[Troll] Atheist Child

[Natasha A]

About a week ago my child told me that he was atheist and that he did not believe in God. I told him not to say such things and that he was just confused. He's 17 and has been going to church every Sunday since his early childhood. He's never shown any disbelief before. He told me that he no longer wishes to attend church because it's a waste of his time which he would rather spend reading. I have found books in his room such as The Origin of Species, Evolution and the Myth of Creationism, Letter to a Christian Nation, God: The Failed Hypothesis, and the God Delusion. I've told him that if he continues to deny the Holy Spirit he might not get into the Kingdom of Heaven. He just looks at me and says "Mom, there is no Heaven to get into."I don't know where I went wrong. I can't understand his disbelief. I have done everything I can to raise him right, and I don't want to lose him to the devil. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do, or what you would do in my situation?

 

[penguin]

I am writing to you, single, no children, but i work with children and have over the years, worked with a wide range of ages from birth to 18. My heart goes out to you, and i hope i can offer support. This would be my feeling on your situation. He clearly is searching. God is so much bigger than the lies he has been reading. Jesus is the victor. He could well partly be testing you in this and will be learning about God through your reaction. Love him (i am sure you do) he needs to find Christ for himself and not be following the family 'band wagon'. Your prayers and your heart in this is known and understood by God, and prayer is the very best thing you can do. You have not failed, on the contorary, you have allowed him to study, seek for himself, become an independant thinker, to question and reflect, not to just believe others because it is right for them. He clearly has the ability to communicate with you and allows you to be a part of his thought process. This is awesome so well done you! What a blessing he must be to you. Remember that!i would suggest you pray for protection over him, and pray for his journey. It is Gods will for him to come to a personal revelation, spirit to spirit, deep to deep, and you can pray for the prophetic in this. Pray scripture over him and his life, as he seeks to find the truth for himself. I personally find it really exciting. He is of the next generation (makes me feel old!) and as he seeks and finds, he will be able to find the truth, and as you pray, God will reveal himself to your son in the way he needs to hear. Then the truth will be a reality and truth in his own experiences. Pray he will come back to God, but show him respect for the journey he is travelling. Trust your son to Jesus. Just look to the hope of the days following the hardship of his journey, as and when he comes back to God. He comes back with assurance, certainty, experience, revelation, examples, growth of all God has done. He understands the awesome necessity of Jesus death and resurrection for himself personal need and presonal provision. He may come back with regrets, but you will have shown him love, support, respect throughout. He will grow to know and understand the gift of forgiveness, and the freedom he has in Christ. He will look and see God at work in you too. He will have an authority to speak about God in his generation. wow! He can share his path with those who are also searching, in a way that will challenge because he will have been there. Wow, how awesome. very exciting. Trust God because He has a plan for your sons life. The seeds have been sewn over the years, and you can be a part of the journey by interceeding for him through his journey. Wow, what a privilaged place God has put you. He has entrusted you with him, from birth to now, but also from now till he comes through like the prodigal. Claim the many promises in scripture. Gods word does not return to him void, there is also a promise about families bt i can't recall where that is and what it says in full. sorry. Maybe others could help with further scriptures which you an claim and begin to pray through. hope this has helped. Be blessed mighty woman of God.sorry it is so long!!! Gods blessing.

 

[MickinEngland]

If any kid of mine said "I wanna be an atheist", I'd say "Okay, if you don't like Jesus there's nothing me or anybody can say to make you like him"I'd then go on to say - "But just for the record,which bits of what he said don't you like, such as - "Love one another, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,Hungry and you fed me, Thirsty and you gave me drink, A stranger and you took me in, Naked and you clothed me, ill and you tended me,In prison and you visited me.When you did this to others, you did it to me.You're my friends if you follow me, I don't call you servants, I call you friends"If the boy then said - "But I like Jesus, its just the razzmattaz of going to church and all that stuff that I don't like", I'd reply -"ha ha ha, chill dood, Jesus never said we have to go to church if we don't want to"..

 

[celia]

You have done your best Natasha

when you bring him up to 'know' God,now he has to make his own mind and personal decision about our Lord.I don't know where I went wrong. I can't understand his disbelief. I have done everything I can to raise him right, and I don't want to lose him to the devil. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do, or what you would do in my situation?[/QUOTE]I remembered years ago when my teenage daughter went 'off' God one Sunday morning,God told me to 'let' her go as her heart was somewhere else but at the worship/service.Again I was told that I did well to get her there physically and now to let God through the Holy Spirit take over.I was reminded by a speaker telling us about the return of the prodigal sons and daughters and we are to lift them up in prayer daily. Just remember God who created your son love him more than we could ever love our children,which is not easy to understand or accept.I am confident your son is in Father's hand and HE would not let go or lose him.God also reminded me that HE would like a angler with his long 'line' give my daughter a very long line and she can return to Him whenever she decided to.I am not explaining it well,hope you get the gist.Daily we have free choice to follow God or go own way,that is up to us,so release your son to God,so let go and let God.Love and prayers,Celia xx PSls excused my grammar,English is not my mother tongue

