Our BetterMost Community > The Polling Place
The Morality Quiz
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: moremojo on November 30, 2007, 05:46:21 pm ---I hear you, Natali, and concur. My sister and I were not raised religiously, and my father has been an atheist from even before I was born. I feel blessed to have been spared the horrors that so many have endured from religious upbringings.
--- End quote ---
I'd be interested to know whether anybody HAS been to a church or religious organization that they found inspiring and/or enlightening.
As a non-Christian, not-very-religious person, I always hold out hope for Unitarians, because their customs seem most appropriate for me. In the few times I've gone to Unitarian churches, I haven't heard a sermon that really blew me away.
I've checked out Wicca, considered Baha'i, read a little bit about Buddhism, but nothing quite does it for me. So it seems that whatever religious and/or spiritual needs I have (and I'm not sure what needs I do have, if any), will have to be met on my own. Yet there's also something appealing about being part of a community.
Not to sound to sacreligious, but I think actually discussing Brokeback Mountain here and at imdb is about as close as I've come to being part of a community of people who shared some passionate belief in something. Something that also seems to possess important elements of religion: spiritual, intellectual, aesthetic, etc.
delalluvia:
--- Quote ---Baptists believe people sin all the time, and even the small stuff can land you in hell forever. If the preacher at our church had given a sermon about a boy stealing apples he'd shout at us, and scold us severly, and point an accusing finger, and say over and over and over again, at the very top of his lungs, that according to the Word of God stealing is a sin. And he'd warn us about hellfire licking and burning our flesh for eternity. But there is an escape to all of this. If you repent, you are immediately let off the hook.
--- End quote ---
CAN I GET AN "AMEN"?!?!?
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Luckily, I didn't attend a church like this, but plenty of my friends did. Their brand of Christianity is less about god is love and more about learning to be god fearing.
--- Quote ---(No need for a priest to give you absolution. There are no middlemen in the Baptist faith. It's just you and God. And how you stand with him is between you and him. Not even the preacher has anything to say about that...So if you're a Baptist you can kill the baby, but so long as you feel sorry after, it's okay.
--- End quote ---
Sadly and not to insult anyone, but a greater part of Christianity is exactly this. You can do whatever you want, but so long as you're sorry about it afterwards, you're forgiven. All you have to do is say something like "I am sorry for my acts, I have asked and god has forgiven me" and that's supposed to be good enough to free you of any guilt or responsibility for any heinous crime you might have committed. ::) ::) ::)
David In Indy:
Well, in the Roman Catholic faith there are some conditions which must be met before you are forgiven by God.
In order for a confession to be valid:
1.You must confess ALL your sins since your last Confession. If you happen to forget some during Confession, it's okay, but you must make a sincere and honest attempt to confess them all.
2. You must be sincerely sorry for your sins. Only you and God knows if you are truly sorry or not. If you are not sorry, you are wasting both your time and the priest's time in the confessional. The priest absolves you, but it is GOD who forgives you.
3. You must try to NEVER commit these sins again.
4. You must do your penance. I remember when I was a kid, the priest would give much larger penances. 10 rosaries, 20 Our Fathers, 20 Hail Mary's, etc.. The last time I went to Confession, the priest gave me 2 Our Fathers and 2 Hail Marys for my penance. That was it! Back in the old days, they would make the penitent stand outside the church covered in ashes. Things have changed since then.
dot-matrix:
--- Quote from: ifyoucantfixit on November 30, 2007, 07:13:33 pm --- I was raised as a Baptist. My mother was one, my grandparents were also. My father was a Catholic.
I dont remember the horrid hell fire and damnation speeches much though. They were mostly the guilt ridden, "come to me type."
I do however remember the communion. There was this huge round tray, with a bowl in the
middle on which they placed the crackers or wafers. Then surrounding that in tiny little vials,, or cups
about the amt of a teaspoonful, were the filled wine cups...we were handed the wafers, and took our own
cup, drank the liquid and then replaced it in its own little round slot. That seems a lot more sanitary to me.
That is the only way I ever took communion... The place that made those, must have quit making them..
--- End quote ---
They still make them Janice, in all styles and sizes and you even see them in Roman Catholic Churchs from time to time, at least I have. But most often they are used in more protestant churches, with the more catholic demoninations adhering to the more traditional method of Chalice (cup) and Purificator ( cloth that wipes the rim)
The little, clear plastic cups are disposable and are sold in bags of 1000.
injest:
--- Quote from: garycottle on November 30, 2007, 03:44:49 pm ---*snip*
P.S. I know there are kinder and gentler Baptists out there. The church I attended was in the hills of West Virginia, and this was in the late 60's and early 70's. So I found the whole Ted Haggard thing really shocking. I just can't imagine a preacher who hires rent boys and does drugs in his spare time. Maybe it's time for me to go back to church. ;D
--- End quote ---
I feel sorry for the people that put their trust and money into this man's ministry. It's really not so funny. A lot of people are hurt. To put your belief and trust into someone only to find they are betraying everything you believe in is very hard to deal with. It makes you question your own judgement....your own ability to 'read' people.
and I know also for all of you that are NOT Christian or identify with a particular religion that it is hip and cool to be all dismissive but there are some good things about religion. Just as I wouldn't mock your faith or lack thereof, I would ask that you think of your fellow residents that read this and try to be kind.
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