God&DogGirl
Member
I said in my intro thread that I have different views on Christianity while believing all the basics. But here's where I'm really starting to feel strongly about an issue. Children in Christian homes. It might look like a great thing but below the surface, in some cases growing up in a Christian home can damage your faith.
I'll use my own story for example. I grew up Christian. I was dedicated to Christ within a month of my birth. Old home movies show my parents reading the story of Christmas from the Bible to me when I was as young as 1. And by age 6 I could quote the beginning of Matthew (skipping the genealogies of course). I attended Sunday School every single week, listened to Psalty, the Donut Man, and GT all the time, and grew up loving Adventures in Odyssey (I'm 20 and I still love it, actually). But let me tell you, the church we went to had the worst, most damaging kid's program I have ever seen and I've worked with kids.
From Sunday School in the morning to evening Awana, we were taught all the stories, required to memorize verses, and were expected to do crafts and play sports. Sounds good, doesn't it? Maybe to some but it was a nightmare for me. I have severe ADD which causes me to have a very difficult time connecting to other people my age. And undiagnosed ADD at age 6 was simply disasterous. The leaders ignored the mean comments, the eye rolling, and the gossiping about me, how I wasn't good at anything, how I was weird, how I was stupider than them (bizarrely enough, I actually have a pretty high IQ with ADD treatment). The teachers expected me to sit in my seat and be quiet while she read the stories and did discussions. And if it was boring, it was absolute torture (I don't have the hyperactive ADD but I do have difficulty sitting still and focusing in settings like that). I had Sunday School teachers give me lectures on my behavior, inform me I was being stupid and disruptive on purpose, that my lack of talent in athletics was actually insolence and laziness. That I was terribly behaved. 12 years in that church and not one leader ever paid me a compliment (in my memory, anyway). But I got my share of lectures and even insults from them. Awana was even worse on my ADD. Imagine trying to memorize verses with physically impaired concentration skills. It's like trying to memorize an entire Shakespearean play in one week. It just can't be done. And those leaders were downright nasty to me if I spent longer reciting verses than the other kids or if I forgot too often. If we were playing games, I was a slow runner and the kids would taunt me. Kids do that but when leaders don't stop them and even sink to the level of backing them up... WOW!
So now I've given you my story, isn't it a surprise that when I hit teenage years I remained a Christian? It terrifies me to think of thousands of kids were dragged to church by parents who didn't want to hear about why they didn't want to go stop going to church because Christianity was pounded into their heads so sharply. Why are there regulations about teachers in schools and what they're not supposed to allow but anything goes in the church?
Anyway, that's my little debate. Please, discuss!
I'll use my own story for example. I grew up Christian. I was dedicated to Christ within a month of my birth. Old home movies show my parents reading the story of Christmas from the Bible to me when I was as young as 1. And by age 6 I could quote the beginning of Matthew (skipping the genealogies of course). I attended Sunday School every single week, listened to Psalty, the Donut Man, and GT all the time, and grew up loving Adventures in Odyssey (I'm 20 and I still love it, actually). But let me tell you, the church we went to had the worst, most damaging kid's program I have ever seen and I've worked with kids.
From Sunday School in the morning to evening Awana, we were taught all the stories, required to memorize verses, and were expected to do crafts and play sports. Sounds good, doesn't it? Maybe to some but it was a nightmare for me. I have severe ADD which causes me to have a very difficult time connecting to other people my age. And undiagnosed ADD at age 6 was simply disasterous. The leaders ignored the mean comments, the eye rolling, and the gossiping about me, how I wasn't good at anything, how I was weird, how I was stupider than them (bizarrely enough, I actually have a pretty high IQ with ADD treatment). The teachers expected me to sit in my seat and be quiet while she read the stories and did discussions. And if it was boring, it was absolute torture (I don't have the hyperactive ADD but I do have difficulty sitting still and focusing in settings like that). I had Sunday School teachers give me lectures on my behavior, inform me I was being stupid and disruptive on purpose, that my lack of talent in athletics was actually insolence and laziness. That I was terribly behaved. 12 years in that church and not one leader ever paid me a compliment (in my memory, anyway). But I got my share of lectures and even insults from them. Awana was even worse on my ADD. Imagine trying to memorize verses with physically impaired concentration skills. It's like trying to memorize an entire Shakespearean play in one week. It just can't be done. And those leaders were downright nasty to me if I spent longer reciting verses than the other kids or if I forgot too often. If we were playing games, I was a slow runner and the kids would taunt me. Kids do that but when leaders don't stop them and even sink to the level of backing them up... WOW!
So now I've given you my story, isn't it a surprise that when I hit teenage years I remained a Christian? It terrifies me to think of thousands of kids were dragged to church by parents who didn't want to hear about why they didn't want to go stop going to church because Christianity was pounded into their heads so sharply. Why are there regulations about teachers in schools and what they're not supposed to allow but anything goes in the church?
Anyway, that's my little debate. Please, discuss!
