The churches we visited in our small town seem to have a different idea of discussion. I looked for a church that would allow discussion because I knew it wasn't enough for my son to discuss things with me. What I found out was that their method of discussion is that they tell you what you are supposed to believe, for example, that it is necessary to focus on pointing out other people's sins and that those sins are the reason anyone is in pain and that if you are in pain or if a tornado hits your house it might be because you were not praying hard enough or you support gay people, or you are not wearing the right clothes or something like that. If you disagree with anything that is said during these "discussions" then you are shunned and they say they will pray for you but they don't check to see how you are doing when they know you are going through a difficult time.
I couldn't take my child to their kind of discussion. He was born with a medical condition that is causing a lot of pain. People we thought were friends are not supportive. My son told me that we don't really have friends, only people we used to know.
The best we could do was buy a college textbook on the New Testament and discuss what it says. I think this might be one of the reasons he begs to move away from here. He just needs more than he can get here. We also have the family discussions with my husband about religious beliefs and things that are happening in the news. I continue to look for resources.
