Momversation: Are You Raising Religious Kids?

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  Posted by Beth Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:17pm PST

  I'm relieved to see that most of the Momversation ladies are in the same boat as me. I was raised evangelical Lutheran, and found as a teenager that I was really just going through the motions. Also, there was a ton of hypocrisy in my congregation, which made worshiping very difficult. I was eventually excommunicated for living with my boyfriend (now my husband of 5 years). I still am very spiritual, and I think I even still believe in the Christian God, but I am scared of what organized religion does to people.

  I would like to raise my son with some sense of faith, but I can't teach him what faith is until I've figured that out for myself. Thankfully he's only 7 months old, hopefully I can get things figured out before he's older. But ultimately I want him to decide what's best for him, even if that means he's an atheist like his father.

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  Posted by steve Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:28am PST

  well you hit the nail on the head with hypocrisy there are as of last count 68,000 religions in the world as for me i have taught my daughter the Bible and what it teaches as opposed to any of the different religions of "christendom"all claim to be Christian but as you observed not all act like or behave in that fashion and many things they teach cannot be found in the Bible that they claim to use instead they teach popular customs and traditions that have no Scriptural basis ie i have asked people for nearly 40 years where in the Bible does it give the date of Jesus birth it mentions many events that happened but nowhere does it mention when he was born i have asked priests rabbis ministers pastors ect even bishops none could show me where it says he was born on Dec 25th because it doesnt so i asked where the date comes from this is the answer i got "December is the cold rainy month in Israel has been for thousands of years so in november the shepherds are preparing to get the animals inside for the winter where they stay untill springtime now Luke 2:8 says the shepherds were living out of doors at the time of Jesus birth !! and also according to the decree of Caesar Agustus all had to go register any births now we are talking about a 90 mile trip with a 9 months pregnant woman on a donkey traking several days to get there would you take you wife out in the dead of winter knowing she was expecting any day now Luke 2:1-7 most of us today would not even drive a heated or air conditioned car that far nor chance a trip with our wives so close to birth no matter what kind of weather it was so it had to be much earlier in the year so where did the date come from? all 3 books namely M'Clintocks & Strongs Cyclopedia , the encyclopedia Americanna, The New Catholic Encyclopedia state no one knows the date of Jesus Birth it is thought that the date was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that took place around that time of the Winter Solstice when the days began to lenghten to celebrate the rebirth of the sun... the Roman saturnalia a festival dedicated to saturn the god of agriculture and the renewed power of the suntook place at this time the birth of christ was ASSIGNED the date of the winter soltice dec 25th to jan 6th in the julian and egyptian calendars because on this day the sun begins to return to the northern skies the pagan devotees of mithra celebrated DIES NATALIS SOLIS INVICTI the birthday of the invincible sun on dec 25 274 Aurelian proclaimed the sun god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him at Campus Martiius christmas originated at a time when the cult of the sun was particullary streong at rome 1976 vol III p656 " and all the other customs of it are also of pagan origin centuries later the apostate churches of christendon changed it from the worship of the sun to the worship of the Sonto get many pagans to join their churches and keep their customs now there is a marked difference betwen TRUE CHRISTIANITY THAT JESUS TAUGHT AND HIS FOLLOWERS TAUGHT THEN IN HIS DAY AND TODAY THINK ABOUT JESUS LIFE AND MINISTRY AND WHAT HE TAUGHT HIS FOLLOWERS TO DO MATT 28:19-20 AND 24:14 WHO TODAY GO FROM DOOR TO DOOR AND TEACH PEOPLE THE TRUTH FROM THE BIBLE AND NOT THE TRADITIONS OF MEN IN EVERY COUNTRY ON EARTH FOR FREE IF YOU WANT FURTHER INFO JUST ASK

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  Posted by Rosie R Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:16pm PST

  Puh-lease steve. How wonderful is it that a pagan holiday was taken over by Christians and now, thousands of years later, people celebrate Christ's birth instead of what was initailly intended.

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  Posted by HotCrossBuns Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:23pm PST

  I teach my children to live a faithful Christian life, but as for religion, the bigots and hypocrites can keep it. Today's churches and denominations (at least all the ones I've experienced) are so far from any true teachings of Jesus in their hate and judgements that they wouldn't know Jesus if he walked through their doors with narry a penny in his pocket to pick!

