So Many "New" Christians in My Past

I’ve always wondered what it was about parenthood that made seemingly intelligent people want to latch onto the idea of the “magic man in the sky” . I mean, when we’re kids, we believe in these sorts of things because we don’t know any better. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy. Those are all fun ideas for kids to explore their imaginations. But, we also always find out that those are imaginary people or things.

So, why is the idea of God any different? We still have as much proof of God as we do the Tooth Fairy, or Santa Claus. Yet, fully grown and supposedly wise people everywhere are embracing the idea of the scary magic man in the sky based on an emotional response to moving testimony or songs. An emotional response has just never been legitimate proof of the existence of anything before, so why should it be now? I love the idea of Santa Claus. I get very emotional when I think about his mythology. So, should I now believe in Santa? All I have against him is other people telling me he’s not real, so why shouldn’t I?

The thing is, we all want to believe there’s something after life, it’s comforting for one thing. But, I just don’t see that as legitimate proof that something is out there.

What has me thinking about this is that it seems as though every time I run across someone I knew from 25+ years ago, they’re always some born again Christian, now. When I was on Facebook, several of the people I knew from high school that were anything but religious back then, were all of a sudden a bunch of Bible thumping Christians. Most of these people are truly intelligent enough to be able to make the distinction that if Santa Claus isn’t real, and we have the same amount of proof of Santa Claus as we do God, then God is most likely not real either. Yet, they are still embracing the magic man in the sky idea.

The common denominator between these people is the fact that they have kids.

I want to know what the hell is up with that? Why do people suddenly lose their minds once they have children? None of the childless people I know are religious. None. At all. The religious ones are all parents. Why is that?

I just recently found a Facebook page for a girl I grew up with. She was a pretty good friend growing up, and she was wild as hell back then. We still corresponded until I left my home state in 2004, and back then she was just the same old girl I knew back in childhood. Shit, she even went out and had a half sleeve tattoo done.

She’s religious now. And, I’m not talking about just a normal religious person here, either. I’m talking about Apostolic/Pentecostal/Snake Handler church type religious. “Going to religious revivals and holding her hands in the air” religious. I’m talking about the type of religious that refers to Jesus as “Yeshua”, still uses the Star of David, and walks around saying, “Praise God in all things!” every 5 minutes.

The only thing different about her life is that she’s now got two kids. Everything else about her appears to be the same. Her career, everything.

There is a guy I know from high school. Very popular guy, always was. Still just as into sports as he was in school.  He’s now a “follower of Jesus Christ’ as he lists it. That’s interesting since his parents were anything but religious and he wasn’t raised in that type of environment. The only thing different about the guy is that he’s now got a daughter.

Same thing for another guy I know from high school. This particular guy was the school’s resident “male whore”. Everything about him is the same. Attitude, sense of humor. The only thing different is that he’s got 3 children.

In contrast, there are several people I found from school who are either not married and childless, or married and still childless. None of these people are religious and every single one of them lists “atheist” on their pages.

This makes me wonder if those who are suddenly Christian converts are really doing it because they believe that mumbo jumbo, or because it’s socially unacceptable to be a parent and not go to Church or believe in God. Are they doing it because they, themselves, believe it? Or are they doing it because they can’t fathom raising their kids without the mythology of religion? Are they real converts, or are they converts because their in laws made it unacceptable not to be?

If anyone reads this, and happens to be a convert to Christianity after becoming a parent, I’d like to hear why you did it. Whether it’s because you were pressured into it, or because you really went through some transformation after the birth of your children, I’d really like to hear why people d0 this after parenthood.

It’s funny to me, because I have 3 children and I left religion. I have children and I never once rejoined Christianity. I’ve tried a couple of times to see if religion could be real, or the myths could be real, but in the end I know they aren’t real. They’re myths, like every other myth. They’re stories, probably about either people from the past that have been insanely blown out of proportion to elevate these people to God status, or about natural occurrences. I know myths aren’t real. There is just no way I can put logic and science aside enough to buy the God theory. So, it makes me wonder why other people are all of a sudden embracing religion. Why are they all of a sudden considering emotional response to be a sign from God? Why are they considering conversion after parenthood to be “the thing to do”?

Most of all, why are all my old friends suddenly a bunch of Bible thumpers?!