If a child has a negative experience .........?

Question

ie lets say a bug sits on him and all the adults start screaming and yelling traumatizing the child......that child will most likely be scared of bugs for the rest of his life. Most likely the child will not remember the particular experience but will keep the fear.

There is nothing more scary then a all powerful God who will torture you in hell. How is teaching a set dogma to a child not brain washing?

Answer 1

I don't have an answer, but an experience. When my daughter was 3 I let her go to Baptist Sunday School with our neighbors (even though I'm a pagan). I thought it would be good for her to spend spiritual time with her friends and felt she was too young for me to force concepts on her. After 3 weekends there, I stopped it because she was waking at night, dripping in sweat and crying about going to hell and burning in flames if she didn't "save me". It's a decision I've always regretted. She was brainwashed, and I'm not confident that she ever got over it.

Answer 2

There is a very loose translation and mis-interpretation of what was actually written going on here. Neither The Bible nor church Dogma state that "God will torture you in hell". What is stated is more or less that there will be torture in hell. Those are two very different staements. One says that a specific Being will perform torture on you, the other says there will be torture which can be interpreted to be many things, such as perhaps, simply the abscence of God's love and compassion or the mental anguish of knowing you gave up a wonderful eternity in heaven for a single moment of satisfaction during life. Be very careful when you start lumping a whole bunch of thoughts and ideas together because just one word can change the whole meaning.

Is religion brainwashing? Maybe. It all depends on whether the concepts are taught with an encouragement to explore and understand the ideas set forth or if one is forced to believe concepts because the alternative to blind belief is horrible everlasting pain. Is God kind and loving or is God mean and vengeful ???? I suspect it depends on who He is dealing with and what they have done with the gift of their lifetime here on Earth. The difference in this from the two scenarios you put forth is that you are comparing apples and celery. On the one hand you have an actual physical experience of fear, but on the other you have words. Saying, "ooooh if a spider gets on you it's scary" is so very different than having a tarantula crawl across your face wouldn't you say?

The problem with teaching ANYTHING that has both a pretty side and an ugly side is that you can't just teach ONE side, you have to teach both and allow people to assimilate the information into their way of thinking. To say heaven is awesome and hell is just not heaven is not a fair representation of the facts that religions believe so you can't just say that. You have to teach that red is red and blue is blue, there just is no other way. How would it help you to teach you that blue is yellow just because I think your senses may be offended by the color of blue being blue?

Answer 3

Um..I'm not sure where you get the idea that God is in hell torturing people. But the Christian faith does not teach that. Hell is where you go to be AWAY from God. THATS the torture. And you are subject the satan there who is free to torture you if he wants.

I think someone that teaches their kids that if they don't behave that God will send them to hell and torture them is a LOT more scarey than many things!


Dogma is not faith. Dogma is man's made up rules that have nothing to do with God's desire for a relationship with us. And teaching dogma is attempted brain washing. But 99% of the time,it fails to achieve the outcome desired.

But children have to be taught something. You can't leave them uneducated and ignorant. You can't let them do their own thing because their "own thing" will be to do nothing. When you have kids, you have to make a choice to raise them a certain way. You do the best you can. When they become adults, it's up to them to either accept or reject what you have taught them.

Free will babe....it's a bi**h

Answer 4

Well, being a child raised in church, I have to wonder...what kind of church did this kid go to? It must be wacked out if THAT is what they are teaching. God doesn't torture people in Hell...he is the one that saves them, and he doesn't want to see anyone go to hell. The stories I heard in church were to build my faith, NOT to scare me into being a christian. And the "fear of the Lord" isn't a mortified feeling, it is a respect, like that you give your parents. It isn't that you think they will hurt you, you just recognize the authority they have in your life, and realize how big and important they are.

