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"You're an atheist -- how could you do that to your children?"

"You're an atheist -- how could you do that to your children?"

It's in our nature to cherish our children. If you have children yourself then you will know what I am talking about. (Unless you're emotionally retarded.) As soon as you rationalize that it is OK for a "God of Love" to put disobedient children to death....you lose me!! (Truthfully, you lost me at the God part!) Parents in the USA would be imprisoned and (if in Texas, hehe) possibly put to death for killing disobedient children.

Christians point to the 'end times' prophecies, like the book of Timothy (2 Timothy 3:1-3) which says that, "Children will have no natural affection, disloyal, disobedient ....Parents no natural love for their children...." (I paraphrase). Well, if that is true, maybe its because so many follow the sick example of a God (heavenly Father) who tells us that Abraham was his friend because he was willing to kill his son, Isaac. The great moral lesson of the Bible is that Adam and Eve fucked up, so we all deserve to die! The moment you accept this as OK, your thinking is skewed.

People will find a way to accept a total contradiction. GOD IS LOVE! God will demand from you what is most precious! You say that the God of the Old Testament was before Jesus...what the fuck does that mean? I don't think that the Bible was addressing two different Gods. Genesis to Revelation...same God. Murderous, jealous and vengeful describes that God for me. God allowed Satan to kill Job's family and destroy all his material possessions (to settle a wager, by the way), but that's OK because God said, "Do your worst Satan, as long as you don't kill Job." So Satan, we are told, killed Job's family. Did you miss that part? Job lost 10 children, but that's OK, because God let Job have a bunch more. LOL!!!! Abraham proves he is God's friend by his willingness to give up what was most precious...HIS OWN SON. This is twisted. This is no different than radical Islam, which also claims Abraham as its great patriarch. Who would ever accept this as normal behavior for a parent?

What is the Biblical message? God comes first and family is replaceable. God is not even fucking provable, and family is right before your eyes, yet you accept a faith that says you must sacrifice your child to show your obedience? You devalue your life and the life of your children in favor of what comes after this life? Give all that you have to God (including this life and your children) and you will have rich rewards in heaven...oh, and God's Love. This is philosophical suicide! Dude, all that anyone really wants is unconditional love, right fucking now.

Did God need a hug?

When I was a child and tried to imagine heaven...it always looked like the best day ever with my Mom and Dad and brothers and sisters. Great music, enough to eat and drink, a home, good health. This was heaven to me, in spite of sickness, death, and crime. Life takes a very wrong turn when we buy into the lie that there is something better than love and loved ones, right here and right now.

I love this planet, this family, this person that I call myself. I am an atheist and believe in love. That's how I can do this to my kids!

Tags: Atheist, God, atheism, children, jehovah's, witnesses

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Comment by Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM on July 26, 2009 at 9:58am: How could I ever have believed this stuff?

Comment by Brandy on July 26, 2009 at 9:34am: As a former Jehovah's Witness, I find the doctrine of, "God first, Family second" to be devastating. I have not completely lost all of my family but there is such a disconnect between us. Plus, knowing there isn't unconditional love there is very hard on the psyche.

The imagery you mention in the Bible story is disgusting. Looking back now, I cannot believe the imagery that is shown to children. This is serious child abuse!

Comment by Ravenone on March 18, 2009 at 8:36am: Brainwashing is alive and well in the USA. I hear you Talibangelist and I did the same with my two children. When I left the Jehovah's Witnesses my kids were 8 and 6,fully brainwashed already. My son was able to go to the doors with me and give a 6 minute sermon at the door including the reading of a couple of scriptures. My daughter was six and about to start doing her own sermons at the door.

One of the things that pricked the armor that was my faith,came from my son at 8 years old. I was reading to him from the JW book of bible stories,the story was the flood of Noah's day. There was a picture of a mother climbing on top of a boulder to escape the rising water,she clutched a crying baby to her chest while the ark floated off,door shut in the distance. Ryan was so disturbed. He looked at me and asked why God would kill the baby of the wicked parent. "What did the baby do Mom?"

