Teaching children about hell

[LiberNovusAmericae]

Teach them about the belief system if you want to, but it should not be tought like it is a proven fact.

[Pacomia]

Teaching them as a parent is ok, teaching them as a teacher isnt. Any religious parent (or any parent for that matter) has the right to teach their kids what they want to teach them, its how parenting works. The belt was more traumatizing to me then hearing hell existed.

One reason I can't wait to have kids is so I can raise an army of like-minded individuals who think for themselves and view authority ranging from the government to religion with contempt

I'm letting my kids know from day one that they owe no more respect to christianity than they do to Christian weston Chandler

I used to go to a Boys and Girls Club (link included because this doesn’t exist outside of the US) and one of the counselors would teach us about countries and wars and space and stuff like that. If you like kids, that’s why I imagine working at a Boys and Girls Club is so great- you can teach kids without having to follow a curriculum. So really, what was stopping him from teaching not to trust governments or to blindly follow authorities or even against religion? I learned more about the world from him than I did in actual school, and he helped fuel my interest in history and politics. Seems to me like if you want to spread your ideology to kids, there’s an easier way to do it without actually having to raise them.

I sort of want to do it, but I don’t like kids.

[Ors Might]

I mean, looking at this from the perspective of someone that believes Hell exists, it’d be pretty fucking negligent to not tell them about the place where they’d suffer complete and utter agony for all eternity if they don’t believe and act the right way.

I personally wouldn’t tell them as I don’t believe in Hell, but I can understand why someone that does would tell their kids about it.

See, this is the problem. There's no such thing as "keeping thy religion to thyself." Religion is a contagious disease that needs to be cut off at the source.

Suppose you have two slanderers. One genuinely believes the misinformation they're peddling. One doesn't. By what standard do you treat them differently?

By the standards of intent? If someone genuinely believes that there’s a fire, would you punish them the same way you would punish someone making shit up?

[LiberNovusAmericae]

Yes, we should teach them that it doesn’t exist and is nothing to be worried about.

That would be my preference.

[Ors Might]

I didn’t know that child abuse was a debate now.

Trying to keep your child from suffering eternally doesn’t sound like abuse. It sounds like something that a loving parent that believes in that stuff would do.

[LimaUniformNovemberAlpha]

If I were full of H2SO4, I'd be dead. But one of the most useful chemicals in the chemical industry? I'm sure my corpse would be valuable, in which case I'd have been glad to donate it to anti-theist recipients. ^_^

I find it very disturbing that you would treat calling a great deal of sincere people "diseased" for having a different worldview than you with a "^_^".

A belief that causes immense harm to those who hold it, and to those around them? Yeah, I think disease is a perfectly fitting word.

If that's not enough for you, think about the other diseases that could've been cured if not for religious opposition to embryonic stem cell research.

[Aeritai]

First, it's the responsibility of all parents, religious and otherwise, to teach their children right from wrong, and that you get punished for doing bad things.

As for the religious (Christians, at least), focusing on the lake of fire and how the sinful are punished in it for eternity (which in and of itself is a bit wrong anyway) is perhaps the most, and pardon my language here, ass-backwards way of teaching our religion. Our teaching ought to focus on how God Himself sacrificed everything for our lives' sake, not the punishment that will be given to the wicked.

Furthermore, the "sinners swimming in a lake of fire" conceptualization of Hell is, well, wrong. As I understand it, Revelation describes the fire as being reserved for the devil, his angels, and the antichrist, not for your run-of-the-mill sinner. The punishment for sin that everyone would endure would it not for Christ is death, that is, total and complete separation from God. What exactly that means I cannot say because I ain't no theologian (ask the CDT if you want more).

I agree on the teaching part we should teach the love Jesus has shown to us by dying on the cross he cares for everybody and wants every one to be saved. Sadly not that many Chrisitians are showing that type of love towards others.

[Ors Might]

I find it very disturbing that you would treat calling a great deal of sincere people "diseased" for having a different worldview than you with a "^_^".

A belief that causes immense harm to those who hold it, and to those around them? Yeah, I think disease is a perfectly fitting word.

If that's not enough for you, think about the other diseases that could've been cured if not for religious opposition to embryonic stem cell research.

My parents believing in a god doesn’t harm me so.

[Fahran]

I see nothing wrong with parents who sincerely believe that Hell exists instructing their children on such religious beliefs in an age-appropriate manner. Frankly, it's not my business. Since when did atheists and agnostics become such moral busy-bodies? I thought that was our (religious people's) shtick. But, yeah, I don't think children should be bombarded with graphic descriptions or depictions of Hell, but telling them about it probably won't create trauma and doesn't rob them of agency in determining their religious beliefs. Most religious people aren't religious exclusively because G-d will spank us if we don't believe in him. Give us a bit more credit than that. Also, for what it's worth, my religion doesn't really have a concept that neatly parallels Hell.

[Salus Maior]

I find it very disturbing that you would treat calling a great deal of sincere people "diseased" for having a different worldview than you with a "^_^".

A belief that causes immense harm to those who hold it, and to those around them? Yeah, I think disease is a perfectly fitting word.

If that's not enough for you, think about the other diseases that could've been cured if not for religious opposition to embryonic stem cell research.

