Do you come from a Christian household?

[Thas]

How many of you come from Christian Family and has it negatively affected your relationship with Christ?

I come from a Non_Christian family I mean I was always told God created the world but there was never any reason for my parents to find more out about him. So when I became a Christian I found the whole "church" thing weird and many other concepts weird. If Christianity has been with you your whole life, do you think it may be harder to find Christ by yourself because of our urge to rebel against your parents. Do you know Christ or did you just go to a church because you were forced? Or did your parents never make you? I dunno I just in my own experience people from non Christian families to do more organic things such as helping the poor and people from Christian Families to get suckered in to the whole "Only go to church once a week" thing. Not speaking this over peoples lives but it just interested me. Also I do know people who have been going all their lives and are great, wise spiritual people. I'll stop now before it gets confusing!

 

[Classik]

Good question.

I'm not a Christian because my parents took me to church or because I was born in a Christian community.

I discovered God while growing. He's my Best Friend. He is my All - He's so real.


We are a Christian family.

 

[Milk-Drops]

I came from a Christian household and even went to a Christian school for a short time. I enjoyed it and even considered studieing to become a minister. My parents encouraged me to do this and I recieved a lot of support from my suroundings. I read the Bible a few times, went to Bible Studies, and attened a few youth groups. My rebelious stage didn't involve religion really. For the most part I just listened to heavy music, hung out with people that listened to heavy music, and drew a lot of macabre things in my spare time. I grew out of it around the end of my Senior year in highschool and now listen to a lot of differn't types of music, hang out with a more diverse group of friends, still draw but vary what I draw from landscapes, to character studies. I left Christianity due to the politics around it and seriously doubting what it was all about. So being in a Christian home didn't shove or push me any specific way, Just gave me soem life lessons that I still hold onto and so forth.

 

[joethemechanic]

Heavy metal and an obsession with the macabre,,,,,

And you don't think those things moved you away from God?

 

[Milk-Drops]

Heavy metal and an obsession with the macabre,,,,,

And you don't think those things moved you away from God?

Nope. Considering I left Christianity well after my music tastes expaned and stopped drawing such overly macbre nonsense.

I think people use natural adolecent rebellion as an excuse for why some people leave a religion. Most of the people I've ever met that left Christianity have usually done it for 1 of 3 reasons.

1. They are a kid rebelling and don't really know to much about, well, the religion they are rebelling against or whatever they are then claiming to follow. ( this is mostly a teen thing)

2. People fed up with the politics that seem to be nested in the religion and the drama that comes with it.

3. Some people just don't buy Christianity and end up either leaving or never jumping in because some of the claims and explanations sound weird and require a lot of reinforcement to believe.

I'm mostly a 3, but I will say that #2 has been a good enforcer of why I've distanced myself from a lot of Christian institutions in my area.

 

[OK_Shane]

My mom's side of the family was Christian but in our house we didn't follow Christ. Mom believed but that was about it.

I came to Christ in high school on my own. Church was my way of getting away from my family but all that died when I joined the Army. Faith was there, but I was not walking with God.

Now I am growing daily, learning from my mistakes.

I see friends who have been Christians form birth so to say and feel they do not hunger for the Word like I do. I feel they go through the motions sometimes. I think not growing in a Christian home helped me, but I wish I had the many years lost added to my life now for the "book smarts" of the Bible.

A friend who came to Christ once said in response to a question of debate of believers...."its the converted new believers you need to be careful of, they got their facts straight"....not sure if she took that from somewhere but I like it.

 

[Thas]

."its the converted new believers you need to be careful of, they got their facts straight"....not sure if she took that from somewhere but I like it.

Sounds good, but I'm confused what it actually means?

 

[Navigator]

I grew up in a Christian household and wouldn't have changed it for the world, but sometimes I get a "good" kind of jealous for new believers who did not grow up in the faith. Because I have always been around the faith, I can't describe a revelation moment when Christ "smacked me in the face" if you know what I mean. New believers tend to get that phenomena more profoundly because they were not in the faith or did not have a prior relationship with Christ. It's so encouraging to see. I'm not saying I don't have the wow moments of God's love, but I feel if I didn't grow up in the environment I did, those feelings would be more profound. Or maybe, I'm just simply not there yet...?

