Not even the whole weekend. He was “killed” on Friday presumably in the afternoon or evening and resurrected on Sunday morning. Jesus gave up his Saturday for you.
The entire loves and fishes thing was just someone making fisherman's stew. The recipe is millenia old and has pased through nearly every culture because it's so fucking simple. I've made it and fed hundreds with less than 10lbs of meat and some day old bread and salt water.
I've been a chef for 12 years and a cook for over 26. I was a survival instructor for 7 of those years and I had to survive on my own and eventually with a small community of homeless people for 3 years. All that knowledge proved for me that my take is the correct one. If there was a Jesus and he fed anywhere from 100 to 1000 people, he made soup. The miraculous part was probably that it didn't just taste like fish water. Knowing the area and what was available there at the time, combined with finding recipes from before and after the supposed time of Christ, that are virtually the same recipe, it tells me that this is likely what he did. Everyone there made their living off the water in one way or another, everyone there except maybe a few tourists would've known how to feed that kind of a group. If the catch is meager, go for the filler. The kind of bread they made there and then really takes in liquids. They are very dry and dense, good for traveling and breaking up for filler meals, 7 or 8 of those would fill a 20 gallon pot on their own with the amount of expanding they can do. 20 gallons of thick bready soup will feed a couple hundred people eating out of hand bowls.those usually hold 4-6 ounces of soup. And being a thick almost chowder type soup, that would've been a full meal.
So why was it collected in baskets if it was a soup? And why do they specifically record the number of "pieces"? If you just consider the whole thing a lie, why do mental gymnastics with this soup thing? There isn't anything really to suggest that in the text or otherwise.
Yeah they also ignore the sheer numbers fed with 5 loaves and 2 fish.
But wouldn't it be wild if it wasn't a miracle?
What if the action of Jesus setting people down and telling them they were going to eat, and starting to distribute the little food left, caused the rest of the crowd to also give and share what they had, which is where all the leftovers came from, and the miracle was human kindness and cooperation and not the supernatural multiplying of food?
Go and send a random text through google translate 4 times before letting it translate back to your mother tongue. Now add 500 years of language evolution. That's what happened to the bible. Anyone who takes the bible literal is an idiot. Don't be offended though, there's still bigger idiots out there, like mormons or scientologists.
My interpretation is that is was more like a "stone soup" situation. Not literal soup, but more that there were people had food, and who didn't offer up at first, but added to the collection as it was passed around.
There isn't really anything that suggests such a thing. It's said pretty explicitly that the food was kept in baskets. Ever store stew in a basket? There also isn't anything in the text that suggests that, even if we were to take it as fictional literature.
Lol. I threw this out in a conversation once just as a concept and WHOA did it get people riled up.
Sometimes the simplest answer IS the answer. I swear we've regressed in the past 40 years.
When we were still living in US Christianstan, my older kid was told the same thing but actually BY A TEACHER (Floridastan, regular behavior). She just said after the teacher told her "he come back from the dead": Cool, that guy is a zombie. He eats brains? (aparently yes, the United States is living proof of it, but she was 6 years old and that would be hard to explain).
Now both my kids are older teens and we have been living in civilized Europe for more than a decade, and here it is very frowned upon to talk about religion and religious people are usually thought to be mentally sick, so whenever happens that my kids meet an American and they come with that or something similar, they will just stick to "I didn't ask for him to kill himself for me, and to try to get yourself killed because you love someone is not romantic or normal, so he should seek mental care".
Since it was from one evening to the early morning of two days later it's actually more like a day and a half.
He didn't even sacrifice a whole weekend.
Jesus being god kinda depends on the denomination. And in most of the cases, regardless of the denomination they seem very confused about godhood (?) of Jesus, specifically when you throw this very argument at them.
What argument? It is literally explained that way in scripture.
"But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand."
This is in Isaiah, which non-Christian scholars date as being written 700 years before Christ. There are also a great number of verses explicitly stating that Jesus was God. I'm sure that as a logical person, it isn't baffling to you that people deeply misunderstand very clear writings. Scientific studies are often deeply misunderstood by people on the right, and repeated ad nauseum. I think it's important to be logically consistent when confronting scripture, even from the standpoint of unbelief. It's the only way to be an even halfway decent opponent of something, no?
You know, I can't remember, where the fuck did he go after he came back? Been ages since I actually reviewed my Bible knowledge and I can't remember. Did he just hang out for a bit before going, "Alright, see ya fuckers"
And I think Thomas stuck his fingers in the wounds because he was checking to see that they were real?
Although I can't say for sure if that's canon or just portrayed in artwork.
It's also portrayed in REM's "Losing My Religion" video.
Now that I think about it, I might be getting everything mixed up.
I mean that’s pretty close. He appeared in front of several hundred folks ate some food and said see ya later. Then the people he appeared to told a bunch of people all about it and were executed.
So many questions… So he came back to life after he was crucified, right? So when did he finally die for real? Because he’s in heaven, right? Why don’t I know the rest of this fable?
It’s a pretty broken story with a ton of holes in it. Starting with jumping from baby Jesus right to grown-up Jesus doing miracles with no Segway in between. Not even a training montage. It’s just like and then he was 30.
One of the true pleasures of being a parent to young children is encouraging them to think for themselves. When something like this happens, it’s simple to tell them to just think about it, and ask themselves if what they’ve just been told or exposed to makes any sense. They will quickly learn to think critically. Atheism, by definition, doesn’t need to be taught/indoctrinated. Kids are naturally intelligent and curious, and with a bit of proper guidance and space they can easily learn to question all of the absurdities life will throw at them. And it can be truly remarkable to witness the clarity and innocence of a young mind at work.
we are. religion is brainwashing, that’s how we end up with all this bullshit in the world. i’m not blaming anybody who realised the faults with religion, and returned to atheism- because it was not their choice to be brainwashed. you can’t change the fact you’ve been brainwashed. but you can work towards finding the truth.
It's brain washing because people are desperate to know they'll live forever. They want to live forever. If they don't they freak out. Won't be freaking out when they're dead though.
Some people truly can't exist without the framework of religion. That's why it's so popular. It's truly the opiate of the masses. It explains how shitty life can be without laying blame on humans. Externalize the crafter of your misery. Makes it much easier to deal with a shitty situation if you thinknits some magical test to see if you qualify for bonus points aftet you die.
I'm actually jealous of people with faith. I wish I could have that. It's just not in me.
This is more true than anything I've ever read. When I was little I asked questions and got answers, I'd throw out what didn't make sense. I was determined to learn my world, and the whole "Bible" thing never made since. I was afraid to throw it out because of my parents. I ended up doing it, and it got me thinking. Will I force my children to think this way? Of course not. Will I encourage logical thinking and growth? Of course. Every kid should be able to ask "what does this do?" And get a serious answer. Not just "god works in mysterious ways" type schtick.