I feel bad for this kid if they are really afraid of God. I mean, this is probably a different "take" on your question, but I just wanted to give you a stand-point coming from a kid raised in church. Now that I am an adult, I am glad I was. And I am not brain-washed. If a church tries to tell you that being a christian has to do with going to church or following their rules, then they are wrong. Christianity is about a personal relationship with God, and if the kid is afraid of God torturing them in Hell, then the church isn't doing an affective job of spreading the Truth. Try an Assemblies of God church...the kid will probably see a new side of this "Big Scary God".

Answer 5

LOL! When I was in Kindergarden..a long, long time ago... I had a teacher that told our class that a devil lived under the ground!. This was a public school, what gaul! Anyway, it was a while before I felt comfortable walking on the grass so to speak.

My parents were furious at her. Yeah! Mom and dad really rocked on that one! I remember my dad trying to coax me off the veranda. There was snow on the ground. I think he said something about the fact that the snow would be melting...lol. Funny guy. The poor man was pleading. Love ya dad! I thought my mom was ready to plunk me down in the snow! Hahaha! Smile. Oh dear.

That teacher should not have been alowed around children...so what else is new! How do they pick these people to teach?I don't think that woman liked her job very much,,I am not even sure if she really lied children frankly. Sigh. She must have..wouldn't she?Not nice.

Oh well... it has all contributed to my unique personality. LOL! xox!

Peace.

Answer 6

God doesn't torture people in hell. We are given ever chance there is to accept Jesus, it's a person's choice whether they do it or not.
I teach my children about God and the love He has for us. If a child is taught the right way about God it is far from being "brain washing".

Answer 7

It is all about brain washing and how I was raised as a
child and what I have learned
about the Baptists and Evangelicans
also Pentecostals are all real good at putting fear into
the child so that child
will grow up believing what they want to child to believe in

Another way of converting somebody into their cult by
striking fear into that person
I know all their dirty little tricks and lies

Answer 8

I don't see how you linked bugs to brainwashing, but...

Well, for one thing, most children naturally trust their parents and other authority figures. They are taught and influenced by what other people do. They are also too innocent but too gullible to blindly believe what they are told.

Personally, I think that's messed up you'd tell a kid he'll burn in Hell forever and won't see his family or toys again if he doesn't "save" himself. A loving God, yeah right. It does depend on what kind the church is and parents. That's when you call it brainwashing.

Answer 9

Either you do not have children or you spoil them.

As a Christian parent of four, my wife and I (also a Christian) set up rules and rewards in our home. We explain these things to our children and from time to time discuss them to re-enforce proper behavior. We do not only dwell on the negative rewards. We mention them and then explain the less painful benefits of receiving positive rewards. Trust me when I tell you that the positive rewards outweigh and out number the negative by a bunch.

God is our Father and has set up rules and rewards for us His children. Just like our children have a choice to obey or not, so do we. Once they understand that it isn't a threat but a promise, attitudes tend to deminish and peace once again is restored in the home. Once we understand God has set forth promises and not threats, then we will most likely lessen our grip on rebellion and let His peace dwell in us.

We are instructed in scripture to teach our children and grandchildren the ways of the Lord. That means all the promises He has made. Both good and bad.

And in closing, one of my children fell face first from a slide and landed square on her nose. It was a child's slide in one of the nursery rooms at church and maybe a foot off the ground. Anyway, she cried and cried until we got there to comfort her. The lady in the room started to freak out at all the blood but she eventually calmed down as well. My daughter cuddled with me for a few minutes and then we cleaned her up. Her twin brother was concerned and when he came into the room, he asked if she was o.k. and then was ready to go play again. My daughter got up and was off playing on that slide until the end of church.
The point I am making is that what we teach our children is vitally important to their mental health and well being. We mold their minds and set examples for them daily with our words and actions. If a child has fears of bugs or slides or whatever, we as parents have a duty to explain away those negative thoughts and help replace them with positive ones.

Is that brainwashing or good parenting?

Answer 10

Of course it's brain-washing. It's such an obvious form of controlling someones behaviour that has bugger-all to do with what any prophets, other than old-testament fairies, have tried to teach.
Compassion for life and the wonder of existence is all that need be encouraged in kids.