posted on May, 9 2005 @ 08:40 PM
Sorry for you, living in an environment where you cannot express yourself.
I am a follower of Christ, but I can't feature treating anybody that way. I know that isn't much solace to you. I have kids, and try to lead by
example, rather than by threat.
Maybe it's a different KIND of Christianity . . .
I was raised by Christians, even though I went through an athiest streak that lasted more than a decade.
When I was a little kid, I remember telling my mom I didn' think Jesus was superhuman, so I was planning to be Jewish. She took me to the library
and got me a stack of books on Judaism. She told me if I wanted to keep kosher, I'd have to start cooking for myself. That right there pretty much
did it for me.
I will tell you a secret, though.
You will never change anyone's heart by arguing.
My suggestion is to tell the family that you are searching for the truth. I suspect that is not a lie. Tell them that in John 20, a guy named Thomas
expresses his doubts about Jesus rising from the dead. Jesus never says Thomas is going to hell or that he sucks or anything. Jesus just provides
the evidence that Thomas needs to believe. Tell them that the Bible doesn't say doubt is a sin, and that Jesus says to "search the scriptures"
(John 8) and that is what you are doing, (at your own speed, of course.)
The point is, to get them to acknowledge that even if they are freaked out by your disbelief or doubt, that God is not. Even if their love is
conditional, God's love is not that way.
If that doesn't work, try and confuse 'em:
"Is God real? First, answer me this one. Is the thought of a unicorn a real thought?"