Why would anyone be religious?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

some people are religious because they are searching for truth...

...while others don't have a choice about being religious because truth found them and they've been called by God into the truth.  And that calling is more real than anything else in the world to the point that it has defined the very lives of those people.

...and the reason why doctrine is still necessary in the 21st Century is because the eternal consequences of knowing the truth will linger much longer than a mere century.  

Truth matters.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

I'm quite sure that this thread will be the very definition of edifying.

for those searching for truth, it will be edifying.  for those determined to continue to follow their own will, they will be bothered by the mere proclaiming that there is higher truth.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Your religion is a function of your intellect/ emotions and inculturation / and will…?

I'm sure many here will find that edifying...

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Realpolitik is a real schmuck of a buzzkill for pointing out this punchbowl has been peed in...he couldn't just let us drink it and be happy.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Jmfcst once won 10000 on the Jesus line and he's gonna stick to that and if he loses his shirt its because he made a mistake in applying the system (or the casino is cheating).

interesting...

what is "applying the system", interpreting scripture?

and who is the casino and how would it cheat?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

she's pretty keen on going back.  Partly for my son's education I think.  She's pretty superstitious, in the general way, and often talks to my son about how his next life will be a good one if he's good in this life.  Apparently there are places associated with this.  (She seems convinced that his soul is one of those who died in the December 26, 2004 Tsunami just days before his birth, given that he likes the beach and the sea so much.)  But his exposure to Western religion is pretty limited, and I agree with her that he should be schooled a bit. 

why would a believer in reincarnation want to take their son to a Christian church?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

my question may have seemed too generic, but I was asking why your wife, a believer in reincarnation, wants to take your son to a Christian church?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

I can't say that I'm surprised that opebo would give me a hard time for taking the boy to church, but I must say that I'm at least a little surprised that you'd do so.

I'm not giving you a hard time, nor am I trying to screen her out, I'm just asking what is she seeking by attending an assembly of believers?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Fellowship for her son, I suppose.  

Does Jesus love him any less if his parents are not Christians?

I mentioned the book of Matthew earlier.  A little later in the book, Matthew 19:13-15, there's a bit about Jesus' disciples giving Jesus a hard time when he wanted to pray with the children, but Jesus told the disciples to chill out.  "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." That's how Matthew told it.  Matthew was a tax collector, not a psychologist, so he probably didn't know why the children of some parents who didn't know Jesus would pray, and he certainly could not have predicted that there would be a church 3 blocks from my house some 2000 years hence.  However, his book and others, you said in another thread, were written by people who knew that they wanted to reach a thousand generations, or more.  If you really believe that, then my wife's motivation is not important.  The boy finds the books, however he finds them, and the books speak to him, maybe.  Or maybe not.  

I don't know.  All I know is that my wife loves our son very much, and she thinks at the moment that it is right and good to let him go to a church.

angus,

I’m not trying to stop you from bringing your son to church.  Rather I am asking you to examine the purpose of:

1) parents sending their children to seek Chirst, yet not seeking Him themselves.

2) parents who are content with allowing the church to teach their children, and not teaching the child about Jesus themselves.

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A child is much more likely to come into a knowledge of, and relationship with, Jesus Christ if he lives in a Christian home, than only going to church.  That’s NOT a knock against churches, rather it is simply reality.  The best chance for you and your wife to save your son is to get saved yourselves.

Consider Noah – by faith he built an ark, and saved not only himself, but his whole family.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Consider Noah - by faith he built an ark, and saved not only himself, but his whole family.

You're so heavy, man.  Well-educated, good sense of humor, totally into astrophysics, but when it comes to the subject of religion you always go Taliban.  

So, the mere mention of finding faith in Christ reminds you of the Taliban?  You actually equate Jesus to the Taliban?

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Why don't you and jmfcst just leave my son's education to his parents.  One of you claims to be a Republican and the other a Libertarian, representatives of the two groups quickest to complain about how it's not right to let others tell us what we should be putting into our childrens' heads.  I find it particularly ironic that a Libertarian and a Republican, of all people, should be the first to offer me specific instructions in the socialization of my own child.  Don't you?

angus, obviously I haven’t been referring to your son, but to you and your logical approach.  Now, if you’re only sending him to church for an education about Christianity, then that’s probably about all he is going to get out of it.  But you seemed to indicate you wanted him to get more than just an education:

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Obviously, it is logical to assume the child would be more likely to esteem Christian values if his parents were living a life in agreement with faith in Christ, instead of him just being exposed to it for 2-3 hours a week.  

I’ve been in church now for 19 years.  Long enough to watch an entire generation grow up in church, and I’ve seen numerous parents assume their child would find their spiritual needs at church.  Most of the time, they are wrong; for church can never be a substitute for a Christian home.

So, I am not saying you shouldn’t take him to church.  But it is not very logical to think you can transfer Christian values to your child by proxy.  He’s your child.  You are his biggest role model.  You are his hero.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

You actually equate Jesus to the Taliban?

No, not Jesus.  You. 

You lost me, bro.  But I am interested in your answer.

How is stating “Consider Noah : by faith he built an ark, and saved not only himself, but his whole family” more like Taliban than Jesus?

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I appreciate your advice. 

Hey, on a related note, if you had to put a children's book about bible stories in the library under either fiction or non-fiction, where would you put it?  Like, just for the sake of argument, say it's a book called "Stories from THE BIBLE:  Old Testament Stories Retold" and suppose it was written by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Geoffrey Patterson.  Suppose it has a chapter on The Creation, and on Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses and the Bulrushes, etc.  Suppose you had to put this book into the youth section of the local public library, and you either had to organize it with the fiction books or the non-fiction books.  Where do you put it?

I would place religious texts in the reference or religion section.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

So, a while back my nephew came back from third grade and asked his parents who this "Jesus" guy his classmates were talking about was.  My brother-in-law explained the basic story (my nephew had no clue what a "virgin" was, so it was difficult), and at the end, my brother-in-law explained the Resurrection.  My nephew solemnly said, "he was the first zombie."

The kid's going to turn out all right.

Mikado, if that story is true, it gives me hope not just for your nephew, but for all of our sick sad Jewdio-christian culture.

except, the NT doesn't present Jesus as a zombie after resurrection.  so, it seems that your "hope" is only a deliberate misrepresentation.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

How is stating “Consider Noah : by faith he built an ark, and saved not only himself, but his whole family” more like Taliban than Jesus?

I guess it was the whole post, or better yet, the whole dialogue:

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How scholarly.  How very agenda-driven.

But, the only agenda is salvation, as it was when Jesus blessed the little children - he also used them as an analogy for adults seeking salvation:

Mark 10:14 “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

So, there really is no reason for you to be surprised someone inquired about the kid’s parents. 

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You seem to have a good sense of humor about almost everything else, even sensitive issues like federal judicial appointments, but when it comes to religion, and in particular Christianity, you get very serious.

What is more serious than salvation, angus?