I gave him the answer I had been taught. "Little rattlesnakes grow into big rattlesnakes!" Horrible answer. EGADS...hurts even now to think back on this.

Ryan looked at me thoughtfully and then he said," But Mom...the baby could have been a good person. Look at Adam and Eve,they had two kids,one was Cain and one was Able. One was good and one was bad."

Holy Shit!!!

That was the real beginning of my crisis of faith. SO much truth in his statement and I just couldn't shake it off. There is a lot more to the story of my de-conversion but this was the beginning.

Needless to say...my kids are thrilled to be out of the Cult of the JW's. When we left, we lost all extended family on both sides. It's been ten years since we have had any contact. This whole thing is a lesson my kids will never forget.

Thanks all of you for reading my blog and commenting!

It's great to discuss these things now with people of like mind.

Comment by Talibangelist on March 18, 2009 at 8:09am: I was raised religious, not full tilt crazy but like a lot of Americans, only sorta crazy. The main reason I began raising my kids religiously, before I became a heathen anyhow, was because that was the way I was raised. It is 100% indoctrination, and babies don't come with user manuals. And to look at it as such makes you (forces you really) to realize that you come from a long line of delusional nutcases. That hurts, even still, to think of it that way, but it doesn't make it any less real or true. Ok, so my parents are nuttier than a squirrel turd, and I'm sure my kids will think I am too, but I refuse to let them think that virgins have babies, after all one of my kids is a girl and how fucked would that be to her overall development, and my kids will KNOW that the only time snakes talk to you is when you are using hallucinating, and then its time to see a doctor, unless of course they induced the hallucination theirself and then its time to see their ass beat and locked in their room.

Great post, btw. Sorry for the rant.

Comment by Janelle elise kelley on March 18, 2009 at 1:49am: >Great post-You make a lot of wonderful points. It's quite amazing to me that the majority of people think the best way to raise your kids is with religion. I personally feel teaching kids religion is a horrible burden to place on your children. Why is it that in the 21st century 70 percent of Americans so strongly believe in myths such as Christianity? I think one very strong reason is,religion is seen as a positive force and people are applauded when they hand it down to their kids. aka (brainwashing).

Comment by Dre Smith on March 17, 2009 at 12:06pm: Like I always tell people imagine if GOD was an LLC. Could you imagine the amount of money he would be sued for? The amount of damages would be beyond the trillions of dollars. After all GOD has to be responsible...the whole being all powerful, all knowing, and all wise. Letting things happen, that are supposed to be good but having bad results. If GOD was a corporation the shareholders would've tossed this CEO out on his all powerful ass a long time ago. I don't even want to imagine the affect this would have on WALL STREET.

Comment by Ravenone on March 17, 2009 at 10:24am: It is really sick isn't it. It's like topsy turvey world. God is a spoiled,murderous BRAT! We would put GOD on trial for war crimes in this day and age.

Comment by Dre Smith on March 17, 2009 at 10:01am: Here here one of the best I have read myself on here. It does never seem to bother people that GOD does not like sharing the spotlight with your family members. Even in the New Testament I believe in the book of Matthew Jesus says you must forsake your family and put GOD first. So if the world was ending tomorrow, you can't want to face that with your family but rather GOD. Just could never figure out the human element in all of that. Nor does it sound like the pearls of wisdom I wanna hear from an all knowing all yielding diety.

Comment by Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM on March 17, 2009 at 2:23am: It never ceases to amaze me how today's American Fundies have tied their version of god to South Western "family values". The Christian Bible paints pictures of Yahweh, Jesus, prophets and disciples which depict them as displaying and preaching behavior which is frequently about as far from "wholesome family values" as it is possible to get.

Comment by Buffy on March 17, 2009 at 1:08am: Yes, how could you do that to your children? Any loving parent would teach them to obey god or burn in hell forever.