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  Posted by steve Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:09pm PST

  DEAR HOT CROSS BUNS YOU ARE SO RIGHT LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO HIM LAST TIME HE WAS HERE !!THE MAJORITY OF THE CHURCHES ARE SO FAR OFF HIS TEACHINGS IT WOULD SHOCK THEM AND IF HE PERSONALLY TOLD THEM THAT THEY WOULD PROBABLY KILL HIM AGAIN DID NOT THE BIBLE SAY THAT THOSE WHO WORSHIP MUST WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH JOHN 4:23,24 SO AS ROSIERCHESTER SAID IR WOULD BE WONDERFULLTO TAKE A PAGAN HOLIDAY AND MAKE IT CHRISTIAN IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DO SO BECAUSE THE FOUNDATION IS BASED ON A LIE IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH JESUS TO START WITH IT GREATLY DISHONORS HIM IT WOULD NE LIKE STARTING OUT WITH A GLASS OD WATER LACED WITH CYANIDE AND THEN SAYING I PUT IN REALLY GOOD QUALITY INGREDIENTS IN IT AND EXPECTING YOU TO DRINK IT AND SAYING IT WAS GOOD FOR YOU AND DONE OUT OF LOVE POISON IS POISON AND PAGAN IS PAGAN IT CANT BE CHRISTIAN NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU WANT IT TO BE OR ON A VERY SIMPLE TERM LETS SAY YOU WERE BORN IN MARCH 9TH AND ALL YOUR SO CALLED FRIENDS WANT TO CELEBRATE YOUR BIRTHDAY ON SEP 11TH AND HOLD A BIG PARTY AND GIVE GIFTS TO EACH OTHER BUT NONE TO YOU AND SAY THEY ARE DOING IT TO HONOR YOU WOULD NOT YOU FEEL OFFENDED ,SLIGHTED EVEN ANGRY HOW DO YOU THINK JESUS FEELS WHEN THEY USE HIS NAME TO "CHRISTIANIZE " A PAGAN CELEBRATION? GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT DOESNT IT !!!!!

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  Posted by HotCrossBuns Thu Dec 25, 2008 4:24pm PST

  Steve: I appreciate your fervor on the subject, but I also disagree with your above argument.

  As a man who used creative measures to reach people in the masses and get His word of love and acceptance of all his people across, I actually think Jesus would not mind the current Christian use of what was originally a Pagan holiday. The choice to use the date of a pagan holiday was actually made to entice more pagan worshipers to Christianity. Did it work? Yes, it did.

  If my friends wanted to celebrate my birthday on any other day besides the actual day of my birth...so be it.The point is they are still honoring my existence. When I take a moment every Dec 25 to bow my head and thank Him for the blessings in my life, I'm sure He's not up in Heaven turning a deaf ear and wishing I'd save it for the actual day.Jesus sees past the technical aspect of the date we honor His birth and just appreciates that we celebrate at all. That, my dear, is what being a true Christian is all about.

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  Posted by steve Fri Dec 26, 2008 11:39am PST

  ACTUALLY BEING A TRUE CHRISTIAN IS FOLLOWING IN JESUS TEACHINGS AND WORKS HIS LIFE AS IT IS RELATED TO US IN THE BIBLE AND WE CAN HONOR HIM BY OUR OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORD LOOK AT THE EXAMPLE OF HIS FAITHFULL FOLLOWERS DID THEY ALLOW OR ACCEPT PAGAN TEACHING JUST TO GET FOLLOWERS ABSOLUTELY NOT THEY CLING FAITHFULLY AND EXACTLY TO THE TRUTH . THOSE WHO TRIED TO BRING IN THEESE FALSE TEACHINGS WERE REMOVED FROM THE CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION HERE ARE SOME SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 1ST TIM 1;19,20 TITUS 3;10,11 REV2:5,6 REV 21:8 NOW APOSTATE christendom would accept anything as you say to get more followers and enrich their coffers but TRUE CHRISTIANS WOULD NOT THEN ,NOW OR EVER DO SUCH A THING

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  Posted by steve Fri Dec 26, 2008 11:39am PST

  ACTUALLY BEING A TRUE CHRISTIAN IS FOLLOWING IN JESUS TEACHINGS AND WORKS HIS LIFE AS IT IS RELATED TO US IN THE BIBLE AND WE CAN HONOR HIM BY OUR OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORD LOOK AT THE EXAMPLE OF HIS FAITHFULL FOLLOWERS DID THEY ALLOW OR ACCEPT PAGAN TEACHING JUST TO GET FOLLOWERS ABSOLUTELY NOT THEY CLING FAITHFULLY AND EXACTLY TO THE TRUTH . THOSE WHO TRIED TO BRING IN THEESE FALSE TEACHINGS WERE REMOVED FROM THE CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION HERE ARE SOME SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 1ST TIM 1;19,20 TITUS 3;10,11 REV2:5,6 REV 21:8 NOW APOSTATE christendom would accept anything as you say to get more followers and enrich their coffers but TRUE CHRISTIANS WOULD NOT THEN ,NOW OR EVER DO SUCH A THING

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  Posted by D Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:53pm PST

  "Are you raising religious children?"

  No. I'm raising my children to be free-thinkers.

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  Posted by HotCrossBuns Sun Dec 28, 2008 5:56pm PST

  Steve: your scriptural references are another example of modern man twisting fragmented excerpts of the Bible to manipulate others into thinking of their own twistedly judgemental religion. That is EXACTLY why I will not raise my children as members of any modern church nor to be 'religious'.

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