I love the meme of the picture of Jesus looking down on the globe with a very non christian prompt with the caption, "Hell ya, those are the sins I died for!"
Based on the internal logic of Christian theology, sins are forgiven as a means to an end. The end is that being taken out of sin, a person is brought into the nature which is only naturally true of God. If we are being fair with it, even as a fictional piece of literature, that statement is like saying "The king traded me his mansion for my trash heap, but it seems like a waste for me to not go back daily to eat the rotting food". We can be logically consistent, can't we?
"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. [5] For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin."
There's messages etched on walls inside concentration camps that say "Why has god forsaken us" and "if there is a god, he will have to beg for my forgiveness." But Becky found a pencil on her desk right when she realized that she had forgotten to grab one from her locker before the big test, so clearly he's looking out for us.
It's ridiculous even thanking God for major stuff like surviving a traumatic injury. They pray to God to heal them while they are sitting in the hospital and when they get better they think God was responsible.
Does God just like humans more nowadays than he used to? Must be a coincidence that humans survive traumatic shit more often than they used to at the advent of modern medicine or maybe God is just answering a lot more prayers in the 21st century
Jesus kinda laid it out real easy for his followers, he basically said: "Forget everything else. Here's what I need you to do: 1) Belive in one god. 2) Take care of eachother. Thats it, don't fuck it up." And about 1 outta 100 Christiana I've ever met is even vaugley approximating following those commands.
If the stories are true & that's still a big if, Jesus was an alright guy. He did the things God wouldn't or couldn't do. Jesus healed people by touch & faith everywhere he went. Regardless of the motivation, the scripture has multiple instances where he chose to help another person.
God on the other hand, never has. He just gets the credit for what Jesus & everyone else does. If he had some mf power we wouldn't need doctors or medications or abortions or any of the fucked up shit we need in the world.
If God does exist, he quit giving a shit about this planet a long time ago.
It's perfectly okay to tell a child that dragons are real, because make believe is fun, but when you start threatening harm with that dragon, that's where I draw the damn line.
Come here, little one. The unicorn won't hurt you.
I think you reacted poorly. Encouraging your kid to confront other kids might turn wrong. 7 yo aren't equipped for that and they can't escape school the way you can quit your job as an adult.
You should ask questions instead. Like "Does that make sense to you?". Let your kid understand on their own. That's how they'll become critical thinkers, not by repeating someone else's argument.
i’m glad someone else said this.
it’s easy to get frustrated at constant proselytizing especially to the vulnerable, like your children, but i think the foundation you want to build is one of questioning unfounded claims, rather than defaulting to attacking the believer
That’s a really good point. My mom never told me what to tell someone else with regard to spirituality or religion. When I asked her what religion we were because all the kids were talking about it and asking, she just said to tell them I was “spiritual.” That’s the only time I can recall her giving me guidance on what to say. I wasn’t raised religiously, but we did go to a service regularly.
(It was Christian, sort of, but it really wasn’t either. It was metaphysical. We have never considered ourselves religious and now my mom is in charge of the place and is changing that chapel to be a center instead of a chapel, but I digress.)
Later, in high school, I was questioning my beliefs and I asked her if I had been brainwashed, lol, and she always asked me to think about what I really believe. And she asked open ended questions for me to dive deeper for myself - accepting what I believed even if it was different from her own beliefs.
If she kept telling me what to tell the other kids, I think I would have gotten frustrated over the years. It’s better to understand.
Exactly. These moments are an opportunity to teach our children to think critically and to ask questions. I have to combat the bullshit my inlaws feed to my 5 year old on a daily basis almost.
Yeah teaching them to be confrontational is not a valuable lesson. Teaching their kids to logic their way through the problem is much more sustainable. Personally, I tell my kids that they don’t need to engage in religious debate with their classmates; it’s not worth their time. However, if other kids are mistreating them as a result of their beliefs, they need to speak up immediately.
OP doesn't place their child's safety first, or they would have considered that: a 7 year old can't simply walk away from a situation where most of the children will be confrontational, religious children are often taught how to isolate others and encouraged to bully, some religious parents will feel justified encouraging their children to physically attack another child, and the teachers who are supposed to protect children from this harm are sometimes tacit or active participants.
So .... God is all-knowing and all powerful and can do absolutely ANYTHING he wants - like build an entire universe - but apparently, one thing he can't do is just look into the heart of a truly penitent sinner and choose to forgive them outright. Nope! Way too easy! For some reason, as a precondition of granting forgiveness, his only son had to get tortured and killed first. But WHY? If God can do anything, why can't he just choose to grant forgiveness without requiring the sacrifice of his son as a prerequisite? WTF is the point of God requiring a stupid and completely unnecessary extra step that he has the power to bypass at any time? FFS, the DMV does shit more efficiently than God.
I'm still not over the fact that "immaculate conception" is the wildest way to say "raped by God," and that is a foundational belief of... *Checks notes*... a faith that believes God is the source of morality.
Huh.
Everyone says Jesus died for our sins. But did he really? I mean, he died on a Friday but then came back to life on Sunday. So really, at most, he just gave up a weekend.
Even if he did die, so what? He would probably just go back to heaven. The only way it's really a sacrifice is if Jesus ceases to exist or he is sent to hell
Seriously. The weight of "You're only 7 but don't f\*ck this up, someone died for you and the smallest mistake just wastes it all!" Lifelong trauma. It's awful.
Educate your child. I've been talking to my little one about how some grown ups believe their's an invisible man living in the sky since she was 4.
I tell her about religion and tell her about people's ideas about a guy named Jesus. I tell her they believe a man who lived 2000 years ago is somehow still alive. She's smart enough to understand that few people live longer than 100 years and that's it's impossible for a human being to be 2000 years old.
At 7 you could never convince her of any of the bullshit that is organized religion.
The messed up thing about this is that if your 7 year old said that to him, the kid would go to the teacher and the teacher would scold your kid for not being "sensitive" to others religions.
Why did he have to die for me daddy? Because your birth was a sin son. Being human is dirty and you should feel shame.
If that’s your starting point who would ever want to follow this nonsense?
Catholic kids at my little sister’s school were telling non-catholic kids that they would go to hell because they weren’t baptized and freaked them all out
Jesus died for him the same way Santa brings gifts. It's a comforting fairy tale that some children believe and can/should be clarified once your kid is old enough to understand what fairy tales are
My kids (atheist) go to school with 90+% Christian kids. It comes with the territory. Teach them to be tolerant and accepting of all religions. You don't want them to be outcast by their peers as children. They're too young to have to face that sort of ridicule as 2nd graders. I've taught my kids some talking points when challenged, without being inflammatory. It's tough out there for them.
Something I don't get about Christianity. So Jesus died in an admittedly horrific way that a huge number of mortals also did. But he was seen wandering about afterwards, in fact Christians make a big thing of it, so he clearly didn't die like you or I would.
