But it IS a control issue. It affects your relationships with the wider world. And if you are going to reach out and share your faith with the outer world, you need to understand that there are a lot of people who are baffled and repelled and frightened by the mindset you display. I grew up Catholic, which, while it has its own set of issues, was relatively free of the micromanaging I see among fundamentalist/evangelical Christians. If you are always barracading yourself and your family against perceived outside influences, I do not see how you can develop as a healthy human being. What a person reads, watches or listen to is his or her own choice. If it is truly not a control issue, then why bring religion up as the reason? Can’t a person make up their own mind? For example, I don’t have a TV but that is my personal choice, and religion has nothing whatsoever to do with it. I also realize that by not having a TV, it does somewhat limit my relationships with others simply because I don’t share that TV culture with them. Fortunately, there are other areas that I do share. But what I hear Christians like Anna saying, is that it is not just one area of life, it is ALL areas. And where does it stop? I am saying this because I used to be like Anna, and had it not been for my family’s intervention (which I bitterly resented at the time), God only knows where and what I would be today. Certainly not the productive citizen that I now am! Because withdrawing into the Lord did absolutely nothing about teaching me life or job skills.

Which brings me to my main point. Not far from where I live there is a sizable Amish community. It may be that in the not-too-far-off post-petroleum future, people will come flocking to the Amish on advice on how to live; but right now, if Amish leaders were to try to tell Detroit how to build cars or power plants how to generate electricity, they would not be taken seriously. Why should they? Wisely, the Amish realize this and don’t make any attempt to influence the outside world. This is the price that they have paid for their self-imposed withdrawal–which, may I add, leaves them vulnerable because they have no real influence on the rest of us, the ones who pass the laws and make the decisions. Does evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity want to share the same fate?

There was a bishop of a rather small denomination who spent his life’s energy trying to change his church. He’s mostly forgotten now. His sons, Wilbur and Orville, took a different path, and changed the course of transportation history. When I look around me, I see advances being made in science, in medicine, in architecture, in technology in general, all across the board. I work in the biotech industry and there are things out there the average person would not believe. But I can tell you who is NOT at the forefront of this amazing revolution. It is the evangelicals/fundies who are being LEFT BEHIND. They will not be the ones helping to solve the world’s many and urgent crises. They say the world is like the Titanic, it is sinking, so why bother. They are waiting for a rescue that may not come in time or may not come at all.

In the end, everybody has to make their own choice . . .

Of course, my mom bought into it all. She even threatened to kick me out of the house while I was in High School for playing any roleplaying games.

I continued to play roleplaying games, and just told my parents I was going to watch movies at my friend’s place.

I remember a lot of those things you talked about being condemned, though not everything–Tolkien and Lewis were always okay. But we weren’t allowed to read any holy books outside the Protestant canonized Bible. I remember my mother making a HUGE HUGE fuss at the library when I was a kid because I had unknowingly checked out a book that was about a lesbian girl’s crush. She had never read it, only heard about it on Focus on the Family, but my usually nice, sweet, gentle mother grabbed the book out of my hand and told that librarian a thing or two!

Ironically, my parents often condemned Jehovah’s Witnesses for not allowing any of their members read anything not Watchtower approved. Odd, the hypocrisy!

Well certainly any parent – of a religious affiliation or not – should desire the best for their children.

So a parent who believes in the claims of a sect of Christianity will believe following those claims will lead to a happier life. The parent will then teach these claims to their children. It is almost always done out of love and care for the child.

But this does not mean those claims are correct. For me, I discovered the claims that I grew up with (God exists, the Bible is His Word, the earth was created six thousand years ago, God has a special plan for my life, etc.) were just not true.

So then, for me at least it is not a knock on my parents love, just a recognition that knowledge (faith claims) they used to raise me were not true.

“He’s not afraid of anything you can uncover in your search because none of it will be able to disprove Him.”

Of course it cannot be disproved, because one cannot disprove something which is a concept. This would be like asking someone to disprove that forgiveness exists. Is it possible?

Unless, of course, one defines God in a way that predicts how He would interact with the world – like Christianity does. Then we have something to disprove. For example, if a person defines God as loving and defines loving as doing that which is in the best interest of the object that is loved, then this God can be disproved. If one can demonstrate that “God” acted in an unloving manner toward the object of His love, then this God is disproved. For example, God killing thousands of babies in a tsunami and sending them to hell does not seem loving to me.

On the other hand, people sending money and aid to help the victims certainly seems loving.

I guess I see what you are saying anna, but I must firmly disagree because for me, I would not question a person’s intentions in what they teach, I would question their assumptions.

“As adults, you need to look objectivley and truthfully at both sides.”

Absolutely agreed. Have you looked objectively at Christianity?

For example, why would God tell Ezekiel that children should not be put to death for the sins of their fathers and then kill David’s baby for David’s sin with Bathsheba? Objectively, this God is a contradiction and is probably an invention. So then, as an adult, I at 24 have looked objectively at this and concluded it cannot be true.

And arguing that we cannot “comprehend God” or that He is a “mystery” only makes it appear all the more that He is an invention.

Why defend a contradictory concept with empty arguments?

You all are right about music and it’s power ….any form of art has a kind of power to mold us and impress upon us all kinds of things which is why the church steers people (especially children) away from most secular music and art. When I listen to the lyrics of secular music, it is always about “false Gods” if you will. It misses the point about life for a Christian. Life for a Christian is only found in God …in Christ. Not in the things we turn to when we don’t know Him. Do you understand what I mean? This is why I believe your pastors and parents kept you away from it…. to protect you and give you the chance to know God before the world got a hold of you. They were trying to lay a foundation…. not brainwash you. I know when my kids are grown, I will have no control over whether or not they know God and have a real relationship with Him. In fact, as each year goes by, I am more and more aware of this fact. Only God can bring them into relationship with Him, but i believe it is my job as a parent to do all I can to” make the ground furtile ” and “plant the seeds” if you know what I mean. I want so much for my children to have what I have been so blessed to receive. This has been and continues to be my prayer for them every day since they were born; because I know if they have a real relationship with God then they will be fine…. they will be okay no matter what happens to them in life. I think this is what your parents wanted for all of you. Maybe some of them were not sure of their own relationship with God and so they “tried too hard” so to speak because they themselves were not truely converted in their hearts and were more concerned about outward appearances, keeping their kids in line, etc. I’m sorry for that, if that is the case for some of you…. but it is not a reason to completely turn off to God. As adults, you need to look objectivley and truthfully at both sides. If you are honestly seeking the truth about life, none of these things will keep you from God ….. but only if you are honestly seeking and wanting to know truth. This has been my own experience… but it is a long way around that some of us have to go through… but I found that God cannot be disproved. He’s not afraid of anything you can uncover in your search because none of it will be able to disprove Him. That’s what I have found, anyway. I just hope my kids do not have to spend a lifetime before they know Him. I am trying to give them a better chance by doing my best to provide them with a good starting point for the journey. God bless you all… thanks for listening.