Children and belief

[blessedrosary]

I came across an interesting claim while I was reading Newman and I was curious what other people thought. When you first were introduced to the idea of God (or a god), did you have an initial hesitation or inclination to doubt, or did you believe with no reservations (not understand, perhaps, but at least accept as true what you were being told)?

 

[laircy]

To be perfectly honest, I was a doubtful child. I didn’t believe in Jesus, and my mother said that, then I was a Jew. I insisted that I wasn’t a Jew. Mind you this was all when I was 5 years old. I didn’t even pray until my dad told me I’d go to hell if I didn’t. It certainly was a scare-tactic, but it did set me on the right track and I eventually came to have more faith on my own, and learning about it in Catholic school. Last year in particular I grew in faith and the philosophical understanding of it very much.

 

[Marc_Anthony]

I remember basically accepting belief in God while young but I challenged it heavily about when I reached High School.

 

[Pug]

I believed that “God” existed when told he existed. I had very little idea of what “God” was at that time, though. As I was told more facts, I conglomerated those into the idea of “God” without thinking about it. I experienced it as making it well past the age of reason before making any kind of meaningful choice about believing. Part of the reason for that is that one of the ideas/facts that one conglomerates together is that one is not allowed to question the belief in God. Since one accepts this wholesale with the rest, then any question about God is automatically deflected, not making it to the level of really thinking about it. Eventually I feel I was confronted enough to have to make a choice about that belief (the belief that one is not allowed to make any question about belief).

 

[ccmnxc]

As I child, I never really questioned God, though I had some resentment for Him since I had to go to Mass every week.
Even now, as a teen, I ask questions about God, but my belief hasn’t really faltered at all. I feel I know Him better and I don’t have a problem with going to Mass anymore.

 

[HisIsTheCrown]

I came across an interesting claim while I was reading Newman and I was curious what other people thought. When you first were introduced to the idea of God (or a god), did you have an initial hesitation or inclination to doubt, or did you believe with no reservations (not understand, perhaps, but at least accept as true what you were being told)?

The more I know the harder to believe.
I was introduced as a child, so I just soaked every word said to me.

 

[khuldar]

I grew up in a household that didn’t encourage God (or want to know him for whatever reason) and only starting to think about God when I had a car crash as a Teenager & even then it took until I was in Afghanistan for me too fully admit that God was real & start a proper relationship with him.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

I was raised without religion but I remember that I believed in God as a child. I was aware of His presence. It was only when I got a bit older (a pre-teen) that I realised that religious faith was a controversial issue for some people and that not everyone believed in Him. I converted a few years after that

 

[ExCatholicGuy]

I was raised Catholic, and fully believed the Catholic teachings, at least to the extent that I understood them. I don’t recall having any difficulty accepting the concept of God. In fact I still don’t; it’s just that I no longer believe any particular faith necessarily has the details right.

 

[fakename]

I came across an interesting claim while I was reading Newman and I was curious what other people thought. When you first were introduced to the idea of God (or a god), did you have an initial hesitation or inclination to doubt, or did you believe with no reservations (not understand, perhaps, but at least accept as true what you were being told)?

I was more of a skeptic/superstitious when I was little, but I had an open mind and I came to be more convinced after a year of thinking about it, so that by 7 I was definitely a believer.

 

[StrawberryJam]

Children and belief. A very interesting topic.
How many children live in homes where their curiosity is encouraged?
If they have no choice in the matter from birth onward, eventually they will get a chance to examine things when and if they have the luxury of time to do so.
More often than not, we go through life in a real hurry. Only some question the status quo, and pay dearly for it.