Reply #66: Parents and Instructions

[outinforce]

"Can't imagine why God would so hate his creations that he would force them to do this, or that, or say these words as opposed to those words, etc...

I am not a parent, and never will be.

But I do not think that parents "hate" their kids when they require them to do certain things or forbid them from doing other things.

As an example, when I was a kid, I absolutely hated getting shots. I thought my parents, and especially my mom, were the meanest people on the earth because they insisted -- no negotiation, they forced me -- that I get shots every so often. Sometimes they were vaccinations, other times they were shotsthat I had to get when I had a sore throat.

"Why can't you just believe in a God that loves you UNCONDITIONALLY, like a good parent. instead of one that wishes to punish endlessly and to FORCE people to his supposed way of thinking. Those things are BAD parenting...do you think God is a bad parent?"

What I may happen to think about God is rather immaterial, I think. I would only observe that my notion of good parenting involves the sort of unconditional love that says, "I'll love and cherish you no matter what, but I think enough of you, your welfare, and of who you will become to establish rules in your best interest -- rules that sometimes require you to do certain things and rules which forbid you from doing other things".

I am glad now that my parents, who I once considered to be the meanest peole on the eart, had that kkind of love for me -- and that they made me get those shots.