 

[evenifigoalone]

For the most part, I was raised in a Christian household. (There was a time when I was very young that it wasn't specifically Christian yet.)
I think I'm blessed to have been raised in the family I was raised in. My dad used to teach Bible study and he has been a help to me more than once.

I think at some point in their life, a Christian's faith is going to be tested and tried and they are either going to let it drive them away from God or it will drive them closer. And this will happen whether they were raised Christian or not.

My mother made go to church when I was young, and at some point I asked about getting "saved" and did get saved. (I don't remember the day or time, but I remember that one moment when I was asking Jesus into my heart.) Even so, other than that, I remember church being very boring. xD (Keep in mind I was a kid at the time.)


I think that one's salvation does tend to mean more to them if they got it later on in life after having lived in their sins for a long time, than if they received salvation before they even hit their teens.

I'm not a Christian just because I was raised that way, though. If that's all there was to it, I'd have left a while ago.

 

[OK_Shane]

Sounds good, but I'm confused what it actually means?

What she was saying is that some who are born into Christian households only "go with the flow" of what their parents are doing and have no theology of their own. Basically not reading and researching the Bible as hard as they can. Also if its a lukewarm home they most likely represent that lukewarm mentality.

A converted Christian wants to know what they are getting into. Kind of like making an educated car purchase. You don't just dive in. You get the facts. You research what this person and that person, this book and that book have to say about the subject. Basically running with your own theology and not something forced onto you as a kid.

Now I am not saying it is true at all. I am also not saying that those born into Christian homes are better or worse than any other Christian. Lukewarm or worse can apply to both situations. I just feel SOMETIMES Christian children go with the flow of what mom and dad wants. Like I said, I will raise my children when I have them in a Christian home, but I will also teach them all aspects of theology after they have a foundation so to allow them to choose their path with God in hopes they remain true to him.

 

[Chris.]

I had no christian household until I made one for myself, my parents were atheists mostly, but that changed later.

 

[phantom309]

For me the answer was yes and no.

I was raised by a single mother who,for the most part,didnt really put much emphasis on spiritual affairs.I knew she believed in God,but much of her life was led contrary to biblical directives.She did somewhat teach me about God,and I do recall a few times attending church with her.She did her best to pass on the basic principles..dont steal,dont lie,be honest etc..that much I will give her.Overall,I would have to say that my time with her was mostly devoid of any real spiritual training.

Our extended family on moms side was where I really learned more.They were your average,hard working country folk/rednecks.Church was heavily emphasized,and it was the central tie that bound the community together.Looking back,I always recall more of a sense of solidarity around them and realized in later years that it was the very influence provided by church and scriptures that held family and community together.

As far as how it affected me..

I never felt like growing up in such an environment stifled me or encouraged me to rebel.In many ways I wish Id have had more christian influence growing up with mom,but I also think that it later served to help me draw a contrast between how things should and shouldnt be as a family.I think the early church education gave me the basics I needed to function on,but more serious theology came later when I took an interest in deeper subjects.

I think the most influential person in my life was my grandmother on moms side.She always spoke about God,always went to church and took me with her when she could.Prayers were said with meals,and proper thanks given for the things that came into our life.These were things I took for granted and even got annoyed with at times growing up..later on it all tied in and I understood why she always worked hard to set a good example for me.Its important to teach kids at an early age,to show them the way they need to go.They might not like it at the time or be able to make sense of it,but such is common for anything in life.

 

[alexlove]

yes. my moms side in Japan were Buddhist my mom was too at one point, then they came here and now there Christian and they acted like it for a long time then they stopped. my dad size is all Christian my dad is too but he doesnt live like it and my brother is agnostic. my sisters are whatever. i went to christian school until last year i put a stop to it and went to public school which i love!
im Christian on certain days and not on others. i doubt a lot and some days i dont. its confusing

 

[Roof]

My family was christian but only went to church when I was very little.

