To Be...Sunday School or NOT?

Mare

Mare

New Member
This is the question??? Would you rather teach your children religion yourself or trust someone else to tell them what they think or a book thinks they should know?

ME?!?! guess it depends on the religion and what they wanted to teach my children. I'm NOT against sunday school at all (some ppl are).
I was baptised a catholic, but over the years i haven't approved of everything the catholics deal with. My oldest son has been to a couple different churches with friends. I install the issue of God in my children, because "I believe", they are both baptised Catholic, but I am leaving it up to them when they get older what they choose to believe.
 
Since I believe that beer is god, I guess I should be packing the kids off to a bar on sunday mornings to worship.

y'see here, son?... This one is the father *holds out a bottle of wine*

This one is the son. *holds out a Belgian ale*

aaaand this one *swigs a bottle of Jack Daniels* ... is the holy spirit.
 
I think the simple fact is that they'll make their own choices regardless. I always told my son what I believe but encouraged him to decide for himself. I think though, that even if they're simply told what to believe, at some point they'll have to decide for themselves anyway.
 
If they want to go, they can go, (depending on the religion of course, as Mom is extremely prejudiced).

My little guy found one, I struggled with it (still do), but I let him go. The older two tried it out for a few weeks. The oldest said it was all make-believe crap and wasn't going back. The middle one says it "wastes his Sunday" and doesn't want to go either. The youngest is now the proud owner of a new Bible and goes every week come hell or high water, and loves it.

I think the sense of community he's found there is good for him. I remember it well and it's a good feeling.
 
Leslie said:
The youngest is now the proud owner of a new Bible and goes every week come hell or high water, and loves it.
Click to expand...


:laugh5: I know this all too well Les..... :D
 
I was forced to attend catechism classes every Wednesday after class up until I was 10 or 11, when I was confirmed, and I still became an avowed atheist by the time I was 16. Happily, that was also when my father stopped forcing me to attend church services with him every Sunday. My mother didn't care either way, except for my father's sake, as she doesn't believe in much of anything herself.

If I had kids, however, I wouldn't know what to do. That's one of the many reasons I don't ever plan on having them.
 
(A) parent(s) who let the child decide inevitably raise atheists. Children are recorders who follow examples. Why would a child care whether God or gods exist if the parent doesn't? There are obviouls exceptions. There must be to prove the rule.
 
A lesson in Christian Charity:

Avery gets home today having won TicTacs for being the Best Boy on the bus. My rule is, if they don't go, they don't get to share in the spoils unless the owner volunteers. This church is big on candy bribes.

Riley (it wastes my Sunday boy) just now asks nicely if he can have a TicTac. Avery says, "No, I got these for Best Boy".
Then the obligatory awwwwww :( from Riley.
I say, "Avery, that's not really very nice, it would be nice to let Riley have one."
Riley says, "Yeah, if I got Best Boy, I would let you have some TicTacs" (and he would, too).
Avery replies, "Well you're crazy".
And doesn't give him one. :lloyd:
 
Leslie said:
A lesson in Christian Charity:

Avery gets home today having won TicTacs for being the Best Boy on the bus. My rule is, if they don't go, they don't get to share in the spoils unless the owner volunteers. This church is big on candy bribes.

Riley (it wastes my Sunday boy) just now asks nicely if he can have a TicTac. Avery says, "No, I got these for Best Boy".
Then the obligatory awwwwww :( from Riley.
I say, "Avery, that's not really very nice, it would be nice to let Riley have one."
Riley says, "Yeah, if I got Best Boy, I would let you have some TicTacs" (and he would, too).
Avery replies, "Well you're crazy".
And doesn't give him one. :lloyd:
Click to expand...
:rofl: Glad they're teaching him to be a proper christian.
 
I will not force a religion on my children, but if they should decide to follow one I will respect and support their choice.

I'm an agnostic, myself.
 
my parents taught me atheism and the ideas of science but they let me decide for myself. I went with my co-worker to Church a few times and my parents were in a sense proud that I wanted to learn it though they didnt particularly care that I was going. my mothers parents let her and her sisters decide. My mother is the only atheist in the group. My father was raised Christian but when he got into college he became atheist. I think if and when I have kids I will let them decide for themselves. I found a spirituality which is my current belief system that I chose
 
Gonz said:
(A) parent(s) who let the child decide inevitably raise atheists. Children are recorders who follow examples. Why would a child care whether God or gods exist if the parent doesn't? There are obviouls exceptions. There must be to prove the rule.
Click to expand...

how many exceptions do you need for the rule to be invalid?
 
my kids and i have breached religion and marlowe knows how to say grace and her prayers...but i don't make her. she gets it from her daddy and that's fine.
 
All Gods’ Chillen's need to be atheists in their knowledge and
Christians in their moral behavior.
All Gods’ Chillen's need to go to Sunday school.
 
If you are comfortable with the doctrine of the church you attend, Sunday school should be OK too. I know that as a child, I learned more in Sunday school than I did during the sermons. The teacher broke the concepts down into age appropriate morsels, and tied them to the greater idea of belief as a whole. It made it easier for me to understand the sermons as I got old enough to do so. It was a valuable experience for me. I do believe that parents bear a responsibility to further the teachings at home, both by discussion and example. But for me Sunday school was kind of a "special" period where the concepts I heard about during the sermons were more fully explained. Now, as an adult, I still enjoy Sunday school, as our class takes one book of the Bible and we explore it in depth together. No outside materials, just one person leading the class and together we interpret what we think the Bible is saying in that particular book. I enjoy it tremendously.
 
I think that kids need the opportunity to go and find out for themselves. To hear and feel it all from people who genuinely are devoted and believe. Although I still have the information and know the Bible well, I simply wouldn't be and am not able to give it the credibility were I the one to be teaching it.

There is also a special something about Sunday Schools (at least the ones I attended) that I never found any other club or group to achieve. The sense of community and welcome, "feelin' the love" I had there has never been matched.

Having said that...there needs to be backup info at home to support what's going on, and you have to be able to explain it all with a straight face. You can't just leave them to swim and figure it out for himself. Avery for the last couple weeks was talking about the Land of Turkeys. I'd figured it was some odd game he'd made up (he's an odd duck at the best of times). Finally he said something about all the people dying except for the boat in the Land of Turkeys. I was aghast, wondering if this had turned into a mass murder game, and kinda said, huh? He explained to me about the big boat that Noah had to build to save some turkeys and other animals because of the flood that God made. And Noah lived in the Land of Turkeys. Hoooooly cow was it hard to not laugh at that :laugh:. So I re-explained it all, and we looked at a map, and all is well in the Land of Turkeys again.
 
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