How were you raised?

[MissCris]

Even among Christians, the way people were raised varies widely. I'm being nosy and wondering how y'all were raised- what values were given top priority, how strict were your parents, how much freedom did you have to make your own decisions?

How much influence did your upbringing have over who you are/what you believe now?

 

[crossnote]

Adopted Father was an atheist,..survival was his top value. (not strict)
Mom was silent on anything religious but had a long list of do's and dont's. (moderately strict)

Went way wayward into lots of crud until the Lord got my attention.
My upbringing had little to do with who I am now thanks to the Lord who made all the right changes.

 

[SpartanD39]

I was raised in a religionless household. My parents weren't atheists, but they didn't push any kind of beliefs on us. For my father at least being reasonable, or at least logical, in what you said and did was the biggest thing for him. My mother was very much the opposite; she was very emotional, more of a follow your heart type of person. As both my parents were libertarians, personal freedom and choice was extremely important to them, but they would still push me onto what they though was the right path.

I suppose from all of that I take more after my dad, and my love of personal choice has put me where I am today. Sure I've made a whole buttload of bad decisions, but those decisions and the lessons learned have made me into who I am today, and ultimately led me into the church I'm with today.

 

[Kerry]

What we are not seeing here is the gospel. It makes no different how you were raised, it is your response to the gospel. I meant I was raised in church, but still became a hellion. But I do think that it was that background that brought me back to Christ. But, on the other hand, I know people that never went to church as a child, but somehow some way they heard the gospel and got saved and it turned their life around. Jesus said "if I be raised up, I will draw all men unto me" the quest that we have is raising up Jesus, cause if we raise Him up, souls will be saved. Amen, wow that good preaching

 

[JesusLives]

I don't remember my parents going to church at all. My Aunt Lois took me to church with her three kids to an SDA church. I went to the church school also except for kindergarten, 7th grade and couple college courses and it was confusing to me as I would be a vegetarian during the day at school with egg or PBJ sandwiches and go home to a ham dinner....By the time I was 12 both parents were dead and I lived with 5 different families until I got married at 17. Some went to church - SDA - when I lived with my brother and his family did not go to church.

As an adult I was in and out of church is this any surprise? God continued to call me though and watched over me my whole life it finally dawned on me at 56 that I had never really understood what salvation was and talking to God about it one night He explained it to me and I have not been the same since then.

Working with God daily I am becoming a better person and one that I hope is more and more like Jesus every day. I am very thankful to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit for their continued love/sacrifice/teaching that has helped me learn to turn toward them and stop trying to run away. They are why I am who I am today. A sinner that is forgiven and following them home a little closer each day.

 

[gideon007]

looking back... there are only 3 places that I can roam or let's just say places where I am only allowed to go

1. Home-School-Home, of course I have to study
2. Home-Church-Home, every sunday to have a fellowship with our fellow Christians
3. Home-Market/Mall-Home, i must only go to that store and buy the things i needed and then back home.

This was the workaround 'til i got college and this is because my mom is literally strict, we are receiving a military-like-discipline.

So i said to myself that once i'll finished with my studies i will go to places I've never been and buy things i didn't have while growing--Alone, but the irony now is that i always want my Mom always beside me when i go to places and buy things for her...ahahaha

The upbringing of my mom on us ,the Christian way, is still in me.

 

[Brother_Don]

Fatherless, but then the Almighty adopted me into His family, and its a happy ending.

 

[Jakob]

Born in an atheist enviorment/country.
Went to a foster family at age 4½. Was analyzed by many psychologis cause they couldnt understand why I could smile (at school, kindergarten). I guess they thought it didnt make sense to smile if I've been through a lot.. (they were annoying, they wouldnt leave me alone lol)

 

[MadParrotWoman]

My family weren't/aren't Christians but they raised me well. I now realise that a lot of the things my parents taught me are actually Biblical. Like JesusLives God had been calling me and for much of my life I'd been ignoring Him.

Our God never gives up on us and is a forever forgiving God, I love Him so much.

 

[Leannaix]

I was raised by Christians. I went to church on Sundays and had sunday school lessons at home if we couldn't make it to church that week. My parents were both very democratic about parenting. They made the final decision, but they involved us in choices they made. And when we weren't allowed to do something we were told why. There were no arbitrary rules or things we couldn't do just because "I said so." I think that is the reason I am so mature for my age and well rounded. I had to make choices for myself early and it prepared me to go out into the world on my own. Of course, now I realize the choices weren't really important because if I chose the wrong thing, my mom or dad would step in. And I did have rules to follow and was disciplined if need, though that wasn't often. I can honestly say I think I had the best type of parents anyone could have.

As far as my beliefs, they didn't have too much influence. My core values are only the same to the extent of the golden rule. I determine morals by thinking through the consequences of actions on an individual and a society instead of by the Bible, like they do. I don't believe in God or Jesus, which they do, very strongly. They are conservative repulicans, and I am quite the opposite on many political views. But personality wise, I am just like both of them. I think I could talk and laugh with either/both of them for hours at a time without running out of things to say.

