Hi, I am new here. I came to this site because I am really worried about my 9 year old son. He has professed faith and was baptized at age 7, but for several months has been struggling with his faith. I know he is young, but I am convinced that he was sincere when he was saved and truly understood the gospel. I have also seen fruit in his life. He is now saying he wants to believe but "it seems hard to believe God is real." He is very upset about this because he says he does want to be close to Jesus and follow Him, yet he says "something is holding me back." He told me today he feels like his heart is now hardened to the Lord. He is really sad and concerned about this and is pretty tearful. He is our first born child and I read that Satan attacks the first born. Also my husband is not a professing Christian. I don't know much about deliverance and there is no deliverance ministry in my state. I have prayed for him, with him, renounced any evil or demons that may be surrounding him, our home, our family, etc and still he is saying that is hard to believe. How do I tell how much of this is spiritual attack and how much is just a little boy wrestling with his faith and growing? Can anyone tell me what else I should be doing? Thank you.
46 comments
Let the boy find out for himself.
As a parent, you're a GUIDE, not the final authority.
Asshole.
It's not a demon, he's just too damn smart, I'll bet.
Edit - Probably your husband's genes.
"I am really worried about my 9 year old son. He has professed faith and was baptized at age 7, but for several months has been struggling with his faith."
It sounds like you have a
SMART CHILD
on your hands. Here's whut u do:
Either ship them off to public school, or homeschool them with materials favoring YOUR religion.
According to the thread, they homeschool him, so he must be smart. One person suggested a witch was doing it, lol.
"He is our first born child and I read that Satan attacks the first born."
Uh, didn't God do that, too?
Congratulations, your 9-year-old son is more intelligent than you are. And I don't mean "smart for his age" intelligent, I mean literally more capable of reasoning than you, the parent, are.
I wonder how comes.
How do I tell how much of this is spiritual attack and how much is just a little boy wrestling with his faith and growing?
Plunge him into boiling water. The screams are the demons coming out.
This may be one of those rare cases where it would be better for the child to make the decisions in the household. He is clearly brighter than the mother, and may be, at the age of nine, more responsible than a parent.
Of course, dad is a bit of a wimp. If you were my wife, I would have set you straight by now.
Leave him alone. He is 7, he should be outside playing with other kids, getting dirty and getting into normal 7 year old mischief.
Not worrying about dying, demons and going to hell.
Get a life
Why do you all act like Atheism has all the answers? There's still many things that the world doesn't know. Sure you can say the same to those who believe in a god, but Atheists act like gods/goddesses are for the stupid.
You people say the mom shouldn't indoctrinate the son yet I'm sure you people would be teaching kids about evolution and the nonexistance of deities.
@ Harry
"How do I tell how much of this is spiritual attack and how much is just a little boy wrestling with his faith and growing?"
0% former, 100% latter. Sorted. At least she realized the latter was a possibility.
(Wow, the people responding on that thread at M.D. make Ned Flanders look like Bertrand Russell.)
@mamaof2: Maybe if you feed your child some paint chips, he'll stop all of that nasty thinking and toe the line.
@B..
Also, I don't think that people who believe in god are stupid. They are just wrong.
Poor kid, he's growing up and his mother wants to keep him mentally at the age of 7. Although I doubt any child would say what she says he's saying.
Of course she could just move to Texas, where she could have him exorcised, or killed in the process.
Edit:image
Did you ever think that a lot of atheists went through this kind of shit as a kid? Yeah, there's a lot of bitter atheists out there, so they let off steam here. So what? It's not like this is supposed to be a great debate forum for the meaning of life.
mamaof2
1. Please refrain from any further breeding.
2. Return your brain to the manufacturer, it appears seriously defective.
3. Your job is teach him how to think and deal with this world, not force your mysticism on him.
4. He is already smart enough to realize you have been unreasoning in your presentations.
Later she says: "I did pray for him tonight as I tucked him in and commanded any evil spirit or demon to come out of him, in Jesus's name. I prayed for a hedge of protection around him, that he would be close to Jesus and only listen to Him and no other voices he might hear. I did not really know what to say, but I did pray. Nothing manifested or anything..should I keep commanding them to leave over and over or does it only take that one time? What do I do now?I don't want to scare my son with all the demon talk."
She's already scared him half to death with her nonsense. He's a confused, frightened little boy who's worried that his mother is insane. If there's a demon in the house, it's her.
fergus
B..
Excessive stupidity should expect ire from anyone reasonable.
Respect must be earned, it cannot simply be given. Please point out that which has earned warranted respect.
Isa's responses to this woman were hilarious: "God told me it's a witch sending demons into your son. Their spirit guides torture them until they destroy all Christians. I was gifted with discernment and God told me it's a witch doing this to your family."
Okay, so I paraphrased, but that's what she was getting at. These people shouldn't be allowed out of the house, let alone allowed the tremendous responsibility of raising children.
I'm a firstborn myself.
Silly, and I thought all the health problems I was born with were caused by medical problems!
Or, you know, Satan could just be taking his ues from God, like in Exodus .
But, in seriousness, I do feel bad for this young man, to be so self-aware at his age and yet feel guilty for it with his fundamentalist mother. If his fahter really isn't as religious as her, though--and he realizes her craziness at his age--I do have hope for him. His intelligence at least, if not his potentially unresolved issues with his mother as an adult.
"Can anyone tell me what else I should be doing?"
Oh, you might want to learn about logic, reason and rationality, and the sequence of cause and effect.
Keep in mind that most of your co-religionists also admit that its story is hard to believe:
You can see how a growing boy might say "That's hard to believe" even without a demonic influence, right?
@ El Guap & MAS2008
@ Antichrist
Oh wait, that's not an lolcat. It's one of de-motivators that I always find amusing.
further to my other post, it's entirely likely that mommy's spent ages with him telling him he'll go to Hell if he fails to be failful. Now the truth is beginning to glimmer in he's scared shitless about burning, but can't reconcile the fundie stupid with reality nor his father's views.
Poor kid needs less preaching and more love.
@ B
Do you think everyone who doesn't believe in the sky daddy will burn forever?
Hell, I said she should be dying in a fire, not burning forever which has been wished on Atheists by fundies for years.
I feel strongly about an innocent 9 year old being forced into a nut-job religion. It pisses me off.
I'd recommend not scaring this little boy and not seeing demons everywhere! I have great news for you: Shit happens without any supernatural reason at times.
I have to admit that I feel worried about the child since he grew up in such a psychologically unhealthy environment.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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