Help!

In the comments section of my post, “Asperger’s and Religion”, “Grandma Jay” asked for my advice on an issue she’s encountered, and I requested her permission to write a special post on it. This is something I need your help on! Here’s the post.

Grandma Jay has a 9-year-old grandson with Asperger’s Syndrome. She is concerned about his religious upbringing, since his parents are ultra-conservative fundamentalists. She said that her grandson sees the rapture as a real event, and she is concerned about how that will affect him down the road. When I responded that believing in the rapture is not a bad thing and can actually provide comfort, she replied:

“I believe it is taught as a belief in something fearful, as in ‘if you’re not good enough, you won’t be ‘raptured’.’ I also believe it’s nonsense. Christ clearly taught that you would not know the time and place. Why speculate? Concentration on the ‘end times’ robs us of living Christ-like in the present.”

You can click on the “Asperger’s and Religion” link to see the full discussion. What I need from my diverse readers is advice for Grandma Jay as to how she should go about this situation.

My readers are various. Many of them are recovering from an apocalyptic religion, be it Armstrongism or fundamentalist Christianity. I also have readers who believe in the rapture and end-times prophecy, but they’ve found a way to hold on to those beliefs while leading a mature life, at peace with God, others, and themselves. And some are atheists or non-Christians, who may have insight into how to interact with people who have radically different beliefs from their own.

We’ll see where this goes! Thanks in advance for your comments.