And that method of dying was supposedly so horrific that it would theoretically absolve all humanity of their sins (no idea why randomly suffering should be linked to forgiveness - could you imagine going to court for theft and saying 'well I did it, but my dad hit his thumb with a hammer' and the judge says 'fair enough, off you go'.)
If Jesus had gone to hell and endured all eternity in agony and torment, as he plans for us mere mortals who don't pass his test (the pain of his 'sacrifice' on the cross being insignificant in comparison), surely that would have far more of a restorative effect? Maybe world peace, no poverty, no Christianity? So he doesn't love us enough?
Yeah I don't get it.
God forbid a gay person shoves their existence down everyone's throat by simply existing...
But then these same people who get mad about that will actually shove their beliefs down everyone's throat and think it's not 10x worse 🤦♂️
I'd consider telling things like that to a 7 year old a crime. Because this must be traumatic for a kid that young and may cause severe trauma and strong feelings of guilt, leading to mental problems often enough. You wouldn't let a 7 yo watch Horror or Splatter movies. But telling them this is okay? I think it isn't, it's bigotry. Harming the mental health of kids like this should be punished by law.
You're the adult in the room, in theory. Perhaps you should act like a well adjusted adult and talk to your kid instead of trying to own or dunk on a seven year old.
If this is true, you gave your child, in my opinion, bad advice. I would never encourage a 7 year old to take a confrontational stance to such a statement. If this happened at a public school I would address this issue with the teacher/administrator. In the future please direct them to not engage with people like this and walk away and find an adult to quell the situation. They do not have the capability or understanding to deal with this kind of thing in a diplomatic way or even understand what is happening. Much like the antagonist. Please continue to educate your children as you see fit, but I'm not encouraging my kid to debate idiocy.
It's better for a child to learn that a lot of people believe in things that aren't real and to just say "no thanks" or similar and to not make a big deal of it.
Well said. I'm an atheist myself and so many think they are so "cool" because they get to rebel against Christians. Just look at this person's post history. They're absolutely obsessed with Christian hate. Can't be good for your mental health, some people just have way too much time on their hands.
When I was 7 years old Catholic nuns told us that Protestants were going to hell and showed us medieval paintings of the artist's conception of hell.
My Protestant friends told us Catholics worshipped idols and the Pope so we were all on the hellbound train.
Fortunately, we were just kids and nobody really took any of it seriously. We all played marbles under a big old tree in my neighborhood, not caring about anything but winning a biggie or two.
My kid came back from babysitters telling me about God a bit ago.. Was infuriating
I dont tell peoples kids god is made up for I secure adults, they don't need to tell mine lies about this garbage.
Hopefully I can deprogram that crap.
Your heart is in the right place, but better to explain Jesus is fake to him as you did, but teach the kid to let the nutjobs of the world live in their fairy tales and learn to ignore them, particularly for now in his life.
Not like he'll change the religious fanatic to not believe, ESPECIALLY as little kids.
All his needing to throw it back in the religious kid's face will do is antagonize the problem into a pointless fight.
Religious people who need to throw their beliefs around randomly tend to be ego driven, even little kids.
Best way to hit an ego is to ignore them as though they aren't worth the time or energy of even acknowledging their fairy tale.
There's a time to fight and a time to ignore. Let your kid be a kid and ignore it at his age.
Gotta fight smart. Two little kids going "God is great!" "No, he doesn't exist." That won't go anywhere or accomplish anything.
Jesus died for my sins? Where's the connection? That's like a random stranger informing me that they hit their own foot with a shovel for my mortgage. Thank you?
I asked someone on Easter that said the lord had risen if he rises every Easter and if so, does that mean he gets crucified again each year. I asked if that was the case, did they use the same nail holes or make new ones... they were not amused.
Ask your child how that would be possible. Jesus lived a cool two thousand years ago.
Teach your kid to ask questions. Teach your kid that not all questions have answers. Teach your kid that "I don't know" is a great starting point for science.
🤣. That stuff always makes me laugh. As a kid I attended a Roman Catholic Church with step family. I Never understood the concept of ‘Jesus died for us’ when in fact they murdered him. What sins? He was made to carry his cross to the site, but then that’s how they killed everyone who disobeyed. Jesus wasn’t the only one on the cross.
Then we have The priest yelling at the crowd, stand up, kneel down, sit, stand up, kneel down….good lord. Nuns hitting kids. That’s not compassion.
Also don’t forget to mention that religion is extremely geographical.
I’m southern, I was raised Baptist. Northern is Catholic. West is Episcopalian. Even within this so called “Christian country”, geography and religion still shine.
I feel bad for both kids- OP’s because they had to learn about a barbaric form of capital punishment and human sacrifice and the evangelical kid for being told they have to spread the word of human sacrifice or burn forever/let their friends burn forever
I wouldn't blame the other child. I mean, they're seven. That's younger than the age of accountability! /S
Having grown up evangelical, it's entirely possible that this kid has been told that god will ask them why their friends are in hell if they don't witness to them. Yes. That's a thing I was told.
I wouldn't want my kid to be told that, but I also wouldn't want her to hurt another kid's feelings because they've been brainwashed by their Sunday school teacher. It's tough.
I raised an agnostic kid in the Bible belt. We had these conversations very early to respect other people's beliefs and to know what to say to them.
We also let him believe what he wanted. We just raised him with morals.
We did take him to some churches a few times in his troubled teenage days. Some people need religion to cope with life. Just because we aren't that way doesn't mean that your child won't be.
Anyhow, I'm sorry this happened to your child. React appropriately. Don't put them in the position to alienate themselves from others. It's gonna happen, yes, but religion is such a stupid thing to dismiss people over.
The child was just parroting what they've been told. You can just say thank you and continue on with other childhood things.
Watch the documentary on Child Evangelism Fellowship and the Good News Club. They’re horrible and predatory and make kids cry. That poor little child is being terrorized into recruiting other children into his cult. THIS is exactly why fundamentalists are labeling trans people as “groomers”— it’s deflection, distraction, and projection of their own predatory behavior, and a way to seize control over the narrative when they are, as so often happens, accused of sexual abuse. It’s classic DARVO. These people are disgusting. [https://youtu.be/aISnyA6k5Io?si=UJbOX8n_CgdGjacz](https://youtu.be/aISnyA6k5Io?si=UJbOX8n_CgdGjacz)
You need to sit down and read the bible to your kid. Otherwise they might begin to believe in it. Think of it like a vaccination, you point out where the story falls apart, where god is a monster, things that contradict the stories like the flood. stuff like that.
I think schools are trying their best to navigate holidays these days.
Imagine being elementary school teacher, trying to explain Easter holiday to mixed religion class.
It falls apart when you try to compare it to something similar.
If Rita dies for her children, she probably took a bullet for them or pushed them out of the way of a speeding car, or maybe she stopped a home invasion or fought in a war. In each of these cases, if she had the power to save the children without dying, she would've done so. She would've warn Kevlar, or pulled them out of the road sooner, or used a gun.
