What would you do if your child decided for themselves that there were no gods. What would you say to them? Would you be angry, try to convince them otherwise, let them believe the way they choose? How would you approach this?

I'd pray, and pray, and pray some more

You know, its a personal thing. The way I figure, if I live my life right, and my children look at my life and want to live like i did, then they will give christianity a chance. I dont care what it is, if you force something on someone, they will rebel. no matter what.

It would be up to them. I would hope they would find truth in God, but getting angry at them or forcing them to go worship would not help anything, but make it worse.

and when that doesn't work?

god gave that child the free will to live their lives as they please. "give me the strength to change the things i can, and to help me accept the things i cannot."

My parents gave me the free will to choose how I live my life and I give my kids theirs.

I believe in God.............but I AM A GOOD MAMMA and I understand that everyone has a right to make up there own minds..so no I wouldnt pray and pray they would see things my way and believe in God NOOOOO

If i did that, i am just being selfish

So i would tell my girl - Good for you...if you feel its right...then you do what you see fit after all your mamma did so why not you too sweetness <-----------------Only a good mamma like me would say that <--is why i wear one of those LMAO

Hey Geri it's a little crooked you may want to straighten it.

Well I am a lil offbeat LMAO but im honest

Well I'm not a parent but if I was and my child became an athiest then I would be obligated to do something about it.

Sounds very selfish............that you took control of your OWN choice of what path to follow..and you wouldnt allow a kid to do the same ...were is the kids freedom of choice??

What would you do and why would you do it? Don't you think as their own person they should be free to live their life as they see fit? Do your parents tell you how to live and what to think?

I want my children to believe in GOD and I teach them what I know and what I believe but if they dont want to then I wont force them.

Thanx for all of the great answers so far. For the most part it looks as though many of you are great and loving parents. Free will is a right that every human being is born with.
Otherwise we would have more than one brain

How is free will a right?

I don't fully support the idea of "free will". However, I do believe that we have the ability to make certain important choices in our lives.

Of course we all do have the ability and the RIGHT to make our own choices...........thats why its only fair if a kid says i dont wanna believe in God ...you have to understand that its the kids choice..and if you are a good parent, you wont stand in his/her way...cuz no one stood in your way when you made your choice did they??

Everyone in the universe is a single entity unto themselves. Free will becomes yours when you are born, it comes with the package. Just as I can't tell you what to think you can't tell me what to think. Well, you could but that doesn't mean I'm going to listen. It's called having a mind of your own, ever hear of it?

...Scary. Also extremely pathetic.

For a lil twist~

I'm Athiest, yet if my child became religious I'd not really be bothered - unless ofcourse they began preaching to me
If my child asked what the soul is, I'd explain to them that it's a religious idea, then continue to tell them the different functionings of the soul from different religions. I may be the childs father but I have no right to force my own beleifs on them

LOL I didn't say I would FORCE him to change his mind I just said I would be obligated to do something.



I'm not quite sure what I would do. I would just sit down and talk to him for a while and see why he/she has chosen to be an athiest. I would try to change his mind and rekindle his/her faith. I mean I would do it because not only do I owe my child but I also would do it for God. I don't see how persuading him/her to believe in God is a bad thing to do. It's not like I'm forcing them to do something bad.



That's alright.

IMO, it is the responsibility of a parent to teach a child about God. Of course the child has to choose to accept God's love or not, but a good parent can at least steer the child in the right direction.

What gives you this "right" to free will? Or is it just assumed?

I will agree if the parent believes in God, they have a right to teach the child about god...after all thats what I intend to do...so yes you are correct there

BUT when the kid grows older and seeks his/her own path........who are we to step in and stop them?? when no one stepped in to stop us from our choices we made??


fair is fair

Would that also be the way you would handle an adult child who may have studied the history of religion and came to the conclusion that it was fables and myths?

A good parent would let their child decide their beliefs for themselves. Who are you? Stalin?



Free will is something you just used, you used it to write that entry. Just as the comment of which you replied to, was using free will to write it.

Does having a mind of my own mean anything to you? Why wouldn't it be a right?

Sit down and talk to him about it? Yes lol. What harm could come out of it? I wouldn't be hypnotizing him into believing I would just talk to him about it.

Would you let him or her get up and leave before he or she become re-converted to your faith. Would you treat him or her differently because she or he is no longer of your own faith. Would you throw your faith at him or her whenever you saw her or him?

I was taught by my parents and by the catholic school I was in for most of my school years.
Me and my FREE WILL decided to look into the ideosyncrecies and contridictions I was being taught. Enlightenment was what I recieved from my freedom to explore other possibilities.

1) Yes I would let him get up and leave.

2) I would be sad that he has made that decision but it's his/her life and hating him/her for making that decision will not help anything so NO.

3) No I wouldn't bring up God every time I saw him/her.

You're kind of making me sound evil no? Not all thiests are bad people just like not all athiests are bad people.

What ideosyncrecies and contradictions were you being taught?

Cuz he doesnt understand that we have the ability to make up our own minds

What doesn't making up your mind have to do with rights?

Because making our OWN minds up are within our RIGHTS ...duh!! LOL

I'm not going to go into all of them but I will give you a few. Let's see, Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25 it was a pagan holiday originally. The whole virgin birth thing is a recycled story. In order for Jesus to teach women and children he had to be married according to his Jewish religion. Should I continue or is that enough?

the bible never claims a specific date of jesus' birth.

of course a virgin birth has been touched on before. so what?

jesus' entire existence was one of rebellion. especially against the dogma of jewish religioin.

Bible doesn't say Jesus was born on December 25

Recycled story? Don't think so

Jesus didn't follow all of the beliefs of the Jews, nor do Christians.

When was Jesus born?

When is it celebrated? Ask almost any xian and they know for sure it was Dec 25

So what? That is the whole premise of the Jesus = god thing.

But he was still raised in the jewish tradition and as far as I know he used it in his ministry.

There have been studies on this before. I can't remember all the details of it. I just know that it's said to be around Sept/Oct

The Bible doesn't even tell us to celebrate Jesus' birthday. It's just a man-made tradition.

So I take it that you don't celebrate Christmas?

one christian cannot speak for all.

the concept of ANYTHING being born without "relations" would seem to be inevitable.

the purpose of jesus existence was to destroy the church and create a new one.

No but they sure have a good try LMAO even on here...if one speaks they act as though they speak for all

Not really.

man you aint kiddin', and its aggravating trying to argue a point that people cant buy because people are misinterpriting the bible. or are to stubborn to admit theyre wrong.

there truly are 2 forms of christianity. im trying to help get the right version out there. sure i can be guilty of the same things other christians do. but thats what christianity is about. trying, not neccesarilly succeding, in doing the right thing. if you try whole-heartedly, god will know.

Some teaching is Spirit led, some isn't. If someone is speaking by the Spirit, they speak for all Christians.

You really need to get aquainted with the real history.
I can't tell you how many times goddesses have had the whole virgin conception thing there are so many. The greeks had theirs and the romans had theirs and the egyptians had theirs and so on and so on.....

Doesn't make it a "recycled story". Just because some religion claimed a virgin birth doesn't make Jesus' birth false.

mankind has a natural tendency to explore possibilities, so yes, its logical that a virgin birth has been thought up before.

that doesnt discount the biblical account.