent revival .... :halo:

 

[Said1]

I say we keep the gold for ourselves and just send him down to the nearest tent revival .... :halo:

Awww, there's you, always thinking.

 

[deaddude]

Dude why do you care? Why are you so ardently anti religious? So there are christians out there, so there are jews, if believing in God helps them get through the day without killing someone then more power to the belief. If you dont need to believe in a higher power fine, but you shoving atheism down their throats is no better than the soap box preacher screaming fire and brimstone at the top of his lungs. If they want to raise their children christian then that is their decision.

 

[Nuc]

OK now let's think of a theoretical situation. You are an educated adult over the age of 20 and somehow you have not been exposed to any religion. One day someone walks in your house and tells you summaries of the bible stories. What would happen next? You would laugh your ass off and tell the person you would rightfully think is a lunatic to get out of your house. If religion was introduced at later stages in life there is no way that it could flourish because no one would believe it.

People seem to worship specific god or gods because of the way they were raised. But in general people would tend to gravitate towards religion even if they weren't raised in one because they need guidelines for how to live. They just might not buy into some of the more elaborate mythology, but they still want morality and ethics combined with some kind of community.

 

[Annie]

Personally, I taught my children my beliefs, because I believed in them. I wanted them to have a personal relationship with God. My guess, other religious do the same for the same reasons. Atheists and agnostics probably do too, something along the line of, 'I don't believe this hocus pocus, but if you choose this crutch, I'll still love you...'

 

[theim]

I was accosted by "Jews for Jesus" on a streetcorner in NYC. I brushed them off by saying the best thing about Jews is that they don't proselitize and that these individuals were taking a step backwards. The next person they hassled was a black dude.

"Is Jesus your personal savior?"

"Used to be."

"What happened?"

"I grew up!"

AHAHAHAHAHA!! Wow! Bingo! Because...like..those religious people are so stupid hahaha! They all probly check under their beds with a flashlight at night to make sure the boogeyman isn't there! Nice! Headshot! Way to give it to those Christers! Bunch of intolerant bigots they are!

 

[LuvRPgrl]

I was exposed to Christianity at a young age. Then I took a bath.

In dirty water?

 

[LuvRPgrl]

It was a hypothetical situation... you need to pay attention.

But maybe you shouldn't brainwash your kids before you let them choose which path to take. Let's be honest with ourselves about faith. Your faith depends more on where you were born than on the validity of the religion itself. If any one of you Christians were born in southern India you would be Hindus.

Can one be brainwashed if what they are learning is true?

If not, then your statement would require the proof that Christianity is not true, so to speak. I know for a fact you cant do that.

You think all the sober members of AA were brainwashed into their sobriety as kids??

 

[LuvRPgrl]

No not really. I don't understand why anyone would think it is necessary for a young child to go into a confessional booth with a priest and cannibalize their deity. It seems like complete nonsense to me.

From whence doth your bitterness stem? This is a serious question.

 

[LuvRPgrl]

AHAHAHAHAHA!! Wow! Bingo! Because...like..those religious people are so stupid hahaha! They all probly check under their beds with a flashlight at night to make sure the boogeyman isn't there! Nice! Headshot! Way to give it to those Christers! Bunch of intolerant bigots they are!

Intolerant bigots eh?
bwhahhahahah

 

[Annie]

From whence doth your bitterness stem? This is a serious question.

Hey he hates the Catholic Church. I'm sure they can live with that. My guess is his kids are not or will not be threatened by this institution.

 

[dilloduck]

I've always wondered this and I think I know the answer. For most believing in God starts at a young age. You are young and can't think for yourself so if someone molds your mind to believe in all sorts of different things from a very young age it will be fairly difficult to undo the brainwashing.

Take catholics for instance. Most catholics were baptised before they could talk and received the most important sacraments of the eucharist and reconciliation at a relatively young age. Then most are confirmed before they are out of highschool.


OK now let's think of a theoretical situation. You are an educated adult over the age of 20 and somehow you have not been exposed to any religion. One day someone walks in your house and tells you summaries of the bible stories. What would happen next? You would laugh your ass off and tell the person you would rightfully think is a lunatic to get out of your house. If religion was introduced at later stages in life there is no way that it could flourish because no one would believe it.

