Quick Thought in meh...
- Oct. 5, 2016, 7:39 p.m.
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- Public
Listening to Bruce Springsteen on Fresh Air. He was talking about religion, church, Catholicism as a child and how dark the church seemed.
Children…I really and sincerely don’t believe that they can be cognizant of who God is, what He requires of them, and or why. When a kid hears things like, “You need to be this way or that way or else you’ll go to hell,” and then you give them this depiction that hell is firery and hot all the time, that is the legal definition of duress. LOL I can’t think of how many times I’ve had dreams or have been scared over my childhood in church thinking about the devil and hell and what’s bad and wrong. Then in the next breath talk about how good God is and make him seem like this magical being.
People set folks up bitter disappointment like all the time.
That’s part of what’s wrong with me now. Shame over things out of my control, shame over a lot of stuff. Lack of self confidence being worried about what everyone thinks.
::smh::
Crazy.
Oh well…
Deleted user ⋅ October 05, 2016
I get this. I was Catholic, and my time in the church wasn't like that. It was all about celebration, love of God, etc. We never even talked about hell. Then when my kids were young, the atmosphere took a dark turn. All about one rule: no birth control (which most catholics had been ignoring for years). My son was convinced that he was going to hell at a really young age. He was going to AWANAS with the neighbors, and also to our church. I pulled him out of all of it when he was around 7, but by then the damage had been done. Sigh...And I am lately realizing how much of my life was controlled by shaming me for all my "thoughts, words, and deeds".
Sister Deleted user ⋅ October 05, 2016
And I believe there is a God, but there were things going on in my teens that once I got older and was done with "church" and phony church people.
Gilraent ⋅ October 06, 2016
I'm also a recovering Catholic. I dropped out of the faith when I was in third grade. I came home and told my parents that I didn't agree with what they were teaching me, so they called my uncle who was a priest. My uncle asked me "well, what do you believe in then?" And I said Mother Nature. So he called my grandmother and asked her to introduce me to Laurie Cabot, the "Official Witch of Salem". She sat down and talked to me about honoring Mother Earth, and gave me my first set of tarot cards because she felt that I had use for them (I had very prophetic dreams).
While I don't really practice Wicca much anymore, I still thank Nature for being so awesomely powerful.
Comfortably Numb ⋅ October 06, 2016
Girl, I feel ya on that! We were all raised on fire and brimstone, the "loving" god who was going to throw you into the deepest hottest pits of hell like a child having a tantrum if you listened to rock music or something. Personally, if I were God, I'd want people to worship/ follow me because they love me and want me in their lives, not because they fear me!
Sister Comfortably Numb ⋅ October 07, 2016
Right. and I've asked that question of some Christian friends I have. It's like why is it that God loves us all, but he seemingly won't answer your prayers unless you are totally devoted to him. That sounds like the worst of manipulative relationships anyone could be in. Not manipulative. Conditions on love and favors.