Posted on 12/06/2019 12:33:09 PM PST by DeweyCA
The alternative is to tell them they’re simply going to die and turn to dust.
As a therapist, I’m often asked to explain why depression and anxiety are so common among children and adolescents. One of the most important explanations—and perhaps the most neglected—is declining interest in religion. This cultural shift already has proved disastrous for millions of vulnerable young people.
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The result? Children or teens who reported attending a religious service at least once per week scored higher on psychological well-being measurements and had lower risks of mental illness. Weekly attendance was associated with higher rates of volunteering, a sense of mission, forgiveness, and lower probabilities of drug use and early sexual initiation. Pity then that the U.S. has seen a 20% decrease in attendance at formal religious services in the past 20 years, according to a Gallup report earlier this year. In 2018 the American Family Survey showed that nearly half of adults under 30 do not identify with any religion.
Nihilism is fertilizer for anxiety and depression, and being “realistic” is overrated. The belief in God—in a protective and guiding figure to rely on when times are tough—is one of the best kinds of support for kids in an increasingly pessimistic world. That’s only one reason, from a purely mental-health perspective, to pass down a faith tradition.
I am often asked by parents, “How do I talk to my child about death if I don’t believe in God or heaven?” My answer is always the same: “Lie.” The idea that you simply die and turn to dust may work for some adults, but it doesn’t help children.
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(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Well Mormons seem to be the happiest, so by the logic in this article we should all lie and teach our kids that Joseph Smith was really a Latter Day Saint and the book of Mormon is true!
‘It takes a LOT more faith to be an atheist, to think everything here just spontaneously arose through jillions of years of evolution rather than being intelligently designed.’
not really; actually it takes far more than faith to believe that some intelligent entity self created, then existed in a time and place that could not have existed until such a time as he decided to create it...why do you think that’s any more credible than an evolutionist’s claim, other than you’ve been told that from young childhood, exactly for the same purposes the author of the article states...?
“Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of [the Soviet] revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened’.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Belief in God and belief in an after life are two separate beliefs. Jews did not include a belief in an after life in their earliest scriptures. They were heavily influenced by Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism during the centuries that the two faiths coexisted in the Middle East and eventually adopted the belief in the Torah and commentaries.
Being a nihilist does not mean that you don’t appreciate the rich traditions and constructive beliefs that all cultures contribute as humans struggle with the suffering of inevitable death. It just means that you don’t believe you have the “right” belief and everybody else is a pagan.
The idea that the misery we all see means that God doesn’t care for everyone is simply specious, and an easy excuse not to grapple with His offer of redemption.
It’s not very deep thinking, nor is it a very good argument. It’s ignoring God’s outstretched arms, and it simply won’t help you or anyone else.
‘That is clearly the choice to do bad.’
sigh...you stated clearly that misery occurs because humans make choices for themselves that for some reason offends a deity (odd, considering that deity purportedly knew beforehand that they would)...my response concerned those humans who suffer misery and are not even able to make choices of any kind...
‘Humans make that choice, not God.’
yes, they did; but not the one’s who suffered...and regarding the deity, who is so offended by evil deeds so as to spread misery, seems rather inconsistent in his punishment, thinking about the 47 years since Roe v Wade and 60 million plus abortions...
‘The idea that the misery we all see means that God doesn’t care for everyone is simply specious’
au contraire; it is in reality obvious...
OK, I’m convinced.
I’ll be telling my children all about Mohammed and Buddha and the various Hindu gods. Oh, that’s not the religious faith you had in mind?
Because that is what you guys are saying, right? Better to be a Muslim, with all that entails, than an atheist?
‘Being a nihilist does not mean that you don’t appreciate the rich traditions and constructive beliefs that all cultures contribute as humans struggle with the suffering of inevitable death. It just means that you don’t believe you have the “right” belief and everybody else is a pagan.’
that indeed is true, and well stated...
I had very similar thoughts.
I retired at 53 and recently turned 71.....those years went by like seconds — way too fast.
A doctor recently told me that I had about another 3 years left. I stay busy doing things I like but I still think daily about how fast this time will fly by.
I talk to God every day, I sure hope He has a sense of humor — my dog convinces me that He does.
You can believe that if you want.
But it’s simply not true.
And as I suggested, it’s very shallow, and very lazy thinking.
‘And as I suggested, it’s very shallow, and very lazy thinking.’
lazy thinking describes the notion that an invisible and unknowable entity withholds divine treatment until after our deaths, so that we toe the line during our lifetimes, to a tee...
Matthew 10:29 “29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. “
That is more a definition of agnosticism not nihilism.
You’re sadly mistaken.
Lazy thinking believes we appeared by total chance.
About as probable as a tornado going through a junkyard and assembling a new passenger jet.
If you look into it more, you’ll find more.
If you seek the truth, rather than an easy answer, you’ll find it.
If you knock on His door, He’ll open it for you.
It’s a standing offer. You don’t have to refuse it.
Reply if you wish, but I don’t think we need to go further with this conversation.
Have a great evening.
‘...that even though they don’t believe in God, they nevertheless blame God for all the evil in the world.’
actually, I absolutely absolve God of all complicity in evil, as I am agnostic regarding his existence...
‘Satan and his followers corrupted this world, not God.’
not so, as according to prevailing belief, God created Satan, knowing what he would do, and failure to prevent the evil thus falls to God...according to tradition, that is...
‘But if you blame him instead, who’s going to save you?’
like I said, I don’t blame him for anything; nor do I seek divine salvation, that’s what our secular systems of justice are for...
Plenty of misery here for animals too...and some of them are capable of making choices, both intelligent and foolish. They have less foresight by far than we have, and with all we have we still sometimes make reasonable, intelligent choices and end up horrified at the consequences. Much is unknowable, whether you're man or worm.
Obeying God in everything is a nearly unattainable goal but I keep trying as long as He gives me strength. One particular commandment FreeRepublic has helped me remember is Matthew 7:6.
‘It’s a standing offer. You don’t have to refuse it.’
I’m replying, not so as to get in a snarky last word, or further a discussion upon which we will never agree, but actually to thank you for not castigating me for my beliefs, as many have done...
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