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I hope you can spare some thought and sympathy for the little 'hell'ions who told your grandson that because they are being brought up to believe that.
I do. I view it as child abuse that the society they (and we) live in see it as normal, and in fact, mandatory, that they be taught do believe in a magical good and magical bad entity, and the bad entity will torment them forever if they do not grant the narcissistic wishes of the good entity of worship, compliance, and deference.
Sounds much like any abusive situation, doesn't it?
This is a very long thread, but I think I've addressed that several times.
It's highly likely your grandson has a generalized anxiety issue, and so, he has kind of latched on to the concept of hell as a manifestation that anxiety.
I would suggest you go in the direction of getting him help in coping with anxiety, or it's very likely to spread to other things and incapacitate him.
Going in the direction of violating everyone else's fundamental rights isn't really the best solution, or workable, or fair.
Please, don't try and distract by shifting the blame on to the victim. That might work in your world, but not in mine.
As I stated before, I don't care what you believe. Keep it inside your head and place of worship. But the moment you impact your beliefs on someone else, your rights have just stopped. Period. Remember that.
I do. I view it as child abuse that the society they (and we) live in see it as normal, and in fact, mandatory, that they be taught do believe in a magical good and magical bad entity, and the bad entity will torment them forever if they do not grant the narcissistic wishes of the good entity of worship, compliance, and deference.
Sounds much like any abusive situation, doesn't it?
I'm sorry your grandson experienced what he did.
Here's a question, though … if one child were to convince another child that there is no God and it caused that child fear and anxiety, would that be a problem from your perspective?
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Originally Posted by normstad
Please, don't try and distract by shifting the blame on to the victim. That might work in your world, but not in mine.
As I stated before, I don't care what you believe. Keep it inside your head and place of worship. But the moment you impact your beliefs on someone else, your rights have just stopped. Period. Remember that.
I have great empathy for your grandson, normstad. And there is no "blame" in anxiety. It's a brain chemical/neurological thing.
I have experience with children, and children with anxieties.
In the years to come I think you may have to soften your idea that his anxiety was caused 100% by his brush with Christian faith - and more on the probability that he's an anxious child in general.
And I do hope his parents - if he's still showing any signs of the prior anxiety - look into therapy for him. Starting with school resources, and finding out if he's behaving in an anxious way at school as well as at home, and going from there.
One of the first questions you'll likely be asked is if the child had a recent strep infection. In children that age, that often is the trigger for behavioral/psychological/obsessive thought pattern changes.
I have great empathy for your grandson, normstad. And there is no "blame" in anxiety. It's a brain chemical/neurological thing.
I have experience with children, and children with anxieties.
In the years to come I think you may have to soften your idea that his anxiety was caused 100% by Christian faith - and more on the probability that he's an anxious child in general.
And I do hope his parents - if he's still showing any signs of the prior anxiety - look into therapy for him. Starting with school resources, and finding out if he's behaving in an anxious way at school as well as at home, and going from there.
I know that being raised in a Christian fundamentalist home, I dealt with a great deal of anxiety. The fear of God and hell was always at the forefront of my mind. And I wish no child would have those things foisted on them. But, I've also acknowledged that other people, raised in the same type of environment did not internalize those things in the same way that I did. It might have made a big difference in my life if I had learned ways of coping with that anxiety earlier in my life. So, I appreciate what you're saying.
I talked to my daughter last night and she relayed some instances to me that just highlights the horrible teachings of the Christian believers. We live in what I call the buckle of the bible belt, and one just can't avoid the magical and terror teachings of Christians.
Yes, terror teachings.
None of my family is religious, in fact, we are all atheists. I wear it on my sleeve, but my children are more diplomatic, as they have to work and interact with the religious. In fact, they are friends with some evangelicals. And that is the case with my 7 year old grandson; two of his best friends are from evangelical families.
Why crying himself to sleep? Because those friends, and it was not because they intended to be confrontational, keep telling him that he will go to hell because he, and his family, doesn't believe in God. He is terrified of what that means!
I am so very angry that the indoctrination of small children cause them to believe in hell, and even if out of innocence, they have caused my grandson to have nightmares and crying himself to sleep. I wish I could swear on here, I am that angry. What makes those religions, and parents, think they need to indoctrinate a child, a CHILD!, and that early age.
Now to be fair, my daughter contacted both of the parents. They were gracious, and both said they would talk to their children not to have religious discussions with my grandson. Good for them, and I appreciate that, and my anger is not at them directly, but at the infrastructure that religions are and that they promulgate this terror thinking.
Parents, if you are a believer, fine. Your frontal cortex is fully developed. But stop, I mean STOP, indoctrinating your children and terrorising by teaching them hell is a real thing. If you want to tell some bible stories, fine, but stop there. Stop in the deep dive. You are harming people you don't even know you are.
And I am still so very angry at this. My bright, innocent, loveable, sport minded, kind to all, grandson in terror of an imaginary place because of adults teaching their children it is real. I am just boiling.
If I was 7 years old, I would be terrified if atheist friends told me that I would never get to see my deceased grandparents again. They are just worm food and at any minute of any day, you can suddenly not exist. So basically your life is completely meaningless and will be forgotten and replaced by the next set of DNA.
Please, don't try and distract by shifting the blame on to the victim. That might work in your world, but not in mine.
As I stated before, I don't care what you believe. Keep it inside your head and place of worship. But the moment you impact your beliefs on someone else, your rights have just stopped. Period. Remember that.
I'm glad you said that. It seems to me that it may be the religion causing the anxiety issue, not a general anxiety issue making the religion the bogey man.
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