Nothing. At the time the Bible was written, the Israelites apparently had never heard of it. That other mythical attribute came to our culture from a different source.
Experience here. My parents believe in God and always have. We have never really gone to church before, so when my mom sugested trying one, I told her my beliefs (I’m an Athiest). She was pretty upset, but didn’t get mad at me. She accepted that I didn’t believe in the big man upstairs, and let it be. Things get tense when she wants me to try to “regain faith” because of my depression, health problems, etc. I just keep on telling her that I don’t believe in God, I never have, and no health problem that comes is going to make me start to believe.
Well, I’m not a Christian, but I am a pretty faithful Baha’i. Hubby is an atheist, and we have agreed to disagree on this point (which doesn’t stop me from praying that he might one day discover his own faith, and he knows I pray for this, and it doesn’t bother him; if it did, I would stop). In my faith, 15 is the age of consent. Younger children of Baha’i mothers are considered Baha’i, unless a letter is sent to the NSA, requesting otherwise. When my oldest (who is 17 today: happy birthday to her!) turned 15, she signed a Declaration card, but was not pushed by me to do so. I told her she has to do it because she feels it’s right for her, not to make me happy. Recently, though, she’s decided to leave the Baha’i faith and become Wiccan. In fact, about a month ago, she had her initial ritual with a pagan friend of ours. I will not let her conduct rituals in the house, but this is because many of the rituals use stuff like knives and candles. I won’t let her burn candles at all, because she’s careless with them, and I don’t let her use sharp knives when she’s alone, because she’s a “cutter” (she cuts herself when she’s stressed). I was a little upset when she decided to become Wiccan, but not because she wasn’t “following in my footsteps”, but more because she tends to not want to do anything that requires any real effort (this is across the board, not just in matters of religion), and it seemed to me that she was changing because she thought of Wiccan as “easier”. In fact, she asked me if she could start taking Wiccan holidays off from school, and I told her that when I saw evidence that she was doing her best to follow the tenets of the faith that she could start doing that. I’m not going to give her days off just because she claims to be Wiccan, if she’s not going to work at it, you know?
My middle daughter is 13, and she says she can’t wait to be 15 so she can make her declaration. I don’t know if she’ll remain Baha’i or not, but she’s a very serious, mature kid by nature, and I’m sure that whatever path she chooses she’ll take it seriously, and work at it.
Too early to say about my youngest, as she’s only 4 
.
One of the tenets of the Baha’i faith is that harmony in the home must come before all else; following this tenet, if it bothered my husband for me to make donations to the faith, I wouldn’t.
It was rather more of an issue when I told my dad I was Wiccan than when I told him I was gay. He was a rather devout member of a very liberal branch of Christianity (United Church of Canada). My mom was less devout of a Christian, and correspondingly less stressed about the thing.
My fiancee and I are both Pagan, and we plan on involving our kids in our religious rituals while they’re young. I’m a big fan of Interfaith dialogue, so we’ll also be talking to them about the different faiths of the people who share the planet with them.
If they decide to convert to another religion when they are at the age of reason, we will stand behind them 100%. As long as they are happy, fulfilled and compassionate.
I don’t know what we’d do if they fell into a cult* or a group of hate-mongers, though.
*I know the definition of “cult” is sometimes seen as “anything that sounds wacked-out to me”, but I mean it in the sense of a religious organization that is exploitative and abusive towards its members.
Well, I recently told my parents I am an atheist, and it hit the fan. A big talk about how they were afraid I was going to join a cult and such. It has calmed down since, but I still feel as if Mom wants me to remain Greek Catholic, and encourages me to say I am Catholic officially. I don’t even want to think of what they’d do if I didn’t get married in the Catholic church (or at least a Christian one)!
They aren’t particularly religious and don’t care too much for ceremony, but they do believe that a belief in God in fundamental.