Reply #50: Threatening IS ABUSE!

[Anon18]

Unfortunately I was brought up in "The Church With No Name/The Truth/The Meetings/The Cooneyites/The Black Stockings" (for a church with no name, it sure has got a lot of names).

From an early age I questioned the hypocrisy I saw evident in the teachings with which I was (unwillingly) brainwashed...ie: (and on the most basic level)...God will not love you as a woman if you wear jewelry or make-up, if you dress in jeans/pants, watch television or listen to radio and GOD FORBID THAT YOU EXPRESS YOURSELF!!

My Mother never had any rational answers to my questions...she just believed that she was doing the right thing for herself and for her children. She thought she was "saving us from eternal damnation in hell"...so did her Father, and his Mother before him.

I left the church and my family home home at 16 years of age. I am now 36 and although the teachings of the church no longer effect my logical mind, something deeper within me constantly struggles with the crippling doctrine that was shoved down my throat which told me I was bad and that I would burn in hell for my supposed sins.

What a crock. As far as I'm concerned, threatening your children with torment in hell is nothing but abuse! Emotional and Spiritual abuses are just as damaging as any physical abuse. The fact that the word THREATEN is used is surmountable to abuse in itself.

The fearful God I was taught about as a child has no place in my life. I'm no sinner. I live my life gently and with utmost consideration for my fellow human beings and the environment. If I am damned to hell for not being part of this so called church, then so be it. I AM GOOD.

"The Truth" is that a child should be allowed the right to grow up with a healthy mind and to decide upon their own very personal beliefs about God etc. in their own time.

I would recommend that anyone who questions whether threatening children AT ALL (especially with religious torment) read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN HOW TO THINK....NOT WHAT TO THINK.