Idyllic

Considering that 80+ percent of the world believes in something I would think lack of belief would be the extreme. I don't preach to my kids about religion, the last time I set foot in a church was 8+ years ago to bid my grandmother farewell and my children have not yet attended a religious service at all (though they have asked recently, I just haven't found one that doesn't include condemnation, I don't do condemnation). I speak to them of God and Allah and Brahman and Siddhartha Gautama, etc… I speak to them of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, etc… and as many of the myriad other faiths, ideologies, beliefs I can expose them too, and I speak to them of atheism also. I absolutely believe in the end it will be their choice to decide whether they wish to have a faith or not and which faith, if any, they feel completes them. I simply find people who deny not only God but the right for people to express their faith as intolerant as those who wear hoods or those who burn crosses or those who cry crusade, jihad, or “we are the chosen one”, because nobody really knows the answers about this. I simply find peace in my thinking and my faith, I do not wish to convert anyone nor am I condemning anyone, only protecting my choice of faith and expressing it in a passionate manner. However, I would not ever stick a sticker that states GodBlock on my kids arm and not expect it to mean block god, it really is that simple. A little mind see this and does not register the realities of negative religious doctrine they simply see block, God Block, what does that say?

OCM where did you tell your children their loved ones went when they died? If you think there is a better way to instill hope for a loving life than by explaining to a child their loved one is in a better place and not just the ground, that the body is there in the people garden, but the person who was that body is not, the person is in heaven, in nirvana, one with the universe, whatever. Please, tell me because I would love to know how you tell a child that death is meaningless without implying that life in some sense is also. I talk to them of reincarnation, they understand death means no longer on earth, but how do you tell a 5 and 6 year old it just ends, it’s just over, and how does that equate to hope of anything after that sinks in? I tell them this is it, you only get one chance in this body and you have to take care of it and do the best you can to be a good person to treat people the way you want to be treated. My sons rescue spiders and beetles and all bugs they are not afraid of them and they respect all life, all life has a purpose because God created life to have a purpose, what is wrong with that? My 6 year old believes he will never die, he will live forever, he never wants to go to the people garden, how do I tell him, nope, you will die and it will just be done and over, nothing else, no God, no afterlife, no cat, no grandma, just dirt and worms kiddo, I would rather give them the choices and try to explain the misuses of faith than to simply deny any. I have only so long to “control” anything about their lives and I can promise you the last thing I want to do is make it any harder to live than life already does for them, I will not help to create anymore intolerant haters, there are plenty of those already I am aware of this, I am not one of them, passionate yes, intolerant, extreme , no, not really.

What part of this is not offensive, what part of this is not extreme and how does it compare to my interpretations of faith, what part of this is not control, just another form of using religion to scare and intimidate people into giving somebody money. Yeah, I am passionate about this, but that doesn’t make me like them, nor does my passion make me an extremist anything, except maybe a person with an extreme dislike of the “Godblock” concept. Like I said if they called it ProselytizingBlock, or IndoctrinationBlock, or ConvertBlock I would probably feel better about it. What would you say if they called it AllahBlock, or BuddhaBlock, or BrahmanBlock would you be offended then, would you be insulted or find the use of their word a bit intolerant, I would, I find it extremely intolerant and just as ignorant and narrow-minded as what they are saying they are attempting to achieve.

CinnamonGirl, I have not ever used the thinking of if you are bad you won't go to heaven or God will be angry, not ever and I do not believe in a hell or a devil. My sons are more worried about Santa watching than God, at the most I have probably said something along the lines of God knows what you are doing and when you are lying but then so do I, I just don’t want them to know how I know yet, how does that equate to not being good for goodness sake. Nor do any of my statements say that not believing in God makes you any more or less than anyone else. Cameras stop a lot of shoplifting, the knowledge of “Big Brother” of traffic cameras work, it’s a fact, the knowledge that you are being watched helps, simple as that. I do not threaten my children with God in any manner. My boys understand that there are those who do not believe in a God, Allah, etc. and that I find peace in the knowledge that God offers me peace in MY life and that our loved ones are still a part of the equation of our reality, it just happens to bring me peace to believe in a omnipresence, that is all I have said. I teach my children to treat others as they would like to be treated; God to them is just a loving presence that is ALL. They don’t have to prove anything to have that love, it is theirs it always has been and it always will be, that is what they know of God.

How is that? How is me believing implying that of those who don’t?

But it appears by my believing in God I am extreme and controlling and feel all those who do not think the way I do are narcissistic and sleazy, how is that?

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you can tell them all you want but it won't matter until they think it does

p.s. I contradict my contradictions, with or without intention, sometimes.