Raised in a Christian home?

[Samer]

First, were you (or are you being) raised in a Christian home or not?
Second, how has this affected you? This can be both positive or negative.

If it was terrible, did it at least make you stronger? Try to turn all things to the glory of God! If you're saved, you should have too much to be thankful for to be depressed about your childhood. :mrgreen: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

I was raised as a Muslim, but my parents never got really involved in religion. Positives to come out of that are that nobody pushed me to make an empty profession of faith in Christ, and when I did get saved, I had to figure things out and see what the Bible taught for myself, and that has helped.
It is negative in that my parents would rather I not served the Lord. Another negative is sin, since good Christian parents would never take their children to see rated-R movies and things of that nature. Also that honoring my parents is a bit tricky when they're lost, as I can't let them influence me in lots of things--spiritual, moral, political, and other issues. (They can still help me with things like some life experiences, taxes, etc.)
It's positive in that I can witness to them and hopefully see them saved some day.
It's negative in that they probably don't want that to happen right now.
It's positive in that God had me born into this family by design, and God's will beats anything. :mrgreen:

[kevinmiller]

I was raised in a Christian home and still live at home(obviously :mrgreen: ). My parents are first gen Christians so a lot of stuff about the Christian life we learned together.

Most of being raised in a Christian home is positive except that the devil fights twice as hard and oftentimes makes life difficult. :)

[Anon]

I put "yes" but it wasn't "Christian" until I was eight, so I still remember some things from our non-Christian days.

I think the biggest way it helped me is that my parents were very strict and kept me out of alot of trouble. I was able to stay pure until marriage and keep from having alot of regrets later on in life.

I can think of things I wish my parents had done differently, or wish there were things they trained me differently in...but all in all I am very thankful for how I grew up.

[joyfulpraise93]

I was raised in a Christian home. Both of my parents got saved the year that I was born ('85). My parents never pushed me into a profession, but they kept me in church, and taught the Bible to me. They lived Christ-like lives before me which showed to me at an early age that Christ was real. He was real in my parent's lives, and that made a big impact on me. I was born again in '93.<<< Because I was raised in a Christian home, I did take a lot of things for granted. Early on in my Christian walk, I would just accept and believe whatever my dad taught me (as far as doctrine was concerned) without really searching it out for myself. In time, however I began to realize the need to study God's Word, and personally search out things for myself. I began to read and study and hunger for the Word of God. I think sometimes it is harder for people raised in Christian homes to get to the place where they think for themselves...you know? One thing my parents did...they encouraged personal study and prayer. Wehad family devotions every night, which certainly laid a good foundation for our family. I hope that I can raise my children as my parents did. I've learned a lot from them....thank the Lord that I was raised in a Christian home by parents who feared the Lord, and would not let their children let their children go to hell...they prayed for us all the time..and still do. Also they were very careful in how they dealt with us about salvation....one thing my dad is wayyy against is easy-believism. Holy Ghost conviction, knowledge of sin, repentance and faith allll the way! amen!

[ltl]

My family...
Dad's non-religious, and the same is true for almost all of his whole side of the family.
My mother (to be more accurate, stepmother) is a Charismatic, but her family's side are Buddhists.

I pray for my dad's salvation soon. And my mum if she isn't saved.

She's a religious person but there is no evidence to indicate whether she is lost or saved.

[hermanj]

My mom is saved, but my dad (who pretty much runs our house) is not. So I had some influence, but not a whole lot.

[bekamorgan19]

Yes, I was born and raised into a Christian home, a blessing for which I am so very grateful. My dad is a preacher and has done pretty much all the official training to become a pastor, as well as doing a lot of other ministries on the side.

Being raised in a Christian home has given me strong values and a Biblical basis for them. My dad was never content to just let us read our Bibles...he would ask what we had been learning. So in this small way, we learned to share our faith and speak about what God was doing in our lives. That was something that I found really helped me when I chose to attend public school for two years, as I had the groundwork and teaching to help me share and be a witness to my unsaved friends. I would certainly not be the person I am today if not for the way I was raised.

[Finlander]

Well my brother is a Lutheran priest and naturally they did like the Lutheran Church very much thus separation from the State Church was a big thing to them, they had some chosen words for me because of that though. All of my family is lost thus I was not raised as Christian. I did get so called religion teaching in school but it was tainted with Lutheranism. But it was good for the basics about Christianity like there is God and such.

[jimzinsocal]

Being raised in a Buddhist family that converted to a Southern Baptist family leaves me very thankful. They taught me that going to church was important. My parents don't go anymore (sigh), but they raise up children that want to go church (amen!). However you want to look at Southern Baptists, I'm glad being raised up as a Baptist helped lead me in the Baptist direction. Makes you wonder how people forsake old convictions for new ones.. (off topic, I believe being compassionate on Baptists and other professing "Bible-believers" wins their heart more effectively than ganging up on them.) I'm thankful for a home that cares about living the Bible even if it's not to the best degree. I got saved two years ago after realizing my testimony was fake. As far as my salvation is concerned, the cause of my false profession was ultimately my fault, not anyone else's. :-)

[SweetCharity]

Nope not at all. The closest in my family is my paternal grandmother who is Catholic and lived hours and hours away from us. Some how from a very young age I loved the Lord and had such a yearning and desire to study the Bible. The downside is that is very hard to do when you are 10 and have no way to get to a Church and have no one in your family that can help teach you. The upside is the faith and discovery of the Word and what all it means is so precious and pure and amazing when you discover it on your own as your grow. As I got older and became a better reader, I would pick up something new in the Bible that I never saw before, which is always a blessing.