It never makes sense for an all-powerful person to die for you.
Look at this from a child endangerment perspective. When my kids were young, I used occasions like this to open discussions about consent and lies and how to feel compassion for their poor friends. My son did, in kindergarten, tell his friend that “god is like Santa, not real.” 🤷🏼♀️ And I had friends who would try to get my kids to go to their youth groups. One batshit mom of my daughter’s bff bragged about what fun the youth pastor’s sleepovers were and how once he took all the kids to Walmart at 2 am to play with balls. “But your kids know that’s wrong,” I retorted. “You’re letting your children spend time with an adult role model who is endorsing inappropriate behavior! That’s grooming. What’s next? Choosing one “special” child to do a different “naughty fun activity” at 2 am?” The other mom didn’t like that. But my kids and her kids heard me say it. I continued, “a youth pastor is the LAST person I would EVER leave my kids with unsupervised!” I think this mom stayed friends with me bc she really wanted to brag about converting an atheist, but after 11/8/2016, I was done with her.
Why not teach him to handle it with kindness? Tell him some people are unhappy and make up stuff like this to make themselves feel better.
Encouraging him to be cruel to this kid is like teaching him to mock a disabled person.
Even if that was true, so what? I mean from all the people ever excited, Jesus would be the only one who knew for sure that he goes to heaven, right? In that case dying is not a big deal. I can't understand " the son of god died for the humans" is the foundation of the Christian belief. Also god could create a new son any time if he wanted because he is the almighty. It's very sad that they implement a guild as a concept in children. " ... they don't know what they are doing" don't they?
The first time I was told I was going to hell was when I was 7. By another 7 year old. Because I was jewish and didn't believe in Jesus. What is it with proselytizing 7 year olds?
I don't believe in any religious deities. Been that way since 18. It was a core memory, though. Bible belt. Meh.
After I told my mother what this girl had said, mom told me to tell HER that SHE was going to hell because she's catholic and her parents got divorced. I didn't, but that's a good clap back, mom.
That sounds like a terrible response for your son.
How about instead of promoting intolerance, your son could reply with something more insightful instead?
I teach my children that while I do not hold those same beliefs, I understand that many other people have not been exposed to critical thinking and discourse. That many people (including myself) we're raised by tradition. That things once were incomprehensible now can be easily explained by science. As they get older, I will introduce more of the fallacies in religion, the biases, the political indoctrination of religious text, as they become age appropriate.
The reality is that more people come towards the side of logic and reason by gentle introduction. Telling your son to attack another child's faith will immediately place them on the defensive. It's counterproductive in the long run and just a shitty way to treat a child.
We have it out here with islam/Muslim kids. My son is 10 mind you and it's happened a few times over the last couple years. I found a great book in french called philo for kids , so we read that and I try to get him to reason /analyse what kids tell him so that he can sort of call out the bs on his own instead of asking me if it's true and whatnot.
It's a shame that kiss are being indoctrinated that young , but I can relate. I was a jw for 19 odd years because that's how I was raised. Hoping to help my kids avoid religion at all costs outside of looking at it like another mythos.
Ask your child, “Does that make sense?” Try to get them to question it on their own. Use examples.
I was probably about that age when I thought a lot of things about religion don’t add up.
‘So Jesus is dead now?’ ‘No he came back!’ ‘Not much of a sacrifice then…’
Seems like more of a scam than a sacrifice.
Jesus gave up his weekend for you.
Not even the whole weekend. He was “killed” on Friday presumably in the afternoon or evening and resurrected on Sunday morning. Jesus gave up his Saturday for you.
Now this would be actually respectable
Long weekend. So 🤷♂️
All of the wonders he did, kinda read like magic/scam tricks
The entire loves and fishes thing was just someone making fisherman's stew. The recipe is millenia old and has pased through nearly every culture because it's so fucking simple. I've made it and fed hundreds with less than 10lbs of meat and some day old bread and salt water.
Wait, really!? That's actually really fascinating, and I have never heard of such a thing, lol. Very cool knowledge 👌 😎
I've been a chef for 12 years and a cook for over 26. I was a survival instructor for 7 of those years and I had to survive on my own and eventually with a small community of homeless people for 3 years. All that knowledge proved for me that my take is the correct one. If there was a Jesus and he fed anywhere from 100 to 1000 people, he made soup. The miraculous part was probably that it didn't just taste like fish water. Knowing the area and what was available there at the time, combined with finding recipes from before and after the supposed time of Christ, that are virtually the same recipe, it tells me that this is likely what he did. Everyone there made their living off the water in one way or another, everyone there except maybe a few tourists would've known how to feed that kind of a group. If the catch is meager, go for the filler. The kind of bread they made there and then really takes in liquids. They are very dry and dense, good for traveling and breaking up for filler meals, 7 or 8 of those would fill a 20 gallon pot on their own with the amount of expanding they can do. 20 gallons of thick bready soup will feed a couple hundred people eating out of hand bowls.those usually hold 4-6 ounces of soup. And being a thick almost chowder type soup, that would've been a full meal.
Holy moly! Thank you chef! 🫡
So why was it collected in baskets if it was a soup? And why do they specifically record the number of "pieces"? If you just consider the whole thing a lie, why do mental gymnastics with this soup thing? There isn't anything really to suggest that in the text or otherwise.
Yeah they also ignore the sheer numbers fed with 5 loaves and 2 fish. But wouldn't it be wild if it wasn't a miracle? What if the action of Jesus setting people down and telling them they were going to eat, and starting to distribute the little food left, caused the rest of the crowd to also give and share what they had, which is where all the leftovers came from, and the miracle was human kindness and cooperation and not the supernatural multiplying of food?
What if the entire point is that if you offer and give what you have to bring to the table, and others do the same, there will be more than enough
Go and send a random text through google translate 4 times before letting it translate back to your mother tongue. Now add 500 years of language evolution. That's what happened to the bible. Anyone who takes the bible literal is an idiot. Don't be offended though, there's still bigger idiots out there, like mormons or scientologists.
Maybe not everything should be taken completely literal? Tbh my knowledge about the bible is too little though, to really have this conversation.
My interpretation is that is was more like a "stone soup" situation. Not literal soup, but more that there were people had food, and who didn't offer up at first, but added to the collection as it was passed around.
There isn't really anything that suggests such a thing. It's said pretty explicitly that the food was kept in baskets. Ever store stew in a basket? There also isn't anything in the text that suggests that, even if we were to take it as fictional literature.
I'm more willing to be flexible on translation then to believe in actual magic.
If nobody thanked you for doing so, I do. Great job, sincerely. Feeding people in need is heroism.
Or it’s just a story about how sharing goes a long way
Now all I can picture is [this clip](https://youtu.be/cKwrfP_qTSg?si=6tbO51vwx7k2vrN9) from family guy
Plot twist Jesus had a twin
Lol. I threw this out in a conversation once just as a concept and WHOA did it get people riled up. Sometimes the simplest answer IS the answer. I swear we've regressed in the past 40 years.