You don't know shit, Lima. My faith is what's kept me going through all the hardships of my life, and still sums up all my hopes and is my guide for self-improvement as a human being.

If it weren't for God, I would have given up a long time ago. So yeah, don't talk to me about me being harmed, and don't shove your blatant bigotry and pretend it's fact.

[Neanderthaland]

I didn’t know that child abuse was a debate now.

Trying to keep your child from suffering eternally doesn’t sound like abuse. It sounds like something that a loving parent that believes in that stuff would do.

Surely best to just murder them while their innocent, then.

[Fahran]

A belief that causes immense harm to those who hold it, and to those around them? Yeah, I think disease is a perfectly fitting word.

If that's not enough for you, think about the other diseases that could've been cured if not for religious opposition to embryonic stem cell research.

I can name all sorts of diseases if we're going by such a loose, medically problematic definition, but I won't because that's needlessly incendiary, untrue, and I don't want to cut myself on the edge. You do know that not all religious people oppose stem cell research, right? And that, even if you oppose embryonic stem cell research, other methods do exist? https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ful ... 05.00346.x Enjoy. Embryonic stem cell research would allow us to address volume problems certainly, but, again, I think you're really engaging in some reductionism on this.

[Ors Might]

Trying to keep your child from suffering eternally doesn’t sound like abuse. It sounds like something that a loving parent that believes in that stuff would do.

Surely best to just murder them while their innocent, then.

If you have a really shallow understanding of Christian belief, then sure.

[Valentine Z]

For religion, maybeeee hold it off until they are old enough, I guess? I don't know. Scaring them from childhood may work to keep discipline, but... it ain't really the best.

We need to teach children about geographical hells, though.

Thou shall never enter a place that gets at least 40 degrees Celsius / 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Fahran]

Trying to keep your child from suffering eternally doesn’t sound like abuse. It sounds like something that a loving parent that believes in that stuff would do.

Surely best to just murder them while their innocent, then.

And get yourself condemned to Hell? Also, original sin is a thing, I believe, so... that would be theologically problematic on multiple levels.

[Salus Maior]

Surely best to just murder them while their innocent, then.

If you have a really shallow understanding of Christian belief, then sure.

What else would you expect of NSG's resident fedoras?

[Minachia]

We need to teach children about geographical hells, though.

Thou shall never enter a place that gets at least 40 degrees Celsius / 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Me, a Floridian: "Is that some kind of personal attack or something?"

[Ors Might]

If you have a really shallow understanding of Christian belief, then sure.

What else would you expect of NSG's resident fedoras?

As a lowkey fedora? Better material.

[Valentine Z]

We need to teach children about geographical hells, though.

Thou shall never enter a place that gets at least 40 degrees Celsius / 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Me, a Floridian: "Is that some kind of personal attack or something?"

Don't worry, living in Singapore here, I am relating to you.

[Napkizemlja]

Teaching them as a parent is ok, teaching them as a teacher isnt. Any religious parent (or any parent for that matter) has the right to teach their kids what they want to teach them, its how parenting works. The belt was more traumatizing to me then hearing hell existed.

One reason I can't wait to have kids is so I can raise an army of like-minded individuals who think for themselves and view authority ranging from the government to religion with contempt

I'm letting my kids know from day one that they owe no more respect to christianity than they do to Christian weston Chandler

You're making the assumption that all of your kids will stick to what you teach them. What if one were to become a very devout Christian?

[Neanderthaland]

Surely best to just murder them while their innocent, then.

And get yourself condemned to Hell? Also, original sin is a thing, I believe, so... that would be theologically problematic on multiple levels.

Well, if you're a loving parent then you would obviously make that sacrifice for your kid. And since baptism is a thing, and Christians are fairly adamant that innocents don't go to hell anyway, I don't see why original sin should be a problem.

Surely best to just murder them while their innocent, then.

If you have a really shallow understanding of Christian belief, then sure.

This is not any kind of rebuttal to the idea, just condescension.

[Telconi]

One reason I can't wait to have kids is so I can raise an army of like-minded individuals who think for themselves and view authority ranging from the government to religion with contempt

I'm letting my kids know from day one that they owe no more respect to christianity than they do to Christian weston Chandler

You're making the assumption that all of your kids will stick to what you teach them. What if one were to become a very devout Christian?

To be fair all parents make that assumption, or rather, they have that hope at least.

[Salus Maior]

Well, if you're a loving parent then you would obviously make that sacrifice for your kid. And since baptism is a thing, and Christians are fairly adamant that innocents don't go to hell anyway, I don't see why original sin should be a problem.

Teaching your child religious statutes isn't exactly the same as murdering them. Is that the point you're trying to get at, or is this a pointless tangent?

[Napkizemlja]

If you have a really shallow understanding of Christian belief, then sure.

What else would you expect of NSG's resident fedoras?

[Napkizemlja]

You're making the assumption that all of your kids will stick to what you teach them. What if one were to become a very devout Christian?

To be fair all parents make that assumption, or rather, they have that hope at least.

True, but one should always be prepared for one to radically diverge. That's why you have three kids, minimum, in case one fucks up, you have a spare!