I would say the hardest part for me, and it was a huge learning curve on my part, was not being embarrassed. Almost all of my friends at school came from devout Christian homes and I was always so embarrassed that my family didn't believe in God at all and our Father and Christ were never mentioned. It really got in my way of learning and growing because it just took me a long time to reach out to friends for help in growing and getting to Church.

[Kayla]

Nope not at all. The closest in my family is my paternal grandmother who is Catholic and lived hours and hours away from us. Some how from a very young age I loved the Lord and had such a yearning and desire to study the Bible. The downside is that is very hard to do when you are 10 and have no way to get to a Church and have no one in your family that can help teach you. The upside is the faith and discovery of the Word and what all it means is so precious and pure and amazing when you discover it on your own as your grow. As you get older and become a better reader, I would pick up something knew in the Bible that I never saw before which is always a blessing.

I would say the hardest part for me, and it was a huge learning curve on my part, was not being embarrassed. Almost all of my friends at school came from devout Christian homes and I was always so embarrassed that my family didn't believe in God at all and our Father and Christ were never mentioned. It really got in my way of learning and growing because it just took me a long time to reach out to friends for help in growing and getting to Church.

I was the same way Charity. If my church had a bus I would have been a bus kid. My preacher and his wife picked up until I was 16 and I could drive myself to church.

[SweetCharity]

I would have been a bus kid too. I am from such a small town though that no church there had a bus or van or anything. The first time I heard anything about it was a couple weeks ago when I moved to California :lol That was so nice of your Preacher and his wife to pick you up. I went with a friend every Sunday until a couple of the girls there made fun of me for not having Christians for parents. :sad Can't blame them though, they were young and growing themselves.

[JerryNumbers]

This is kind of old, a great topic I'm going to bump it up with a post. Don't believe I have ever been in this section.

I voted yes, but my father did not attend church with us, but mother, grandmother, sister, & I attended when the doors were open.

I think it was a positive experience, but would have been more so if father had of been in on it. That influenced me to fall out of church when I graduated from high school, it was several years before I really got back into church, oh I would attend once in a long while, but father not going was in the back of my mine and a big stumbling block for me.

But many of those I grew up in church with are no longer in church, several of those had both father & mother attending church with them. My best friends father was a deacon in our church, I always thought, would it not be wonderful to have a father who prayed in church, read the Bible, & such things.

I'm so glad that God helped me over come my rebellion and thankful to for Gods divine guidance to marry a Christian woman who follows me.

[Crushmaster]

I am still at home, and my parents have been believers since a good while before I was born.

All of us attend church, though my brother sadly cannot do so frequently due to his health. I've been raised very Biblically and very conservatively. The Lord has been far too good to me.
God bless,
Crushmaster.

[HappyChristian]

I voted "kind of/other" because our home wasn't Christian until I was about 10.

My mother was saved as a youngster, but was never discipled so she never grew in the Lord. She and my biological father got divorced, for many reasons, including his infidelity and violence. After 6 years, she remarried.

My step-dad was raised in a pentecostal home. His spiritual life for so many years reflected that: he would be spiritual when he felt like it, unspiritual when he didn't.

We were in Christian schools almost from the get-go (private school before that). It was actually a convenience for my mom because we could catch the bus at home, and we would ride the bus home according to her work schedule. But God knew what He was doing!! After a while, it became hard core with my mom that she never wanted us in public schools.

When I was about 10, we were outside playing when a man came up and started asking us about church. Now, I had been saved 2 years previously at camp, and I went to church sometimes with my friends. But never regularly. This man told us we could ride the bus to church if we wanted to. I said yes, and then forgot about it. Went to spend the night at a friend's house. The next week he came back, and I really felt horrible about having forgotten (we may not have been raised in a completely Christian home, but there were definite scriptural principles taught even without knowledge that's what they were!) and I apologized. The next day I rode the bus. Open Door Baptist Church. The next week my brother went with me. Then the rest of the family followed. Soon we were going regularly.

But then we moved. We never settled on another church faithfully. We attended hit and miss, and continued to be in Christian school (with the exception of a couple of years).

When I was 19, a preacher came to the area to start a church. It didn't get off the ground, but God used this man to convict my heart and I got things right with God, went to college, got my teaching degree. While teaching I met my hubby and the rest is history.

My folks continued to struggle with church attendance, finally finding one they could join and attend faithfully. Then they moved again... But God led them in recent years to a great church where they have grown so much spiritually.

Of my siblings I am the only one who attends church even on a semi-regular basis. My sister will attend very, very rarely. My younger brother never goes anymore (he and his wife did for a time, but that's another story). My older brother doesn't attend.

We were all raised the same - inconsistent church attendance, family devotions, etc. I am so glad I made the conscious choice to give my life to Him.

We raised our son in a Christian home, attending a strong churchl; he was both homeschooled and later in a good Christian school. We do hope and pray that he will in turn have a Christian home for his family.