 

[Fenner]

My Mom was Baptist, Dad was Catholic. I was raised primarily in the Catholic religion. We didn't go to Mass much and we didn't go to Catholic School, so I didn't know much about God or Jesus. After my Dad died my Mom took me to a Baptist church, which I didn't like. Later in life I got engaged to a man who was raised similarly to me, we decided to find somewhere were we felt we fit and felt comfortable. We also decided that we wouldn't bounce back and forth with our kids. We want stability for them. We've been Presbyterians since 1998.

I love my parents, I don't have any issues with how I was raised, I just decided to do things differently with my own family.

 

[secularhermit]

https://s-media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/9f/d9/d7/9fd9d73e47b7dd2db7c0b846e2c08e41.jpg

 

[Tintin]

Even among Christians, the way people were raised varies widely. I'm being nosy and wondering how y'all were raised- what values were given top priority, how strict were your parents, how much freedom did you have to make your own decisions?

How much influence did your upbringing have over who you are/what you believe now?

I was raised in a loving Christian family. I'm not sure what values we held too but we were encouraged to have a well-reasoned and authentic faith. We would read devotions daily and pray before and after every meal. We attended church weekly and even went to church while away on holidays. My brothers and I attended our church's Sunday School equivalent called 'Friday Focus' and later kids groups and youth group. We attended a Christian primary school and later, a Christian high school. Mum and Dad brought us up with the biblical creation model of understanding the Bible and we would compare and contrast creation and evolution from early on. Mum was fairly dominant and controlling, dad was reasonably passive. My brothers and I were disciplined, sometimes physically, mostly out of love for us, but sometimes out of anger.

My parents were strict to a degree. There were many things we couldn't read, watch, listen to and sometimes this frustrated us boys but most of the time we were okay with it. We were free to make our own decisions later on, but it wasn't encouraged as much as it could've been. Dad and mum loved us but they struggled to show love in physical ways. I don't remember them really playing with us as kids or teenagers and they confirmed that they didn't know how too. This was difficult for me because I'm very much a physical touch person.

My upbringing had a big impact over who I am now and what I believe. My parent's faith wasn't my own. I believed things, I had to wrestle with them, I had to stake a claim that I believed what I did and why. I've always been my own person and I've been rejected soundly by many people because of it (I experienced much bullying in high school and after - it was hellish and paralyzing), but I don't know anything else and wouldn't want to be anyone else. I'm not one to take risks, I get anxious at times. I need to work on believing I'm secure in Christ, that I'm confident living in His victory. I need to learn to trust God more readily, to tell the Enemy to bugger off, to not let him get a foothold, to walk in boldness because I'm clothed in Christ's righteousness. I need to learn to rest in God, to listen to His still small voice, to really listen.

 

[AbbeyJoy]

I'm a pastor's Kid, raise with 8 siblings, my parents adopted 4 which means I got 3 siblings by birth and 4 adopted. I'm the oldest. So yeah we are involved in youth group alot and go to bible camp every summer. We also help with the special touch ministry with the special needs.

 

[Angela53510]

My parents were humanist, and the word "God" was a three letter word, never spoken in our home. My paternal grandmother was a Christian, and she witnessed to me and prayed for me.

On the other hand, my parents were extremely strict, and they gave me no reason to follow Christian values they lived by. They just told me it was right to live by these Christian principles while living pluralistic and relativistic in word, and Judeo Christian laws in deed. So I rebelled, and went far astray in my teens.

I think consistency is very important in raising children. If you believe in Christ, then you need to act according to his words. I think it was hypocritical of my parents to tell me that science had all the answers, but to live by Christian values.
Because the two in the 50's and 60's were very far from each other.

However, I was sent to Baptist Sunday school in my childhood, where I learned a lot of the Bible, and also probably heard the gospel enough to know what it was. We also went to the Unitarian Church when I was a young teenager, which was like being in a social club on Sunday mornings.

Anyway, I wish more love had been shown, but God knew what I needed so that one day I would repent and believe, and that is all that really matters!

 

[maxwel]

How was I raised?

I was raised by wolves.
I never really thought of them as wolves...
they were just ma and pa to me.

The other wolves wouldn't really play with me,
but that doesn't matter as long as there's love at home.

All in all it was a good childhood.
Whenever I see fleas I still think of pa.

To this day all I really want is to settle down with a nice girl who'll scratch my ears.
: )

Ahh... the simple things.

 

[cgirl]

As most latin americans, almost all the family was involved in my education. I was raised in a family where everybody was very close. Even though, that "closenest" causes some problems, but it's a very loving family anyway.

My dad was the first real christian in the family, so he was considered as an authority. I was his oldest daughter,and also the oldest among my siblings, so I grew up thinking about myself as an example for my little brothers and cousins. I think that's the reason why I've always been a good girl, and that's why I've always had the trust of my parents to go and do whatever, if I tell them before hand.