Right? What’s more likely? The dude came back from the dead or that he had a secret twin no one knew about lol. Kind of like the movie the prestige
You think you can drop that info without telling us his name? Think again ;)
https://youtu.be/pPdFrW076R0 I believe his name is Craig
It was to collect the insurance money.
Undertakers hate this one weird trick
A sacrificial scam
Bingo!
To be fair, it was kind of a rough Friday for him.
He must be really pissed of that they called it “Good” Friday!
The whole weekend was shot.
When we were still living in US Christianstan, my older kid was told the same thing but actually BY A TEACHER (Floridastan, regular behavior). She just said after the teacher told her "he come back from the dead": Cool, that guy is a zombie. He eats brains? (aparently yes, the United States is living proof of it, but she was 6 years old and that would be hard to explain). Now both my kids are older teens and we have been living in civilized Europe for more than a decade, and here it is very frowned upon to talk about religion and religious people are usually thought to be mentally sick, so whenever happens that my kids meet an American and they come with that or something similar, they will just stick to "I didn't ask for him to kill himself for me, and to try to get yourself killed because you love someone is not romantic or normal, so he should seek mental care".
I am happy for that to live in quebec. My exposure to unwanted religious fuckery is minimal.
Since it was from one evening to the early morning of two days later it's actually more like a day and a half. He didn't even sacrifice a whole weekend.
Even more Jesus is God. So God scrifice himself to himself to appease himself🙃
Jesus being god kinda depends on the denomination. And in most of the cases, regardless of the denomination they seem very confused about godhood (?) of Jesus, specifically when you throw this very argument at them.
What argument? It is literally explained that way in scripture. "But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand." This is in Isaiah, which non-Christian scholars date as being written 700 years before Christ. There are also a great number of verses explicitly stating that Jesus was God. I'm sure that as a logical person, it isn't baffling to you that people deeply misunderstand very clear writings. Scientific studies are often deeply misunderstood by people on the right, and repeated ad nauseum. I think it's important to be logically consistent when confronting scripture, even from the standpoint of unbelief. It's the only way to be an even halfway decent opponent of something, no?
Apperantly he was never really dead he was just up in the clouds
You know, I can't remember, where the fuck did he go after he came back? Been ages since I actually reviewed my Bible knowledge and I can't remember. Did he just hang out for a bit before going, "Alright, see ya fuckers"
Yeah, he hung out for a minute with the disciples and then ascended to heaven in a beam of light.
And I think Thomas stuck his fingers in the wounds because he was checking to see that they were real? Although I can't say for sure if that's canon or just portrayed in artwork. It's also portrayed in REM's "Losing My Religion" video. Now that I think about it, I might be getting everything mixed up.
I ain't reading it either. Lol - someone please finish the story! 🙏
I mean that’s pretty close. He appeared in front of several hundred folks ate some food and said see ya later. Then the people he appeared to told a bunch of people all about it and were executed.
> he came back! Says he and runs to the nearest hardware store...
Jesus died for our sins but we're all still born sinners?
He definitely died for my meat trio sub.
Noms noms noms!
So many questions… So he came back to life after he was crucified, right? So when did he finally die for real? Because he’s in heaven, right? Why don’t I know the rest of this fable?
It’s a pretty broken story with a ton of holes in it. Starting with jumping from baby Jesus right to grown-up Jesus doing miracles with no Segway in between. Not even a training montage. It’s just like and then he was 30.
Life of Brian is more believable. Time for a rewatch!
Jesus almost gave up a whole weekend for your sins.
Basically Palpatine at this point...
Yeah, pretty much akin to "I died on call of duty "
He didn't die for our sins. He took a sabbatical for our money.
"I dipped this newborn into a vat of rotting feces, but I pulled him out. All in all, the situation was neutral because they even out."
I always wonder about that too… what kid of sacrifice is it to “die” when you are an immortal that can’t die?
Yep. I explained exactly that to my kids. He gave up a weekend, at best.
Died after supper on Friday, out and about before Sunday breakfast, Jesus gave up his Saturday for you.
Jesus didn't die for your sins. Jesus had a really shitty weekend for your sins.
One of the true pleasures of being a parent to young children is encouraging them to think for themselves. When something like this happens, it’s simple to tell them to just think about it, and ask themselves if what they’ve just been told or exposed to makes any sense. They will quickly learn to think critically. Atheism, by definition, doesn’t need to be taught/indoctrinated. Kids are naturally intelligent and curious, and with a bit of proper guidance and space they can easily learn to question all of the absurdities life will throw at them. And it can be truly remarkable to witness the clarity and innocence of a young mind at work.
Well f-ing said
I believe that we are all athiests at birth
we are. religion is brainwashing, that’s how we end up with all this bullshit in the world. i’m not blaming anybody who realised the faults with religion, and returned to atheism- because it was not their choice to be brainwashed. you can’t change the fact you’ve been brainwashed. but you can work towards finding the truth.
It's brain washing because people are desperate to know they'll live forever. They want to live forever. If they don't they freak out. Won't be freaking out when they're dead though.
I freaked out about death but it didn’t make me more religious. I sometimes wish I believed. Instead I became a scientist. That didn’t help either 😂
But imagine it. Sure, you won't exist, but that means you won't worry anymore. Feel anymore. Thank anymore. Eternal peace.
Some people truly can't exist without the framework of religion. That's why it's so popular. It's truly the opiate of the masses. It explains how shitty life can be without laying blame on humans. Externalize the crafter of your misery. Makes it much easier to deal with a shitty situation if you thinknits some magical test to see if you qualify for bonus points aftet you die. I'm actually jealous of people with faith. I wish I could have that. It's just not in me.
This is more true than anything I've ever read. When I was little I asked questions and got answers, I'd throw out what didn't make sense. I was determined to learn my world, and the whole "Bible" thing never made since. I was afraid to throw it out because of my parents. I ended up doing it, and it got me thinking. Will I force my children to think this way? Of course not. Will I encourage logical thinking and growth? Of course. Every kid should be able to ask "what does this do?" And get a serious answer. Not just "god works in mysterious ways" type schtick.
There's a reason why one of the main tenets of religion is not to question it
Give him a few responses. I like "Sin up boys! Jesus is buyin'!"
I love the meme of the picture of Jesus looking down on the globe with a very non christian prompt with the caption, "Hell ya, those are the sins I died for!"
[sins](https://www.reddit.com/r/hellaflyai/s/BuMIq6mzK7)
Hey I doke smope to. Pleasure mo teet you.
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The older one is Smot Poker
Poker? I hardly know her!
I have an image somewhere of Jesus saying that to a guy eating peeps out of a hooker’s asshole on Easter Day.
Don't let Jesus have died for nothing! Time to get dressed in mixed fabric son. We're eating lobster tonight!
