Faith, Religion...what to do with my children?

Question

I was raised Catholic, and lived a tough life. Beyond my years of drugs, lying, pain and all that I did to continue that lifestyle, I have a belief in God-but unsure of specifics beyond that. My son, who is about to be 9, has a strong interest in God and Jesus (due to mostly my mother's influence). I find this to be fascinating...my mother lives half way across the country, but has this huge influence upon my son's life (as she should).

He reads the children's bible he has on a regular basis and begs to go to church with my mom and I every time she visits. He loves the catholic church and loves reading and learning stories about Jesus.

My question...what do I do with a child that has such a thirst for Jesus? I am not sure whether I believe in him or not, but if my son does then I want to support that. But, obviously I am not the teacher for him. I cannot answer his questions without feeling like a fraud. I want him to believe what I had, and have, such a hard time believ

Answer 1

I honestly think that the best thing to due is nourish his thirst for faith

I was raised Catholic. My mom is Catholic and my dad is Jewish. Obviously I gre up with very conflicting faiths, and alwasy questioned it. My mom always taught me that her way was the way, and once I grew up, I was able to learn for my self and choose myself.

My parents were great and helped me.

I now consider myself Babtist just because all those questions that I had, I was able to feel them being the most answered through that faith.

In the end, a faith in God and an understanding of Him, and love for ourselves and one another, living a life to the best you can, and accepting Him as our savior, is all that really matters.

PS Kudos to your mom!

Answer 2

Well any christian church is good. What I suggest is to let your child grow and learn about Christ as he wishes. I also suggest you be honest with him, You may tell him that somewhere you got lost and haven't found Christ for your self yet, but that it is a personal journey that every person has to make by themselves That you will let him go at his own speed and promise not to hamper his quest but that he understands you are not the right person to show him the way. That after he finds Christ maybe he can help you. I also would look into such organizations as Boy Scouts, That is a wholesome organization that will help him grow mentally and spiritually in the right directions. Good luck and you sound like a good mother which is one of the very most important things God looks at.

Answer 3

If you're unsure about believing in Jesus, why don't you go to church with your son and learn more with an open heart? Maybe you'll learn something new, and enjoyable! You could learn together. There's nothing worse than you being passionate about something and your mom won't give it a chance. So c'mon, Mom, just a shot will do.

If you decide you don't like Christ, continue to support your son, and read with him if/when you want to, but make sure that he knows that you don't know much about Jesus, and that you'll be happy to have him explain to you the answers to his own questions when he finds them.

This way, you won't be feeling like a fraud because you'll too be learning and helping him out by telling him to search for the answers to his questions.

I hope this helped! :)

Answer 4

I'd suggest you find some local churches and "shop around". If you don't have a specific faith that you follow, by attending some events with your son, you will see the variety available, and I'm sure one will stick out and make an impression on you. Do some homework. Some churches have 2 Sunday morning services, and they may be different. By this I mean that 1 service may be more traditional, and 1 may be more contemporary. Especially now, around Christmas, I'd suggest you find a Christmas Eve service and attend with your son. You'll be teaching him the meaning of Christmas, and perhaps you'll be in a place to get in touch with your faith again. God bless you for being so honest.

Answer 5

That's a tough question. Here's a snippet from my own childhood that might help.

At a similar age, I am told (though I don't remember) that my brother expressed interest in church and religion. My parents were not church-goers. So my parents chose a church that they were reasonably comfortable with. They went to services, and took us to Sunday school. And when we asked questions about religion, they each answered in their own way.

Some time later (perhaps a couple of years), my father told me that I was old enough to attend the regular sermon instead of Sunday school. After I attended a sermon or two, he asked me whether I wanted to continue to go. I said no, and we didn't go again.

Your situation is somewhat different. But I think that mine contains some bits and pieces that might help you to craft a solution that helps you to give him what he needs and feel more authentic yourself.

I hope this helps.

Oh, and I disagree strongly with one thing that you said. You *are* obviously one of the teachers for your son. You just are not the *only* teacher for him. None of us are.

Answer 6

your son's in a lucky position. where most children are raised being fed religious doctrines as facts or without any religion at all, your son has access to two very different viewpoints.this means you can explain to him that faith is just that, faith, and people's beliefs vary significantly. then you could leave him to follow his own intuition. you could perhaps take him to a sunday school or even approach someone you know to have more definite religious faith than you, a clergy member or just a friend, and ask if they would perhaps spend an hour every week or so answering his questions and guiding him. this is what my mum did, admittedly just because she had no patience with me.. but the principle is the same. but don't always agree with everything he comes home saying. i think it's important for you to challange him a little bit, just so he questions himself. i was brought up thinking that "the earth is round" and "jesus died for our sins" were equally true statements and don't think that was fair.

Answer 7

You should definitely support his beliefs! Just like your mother may have forced Jesus upon you, you can't force your disbelief upon him. Sign him up for Sunday school at a local church. Maybe you could drop him off, go grocery shopping or some other weekly errand, then pick him up when he's done. This will allow him to investigate his beliefs, but doesn't force you to believe in the same sort of things.

Answer 8

Well, let him go to Church and read the Bible, and just tell him that everyone needs to search out their own view of truth.

When he's young and asks tell him you don't know the answer; it's the truth. He can go to your mother, and she'll help.

When he's a late teen he may get obnoxious over religion, because that's what teens do.

When he's an adult, you can finally have real discourse on it, with no one feeling like a fraud.

Hope I helped, and I'm sorry if I didn't.

Answer 9

I think you should bring him to church. Let him be the deciding factor of his religion. Everyone needs something to believe in. That's what helps us get out of bed in the morning. Whether it be God, love, drugs, or popcorn. To take this away from him would be a bad thing. Let him make his own decision.
And don't feel bad about the crisis of faith. Everyone has one. And everyone who is the least educated has their moments.... If you do believe in God, don't you think he would expect it? LOL

Answer 10

its hard to believe in things u cant understand. Just like science and religion. If he has question get him a bible and read along with him to try and understand. I prefer to have as many religious book knowledge out their.



Don't despise empiric truth. Lots of things work in practice for which the laboratory has never found proof. ~Martin H. Fischer