My father was a Jehovah's Witness, my mother is Catholic, I am Spiritist, my husband is Christian...?

Question

... my daughter is skeptical, almost atheist. Why would she choose to be atheist having so many different religion influences in the family? Would you say that we all are in different levels of Spirituallity?

Answer 1

We are each...at different times...on a spiritual path that no one else is on. The reason being, there is no right or wrong. What we believe is a part of who and what we are. We can influence our children by our beliefs, but in all fairness, it is only right to teach them ethics and morals and let them decide in the end what is right for them.
It isn't fair to expect our children to believe something simply because we do. No one should have religion or spirituality shoved down their throats simply because we think our beliefs are the right ones and because our children are too young or small to argue that there may be another way.
My children were exposed to many different beliefs. Not because myself or my husband weren't sure of ours, but because I wanted to raise them with the understanding that everyone's beliefs and spirituality were true...because in the believer's eyes, they are. Who am I to say differently?
Because if you get down to it, everyone, for the most part, has the same core beliefs when it comes to religion. Instead of searching for all the differences, more people should look at the similarities.
Talk to your daughter. Don't talk at her, don't try to make her see your side or that of any other family member. Ask her why she believes what she does, and what it is she actually believes. And then let her know that you respect her feelings and support her choices.
Then, in the end, she'll find the right fit for her, knowing that her choice won't be the wrong one...because you have let her know that her beliefs are hers and no one else's.
My son, at 17, came to me to thank me. When I asked him why he was thanking me, he stated, 'For letting me choose who and what I am. None of my friends were given that choice. Their parents told them what they had to believe, where they had to worship. You didn't. You let me see what there was, but when I chose my path, you were there for me. And even though it isn't the same thing you believe, you were okay with it. So I wanted to say thank you.'
I was humbled and realized that I had done right by my children. And as to teaching your child religion, I didn't. I taught them morals and ethics...what was right and wrong. And I can proudly say that both of my children are fine, upstanding members of society. Neither of them drink, smoke or abuse drugs. They don't steal or lie. My daughter was 20 years old before she had her first child, and he was planned. At the same time, she was working full time and going to college full time. She took off one semester...to give birth, and was enrolled for the next session.
So, while I've heard every argument about me not bringing my children up in a "Christian" home and lifestyle, I can hold them both up against any child who was and probably come out ahead in most cases.
So while the influences she has been exposed to may cause confusion, it may simply be that she believes something entirely different from each of you...and that's alright. I'm sure you want her to be an independent person who has a mind of her own. So let her.

Answer 2

I don't think she is confused, I think she doesn't want to decide. Probably thinking she will upset at least three of you with any choice.

Out of curiosity, I've been doing a little research of my own lately. I really don't find allot of differences between the beliefs, and am finding difficulty in finding why, when and how some religions went in their own directions and call themselves by different names.

Maybe you could all get together and have a discussion, along with your daughter, and let her know that it doesn't really matter as long as God is part of your life.

Answer 3

Confusion, does that ring a bell,,My mother was nutty and dabbled in many religions but she always hung on to her belief in Jesus No matter how far she strayed... I had a basic foundation of Christianity but was a believer of that until I was 25..I had a very personal experience with God and I wasn't involved in any church at that point...

I really think that kids today are watching carefully and wanting something they see as more real and life changing..Religions are missing the mark and the church as I see it for the most part are more religious than life changing..

Answer 4

My father was Jehovah's Witness my mom was christian. When my parents quite the whitnesses we bounced around from church to church believeing one thing one day and something else the next. We literally traveld the country searching for a religiouse group to call "home" or whatever. When I was around 14 I decided it must all be a load of crap, I pretty much had a bible beat over my head day after day year after year. One day it said one thing, the next day it said another, my parents didn't know what they wanted, my father wouldn't go to church and my mother forced the rest of us to go. My grandparents critized everything that wasn't like them, gays, lesbians, strippers, catholics, athiests, drug adicts, alcholics...I don't think those all of those things are right but they said they were all going to hell and acted like we were to good for any of them. I hated that. Anyway, my point is, when your young and trying to figure out what you believe it doesn't help to have other peoples beliefs shoved down your throat day after day. 50 different people telling you 50 different things all your expected to agree with all of them...what would you do? I quit, I didn't want anything to do with religion or God or Jesus or church or people that went to church. It was to hard to think about it. I went through what your daughter is going through now. Leave her alone, let her make her own decisions and be sure everyone else leaves her alone about her religouse beliefs as well, she is a big girl and she can decide what she thinks is right and wrong!

