@mischievoustomato not to get too serious but this is something I've been thinking about a lot so bear with me
As a father you have to shepherd your children along through their lives - allowing them the autonomy to mess up without letting things go so badly out of control that you can't help them recover. When they're learning to walk, you don't just give them a shove and see if it works - you hold their hands and let them get a feel for the movement, and gradually let them take over more and more until they can do it on their own. You also don't let them get the impression you're going to do it all for them. You want them to think they're the ones walking and you're just there with them. It's a careful balance that lets them grow and feel good about themselves - and you do this because you love them and you want them to be able to stand up on their own and do things for themselves.
I think that's why God is depicted as a father in Christianity, and also why the forgiveness of mistakes earnestly apologized for is so important. If my son came to me with tears in his eyes and told me he made a mistake and that he'd try not to do it again, how could I not forgive him?
It should go without saying that you don't have to believe any of that if you don't want to or if it doesn't click with you. I just wanted to get it off my chest and what you said really got me. Made me feel bad. How could you disappoint him if you try your best? Even if you fall short, as long as you keep getting up and trying to be better, I think or at least I hope he will understand.
@goatmeal yeah - I tried anyway. I found the lack of historical continuity and the ideologically driven community very difficult to deal with. More than anything at this point I view a lot of religious stories as reflections and interpretations of similar phenomena, and my time looking through paganism as grasping for something that wasn't scientific atheism (which is more or less where I was when I began my adult life)
@binkle it's so sad. paganism is practically just a forgotten bedtime story now. I envy the cultures that were able to keep their gods. most of my friends who were scientific atheists as young adults tended to lean towards buddhism. but when I quiz them they know almost nothing about it.
@goatmeal many such cases. I think most people don't look into the things they "believe" very closely. They still need these things, which is why they're trying at all, but they're just sort of groping around in the dark for it
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