posted October 07, 2005 05:23 AM         

Please stand up, please stand up

Am interested to hear of anyone who had religion rammed down their throats when growing up or at least was raised in a religious household.

My mother got involved with the JWs when I was about 6, but fortunately dropped out when I was 12 or 13......phew my teenage years were religion free....my poor sister was 6yrs older, so she really suffered. She is now 53 and is still wounded.. ....

Ive talked of this before, so dont wanna go into too much details, but suffice to say it left me with an aversion to religion in general, but with a very strong spiritual belief....

Anyone........

posted October 07, 2005 05:52 AM         

If we accept that there is a Divine creator of all that is, then surely we can see that Universal Law was a first principle".
In which case our "God' must be impersonal and unbiased without favouritism.

So surely we do not need an intermediatary to interceded for us.
That is just to encouraging laziness and avoiding self responsibility.

"Spiritual" is totally different, and is a word without any specific definition.
It is a personal interpretation of the messages received from our own immortal higher self.
And everyone of us has a different way of responding to that magic.

Come on, lets start a collection of personal definitions:

posted October 07, 2005 08:27 AM         

When my sis asked our Mum years later why she had dragged us thro the mill with the religious stuff, mum said "it was to give you some guidance in your lives". Sis replied that we didnt need that, we had our own. She also said to me (not to mum) that she thought it was a "cop out" on their part (the religion I mean)......it appeared that poor mum was too scared to follow her own "truth" and used religion as a "crutch"....it was easier for her that way. Oh well she was of a repressed generation...and we are not, thankfully !!!

She used to preach the bible to us.....we used to "switch off".....I would have liked more of HER inner wisdom. I would have benefited perhaps from more individuality.

Years later, spirituality (for me) is nothing to do with religion and bible bashing.....it is a huge FEELING of faith in the unseen.....it is LOVE

Thanks Peajie, you echoed my sentiments...it is a lovely feeling to meet like minded....a soul family indeed....

Love to you,

posted October 07, 2005 09:21 AM         

Thanks for your posts.....have you noticed how the majoirty of ones that are raised in religion end up "kicking it in the teeth' so to speak....so parents out there.......well I will let you figure that out.......LOL !!!

Love and faith

posted October 07, 2005 09:23 AM         

Your upbringing and mine seems similar.....just a thought....how could a loving parent deprive their child of the magic of Christmas....it beats me......!!!!!!!!!

posted October 07, 2005 09:50 AM         

This will go on and on.....Only the labels of the group will change.

Lets be honest here. How many only buys Dell computers and nothing else? How many only wears Gucci? How many will only hire people just because they come from Ivy league? How many of us actually tags our luggage and fills name, address on their suitcases when on a long journey in an airport?

The point is just as these initial labels gets where we stand today? The early religion labels gets us also someway to where we stand today. And all religion mostly teach the same thing "Peace with neighbor and love for One."

Fanatism is bad? My way or highway does not work. Everyone can discern and should.

I was brough in a non religious environment. Its only in the last few years am I actually participating in church services. Who knows if I will maintain my label in 10 years or 20 years? The primary reason I go to church is because my Master Jesus commanded to perform Eucharist often. "Do this often in my memory?" Since I believe this, I go out of love for him. I do that once a week.

The unseen God of everyone is everywhere, so where one's faith lies there they find God. The buddhist believe that its very hard for one to go in to a complete state of Buddha individually. Compassion results from all that severe meditation and it needs to encompass those that it was meant for? So these lights falls down on an earth plain to excude their compassion on others and they move forward. Well thats another belief hehehehe...

posted October 07, 2005 12:31 PM         

So, although I was baptised Catholic as an infant, we never attended church. My Dad vowed never to put us through what he went through. I was encouraged to follow my own spiritual path and listen to my own Truth..and also to learn of all different religions. My feeling is, although I have no defined religion, that most religions have a united theme, which is all that is most important: Love. To me, God, having never been forced into specific mold...is a Pure energy that connects and unites all matter together in this Universe. He/she has no face...and no doctrine, but is of total Freedom and Acceptance.

posted October 07, 2005 12:33 PM         

Ive met so many who as adults have felt completely f***** up by the conditioning instilled into them, that it has taken years of therapy to bring them back to what they once were

Sadly I have met few who were given gentle guidance and the choice to believe in their own truth.

I am sure had the bible not been quoted to me so fervently...then I maybe would have had a little more interest and faith in it than I do.

In fact now when I see any quotes from it......I just ignore them......now doesnt that tell you something.......

Many parents do what they feel right for their kids.....but they sometimes fall down when they forget their children are NOT THEM......

Rant over....

Love and faith to all

posted October 07, 2005 06:29 PM         

quote:

---

Sadly I have met few who were given gentle guidance and the choice to believe in their own truth.

---

I was.

posted October 07, 2005 07:11 PM         

I was raised in a Christian house, and I accepted my religion to a great extent growing up. I even wanted to be a pastor when I grew up.

The church I grew up at is a huge one in Southern California. It's on tv all over the world, and the whole bit. It's message is fairly diluted, and it seems to me to more resemble a church than to actually take itself seriously as a church. Dr. Schuller preaches Possibility Thinking to a greater extent than he's ever taught the Bible. Within this church, though, there were groups taking Christianity seriously and so forth.

For me it was great. Because of it's size, the youth program was relatively enormous, and we had more fun events than you can imagine (once any of my friends would go once, they'd typically be hooked by the social appeal). When I felt locked into or depressed by my schoolmate's perceptions of me I had an outlet at church where I could be the popular guy, and shine a part of my personality that felt diminished at school. That was a positive thing for me.

In my late teens I got involved with a church that I would have thought would have made me more spiritual, and instead it made me more skeptical. I think I started to 'lose my religion' there.

From there on out church became less enjoyable. There were other factors like a huge move across country, but that would be long-winded.

I've felt progressively less spiritual until I came here honestly. You people, and astrology quite remarkably make me feel more spiritual again. I enjoy that.

The thing I struggled with most due to my Christian upbringing is my own chastity. When I was finally an adult and willing to have sex I felt like I was behind everyone else in experience, and that affected my self-esteem.

posted October 07, 2005 09:18 PM         

But anyway ... AG's mention of youth programs got me thinking. Church as a social outlet is a new concept for me. One I admittedly don't understand. Several years ago my family's church (which I no longer attend)removed 6 rows of 150 year pews to make room for a coffee and donut table. No one seemed to catch the irony of this.

Well ... that's not entirely true. The older members didn't like it but they were dying off and the Reverend was new with a lot of crazy new ideas and didn't seem to care.

posted October 07, 2005 09:27 PM         

I feel sorry for her, she is so god fearing that I want to vomet, no thank you granny! Your road aint mine and never will be :strasmile:

posted October 07, 2005 09:41 PM         

Apparently, one extreme leads to another. Being brought up by a fanatical nut seems to produce people with a real fear or hatred of religion. That can't be good for either person.

posted October 08, 2005 04:46 AM         

Lei Kuei...is your granny for real.....is she a catholic by any chance..... ......?

IAT.....interesting that you are a chuchgoer and yet didnt get raised that way.....are you rebelling against your parents. LOL.....would you encourage your children to be religious......?

Keep em comin guys, very enlightenining stuff...cant say that I am seeing any positive stuff coming out of religious upbringings (so far)...

Love and freedom

posted October 08, 2005 11:08 AM         

My own experiences,
Heaps of Love,
Dean.