how do i cop?

Question

I am 13 yr old girl that lives with her mum, dad and 4 younger sis. My family are Jehovah Witnesses, which is a religion that does not do christmas, birthday's, easter, halween and all that sort of stuff that you like doing. i get presents all around the yr but not at these certain times in the yr, my friends understand this but at times want to now more which sum times gets on my nerves.
It is not only my mum, dad and 4 younger sis that are in this religion it is also my mums mum, dad, older bros, 2 younger bros and 2 younger sis. And my dad's mum and brother. My dads brother is also an important part of my religions conregation.
My dad does not often go to the meetings that our religion has because of work but, also does not like going because my mums mum used to show him of to every 1 because he was also an important part of our religions conregation but now is not a important.
I like going to the conregation because all the people there are so nice but i feel out of place

my dad has said that he does not mind if i leave religion now or when i am older but i feel that my mu will feel diffrently. i have desided to wait till i am 16 - 18 to diside but i am so confused because of the things i will miss out on but i have not had them before so i real will not now what i am missing.

Answer 1

their are a lot of kids in your same situation. my children deal with this by just telling the classmates when they have a questions is that they don't feel like talking about it right now but if they have questions they can talk to their parents and see if the could talk to witness and if they said yea then you could invite them to a meeting. they will probably stop asking you or become a closer friend.

You can always talk to your parents, or even the elders. they are there to help you. it will get easier as the years go by the kids will back off as time goes by.

good luck

Answer 2

Let's address this from a different direction. Ask you father to order the program, "The Amazing Life of the Human Brain" from the Discovery Channel web site, and watch the program.

From it you will learn that it was at puberty that you "BEGAN" developing the ability for conceptual thought process. This is the ability to understand why something is, such as why something is right or wrong.

From age 2 until puberty, your brain has been gathering data and storing it, without extrapolating the meaning behind the data. Your brain is now in the process of doing that, but it takes 12 years for it to be completed, or at about age 24.

If you have any brothers, you can tell them that they don't reach that point until age 30.

Your confusion right now is understandable, and I would imagine that it is not the only thing in your life that is causing you confusion. Your feelings about boys, teachers, the adult world, and everything else is likely to be creating some confusion.

Be patient. Any decision now is going to be based on your limited ability to extrapolate the facts. You will have an easier time in five years, but you will be complete ready in 12. It is not such a long time and remember, after you turn 18, you will be able to do whatever you want without an adult telling you otherwise. Your choices will reflect whether you will spend around 80-100 years living life, or tens of thousands of years.

I know, at your age, and with limited experience, you have a hard time seeing past next week, let alone next year, or the next decade, but with time, that will also change. Your trip through life is just beginning. You can spend it living for the now, or living for the later. And if you wonder what you could possibly be doing for all that time, just step outside tonight and look up. Earth is not the only part of God's creation to be explored while having everlasting life. All those little dots of lights and there to be seen and find other planets for God's People to live on.

Answer 3

I am not a fancier of religion as I believe it encourages bigotry and hatred. So I applaud your open mindedness and hope that you'll decide to find your own religious truth .

I bellieve that you can have a personal religious experience with God without having to rely on teachings and so on. God live sin our heart and soul. The teachings of men cloud and obfuscate this.

Continue your spiritual journey wherever it leads you, and good luck.

I worked beside someone who was a jehova's witness. He was a nice person but the rest of the office regarded him as a religious zealot, even though he was specifically banned from spouting religious tracts and etc. I dscussed faith with him over dinner one evening and I learned a lot about jehova's witnesses. I think my friend got a few things to think about too..

Like those crazy religions that deny their children medicine, I truly hope that someday religions are not permitted to ban christmas and other social festivals from poor children's lives.

I took my dog for a walk and I had a good think about this. I'd urge you to try hard to keep an open mind and not to let your religion isolate you. Keep in touch with people of all faiths and make sure that your circle of friends is not limited to the same people.

I truly applaud your courage and strength as I cannot imagine what it must be like to have this kind of indoctrination when being brought up. If you decide to continue with your religion, be it for the right reasons. We are masters of our own fates, and if God had not intended us to think then we would not.

Answer 4

Some people can not handle this big bad world without all this holy mambo jumbo, some can. If you don't belong to the congregation it does not mean you are a bad person or want to get all wild, it just means you don't need all that structure to be good. Peer/parent pressure is always hard, even when it means well.

Answer 5

I suggest at your age you stop giving out so much information about your family over the net to people who can't relate.

Answer 6

The bible plainly instructs children to obey their parents in all things.