Originally Posted by popcornbird
I'm not going to comment on the music issue, but I do want to say something to those of you who feel religion is a way of 'controlling' people.
Imagine this scenario. You are driving along the road when you see a nice, shiny, beautiful car in front of you, sparkling in the sun. When the road is straight, it goes straight. When the road curves, it turns nicely along with it. It stops at stoplights. It parks at proper parking spots. It goes uphill gracefully, and goes downhill beautifully too. It drives fast, yet safe on highways. It slows down in school zones. It stops at railroad crossings. It manuvers perfectly when other cars around it are driving crazy. You think, "Wow...what a perfect driver"...and gaze at the car as you admire it, and think "what a wonderful driver behind the wheel." The car whizes past you, and you peer to get a glance, only to see there is NO ONE behind the wheel. The car is driving itself.
Is this scenario possible? Can a car, left alone without a driver drive so perfectly well, without getting hurt, without getting dirty, without bumping into other cars, crashing, and falling into a ditch? Unless it is in the movie "Cars", of course this scenario is not possible at all.
Now, imagine a scenario that is more realistic. There's a nice, shiny, beautiful car, driving in front of you. The driver jumps out, leaving the car on its own. The car keeps going straight. It goes through red lights, crashing into the cars crossing the intersection. It bumps into the curb. It goes right into a crossing train. It goes off road and ends up in the dirt. The dirt gets all over it and the beauty of the car slowly begins to disappear. The dents make it look awful. Eventually, the car falls into a ditch, and that is the end of it.
Like it or not, we are ALL controlled by something. God has given us the freedom of choice, and it is our choice to choose what we want to be controlled by. Those of us who do not keep ourselves in control end up in a ditch. We can choose to be controlled by something good, or we can choose to be controlled by something evil. We can choose to be controlled by something God loves, or we can choose to be controlled by something God hates. We can choose to be 'out of control' too, but who loves an 'out of control' child?
Those of us who wants to be under the control of 'good' and lead a good, prosperous life, we have that option. Those of us who want to be under the control of evil, or under the control of Satan, or 'out of control', we have that option too. The decision is your's. I'm not a mother yet, but if God blesses me with that gift someday, I know that I will let my kids know that not EVERYONE in this world is good, and someone you can be 'friends' with. There are lots of bad people in this world, and if kids are left 'out of control', they can easily get themselves into dangerous situations, and not even realize it.