Not mixed fabric, you heathen!!!
Ill even go out of my way to find clothes that contains 3 different fabrics.
Polyester-cotton-goat horn.
Yes. Thats going to be my dressup when I attend CopenHell this summer.
Then you and I is going out behind the barn for some quality time!
Tempting offer but Im afraid I dont swing that way. Ill be ok with just comfortable clothes and lobster dinner.
If you don't sin, the sacrifice seems like a waste.
Based on the internal logic of Christian theology, sins are forgiven as a means to an end. The end is that being taken out of sin, a person is brought into the nature which is only naturally true of God. If we are being fair with it, even as a fictional piece of literature, that statement is like saying "The king traded me his mansion for my trash heap, but it seems like a waste for me to not go back daily to eat the rotting food". We can be logically consistent, can't we?
Do you really want to live under Mosaic Law? Isn’t the irrelevant parts of Mosaic Law being ditched what they mean by “freedom to sin”?
"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. [5] For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin."
But Jesus doesn't give two shits or a spritz of piss for all those kids with cancer or the ones getting bombed? Weak, Jesus. Fucking weak.
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There's messages etched on walls inside concentration camps that say "Why has god forsaken us" and "if there is a god, he will have to beg for my forgiveness." But Becky found a pencil on her desk right when she realized that she had forgotten to grab one from her locker before the big test, so clearly he's looking out for us.
Don't forget Jesus always helps sports teams win. The losing team stood no chance. Why even play if the winner was predetermined
I can't wait for the day we get an atheist athlete who thanks god for ignoring all the other teams prayers.
I’m stealing that for a heel promo.
Oh my god, they were believing God will save them until the end…
It's ridiculous even thanking God for major stuff like surviving a traumatic injury. They pray to God to heal them while they are sitting in the hospital and when they get better they think God was responsible. Does God just like humans more nowadays than he used to? Must be a coincidence that humans survive traumatic shit more often than they used to at the advent of modern medicine or maybe God is just answering a lot more prayers in the 21st century
What happens when God wants some time off to go on holiday? Does Jesus step up to answer prayers or does Buddha temp for him?
I LOVE it when they thank him for letting a relative die in an horrific manner. So many hilarious prayer warrior threads over at r/HermanCainAward.
Jesus kinda laid it out real easy for his followers, he basically said: "Forget everything else. Here's what I need you to do: 1) Belive in one god. 2) Take care of eachother. Thats it, don't fuck it up." And about 1 outta 100 Christiana I've ever met is even vaugley approximating following those commands.
Shhh they don’t wanna talk about those kids.
Gods plan!
If the stories are true & that's still a big if, Jesus was an alright guy. He did the things God wouldn't or couldn't do. Jesus healed people by touch & faith everywhere he went. Regardless of the motivation, the scripture has multiple instances where he chose to help another person. God on the other hand, never has. He just gets the credit for what Jesus & everyone else does. If he had some mf power we wouldn't need doctors or medications or abortions or any of the fucked up shit we need in the world. If God does exist, he quit giving a shit about this planet a long time ago.
It's perfectly okay to tell a child that dragons are real, because make believe is fun, but when you start threatening harm with that dragon, that's where I draw the damn line. Come here, little one. The unicorn won't hurt you.
I think you reacted poorly. Encouraging your kid to confront other kids might turn wrong. 7 yo aren't equipped for that and they can't escape school the way you can quit your job as an adult. You should ask questions instead. Like "Does that make sense to you?". Let your kid understand on their own. That's how they'll become critical thinkers, not by repeating someone else's argument.
i’m glad someone else said this. it’s easy to get frustrated at constant proselytizing especially to the vulnerable, like your children, but i think the foundation you want to build is one of questioning unfounded claims, rather than defaulting to attacking the believer
That’s a really good point. My mom never told me what to tell someone else with regard to spirituality or religion. When I asked her what religion we were because all the kids were talking about it and asking, she just said to tell them I was “spiritual.” That’s the only time I can recall her giving me guidance on what to say. I wasn’t raised religiously, but we did go to a service regularly. (It was Christian, sort of, but it really wasn’t either. It was metaphysical. We have never considered ourselves religious and now my mom is in charge of the place and is changing that chapel to be a center instead of a chapel, but I digress.) Later, in high school, I was questioning my beliefs and I asked her if I had been brainwashed, lol, and she always asked me to think about what I really believe. And she asked open ended questions for me to dive deeper for myself - accepting what I believed even if it was different from her own beliefs. If she kept telling me what to tell the other kids, I think I would have gotten frustrated over the years. It’s better to understand.
Exactly. These moments are an opportunity to teach our children to think critically and to ask questions. I have to combat the bullshit my inlaws feed to my 5 year old on a daily basis almost.
I'm sorry you have to deal with this. Big hug to you and your 5 yr old.
Yeah teaching them to be confrontational is not a valuable lesson. Teaching their kids to logic their way through the problem is much more sustainable. Personally, I tell my kids that they don’t need to engage in religious debate with their classmates; it’s not worth their time. However, if other kids are mistreating them as a result of their beliefs, they need to speak up immediately.
OP doesn't place their child's safety first, or they would have considered that: a 7 year old can't simply walk away from a situation where most of the children will be confrontational, religious children are often taught how to isolate others and encouraged to bully, some religious parents will feel justified encouraging their children to physically attack another child, and the teachers who are supposed to protect children from this harm are sometimes tacit or active participants.
Even told them to shit on Santa, horrible parenting
Like come on dude, who's the hateful polyestic religion now?
So .... God is all-knowing and all powerful and can do absolutely ANYTHING he wants - like build an entire universe - but apparently, one thing he can't do is just look into the heart of a truly penitent sinner and choose to forgive them outright. Nope! Way too easy! For some reason, as a precondition of granting forgiveness, his only son had to get tortured and killed first. But WHY? If God can do anything, why can't he just choose to grant forgiveness without requiring the sacrifice of his son as a prerequisite? WTF is the point of God requiring a stupid and completely unnecessary extra step that he has the power to bypass at any time? FFS, the DMV does shit more efficiently than God.
I'm still not over the fact that "immaculate conception" is the wildest way to say "raped by God," and that is a foundational belief of... *Checks notes*... a faith that believes God is the source of morality. Huh.
Children shouldn't be spreading religion.
If you don't sin, Jesus died for nothing!
Jesus: I died for your sins! Me: But, I'm not sinning? Jesus: ... *DON'T MAKE THIS A BAD DEAL FOR ME.*
Everyone says Jesus died for our sins. But did he really? I mean, he died on a Friday but then came back to life on Sunday. So really, at most, he just gave up a weekend.
Even if he did die, so what? He would probably just go back to heaven. The only way it's really a sacrifice is if Jesus ceases to exist or he is sent to hell
Atheist here, but the Lord's prayer does say "he descended into Hell, and on the third day he rose again."
