I just thought this might be of interest to some of the parents here on the board who have left the borg,when their children also were raised in it......My youngest son, is the spiritual one of my 3 kids, I mean he wants to know what Jesus was like as a boy, if he was a boy in heaven, why did God put Satan down here with us, etc. etc.
As many of you know, our whole family left the borg, a little over a year ago. My oldest son was glad and still deals with his own spirituality, he is your typical teen, interesting in other things not spiritual. But he does have moments of questioning and he is pretty openminded on most things.
My daughter doesnt say much about religion except that she is glad to never have to go to those long meetings and assemblies anymore.
My youngest son was terrified when we left , that Jehovah would be mad at us for not going to the meetings. He was so scared of armeggedon and talked about it all the time. Even reminding his sister ,many times, that they would die in armeggedon if they didnt act right. It took alot of talking to get him over his fear of armeggedon.
It wasnt an over night thing at all, to get him to not fear that we would die a terrible judgment from Jehovah. I wasnt sure how to talk to him, but I just talked about Jesus and how wonderful things are going to be , since we know Jesus was a good person here on earth, that he would be good to us when we die.I stressed that he reads the heart and we can trust he will do right by us.
I still struggle with my own beliefs right now, but for the most part the things I said about Jesus , I do feel is true.
My son called me into the room today to look at these drawings he did on the computer. One was of his beloved Pappaw, one of me, and one of Jesus.
What is amazing to me is,,,,,,,,he drew the picture of Jesus on a red CROSS. As jw's we were told he didnt die on a cross it was a stake, yadda yadda yadda. I havent really talked alot to the kids about Jesus dying on a cross a whole lot. I really am not sure where he got this image in his head. He doesnt watch tv that would show the cross, he is not around other kids that are religious, and there are no pictures of Jesus on a cross in our home , other than in books.
But he did pick this idea up somewhere, a picture drawn by a child reveals alot, and he didnt say Mama look at Jesus on the Cross, he just showed me all of the pictures. In his mind it is like a fact , how he sees Jesus' death in his mind.
I think this is wonderful being that he is starting to form his own view of spirituality now. As a JW kid myself, drawing a picture of the cross would have been an unforgiveable sin. He saw nothing wrong with it at all, it was like the natural way it was supposed to be. I am so glad that I was able to see what his little heart was feeling, and what his mind thinks thru his drawings.
So I thought I would share this with those who wonder what happens to our kids when we leave the borg. They are just like us , accepting new ideas, letting go of the corrupt WT ones and feeling free to express it. This really made my day today, to know that we havent completely ruined our childrens future of accepting new ideas. Children are so much more trusting of themselves than we as adults are. I feel good knowing my kids have the chance to be free thinkers at an early age, and that they will develope in that way, not like I was, chained down and burden with the fear of not trusting my own gut feelings.