Immorality starts at a young age too. Early training in what is good and bad for your child may serve to protect him/her from a lot of negatives out there. People actually DO believe that religion helps thier children--it's not an attempt to trick them into anything here. You make it sound as if they are abused. Should we keep em out of school until they are about 16 or so so that that aren't brainwashed by teachers?

 

[Powerman]

Immorality starts at a young age too. Early training in what is good and bad for your child may serve to protect him/her from a lot of negatives out there. People actually DO believe that religion helps thier children--it's not an attempt to trick them into anything here. You make it sound as if they are abused. Should we keep em out of school until they are about 16 or so so that that aren't brainwashed by teachers?

Nice. I like your line of thinking. I thought I made it clear before that I don't really have much of a problem with religion and good things can come from it. Morals can definitely be enforced through religion. I don't have any problem with people who teach their kids sound morals through religous tradition. Sounds like a good idea to me. My whole point here is how many people would actually believe in their religion if they knew nothing of it until they were older and more educated. I'm betting not that many people. Several people have pointed out that some people find religion later in life. I'm not disputing that, but most people have been introduced to religion before they can think for themselves. If they weren't then things would definitely be much different. Just trying to bring up some philisophical points here...I'm not trying to offend anyone.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Nice. I like your line of thinking. I thought I made it clear before that I don't really have much of a problem with religion and good things can come from it. Morals can definitely be enforced through religion. I don't have any problem with people who teach their kids sound morals through religous tradition. Sounds like a good idea to me. My whole point here is how many people would actually believe in their religion if they knew nothing of it until they were older and more educated. I'm betting not that many people. Several people have pointed out that some people find religion later in life. I'm not disputing that, but most people have been introduced to religion before they can think for themselves. If they weren't then things would definitely be much different. Just trying to bring up some philisophical points here...I'm not trying to offend anyone.

What is "educated"? Some people consider some sort of moral/social/ religious education the very basis of all education to follow.

What you mean is this: "How many people would believe in religious teaching after being indoctrinated into the secular/scientific/atheist worldview?". Kinda silly, don't you think? No. You don't think.

 

[LuvRPgrl]

Nice. I like your line of thinking. I thought I made it clear before that I don't really have much of a problem with religion and good things can come from it. Morals can definitely be enforced through religion. I don't have any problem with people who teach their kids sound morals through religous tradition. Sounds like a good idea to me. My whole point here is how many people would actually believe in their religion if they knew nothing of it until they were older and more educated. I'm betting not that many people. Several people have pointed out that some people find religion later in life. I'm not disputing that, but most people have been introduced to religion before they can think for themselves. If they weren't then things would definitely be much different. Just trying to bring up some philisophical points here...I'm not trying to offend anyone.

I had a spiritual conversion at age 30. I decided to inspect the various religions available.

It became quite apparent which carried the truth.

Odd thing about the Bible, it has several predictions that are amazingly accurate.

Genesis describes the lineage of evolution exactly, yet it was written thousands of year before Darwin and modern science.

An atom bomb explosion is described perfectly before any such types of explosions were known about.

Problems with:

Islam:
All written by one man
An obvious attempt to unite the Arabs who had more than one god.
Mohammed was a violent and unvirtuous man. Yet he is revered above Jesus.
Its an obvious rip off of the Bible.

Mormons:
Again, all written by one man
If you learn about the organization, many secrets of it have been revealed by some who use to be part of the "inner circles"

JW's
Its an obvious cult.

Judaism
Based on the Old Testament, they KNEW the messiah was coming around the time of Jesus. In fact, there were over 100 MAJOR claims of messiahship during Jesus's days. If it wasnt Jesus, who was it then? They are still waiting....and waiting... and waiting.....

Several problems with all other religions,

Who died for us other than Jesus?
Who has a leader who was perfect?
Chrisitainity is the only religion that has a clear cut delianation on what it takes to enter Gods kingdom (amazinly enough all it is, is a willingness to accept His invitation)

I also firmly believe that all followers of any religion, if they have the basic humility God requires then they will eventually wind up in our Kingdom. I think the basic mistake most Christians make is the idea of when "death" occurs. The Bible says ALL will kneel before the Lord and declare HIM LORD. Death cannot occur when most of us believe it does based on a few lines in Mathew right after the "death" of Jesus.

Its a very interesting few lines, when I speak of it, most people dont remember reading it, yet it is amazing in what it presents us with, and anyone who has read the entire four gospels has read it. Yet most dont remember reading it in spite of its uniqness and its possible ramifications.