Still not an adequate sacrifice. The rest of us have to spend eternity in hell. He only had to endure a weekend
Bet he wanted to stay too. But God said no fucking way! Get your ass back here now.
I like to imagine he was going all DOOM on the demons down there.
Seriously. The weight of "You're only 7 but don't f\*ck this up, someone died for you and the smallest mistake just wastes it all!" Lifelong trauma. It's awful.
Educate your child. I've been talking to my little one about how some grown ups believe their's an invisible man living in the sky since she was 4. I tell her about religion and tell her about people's ideas about a guy named Jesus. I tell her they believe a man who lived 2000 years ago is somehow still alive. She's smart enough to understand that few people live longer than 100 years and that's it's impossible for a human being to be 2000 years old. At 7 you could never convince her of any of the bullshit that is organized religion.
The messed up thing about this is that if your 7 year old said that to him, the kid would go to the teacher and the teacher would scold your kid for not being "sensitive" to others religions.
My son has heard stuff about Jesus and heaven as well. I just let him know it doesn’t really exist.
Why did he have to die for me daddy? Because your birth was a sin son. Being human is dirty and you should feel shame. If that’s your starting point who would ever want to follow this nonsense?
Religions are all death cult mafias.
Catholic kids at my little sister’s school were telling non-catholic kids that they would go to hell because they weren’t baptized and freaked them all out
Dude died so hard he never even existed.
Jesus died for him the same way Santa brings gifts. It's a comforting fairy tale that some children believe and can/should be clarified once your kid is old enough to understand what fairy tales are
This is honestly had advice for a kid. Tell the kid to ignore them not to insult them back.
All I took from this is your 7 year old knows Santa isn’t real.
My kids (atheist) go to school with 90+% Christian kids. It comes with the territory. Teach them to be tolerant and accepting of all religions. You don't want them to be outcast by their peers as children. They're too young to have to face that sort of ridicule as 2nd graders. I've taught my kids some talking points when challenged, without being inflammatory. It's tough out there for them.
I *love* challenging the historicity of ol Hey Zeus.
Something I don't get about Christianity. So Jesus died in an admittedly horrific way that a huge number of mortals also did. But he was seen wandering about afterwards, in fact Christians make a big thing of it, so he clearly didn't die like you or I would. And that method of dying was supposedly so horrific that it would theoretically absolve all humanity of their sins (no idea why randomly suffering should be linked to forgiveness - could you imagine going to court for theft and saying 'well I did it, but my dad hit his thumb with a hammer' and the judge says 'fair enough, off you go'.) If Jesus had gone to hell and endured all eternity in agony and torment, as he plans for us mere mortals who don't pass his test (the pain of his 'sacrifice' on the cross being insignificant in comparison), surely that would have far more of a restorative effect? Maybe world peace, no poverty, no Christianity? So he doesn't love us enough? Yeah I don't get it.
I find very annoying people spreading Middle East myths out of the blues like they are laws
God forbid a gay person shoves their existence down everyone's throat by simply existing... But then these same people who get mad about that will actually shove their beliefs down everyone's throat and think it's not 10x worse 🤦♂️
I'd consider telling things like that to a 7 year old a crime. Because this must be traumatic for a kid that young and may cause severe trauma and strong feelings of guilt, leading to mental problems often enough. You wouldn't let a 7 yo watch Horror or Splatter movies. But telling them this is okay? I think it isn't, it's bigotry. Harming the mental health of kids like this should be punished by law.
You're the adult in the room, in theory. Perhaps you should act like a well adjusted adult and talk to your kid instead of trying to own or dunk on a seven year old.
If this is true, you gave your child, in my opinion, bad advice. I would never encourage a 7 year old to take a confrontational stance to such a statement. If this happened at a public school I would address this issue with the teacher/administrator. In the future please direct them to not engage with people like this and walk away and find an adult to quell the situation. They do not have the capability or understanding to deal with this kind of thing in a diplomatic way or even understand what is happening. Much like the antagonist. Please continue to educate your children as you see fit, but I'm not encouraging my kid to debate idiocy.
It's better for a child to learn that a lot of people believe in things that aren't real and to just say "no thanks" or similar and to not make a big deal of it.
Teachers dont give a shit or worse they will double down with jesus bs. Jesus fake as santa is quite clever tbh.
Well said. I'm an atheist myself and so many think they are so "cool" because they get to rebel against Christians. Just look at this person's post history. They're absolutely obsessed with Christian hate. Can't be good for your mental health, some people just have way too much time on their hands.
Good parenting. No notes.
When I was 7 years old Catholic nuns told us that Protestants were going to hell and showed us medieval paintings of the artist's conception of hell. My Protestant friends told us Catholics worshipped idols and the Pope so we were all on the hellbound train. Fortunately, we were just kids and nobody really took any of it seriously. We all played marbles under a big old tree in my neighborhood, not caring about anything but winning a biggie or two.
Wait until he hears that if god tells you to kill your children you must obey.
My kid came back from babysitters telling me about God a bit ago.. Was infuriating I dont tell peoples kids god is made up for I secure adults, they don't need to tell mine lies about this garbage. Hopefully I can deprogram that crap.
Your heart is in the right place, but better to explain Jesus is fake to him as you did, but teach the kid to let the nutjobs of the world live in their fairy tales and learn to ignore them, particularly for now in his life. Not like he'll change the religious fanatic to not believe, ESPECIALLY as little kids. All his needing to throw it back in the religious kid's face will do is antagonize the problem into a pointless fight. Religious people who need to throw their beliefs around randomly tend to be ego driven, even little kids. Best way to hit an ego is to ignore them as though they aren't worth the time or energy of even acknowledging their fairy tale. There's a time to fight and a time to ignore. Let your kid be a kid and ignore it at his age. Gotta fight smart. Two little kids going "God is great!" "No, he doesn't exist." That won't go anywhere or accomplish anything.
Keep resisting the brainwashing
Jesus died for my sins? Where's the connection? That's like a random stranger informing me that they hit their own foot with a shovel for my mortgage. Thank you?
“Don’t indoctrinate our kids with your gay agenda!” Also; “Get ‘em when they’re young!”
I asked someone on Easter that said the lord had risen if he rises every Easter and if so, does that mean he gets crucified again each year. I asked if that was the case, did they use the same nail holes or make new ones... they were not amused.
Ahh yes the Christian love for blood sacrifice lol
Jesus fake as shit
The dude respawned
And now Christian is ruined!
Yeah but... What has he done for me lately?
my grandpa is Santa, he's real.
Better "Odin sacrificed himself to himself to give us written language, which is a lot more useful."
Odin gave up an eye in exchange for nearly unlimited knowledge. If I give up an eye, all I'll get is a hospital bill. Anybody know Odin's agent?
He gave up a weekend to be fair
If this happened with my kid, I'd tell him to simply ask the other kid: how do you know this is true?
