When you were a kid, did you ever question your own religious beliefs?

Question

When I was growing up, I wasn't exactly raised in a very religious household. That's not to say that my mother didn't believe in God, but she was never very religious and she always taught me to be tolerant of all religious views. However, when I was about 10 or so, I started going to church with a neighbor who was a fundamentalist Christian. She tried to indoctrinate me with her own religious views, because apparently she thought that my mother wasn't religious enough and that my soul would be doomed if she didn't step in and "save" me. She basically taught me that God was a loving, yet VERY PUNITIVE father, and that anyone who didn't worship him was damned to hell. I read a little about religions other than Christianity when I was a child, and I remember being about 11 or 12 and thinking about the fact that there were members of some other religions who thought I was going to hell just for being a Christian, and I began to wonder if they were right. Not only that, but I knew that

there were Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and various other non-Christians who were good people and I didn't think it was at all fair that they should go to hell for not subscribing to certain religious beliefs. Did anyone else experience anything similar to this as a child?

Answer 1

Absolutely. In my late teens, I studied Buddhism. After that I spent about 15 years as an Atheist before returning to Christ.

Don't judge all Christians by the actions (or inaction) of a few.

Answer 2

I was raised in a Christian family. By age of 10, I started to really question the validity of the beliefs I'd been taught. My search for answers lead me to many trips to the library, lots of contemplation and conversations with my elders. When none of those methods could provide any reason why God is real or religion is correct, I became an atheist by age 12.

Answer 3

When i was a teenager, yes, i sort of questioned the beliefs of the religion i was born into but never did i questioned that God existed. His creation is all around us. However, as i grew mature in my thinking, i started to study the Bible on my own; using other references of course. I've compared the religious beliefs of others as well.

I questioned a lot actually....about death, about holidays and why people are celebrating it and why we weren't. If death was just another door to a different life or opens the door to life in heave...then why do people blame God when someone dies? wouldn't they be happy because God has taken their love ones to live w/ him? these were jsut some of the questions i really wanted answer to....

Alas! I questioned my religious beliefs NO MORE! I know i have the truth!

Answer 4

In my early high school years, I proclaimed atheism - not because I really believed there was no God, but because I wanted someone to be concerned about my spirituality. It got results! My mother was horrified - a staunch Presbyterian, she practically pulled out all the stops to assure that my concerns got addressed. My pastor, on the other hand, seemed to know what was going on.

More specifically to your situation, there were folks who I came into contact with who seemed genuine, but weren't Presbyterian. As I matured, and moved out in the world, others were encountered who likewise seemed good, but weren't even Christian.

I grew up thinking the Bible was the only source of wisdom. This wasn't what I was taught, necessarily, it just seemed to be the source that everyone in the family went to. Only recently I've discovered the character of philosophy - from philosophers who share quite a bit from Buddhist beliefs and Confucianism. I'll remain a committed Christian, but seeing spirituality in the terms of other religions seems to be strengthening my faith.

Answer 5

I think your thinking was erroneous because based on an erroneous premise. Christianity does not teach that people go to hell merely for "not subscribing to certain religious beliefs". It all depends on their reasons for rejecting God's revealed truth, which only God knows.

Often, Christian converts say that the thing that held them back from converting was that deep down, they didn't want to give up certain sinful practices that they were attached to. Other times it's pride that keeps people from converting: They don't want to humble themselves, admit their sinfulness and change, they can't stand the idea that they can't choose to live in any way they happen to prefer, they can't stand being *told what to do*.

We all know John 3:16, "For God so loved the world," etc. But read on, specifically John 3:19-21: "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, *for their deeds were evil*. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

So the judgment of nonbelievers is not their unbelief per se. It's when the reason for their unbelief is that they refuse to come into the light because their deeds are evil and will be exposed. This is a stubborn refusal to repent of wrongdoing.

It is possible for a nonbeliever to be the victim of "invincible ignorance", meaning that for reasons beyond his control, he is unable to believe. This type of unbelief is non-culpable. But again, only God knows whether any individual's unbelief is culpable or not. It's not for us to judge.

Answer 6

My parents didn't become Christian until I turned 6 and
I asked all kinds of questions about God.
I actually did not want to become a
Christian - wanted to be able to do my own thing
in life basically and not be obligated to obey God.
I know for sure that I would have continued in that direction
on my own! I was very stubborn and particular about things.
However, one day I heard the salvation message
from a preacher and it was like my spiritual ears
became unplugged just for a moment and I
understood that I needed Jesus in my life and
should not be without Him.
It is a spiritual connection with the Lord!
We are not naturally inclined towards it
due to being in the curse of this world,
but we are spiritually inclined - in order to
be free of that curse and in order to know
the Lord! - true faith, hope and love

When your spirit awakens, it is as plain as day!

Answer 7

Yes. It is why I began to research religions and "experiment" with attending different ones. For a time I even was a satanist. I found out even when young that there "are" entities we call spirits but much of what religions teach is pure hogwash and plagerized concepts of much older religions or faiths. As much as religions hate the world evolution, ALL of them that exist today EVOLVED into what they NOW say was taught to them centuries ago by "God." IF an intelligent superbeing created us and WOULD HAVE given us instructions, they sure would not have been the ones religions proclaim because no PERFECT God would have sent believers BACK into all he taught to modify his words time and time again.

Answer 8

I went to an Episcopal church on and off for a few years as a kid. Never believed a word of it, although I thought it was a nice story. In my twenties, I started to believe in God and was born again a couple years later. I started reading the Bible and going to a variety of churches, finally settling on Baptist, which I think is the most sound doctrinally. The Lord will come into your life if you ask Him. My relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important thing in my life. He has changed me and blessed me in many ways. I highly recommend Him. I'll pray for you.

Answer 9

Never as a child. That is most likely because all of the people that I knew were either Christians like me or athiests. Not until I was older was I introduced to the broad spectrum of religions and beliefs.

Answer 10

Yes - while living in China, I was told how anyone who doesnt believe in Jesus is going to Hell.

I had problems with that. I looked out the window and said to the preist "Are you telling me that there are no Chinese people in Heaven?" His reply was "No - there are Chinese people in Heaven - the ones that have accepted Jesus and no more." I was then sent to the office and beaten with a ruler by the nuns. NO LIE. They had another fun torture they liked to use on us too - kneel in a corner, arms outstretched with two large bibles, one in each hand. WHen you dropped one - WHAM - ruler to the butt or low back.

Man, how I miss parochial school.