Today I am in a very bad mood. Things did not go well at work and after I came home, I was bombarded with e-mails and other messages about
Jesus and they serve as a reminder of my feelings about the church. And being pretty angry at the moment, I'm taking it out on God's people.
I was born, baptized, shared first communion and was
confirmed in the Catholic Church. I have little use for it today. As a child, I
was not sexually molested, merely verbally and physically abused. In third and
fourth grade, I attended a Catholic school. I was often spanked with a steel
ruler and sent to the closet. Why? Because I asked questions about Catholic
doctrine and why people who weren’t Catholic were going to hell?
As a teenager, I went to the local church’s boy scouts every
week. I was a senior patrol leader. That basically means you are the scout who
administers events and was involved in planning camping and other activities,
including fund raising. One night, I encountered the pastor who screamed at me
because I was going to scouts instead of the Confraternity of Christian
Doctrine classes on the same night. I went to one. They were a complete joke
with my fellow teens mocking the teacher.
So I eventually ended my association with the church, except
for the rites of passage such as marriage and the baptism of my
children. Later, I subbed at a local Catholic school and spoke with the pastor
of that church. The church had a huge sign that said, “I am the way, the truth
and the life.” But it didn’t finish the sentence that said “And no one comes to
the Father except through me.” When I asked the pastor why then, do we pray to
saints, especially Mary, the best answer I got was it’s traditional and it
sometimes works.
A few years ago, I attended a 12-step meeting with about 20 people. Of those, 18 were former Catholics and still feeling guilty about not being in the church any more.
As an adult, I became deeply involved with the Pentecostal
movement to the point of spending about seven years in a “superchurch” youth
ministry and being involved with a number of other activities. Eventually, I
was so overwhelmed with the hypocrisy of many of the believers that I simply
could not handle it any more. They kicked my kid out of Christian School
(Suffer not the children to come unto me) because he had doubts. One of their
so-called counselors made a few physical moves on my ex.
I also taught at another superchurch. I was made a licensed
minister so the church didn’t have to pay their half of income taxes and Social
Security.
And then there is the ongoing hatred of others because they
are not “saved.” Or, not part of their particular group. The racist comments I heard
about Mr. Obama when he was running for election the first time couldn’t even
begin to approach Jesus command to love others as he loved you. And to this
day, the hatred continues. Today a friend sent me a series of pictures of Jesus and he is portrayed as a white person with dark hair. In fact, the color of his skin was probably closer to the President's than Glenn Beck's.
It seems as if one issue has united the Christians and
Catholics is that abortion is bad. Ronald Regan called for an end to abortion
with a Republican majority in both houses and didn’t get it. So naturally,
everybody blames Mr. Obama. Because he is pro choice.
And the most basic principle of Christianity is that of free
will, making a choice. I am not gay. If the Bible treats it like a sin, that’s OK
with me. But let’s realize it is not the unpardonable sin and just like those
who drink too much, eat too much, do drugs, get divorced, have pre-marital sex
etc. The number of divorced people in the fundamentalist churches are about the same as the general population.
Gay people are not out to get you. In fact they want to get
away from you – as fast and as far as they can. On a personal level, most of
the gay people are some of the kindest and creative people I have ever met. I’ve
met a couple of “flamers” but never saw one break any laws. I recently saw a cartoon with a man
talking to God. He asks if life is so hard because of the gays. God answers
that life is hard because of the way we treat the gays.
And of course, the gay issues and issues of molesting children in the Catholic church are well known. But the fact that women are treated like second class citizens, if not slaves, is just plain stupid. A woman can't be a priest because ????????????????? A woman can't lead a household because ??????????????? And this is coming from a church that demands priests remain celebate? My ex isn't doing much at the moment, but she would be a much better Pope than the Hitler Youth Nazi who just retired.
Jesus is a couple of thousand years old. Let's stick to what he said and not what his followers have done. Works for me.
In other words, I believe in God, and in the Christian
message. Though I am starting to look at it with suspicion. But I am truly disgusted with the actions of God’s people. Which is
why I don’t really associate with them.
