Would you change your religion for marriage ?

[echo beach]

Yes it’s very upsetting. You can only hope that when the children mature enough they reflect, realise what happened in their lives to cause such trauma and adjust their views accordingly. Cults tend to target the vulnerable amongst us.

I’ve said before we now live in a very ‘me’ society and many folks are so self centred that they have no regards for the effects of their actions on those around them even their loved ones.

Having said that I’ve been very fortunate in as much I haven’t ever been in a toxic situation like many others. Not sure how I would feel or react if I was.

 

echo.

[Al Bundy]

56 minutes ago, lavery549@yahoo said:

I feel sorry for the kids , not being able to receive birthday cards & presents ,Christmas cards & presents like normal kids do . This guys kids went from being a normal family ,to having their whole life turned upside down ,due to her joining this cult 

That's just so selfish.

[m williamson]

I was raised in a religion and practiced it until my late teens, at which point I lapsed into Christenings, weddings and funeral mode.

I'm agnostic not atheist as that also involves belief in something which cannot be proven. 

 

I've seen religion provide comfort to people in heart breaking times and wouldn't attempt to dissuade someone from having faith.

What I find very strange about some peoples interpretation of religion however is how unchristian*  their beliefs are.

" Do unto others as you would have them do unto you " is excellent advice in pure human terms and is an instruction in the bible.

 

Inflicting your beliefs on others against their wishes is not following that instruction. Too many people who profess to be religious adopt a dogmatic and autocratic attitude towards non believers "  Unless you devote your life to my God you will never enter heaven ".  Some even suggest you're bound for the other place.

 

That is not the religion I was raised in, despite it being very dogmatic about many things.  I think the person in the OP should refuse to be forced into complying. No one can be forced to believe something unwillingly, even if they pretend otherwise.

 

* Only religion I have enough knowledge of to comment on.

 

 

[crisispoint]

1 hour ago, lavery549@yahoo said:

That's fine echo , but it did harm her husband , because he wasn't allowed any contact with his kids after the divorce .

I suspect this is quite unusual, I've spoken, to my friend and tolerance of others position even in a family is encouraged, but missionary work in the community, door knocking, is also very much encouraged, it's possible the marriage was in trouble before she became a witness.

I do also know of a couple the wife and son are witnesses but the husband isn't and the last time I met her the daughter wasn't either.

[Baz1]

1 hour ago, lavery549@yahoo said:

I feel sorry for the kids , not being able to receive birthday cards & presents ,Christmas cards & presents like normal kids do . This guys kids went from being a normal family ,to having their whole life turned upside down ,due to her joining this cult 

That's when it can backfire on you (as a parent or guardian).

 

The biggest problem is when some followers of a faith, just become tyrannical or impose so many restrictions- that even the religion may not have any say in it- i.e. there's nothing to suggest you cannot do something,  like enjoy a birthday etc.

[lavery549@yahoo]

1 hour ago, Baz1 said:

That's when it can backfire on you (as a parent or guardian).

 

The biggest problem is when some followers of a faith, just become tyrannical or impose so many restrictions- that even the religion may not have any say in it- i.e. there's nothing to suggest you cannot do something,  like enjoy a birthday etc.

I agree Baz . I know JW's rewrite their so called bible to suit them . For example , blood transfusions . & not allowing any of their members to have one . But , then they decided they could have Plasma , which is a blood product . So they change things to suit them . 

[Draggletail]

My ex Mother in Law and Father in Law (years ago) had problems getting married, he was catholic and she wasn't, so the only way they could get married was if she became catholic, which she didn't want to do, resulting in him leaving his religion and not going to church (however it was odd to see him at his Dad's funeral in church when he automatically got on his knees to pray though. Still in there to some extent...)

 

Aren't all religions teachings about how to live a good and moral life?

I don't subscribe to any religion - I'm very interested in spirituality though, but I don't regard religions as spiritual.

 

Regarding someone on this thread who said they had friends with religious beliefs that suffered the deaths of friends and relatives more easily because of their religious beliefs -  since the advent of medical professionals to save lives, and  literally bring people back (heart attack for instance when people have coded) there have been many reports over the years of people remembering how they saw themselves 'out of their body' and looking down at the medics working on them, and been able to describe to medical staff on recovery, their positions around the bed and the medical 'tools' they used) This has led to many more people (including recently some scientists believing in the survival of consciousness after the death of the physical body.

Maybe that could be a comfort to some who feel that they need to have a religion to believe that they, or their passed loved ones 'carry on'...

 

Sorry, I can't link to sources. A bit of a wacky post, some might consider, and I wish I had posted more eloquently but today were stones and not diamonds.

[Baz1]

22 hours ago, lavery549@yahoo said:

Some people change their religion so they can marry someone from a different one . I have Jehovah's witnesses in my family . One of them told her husband that they could no longer be married if he didn't convert . That to me is awful 

What if you converted to a religion but then split with your partner later?

 

I was thinking this because there must be plenty of cases like that. 

 

Even in the celebrity world,  likes of Sacha Baron and Isla Fisher- she became Jewish to be with him. Studied the faith and took a Jewish  name. 

Now they have split- so one wonders if the faith stays important, or you say "yayyyy, f##% that, I'm FREE!'

[cressida]

Elizabeth Taylor did the same when she married Eddie Fisher,  kept her Jewish faith when she married Burton afaik.

[El Cid]

On 05/09/2024 at 22:29, lavery549@yahoo said:

Some people change their religion so they can marry someone from a different one . I have Jehovah's witnesses in my family . One of them told her husband that they could no longer be married if he didn't convert . That to me is awful 

 

How can a person believe one version of the Bible, then change to believe a different version? Political parties change, so you can change political parties, but some versions of the Bible believe in Jesus and others not.

I am an atheist myself, changing to believe that the Bible is a true story would be inconceivable.