The family and religion..?

Question

I'm not as religious as my family. They like going to church... all of them. My brother and sister love it too. I don't know how to break it to them gently that I don't. Has anyone ever been through this with their family, no matter what religion? And if so, what did you do?

I respect my family's Christian views and I take their beliefs personal but I'm not THAT into it as them.

Answer 1

I suggest you read the Left Behind series. You can find them on-line I think. Just check them out. There is a girl in the kids series books that sounds just like you. You should read about her. I know it's fictional but it could help you out. I love those books.

Answer 2

Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you have to like church.  I don't like going to church because my dad won't let me not wear a dress.  And I have to get up early.

Answer 3

I'm the same way.  My entire family is huge on church.  I always go, though, to avoid any strife.

Answer 4

I'm the same way! I get enough of it at my catholic school. I didn't bother explaining it to the whole family, i still go to church with them but i don't apply religion to every aspect of my life. I don't pray or say the rosary or think "what would jesus do" when I get home. The only time I'm religious is when I'm at church.

but its still your religion so think of it as family time and go to church with them. You can still have your own opinions.

Answer 5

Well you know my religion belief and in essence they do not differ from Cuore's above so won't repeat myself.

Iv not been in your situation as my mother ALWAYS told me Im free to do which religion I want, if I want.

But regardless all I know is a person should not feel compelled to believe in something nor act on it or waste his time's seconds, minutes, hours and days practicing something for the sake of his parents or his family.

I consider myself like you a non-practicing Christian. I find many religions have some basic valid points about life whereas many talk c**p.

Iv decided that in life if we listen to books, people, TV, internet and religious beliefs we get force-fed data that is not necessarily real or true to us, and have therefore adopted a maxim to believe in what I myself SEE and find true for me, not what I am "expected" to believe due to country of origin, family values, etc

Better to be disgraced by people who discriminate against your choices than lose your own self determination to believe in what you want to believe.

Answer 6

Tell them you are an atheist, they'll hate you for a week... But not only will they not make you go to church they will not want you there.

It's fun :)

Answer 7

i used to be the same way, then when i started going more i found alot of friends so it was more enjoyable..

Answer 8

I'm not sure how old you are, but if you are at least in High School, I would just gently tell your parents that you really don't get any spiritual uplift from church and you would like to be able not to go to church with them, at least not every Sunday.  Compromise, perhaps?  Go 'as a family' on major occasions like Christmas, Easter, etc.?  Go once a month even, maybe?  You can make your own choice once you are 18 and/or when you move away to college or whatever, but, right now, if they insist, don't fuss.  You can keep asking every few weeks, or just see if you can have 'sleep overs' on Saturday nights that last until after church on Sunday.

Answer 9

I added you as a contact so I see your questions now.  I don't see why a religious person even feels they have to go to church for prayer and worship. Do what you feel is best. I was raised catholic I guess but never really bought into it. I believe in a higher power or creator but I don't follow one religion. My older bro and I used to skip church after Sunday class and the priest called us a disgrace to the church. That same priest was seen at a party drunk with a woman years later. Haha. I told my parents that I didn't like church when I was younger and through the years to my surprise I found out they don't even believe in god. You would think they're from Italy and they would. They just wanted to give us something to believe in I guess.  Parents...sigh.

The bible has a lot ****** up passages in it. I don't think it should be part of our society anymore.

@ Chesire Cat. Love George Carlin's material. A little over the top but he makes some good points. Haha.

My moral is..you don't need religion to be a good person.

Answer 10

you either like it or you dont simple realy my family like to go but i wont allow them to push it on me like others seem to do

Answer 11

I started napping in church once I figured out that they just recycle the same old sermon from the previous year.  Maybe it's an IQ thing.  Once I realized I had heard the whole story and heard the thing over and over again ad nauseum, I decided to start analyzing the logic of the stories.

What I then realized is that it's more interesting what they DON'T discuss from the Bible in church!  I'd now go so far as say that the "God" in the Bible is NOT the "God" we worshiped in Church!  Given the lens of what I had learned in church, I saw that the God of the Bible was a morally corrupt psychopath that doesn't deserve my respect, let alone my worship.  I started praying the nut job "God" of the Bible didn't actually exist.

Later, I learned more about the Reformation, and I started questioning these stupid lines in the Bible my church was using when it was obvious we were a Reformation church, although not Lutherans.

Later still, I visited Europe, saw the church architecture in Scandinavia and southern Europe and quickly realized why, in frescoes, mosaics, sculpture, etc that you can still see today WHY the Reformation happened!  At that point, I was completely offended by my church.

By this time, I had also learned about resistant reading and formal logic.  I read the Bible through one more time and found, as Neitsche said, that "God" was dead.

So, my guess is that you're actually a closet atheist because you are bright and bored at church.  If that sounds familiar, then I might save you a LOT of time with the attached YouTube of George Carlin.

PS.  Happy George Carlin Day!

PS.PS. Just like Earth Day, every day is George Carlin Day!

Answer 12

My parents say they are Christians, but never read the bible or go to church.

I just consider myself non-religious.

Answer 13

Same thing with me.

My dad is the son of a Southern protestant minister, and my mom was living in a convent and planning on becoming a nun when she met my dad.  Obviously, Jesus and church were big things in my household.

I respect the bible as a parable that has plenty of words of wisdom, but as far as it comes to being a religious text, it means absolutely nothing to me personally.  It isn't my place to judge or attack someone else for their belief, but on a personal level, I don't like the bible, I do not believe that Jesus was the messiah, and it would follow that I don't like going to church.  Why would I like devoting hours of my time every week to something I think is bogus?

I told my dad I didn't want to go to church anymore when I was thirteen, and he went thermonuclear on me.  It became a big fight and I never went back.

My father also refrained from talking to me on anything other than a necessary level ("could you close the door?" "could you hand me the pepper?" etc) for the next five years until we went through family counselling.  Now, we get along great.

My mom was concerned when I said I didn't want to go to church, and she cried when I told her I didn't believe in Jesus as anything special, which made me feel like dog c**p, but we never fought over it and she did her best to understand and appreciate my reasons for not thinking like them.

If you *do* actually believe in Jesus in some sort of spiritual way, then you don't have to worry about the double-whammy of no church, no Jesus that I had to put on my parents.  Just be honest: you just don't like attending church.  Maybe you worship in private and that's your thing.  Could be whatever.  Hopefully, they'll understand.

If you ever need to chat about it feel free to PM me.

Answer 14

u should be able to tell ur fam anything. they can help. maybe they can find you a church that u like. dont drop ur christianity tho.  

Answer 15

You have drifted from God.

The enemy is deceiving you.

If your family loves church, then there's obviously something good.