 

[Natasha A]

I asked him why he doesn't believe and here are some of the things he said..."Talking snakes, flaming magical swords, talking plants, I've heard more realistic Greek myths.""In Leviticus it says that homosexuality is punishable by death, that's not what I would consider a moralistic value.""It's not that I think the philosophies of the supposed Jesus Christ are all bad, but in a nutshell, his philosophies are teaching us to be push-overs. If this country were full of true Christians, we'd have been taken over long ago."I ask him how we came to be and he explained evolution to me and all this stuff that I didn't really get. But I said to him, how can a Universe that is so complex have just appeared out of nowhere?He responded, "In order for an individual to create a Universe as vast and complex as our own, would he not be far more complex than we? This God, in his omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience would have to be infinitely complex. And there are only two explanations for where this God came from. The first is that he was created by another superior being, however this explanation would also just lead us in endless circles of creators creating creators. The second explanation is that he always was, he always has been, and he always will be. Hopefully, you already see the flaw in this explanation. Since we have already established that this being is far more complex than we, then why would this being be able to exist without a creator while we, far less complex beings, cannot? Just because you cannot wrap your mind around the origins of the Universe doesn't mean you should make up simplistic and primitive explanations merely to ease your curiosity."I don't know how to respond to what he says, I can't really argue...

 

[Jordan]

Well, Natasha, to tell the truth, the whole bible can not be taken literally. There is full of symbolic (sybolism) in the bible where we have to dig deeper to understand the reality of what YHWH and Yahshua are saying in the bible.While scriptures says that that people are fools when they said it in their heart. (Psalm 14, Psalm 53)Here is a story of His disciples asking why ask in a parable...Matthew 13:10-14 - And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:It is written in Psalm as well.Psalm 78:2 - I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:The only way we can reach Heaven is by Yahshua.John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.There is no other way.We can only pray for your son to return to Him. We can't do it on our time, but on God's time.Lovest ye in Christ Yahshua our Lord and Saviour.

 

[E Nomine]

You can't quote scripture to a budding athiest. It won't work. It you can do thoug, Natasha, is to continue showing him the love of God and to pray around him and for him. I'm quite sure that it is his friends who have the same ideals as him.Once he is out of highschool I'm sure he will slowly revert back to God. He's seventeen and he found something to rebel against.

 

[For Life]

Teenagers are hard to understand. It seems they want to rebel against you and hurt you the best they can. Give him a couple more years (22 or so) and he will get his act back together. I remember when I was 18-24 I thought Christianity was too simplistic and I was looking for a higher truth. I am sorry now that I ever doubted and lucky too that I was already a Christian when dabbling with the other stuff. God protected me even when I had turned my back on Him.

 

[E Nomine]

I had my hand in magick during higschool and I came out of it.

 

[MickinEngland]

1 - People may say talking snakes, flaming magical swords, talking plants etc never happened, but I say PROVE it never happened..

2 -Leviticus says kill gays, but the 10 Commandments says do NOT kill, so which do we follow, Lev or the Commandments? Let Jesus answer -"Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" " If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not kill.." etc (Matthew 19:16-19)3 -Far from Jesus teaching us to be pushovers, a major theme of Christianity is NOT to be pushovers..

Jesus said:- "The world wants you to dance to its tune" (Matthew 11:16-17)"Jesus saved you from the empty way of life handed you by your forefathers" (1 Peter 1:18 )"Don't conform to the pattern of this world" (Rom 12:2)"As a soldier of christ,please only God and not the world" (2 Tim 2:3/4)"Don't love the world or the things in it,otherwise the love of God is not in you" (1 John 2:15-17)"Set your mind on things above,not on things on the earth" (Col 3:2)"A friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4)"You died with christ from this world,so don't keep submitting to its rules" (Col 2:20)"You were dead when you followed the ways of the world" (Eph 2:1/2)4 - Regarding the nature of God, nobody knows, so its fruitless trying because our weak human minds just can't do it..

Jesus said:-"You hardly believe me when I tell you earthly things,so how would you believe me if I told you heavenly things?" (John 3:12)"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord" (Isa 55:8 )

 

[Natasha A]

(MickinEngland;18234)
1 - People may say talking snakes, flaming magical swords, talking plants etc never happened, but I say PROVE it never happened..

He said "The burden of proof does not lie with the individual making the absurd claim. I could tell you that I can fly, it would be my responsibility to prove it to you. Not yours to prove that I cannot. Prove that God is not a Flying Spaghetti Monster and that we didn't evolve from pirates."
2 -Leviticus says kill gays, but the 10 Commandments says do NOT kill, so which do we follow, Lev or the Commandments? Let Jesus answer -"Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" " If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not kill.." etc (Matthew 19:16-19)
He said, "Thus God is a fool who contradicts himself, or rather the humans writing the scripture did so carelessly."
3 -Far from Jesus teaching us to be pushovers, a major theme of Christianity is NOT to be pushovers..

