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Daughter wants to go to church

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G. Driggs:
My 12 year old daughter has begun going to the local Baptist Church recently, not for services but to "play games". She goes there because her new friends go there and I guess they really enjoy it. I think it is a matter of time before the Pastor begins preaching to her, so I told her not to just believe anything anyone tells you, but study for yourself and look up words in the dictionary to see if they are true. She knows how I feel about the doctrine of hell, and that the church has it all wrong, so she was a little hesitant in telling me what she was up to. I thought about forbidding her to go, but then I remembered this is how I first met Jesus, and how will she be able to leave her "first love" and be called to "come out of her" if she was never in Babylon to begin with?

Whats interesting is I had been praying for her to get some relief from some girls that had been bullying her, and that she would also get some new friends because she was feeling pretty bummed out and complaining she had no friends. Now the girls who were bullying her have become her friends and she gained a new friend whom she is very close to and she happens to go to that church. So God in His infinite wisdom has put my daughter in a place I am very uncomfortable with, so what can I do? Am I making a mistake by allowing her to go there? Or am I right in thinking that maybe this would be best in the long run so that she will be in a position to be called out her? Or is it enough that IF God is saving me, He will also save my entire household? I understand no one here can tell me what to do, so if anyone has Scripture for me to consider that would be cool.

As to the original posters question about telling loved ones I no longer go to church, I tell them I do not believe in hell and all their other false doctrines, and that I will never be deceived by them again.

G.Driggs

G. Driggs:

--- Quote from: G.Driggs ---As to the original posters question about telling loved ones I no longer go to church, I tell them I do not believe in hell and all their other false doctrines, and that I will never be deceived by them again.
--- End quote ---

If this does not make sense that is because I posted this question in someone else' thread, and it got moved. Sorry my bad, did not mean to hijack that thread. ???

G.Driggs

phillip78:
Have you sat down with her and studied the false doctrines of what they teach? If not, it would be a good idea to start. If you don't they they will start filling her mind with the traditional teachings. Who else better to have a study on these thing? Children can learn truth also.

markn902:
Boy I could think of a lot worse places/things for a 12 year old to be doing. ( I know I was when I was that age) I would say alot of people would like to trade problems with you!

indianabob:
Good morning G. Driggs,

If I read your personal correctly you live on the North side of Alaska in a small town with only one school. If so that means your daughter knows and is known by almost everyone.

There are many things we could discuss concerning how to be an example for a young lady, but the most important I would think at this age is communication.
It is difficult for most young ladies to discuss feelings with a parent especially a male parent. So anything you can do to support her personal adventure of growing up will be to her advantage.

She is going to discuss any subject her curiosity leads her to with her friends and acquaintances whether she is in church or not, so your best course of action is to maintain a sincere interest in her everyday experiences WITH little critique of her friends or what they believe or do. Rather than using your adult knowledge to find fault in her friends and caution her, take the opposite path by offering as many good ideas as you can find even to including her friends in your family gatherings.
I don't think that you need to attend the local church in order to have her respect in regards to your beliefs. Just keep in mind that what you tell her in your personal discussions may not take root in her for a few months or years. What you need to focus upon is that she will always remember that you told her the truth to the best of your ability at the time.

I really like the idea that God calls all of His special servants OUT of Babylon.
It is therefore important it seems to me to allow our children to have some gradual experience of evil in others and to be always available to guide them through the difficulties rather than to always protect them from all problems. That is from knowing about problems. Of course a parent must protect the child, but many activities that we know are hurtful do not seem so to the young mind.

My wife and I reared four children and we all and they all still get along as we move along our separate paths. Mom and Dad made quite a few mistakes and we have worked to try to make up for those, but we still find that the children believe that we love them without reservation no matter what mistakes we or they have made in the past. Part of this may be that we learned to respect one another as unique persons and as children of the Creator God.

There are many things that you can use to teach truth about God without debate or criticism of other persons and I recommend that you focus on those. Try to write a good long list of all the helpful things that people do when they love someone and share those with your daughter so that she learns to judge righteously and to develop a gracious character and personality similar to what you are becoming as God leads your daily life.

Hope this helps a little and please critique my comments as needed.

Indiana Bob





--- Quote from: G. Driggs on July 14, 2010, 10:51:09 AM ---
--- Quote from: G.Driggs ---As to the original posters question about telling loved ones I no longer go to church, I tell them I do not believe in hell and all their other false doctrines, and that I will never be deceived by them again.
--- End quote ---

If this does not make sense that is because I posted this question in someone else' thread, and it got moved. Sorry my bad, did not mean to hijack that thread. ???

G.Driggs

--- End quote ---

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