Thread: My HS Freshman son is a proclaimed Agnostic
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My HS Freshman son is a proclaimed Agnostic
Posted : 9 Oct, 2011 06:36 PM
So I have lived a CHristian life, and brought my children up in church. We don't just attend, I live it at home as well.
I have two boys; a HS Freshman and an eighth grader.
Both boys are athletic, intelligent, involved in youth group, scouts and national honor society.
My eldest reepeatedly stated he is agnostic. He dosent believe our God would allow bad things to happen to people. He also dosent believe in creation.
Know I know his intellectual sientific mind and his stubborn teen age hormones fule this fire.
I need to know other than my continuing to pray for him, live out my christian life and always be there for him, what to say, what to ask him to read and what argument to make for him coming around.
I know he won't always stray from the way he was raised, and that I put good values, christian values into him.
Exasperated, I ask anyone that has a similar experience or helpful insight to chime in. Thank you in advance and GOD bless you.
What might help him is letting him understand who is really in control of the world, Satan. In Revelation 12:9 we are told the devil deceives the whole world. By understanding this & a few other passages, everything becomes clear.
The Bible refers to the �god of this world,� and it is not talking about the God of heaven. II Corinthians 4:4 records, �In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel�should shine unto them.� Only the devil wants to blind us of the truth.
Three times in the gospel of John, Christ refers to Satan as �the prince of this world.� John 12:31, 16:11 and 14:30 reveal that in the future, the �prince of this world� will be judged. Take time to read these verses. John 12:31 parallels the judgment of this world with Satan�s judgment.
This is because this world is his! Let�s make this plain.
Matthew 4 contains the well-known account of Christ�s confrontation with the devil after fasting for forty days. The devil repeatedly tempts Christ through twisting scripture (one of his favorite devices). At one point, in verses 8 and 9, �the devil took Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And said unto Him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.�
notice that Christ rebuked Satan (vs. 10), quoting Deuteronomy 6:13, answering, �You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.� At no point did Christ say, �These kingdoms are NOT yours to give,� or �Who do you think you are, trying to offer Me what is already God�s?� The reason for that is because He knew the kingdoms of this world are the devil�s kingdoms (governments). Christ knew they were Satan�s to give.
So that there can be absolutely no doubt that this is true, note the exact same account paralleled in Luke 4:6. The devil is speaking directly to Christ. It adds a key phrase that should hit you like a sledgehammer. He said, �All this power will I give You, and the glory of them: for that [it] is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.� Did you notice? It was completely within the scope of the devil�s power and authority to offer or withhold the kingdoms of this world. They were his to give or not to give. God had �delivered� them to him�to his control.
Due to sin turning us away from God, we've been given time to try things our way. Mankind is learning the hard way that we can never find the true way to peace. We will continue to see wars, hear rumors of wars, deaths, persecutions, & so on. The good news is God is working with the individuals who turned to him & obey him.
Only when Christ returns will mankind finally know true peace. No more death, sorrow, or crying (Revelation 21:4). Christ will make war, conquer & show the world who is truly King of Kings, And Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:11-16) :). Hope that helps him understand why bad things happen, if not you can email me & i'll show you a website that changed my life around :D.
One of the lessons of the parable of the prodigal son is about taking things for granted. When the son "came to his senses", he realised what he'd thrown away and came back a lot wiser and more grateful than when he left!
Hopefully your son will realise that the Gospel is something that either must be totally ignored, or accepted totally - picking and choosing the bits which fits how *he* thinks God should act simply won't work. Sadly the devil has become expert at distracting and deceiving people so that they never take time to sit down and think about what they actually believe and whether it works...
Excellant suggestions Gents...in the mean time GIRAFFE68...you pray for and ask the LORD Jesus to send the Person to Deliver the Gospel Message to your son...and I will Pray the for the same...:excited:...and...ya could Print the Gents sugesstions out and leave it out in plain view...:rolleyes:...along with the Bible...xo
I would pray and tread softly. This world in which we live makes creation sound dumb... and evolution sound scientific.
You could educate yourself on the topic... but... instead... why not sow God's word.... and use the words.... creation to describe things when you can.... Do a search of creator and creation.... maybe have your son read the constitution with you.... show him how we know what we know... the two or three witnesses to verify truth... that our court system is built on... and remind your kids by word and deed how to think critically.... so they will see you as trustworthy and concerned and then wonder why they are being taught things you don't believe like evolution.... going into the actual details of evolution... is very time consuming.... just remind your son that no one was around when God created the heaven and the earth... and that in spite of claims that such and such is thousands or millions of years old that recorded history only goes back 5-6,000 years.... so there are a lot of assumtions regarding our origins... and that the explanation of those origins by a Creator have a lot going for them... such as God's tested and preserved Word... use that word... give your son confidence that it is true... show by example... etc...