Answer 5

You are a house divided.. what does that tell you.. You want your child to have a belief in God, than come to some decision to a united family.. How can your daughter even begin believe in a God when you have all divided Him in different little boxes in your own family,. How will she believe in this same God who is divided in her own house and then divided in a war-torn world, of hate and violence among nations and religions.. If this God cannot unite Families how can He unite the world. This division of faith between family members would be very confusing, and upsetting with a young person.. How can you expect her to decide among you all.. who's religion would she pick.. pick one and hurt the other.. She sees what goes on in the world in the name of Religion, the fighting and wars.. how can you ask her then to choose.
Pray and join each other Asking God to unite your hearts, minds and souls in which Church he wants you all in. United you will be strong and be able to get your Daughter to feel that she has a United House and Patronage and one day when she will feel ready, she herself will unite with you all.. United she will have the Faith to carry her through the trials and hardship of Life. God Is Good.. Amen
Good Luck and God Bless

Answer 6

Wow! Why wouldn't she be??? So much info out there for her to take in! Being skeptical isn't bad though. It just means she wants to find her own answers and not just assume something is right because she was taught it. She will probably turn out to be the one who teaches you all something! Encourage her to search and question Him. He can take it! She will find her religion when it is time. Not too early and not too late.

Answer 7

Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians.

Sadly, anti-Witnesses repeatedly pretend that Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christian. Trinitarians, for example, use an artificial, trinity-specific definition of the term "Christian" which excludes anyone who does not believe that Jesus is God Himself, rather than the Son of God. Interestingly, pagans in the first century pretended that Christ's followers were Atheists(!) because the Christians had a somewhat different idea from the pagans about the nature of God.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe! Both secular dictionaries and disinterested theologians acknowledge that Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian religion.

The Trinitarian arguments are intended to insult and demean Jehovah's Witnesses, rather than to give a Scripturally accurate understanding of the term "Christian".

In fact, the bible most closely associates being "Christian" with preaching about Christ and Christ's teachings. Review all three times the bible uses the term "Christian" and note that the context connects the term with:
"declaring the good news"
'teaching quite a crowd'
'open eyes, turn from dark to light'
"uttering sayings of truth"
"persuade"
"keep on glorifying"

(Acts 11:20-26) [The early disciples of Jesus] began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus... and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.

(Acts 26:17-28) [Jesus said to Paul] I am sending you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God... Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind. ...Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”

(1 Peter 4:14-16) If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy... But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name


So why do anti-Witnesses try to hijack the term "Christian" and hide its Scriptural implications? Because anti-Witnesses recognize that it is the preaching work that makes it clear that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are by far the most prominent followers of Christ:

(Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded


Learn more!
http://watchtower.org/e/ti/index.htm?article=article_04.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050422/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/pr/index.htm?article=article_04.htm

Answer 8

My husband is a Jehovah Witness and I am a Christian.My oldest daughter went Baptist [ her choice] my middle girl went JW [her choice] and my son went Catholic. All 10 of my grandchildren went JW.
So you figure. Let her make her own decision. Give her information on each of the religions and leave her alone..

Answer 9

There are so many religion influences in your family that she feels that she doesn't want to choose she doesn't know what religion to believe, she'll need time to get it on her own. she's just confused for the moment.

Answer 10

Perhaps no one particular religion was taught above any other in your family, so she couldn't decide was the Truth, hence became an atheist.

Of course, depending on how young your daughter is, she may change her religious views in a couple of years.