Jesus said:- "The world wants you to dance to its tune" (Matthew 11:16-17)"Jesus saved you from the empty way of life handed you by your forefathers" (1 Peter 1:18 )"Don't conform to the pattern of this world" (Rom 12:2)"As a soldier of christ,please only God and not the world" (2 Tim 2:3/4)"Don't love the world or the things in it,otherwise the love of God is not in you" (1 John 2:15-17)"Set your mind on things above,not on things on the earth" (Col 3:2)"A friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4)"You died with christ from this world,so don't keep submitting to its rules" (Col 2:20)"You were dead when you followed the ways of the world" (Eph 2:1/2)
He said, "Those passages have nothing to do with not being a pushover. All they state is to not conform to society and follow the teachings of the Lord."
4 - Regarding the nature of God, nobody knows, so its fruitless trying because our weak human minds just can't do it..

Jesus said:-"You hardly believe me when I tell you earthly things,so how would you believe me if I told you heavenly things?" (John 3:12)"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord" (Isa 55:8 )
He said, "Or can your weak human mind not wrap around scientific explanations? Claiming something to be the product of magic is much easier than figuring out the truth behind it. The reason that the idea of God does not make sense is because he was created by individuals whom did not think out their story very well, and didn't need to, since the majority of the population was made up of uneducated laborers."He has something to say about everything...I had him read this because I thought it was good, and he asked if he could type a response to each of the statements...He's starting to test my faith...

 

[E Nomine]

The fire that strengthens steel burns away impureities.

 

[Wakka]

Well Natasha. My heart goes out to you. I'm 16, and I am a firm believer. The people you can blame are those Liberals who are trying to destroy Christianity and teach children lies in school. In fact, I see this at my own School. About 85% of the total people are Real Christians. And about less than 5% peruse God. And this is a rough statistic.Anyhow. What you can do is show him the reality of his sins. The best thing I can tell you to do is go with him to a convention where the Holy Spirit comes down like a iron hammer and convicts people. Pray that your son is convicted of his sins.You can listen up to some sermons if you want.Paul washer is a Very good preacher:God is a Rewarder of Those Who Seek Himhttp://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownl...t.php?lid=12834List of sermons by Paul Washer: http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownl...cat.php?cid=442Does he have a AIM or MSN messenger account. I would like to talk to him sometime.

 

[For Life]

He's decided he's smarter than everyone else and wants to be a king. It's a lot easier to be king when there are no rules or laws except the ones you make yourself. How can one so superior to everyone else follow the same God and the same rules as everyone else??? Obviously, the people who believe in the Bible are weak minded fools who can't understand science. Unfortunately, the world promotes this crap.

 

[Dave...]

..........................Testing.........................

 

[Wakka]

The only way for him to have faith again is if God breaks him down.

 

[Natasha A]

(For Life;18267)
He's decided he's smarter than everyone else and wants to be a king. It's a lot easier to be king when there are no rules or laws except the ones you make yourself. How can one so superior to everyone else follow the same God and the same rules as everyone else??? Obviously, the people who believe in the Bible are weak minded fools who can't understand science. Unfortunately, the world promotes this crap.
Actually I'm not smarter than a lot of people. Never, will I be the smartest man alive. I can only learn as much as I can to satisfy my questioning mind. I accept that I do not know everything. But just because I don't know the answer to some of life's questions, doesn't mean I'm going to explain them by saying they are the product of magic. That is the difference between you and I, and that is why your mind is weak. You do not question. You have given mindless obediance to 2000 year old folklore and an imaginary friend.I am bound by laws. They are called the laws of physics.

 

[Natasha A]

(Wakka;18260)
Does he have a AIM or MSN messenger account. I would like to talk to him sometime.
sly282 at hotmail dot com

 

[HammerStone]

Natasha, I know this is a trying time for you, but the Scriptures are clear in that each person in responsible for their own fate. Your child has obviously been listening to the ways of the world. They're quite appealing for some, especially so when they're pounded into your head away from home.The absolute worst thing you can do right now is try to force him to become Christian. Taking him to conferences or anything else like that will accomplish nothing. Continue to live your life and live as an example. He will come around in time if it's meant to be. I know this sounds cold, especially when it's your child, but you absolutely cannot force anything on anyone.He has bitten on the world's propaganda and it's up to you and those others around him to show him that the world is wrong.Titus 2 would be a good read for you.

 

[HammerStone]

I am bound by laws. They are called the laws of physics.
If you live a life void of everything but the laws of physics, that must be one emotionless existence. You cannot expect everything in the world to act by a set series of physical rules, you will learn that all in time.