After I moved out of the house, I started searching the local churches and was turned off by the weird stuff like, Youth leadership, and the kind of Creationism that requires one to dismiss the world around us. After visiting several churches I gave up and decided that I would try again when I find a girl to marry, and then investigate her church/theology.

 

[Mike]

What she was saying is that some who are born into Christian households only "go with the flow" of what their parents are doing and have no theology of their own. Basically not reading and researching the Bible as hard as they can. Also if its a lukewarm home they most likely represent that lukewarm mentality.

A converted Christian wants to know what they are getting into. Kind of like making an educated car purchase. You don't just dive in. You get the facts. You research what this person and that person, this book and that book have to say about the subject. Basically running with your own theology and not something forced onto you as a kid.

Now I am not saying it is true at all. I am also not saying that those born into Christian homes are better or worse than any other Christian. Lukewarm or worse can apply to both situations. I just feel SOMETIMES Christian children go with the flow of what mom and dad wants. Like I said, I will raise my children when I have them in a Christian home, but I will also teach them all aspects of theology after they have a foundation so to allow them to choose their path with God in hopes they remain true to him.

I can relate to much of what you say. I was brought up in a very Catholic home where we were very "religious" but nothing that went any deeper than doing what we were supposed to do on Sundays. From the day I was brought to honest faith in my 20's, I've known I was not truly raised in a Christian home.

In a way I cherish having the knowledge of what I was (though it's like I don't relate to that person at all anymore) compared to who I am, but I do have some envy. I think it would be amazing to live through my adolescence with the knowledge that I was Loved; to have Jesus in my heart during those tumultuous years.

This is why I'm fascinated by the teens here and see the unique value they bring to the community of CFnet.

 

[greatisthelight]

My mother was brought up Catholic, my mom believes in God, but does not attend Church, her Mom stayed Catholic for her entire life. My father was brought up Lutheran. He, like my Mom, stop attending Church when he was a teenager and he does believe in God.

 

[farouk]

A Christian background, family or local church, is an immense privilege but it is wholly secondary for the individual challenge, as the Lord Jesus said: 'ye must be born again' (John 3).

There is a great emphasis there on MUST!

 

[Godisgreat]

Yeah, I'm from a Christian family. But I've found God--or, rather, he found me.

 

[ColdBlooded]

Yes I am.
I went to church, attended meetings, went to the boy scouts.
Everyone thought I was just as blessed and as Godly as can be.
But I was a kinder soul than my peers, I associated with the new kid everyone called a "faggot". He became my friend. Then the people at the church didn't like me as much.

Then that wonderful day happened when I was preached to about the dangers of the gay and how it would infect me with the gay.

And I asked why. Oh yes I dared to.
I was met with such cocked eyebrows it was comical.

"What? He isn't hateful? That poor misguided soul."

Everything became under question then.
I read the bible for the first time at 14, and my world fell apart.

And so I asked and asked and distanced myself even further from them until I fell from grace like so many before me.

Oh how my parents hated to see me distressed, but they accepted my new viewpoint.

And so I became a polytheist. Dedicated to the worship of The Sisters of Progress: Logic and Reason

The End

 

[alexlove]

Yes I am.
I went to church, attended meetings, went to the boy scouts.
Everyone thought I was just as blessed and as Godly as can be.
But I was a kinder soul than my peers, I associated with the new kid everyone called a "faggot". He became my friend. Then the people at the church didn't like me as much.

Then that wonderful day happened when I was preached to about the dangers of the gay and how it would infect me with the gay.

And I asked why. Oh yes I dared to.
I was met with such cocked eyebrows it was comical.

"What? He isn't hateful? That poor misguided soul."

Everything became under question then.
I read the bible for the first time at 14, and my world fell apart.

And so I asked and asked and distanced myself even further from them until I fell from grace like so many before me.

Oh how my parents hated to see me distressed, but they accepted my new viewpoint.

And so I became a polytheist. Dedicated to the worship of The Sisters of Progress: Logic and Reason

The End

i have to say i laughed at your ending. not in the bad way but because im so at the place right now its not even funny.