why do some very strict christians use your god to scare children into behaving?

Question

ie if you lie god will cut out your tongue, or if you kiss boys/girls he will make you blind

bybelree

what makes it right to beat a child into religious submission, I let my children grow up beleiving it what they felt is right. I have 3 very productive (if somewhat messy kids) One is an athiest, one a Christian and one Wiccan I love them all equally and respect every one of thier beleifs.

Answer 1

You don't need to threaten children with hellfire & brimstone just to get them to behave. You'd be pretty desperate to do that. If you reward children for good behavior, they don't mess up as much.

Answer 2

Darlin', I wish I could answer this question. If I could, I could probably save myself further years of painful therapy that has resulted from such nasty behavior in my own childhood.

I honestly wish there were more parents like you in this world, to let your kids make their own choice what they want to be without indoctrinating them from the cradle and never giving them a choice or worse. I can see you love your kids dearly and I bet they adore you, too, for treating them like people and respecting their right to believe.

My family didn't, and now I'm a bit on the estranged side with them, a recluse who is afraid to meet people for fear of further shame and humiliation, and have a nice list of mental and emotional problems and a ton of trust issues as a result of this and other fun crap that I've gone through.

I wasn't quite told that lying would get my tongue cut off or that kissing boys would make me go blind(although I've heard the amusing wives tale as an adult that masturbating will make you go blind or give you hairy palms...), but I heard similar things. Even when I believed, I was treated as "not good enough" for not memorizing bible verses or prayers. It wasn't said, but it was subtly hinted enough for me to get the idea that I was gonna go to Hell no matter what I did right in life.

The most profound instance has been where, at the age of six, I came home terrified from being bullied relentlessly on the bus for no reason by older kids. When my grandmother found me in tears and I told her what had happened, her lovely response was that I had a miserable life and always would because it was God's plan for me. I don't know how I grew up even remotely sane in hearing that one.

Guess it was just the luck of being a kid who could easily forget harmful talk like that by the next morning. Kids are surprisingly resilient at times, so I suppose I was lucky for that, although unfortunately, it was later dislodged out of my memory between the ages of 16 and 20, when I had the worst fights and abuse from my family. Not the only nasty memory that's come back, either.

So I have no idea why people that are that strict use religion, God's wrath, and Hell to terrorize their own kids into behaving the way they want them to. My only guess would be that it's learned behavior. They were bullied and terrorized with religion into believing and behaving as kids, so that's all they know in terms of getting their kids to behave and believe in God. Just passing it along, a nasty cycle of abuse hidden by religion.

Answer 3

I think you misunderstand their intentions. The Christian religion is based on extreme commitment and beliefs in, quite honestly, teachings that are hard to grasp for adults, let alone children. The "Holy Ghost", Christ resurrecting from the dead after dying on the cross. The belief that we are "eating the body and drinking the blood of christ", very had beliefs. The statements you make about cutting out your tongue and kissing is not related to any one reglion, it is just old fashioned "putting the fear of god" in a child to make them behave, which by any relgious standards, is morally wrong.

Answer 4

Akasha, Christians don't have a monopoly on this stuff, read any of the tales from the original "Grimm's Fairy Tales", or listen to an old Bill Cosby monologue, like the one where he talks about his parents telling him there were snakes under his bed if he tried to get up in the middle of the night. (It's really funny too.)

Calico.Kitty

Answer 5

Very strict Christians (fanatics) use God to scare children because they lack the ability to think on their own. It is alot easier to give up responsibility for your actions and give it to God. rather than use the sense that God gave us to correctly discipline our children.

Answer 6

The youngsters need to be hit wiht a belt or stick to keep them on God's path. If you don't, they could become the athist or Muslim. Use your common sense and READ THE HOLY GOPSEL!!!

Answer 7

I knew a family like that--the daughter moved out at 16 and refused to go back--her mother would call her and just say "jesus and I love you" and it would piss her off because her own mother couldn't just say she lloved her without putting jesus into the sentance

Answer 8

Wow,I have never heard that one.Plenty of people say stuff like that though,just in a different way.

Answer 9

that never happened with me as a matter of fact my parents only told me of God i chose to believe on my own they just gave me the basics i chose to learn more about him myself

Answer 10

they're not using MY God, He is a God of Love and forgiveness.