Re: Is it ok to tell young children God doesn't exist / does exist
I have a problem,
I was brought up in a family that didn't really practice any religious faith, and in general our family has always been agnostic / atheist. However in recent times my older sister has become religious. She now regularly attends a church and has enrolled her young children into a faith school.
My neices are being taught that the bible is true and the heaven and hell are real places.
So I have two main questions,
1, Is it ok, If asked for me to tell my neices that there isn't a god and heaven and hell are not real places and the bible is just stories?
and 2, On a deeper level, Is it really ok that my sister is teaching her kids that this stuff is true?
1. What kid would ask his/her uncle that sort of thing?! They'd be too busy enjoying themselves to even consider such a question. But I think what you're saying is "is it ok to start a heated debate at the family gathering". I think it's ok, but not with the kids there. Subjecting them to anti-religious rants is just as bad as subjecting them to religious rants. And don't expect to
enjoy your meal...
If you really want to do the debate properly, you need to understand your topic. Maybe pick ten books from this list of hundreds [
http://www.adherents.com/adh_influbooks.html ] and start reading. Shouldn't take long! Remember that ancient spiritual texts are full of allegory and metaphor, and that makes them very hard to understand and open to gross misinterpretation. Luckily there are plenty of clever authors/translators who have done that job. Even if you wanted just a broad brush understanding of something and you read the "Idiots Guide to Religion X", that would be better than going into the debate knowing nothing at all.
The point is, when you start to investigate you realize how hard it is to even get started. There's so much 'bathwater' that it's easy to throw the 'baby' out right from the outset. Keep in mind that most the the world's most brilliant, talented, wise and insightful men have had some sort of religious and/or spiritual leanings.
It's not just about reading though, because
facts and knowledge don't count for anything in this game. All the most useful spiritual literature encourages actual practice, which, if you strip away the cultural overlay, dogma and hoo-haa, boils down to this: learn how to silence the voice in your head. Do it any way you like. Some people have managed this through extreme exercise, some through fasting, drug use, prayer, meditation, dance... Lots of ways. If you can, you will be blown away by what happens.
If you want a quick and easy way to understand the theory, try Chopra's 'How to Know God'.
If you want a quick and dirty taste of what practice feels like, drop a huge dose of acid or DMT. (not recommended because of the high risks)
If you want to go straight to the most brilliant **** on this topic, try Jed McKenna's books or Adyashanti (for the gentler approach), or Richard Rose (for very detailed practical instructions).
If you just want to have a good argument (nothing wrong with that), call your sister and set up a dinner!