My son is intelligent also. His favorite topices in school/college are math and science. My son does not believe in evolution just due to the laws of physics, but he does not believe in diving creation due to the laws of physics as well. He does not believe God exists just to the laws of phyisics asl well.
I came across a wonderful cassette packett by Koinonia House, Inc. called "The Divine Watchmaker" . They have a website and you can contact them asking if they still have this 2 cassette packette. One cassette is with Chuck Missler and the other is with Mark Eastman. The discuss the evolution vs creation scientifically with science facts as we know of today that were not known when Darwin gave his thoery.
Listen to them with your sons. You and your sons will know more about evolution than their teacher does. And yes, will know the scientific facts against it.
there is much awesome information in these tapes.
after listening and discussing the tapes with your sons, let them know you will now go to history at a later time.
use the interpretation of the kings dream of the statue.
not only could Daniel interpret the dream, but could even tell the king what the dream was. no human can tell what another person dreamt. this was from God.
head: babylon world empire
breastplate:medes/persions world empire- medes/persions over throw the babyon empire
legs: the roman world empire: romans over throw the medes/persians empire
ten toes: the last empire of the world and is in the making-which will be a world empire with 10 regions. the revived roman empire
Daniel told the king of the babylon world empire all the empires that would be after him. the roman empire did not happen until hundreds of years later. however, the world empires in our history books are the same as Daniel (from God) said would be.
give your son a challenge to find one of God's prophecy's in the bible that did not happen. he can check out websites or any resource he wants.
With all this, remember this is not a physical battle. It is a spiritual battle. Continue to pray. More battles are won on our knees. The Holy Spirit is the only one that can change hearts. Because it is not a physical battle, do not look at the physical elements; satan will just use these to discourage you. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He has heard your prayer. With your trust in Him, He will answer. We need to try to rejoice that God will answer this prayer, for it is a prayer that is not against His will, but rather it is His will.
In your comment: "He dosent believe our God would allow bad things to happen to people"
I have a book about prayer that has a chapter that discusses this topic. I have borrowed it out sometime ago and do not remember the name of the book nor the author.
I will contact them and find out this information. I will let you know this when I hear back from him.
It may be a few days and possibly up to a week before this person gets back to me. This person's daughter is getting married shortly and so he is quite busy.
So I have lived a CHristian life, and brought my children up in church. We don't just attend, I live it at home as well.
First things first you can not get by this first sentence, you can not get Satan out of your family if you are not in fellowship with the lord and under a pastor and tithing.
thank you Phiiip for pointing that out. the first few sentences did state something that allows satan a foothole to come in through.
though the radio, tv, and the internet can be used as a tool to spread the Gospel to many and be used as a resource for a believer. We have to remember it is only that.
it is sad, but some christains do not attend church. It is justified as "I watch it on tv". God's Word tells us to gather together and pray for one another. We are Christ's bride and referred to as the church. Jesus loves His bride the church. He died for the church and will come back to get His bride the church someday
several pastors broadcasting on the media even recommend finding and attending a church that preaches the gospel and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Where there are 2 or 5 gathered in my name, there I am also.
We are the members of the body of Christ. We are to gather together and worship Him.
For the one that says, I do not need to attend church, I have Jesus in my heart and talk to Him everyday and am just fine: If this is the case, we should still attend church so one can pray, help, and support other brothers and sisters in the Lord.
do not the Alcoholic Anonymous and other organizations like this recognize this fact and concept. They understand that if the alcoholic does not attend meetings, they will eventually go back to the life style they once had.
It is joyful to talk to other christains and see what God has done for them.
tithing: We are to be faithful servents and tithe. Everything we have is from God. Just like our everything else in our lives that God gave us, the money we have is also from Him.
So really the money in the bank is not ours, it is God's.
Malachi chapter 3
For I am the Lord, I change not.....Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherin shall we return?
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In titles and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me
Bring ye all the tithes into the storhouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall ot be room enough to receive. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground
satan tempts us with not going to church and if we do go satan puts fear, greed, and pride not to tithe. If we fall into this temptation, we will miss out on blessings from God.
My family members are non-believers and I used to argue with them a lot about how Jesus is the only way, truth and the life. But that never seemed to do any good whatsoever and it only pushed them further away from Jesus..
But now things are starting to change because I finally realised that I wasn't allowing the love of God to flow through me without me getting in the way. Now I don't argue, I don't shove scriptures down peoples' throats anymore, but instead I wait and act on the Holy Spirit and the love of God in everything I do or say. They haven't confessed Jesus as their Lord and Saviour yet, but at least Im(my way of doing things) not in the way of God's work anymore.
Don't do things just because they seem like the right thing to do. Don't say things just because they seem like the right thing to say. Instead, let us seek God in prayer and in the reading and meditation of His word. Then, when the Holy Spirit counels you, be sure to follow and obey His guidance in all things.
Proverbs 3:5~8 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; *in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. *Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. *This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
