Xianity - Psychological torture

[Gregor]

I was reminded this weekend of what is most repulsive about true Xianity. (I'm not talking about Xians behaving badly, I mean the horrible part of the true orthodoxy).

When Churches admit that they tell children that: (i) they will go to hell and burn for eternity, (ii) their un-saved parent, grandmother, etc. will go to hell and burn for eternity, and (iii) the world might end in the next 15 minutes - it's psychological torture to kids. The Church knows that it must get people to convert before they're a teenager, or the odds of conversion drop dramatically. My wife's church was using dramatic statistics to reinforce that fact - in other words, catch 'em before they can think clearly, and you might keep 'em forever.

When a seven year-old has nightmares about being sent to hell, I want to whip out some Xian persecution of my own.

[Upchurch]

Ya know, not all Christians are literalist extremists. There are moderate Christians who take the concept of "Hell" in the abstract.

I was raised that way and when I was young, I never worried about my parents or grandparents going to hell. Primarily because in my younger mindset, none of them were evil, but also because no one really emphesised the punishment side of the afterlife.

As for the apocolypse happening in the next 15 minutes, I'm guessing you don't spend a lot of time around children. First of all, kids have almost no concept of mortality. They may be afraid of getting hurt, but they rarely have any conceptualization of actually dying. Second of all, depending on the child, 15 minutes takes forever.

I think you're projecting an adult mindset onto children but then viewing Christianity through a child's frame of reference.

[c4ts]

Since kids are more likely to believe things than adults, so it doesn't matter how crazy or outlandish the stories you tell them are true. If you're just repetitive and consistent enough they'll take your word for it. That's why it's best to get them while they're young.

[Yahzi]

Originally posted by Upchurch
I think you're projecting an adult mindset onto children but then viewing Christianity through a child's frame of reference.
I tinnk you are being singularly obtuse. Children do worry about these things, they are affected by what they are told, and people who actually beleive in hell are under terrible psychological torment. Its only once they become adults and learn the art of lying about what they believe in that they can escape this. Some of them never do: some people actually believe what they say they believe, and these are the ones we call religous nuts.

I met a young woman in college who told me she wasn't afraid to die, but she was afraid of hell. If that's not pyschological abuse, I don't know what is.