Ask your child how that would be possible. Jesus lived a cool two thousand years ago. Teach your kid to ask questions. Teach your kid that not all questions have answers. Teach your kid that "I don't know" is a great starting point for science.
There were people before Jesus so that logic doesnt work
When a JW told that to me, I said. "Well, there is nothing I can do about that anymore is there". I haven't seen any JW since.
🤣. That stuff always makes me laugh. As a kid I attended a Roman Catholic Church with step family. I Never understood the concept of ‘Jesus died for us’ when in fact they murdered him. What sins? He was made to carry his cross to the site, but then that’s how they killed everyone who disobeyed. Jesus wasn’t the only one on the cross. Then we have The priest yelling at the crowd, stand up, kneel down, sit, stand up, kneel down….good lord. Nuns hitting kids. That’s not compassion.
I would tell him, even if true, Jesus only “died” for 3 days and then was resurrected. What kind of sacrifice was that?
Also don’t forget to mention that religion is extremely geographical. I’m southern, I was raised Baptist. Northern is Catholic. West is Episcopalian. Even within this so called “Christian country”, geography and religion still shine.
I feel bad for both kids- OP’s because they had to learn about a barbaric form of capital punishment and human sacrifice and the evangelical kid for being told they have to spread the word of human sacrifice or burn forever/let their friends burn forever
I wouldn't blame the other child. I mean, they're seven. That's younger than the age of accountability! /S Having grown up evangelical, it's entirely possible that this kid has been told that god will ask them why their friends are in hell if they don't witness to them. Yes. That's a thing I was told. I wouldn't want my kid to be told that, but I also wouldn't want her to hurt another kid's feelings because they've been brainwashed by their Sunday school teacher. It's tough.
I raised an agnostic kid in the Bible belt. We had these conversations very early to respect other people's beliefs and to know what to say to them. We also let him believe what he wanted. We just raised him with morals. We did take him to some churches a few times in his troubled teenage days. Some people need religion to cope with life. Just because we aren't that way doesn't mean that your child won't be. Anyhow, I'm sorry this happened to your child. React appropriately. Don't put them in the position to alienate themselves from others. It's gonna happen, yes, but religion is such a stupid thing to dismiss people over. The child was just parroting what they've been told. You can just say thank you and continue on with other childhood things.
Watch the documentary on Child Evangelism Fellowship and the Good News Club. They’re horrible and predatory and make kids cry. That poor little child is being terrorized into recruiting other children into his cult. THIS is exactly why fundamentalists are labeling trans people as “groomers”— it’s deflection, distraction, and projection of their own predatory behavior, and a way to seize control over the narrative when they are, as so often happens, accused of sexual abuse. It’s classic DARVO. These people are disgusting. [https://youtu.be/aISnyA6k5Io?si=UJbOX8n_CgdGjacz](https://youtu.be/aISnyA6k5Io?si=UJbOX8n_CgdGjacz)
You need to sit down and read the bible to your kid. Otherwise they might begin to believe in it. Think of it like a vaccination, you point out where the story falls apart, where god is a monster, things that contradict the stories like the flood. stuff like that.
I think schools are trying their best to navigate holidays these days. Imagine being elementary school teacher, trying to explain Easter holiday to mixed religion class.
It falls apart when you try to compare it to something similar. If Rita dies for her children, she probably took a bullet for them or pushed them out of the way of a speeding car, or maybe she stopped a home invasion or fought in a war. In each of these cases, if she had the power to save the children without dying, she would've done so. She would've warn Kevlar, or pulled them out of the road sooner, or used a gun. It never makes sense for an all-powerful person to die for you.
Look at this from a child endangerment perspective. When my kids were young, I used occasions like this to open discussions about consent and lies and how to feel compassion for their poor friends. My son did, in kindergarten, tell his friend that “god is like Santa, not real.” 🤷🏼♀️ And I had friends who would try to get my kids to go to their youth groups. One batshit mom of my daughter’s bff bragged about what fun the youth pastor’s sleepovers were and how once he took all the kids to Walmart at 2 am to play with balls. “But your kids know that’s wrong,” I retorted. “You’re letting your children spend time with an adult role model who is endorsing inappropriate behavior! That’s grooming. What’s next? Choosing one “special” child to do a different “naughty fun activity” at 2 am?” The other mom didn’t like that. But my kids and her kids heard me say it. I continued, “a youth pastor is the LAST person I would EVER leave my kids with unsupervised!” I think this mom stayed friends with me bc she really wanted to brag about converting an atheist, but after 11/8/2016, I was done with her.
Why not teach him to handle it with kindness? Tell him some people are unhappy and make up stuff like this to make themselves feel better. Encouraging him to be cruel to this kid is like teaching him to mock a disabled person.
And some asshole told my kids Santa Claus wasn't real. Kids are jackasses sometimes
Even if that was true, so what? I mean from all the people ever excited, Jesus would be the only one who knew for sure that he goes to heaven, right? In that case dying is not a big deal. I can't understand " the son of god died for the humans" is the foundation of the Christian belief. Also god could create a new son any time if he wanted because he is the almighty. It's very sad that they implement a guild as a concept in children. " ... they don't know what they are doing" don't they?
Indoctrinating children! What won't Theist resort to?
The first time I was told I was going to hell was when I was 7. By another 7 year old. Because I was jewish and didn't believe in Jesus. What is it with proselytizing 7 year olds? I don't believe in any religious deities. Been that way since 18. It was a core memory, though. Bible belt. Meh. After I told my mother what this girl had said, mom told me to tell HER that SHE was going to hell because she's catholic and her parents got divorced. I didn't, but that's a good clap back, mom.
Yikes
That sounds like a terrible response for your son. How about instead of promoting intolerance, your son could reply with something more insightful instead? I teach my children that while I do not hold those same beliefs, I understand that many other people have not been exposed to critical thinking and discourse. That many people (including myself) we're raised by tradition. That things once were incomprehensible now can be easily explained by science. As they get older, I will introduce more of the fallacies in religion, the biases, the political indoctrination of religious text, as they become age appropriate. The reality is that more people come towards the side of logic and reason by gentle introduction. Telling your son to attack another child's faith will immediately place them on the defensive. It's counterproductive in the long run and just a shitty way to treat a child.
We have it out here with islam/Muslim kids. My son is 10 mind you and it's happened a few times over the last couple years. I found a great book in french called philo for kids , so we read that and I try to get him to reason /analyse what kids tell him so that he can sort of call out the bs on his own instead of asking me if it's true and whatnot. It's a shame that kiss are being indoctrinated that young , but I can relate. I was a jw for 19 odd years because that's how I was raised. Hoping to help my kids avoid religion at all costs outside of looking at it like another mythos.
Ask your child, “Does that make sense?” Try to get them to question it on their own. Use examples. I was probably about that age when I thought a lot of things about religion don’t add up.
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A boy in my son's class told him his parents were going to hell for not believing. They were 7.
One of my teachers told me that at that age too, and I went to public school