Tough one - does anyone get anxious about religious stuff?

[daisycake]

Does anyone find themselves beign anxious about religious stuff? I was raised Catholic, confirmed and all the rest of it - but sometimes some of the stuff they say upsets me (in particular what they say about gay people etc - one of my best friends is gay).. What bothers me more though is what they say about going to Church - that you must go every Sunday? I haven't been going regularly for a while - I was getting anxious when I was going so it became one of the things I chose to avoid; that and my mum took fits every time we went for a while - but thought this was alright as one of my mum's catholic friends said you don't really HAVE to be at church to be Catholic... but google disagrees; if you don't do your best to go or choose not to go you go to Hell if something happens before you go to confession :wacko: ... I'm so lost to be honest - I thought church was meant to make you feel better but sometimes it makes me feel so much more worried about things as there's no certain answers... My friend used to be strongly catholic and gave up it with it but says he doesn't believe he'll go to Hell... I'm driving myself mad with all this worrying/obsessions but I don't know what to do :shrug:

I totally understand if this gets taken down as I don't know what kind of help you guys might be able to give but I'm quite nervous now!
I should add to that I haven't been to confession since I was 7! I was always told it werent necessary..

[macc noodle]

Hey daisycake - is that the Rev. Google a close friend of Dr Google who told you that you had to go to church to be catholic.

Listen hun, if you live a good caring christian life being good to others, who cares if you go to church or not? I don't suppose God cares - I am sure that He would prefer that to the fighting that goes on in the name of religion around the world.

Religion and beliefs are so personal but I am sure that you are not meant to be so fearful of the church that you go as some form of insurance policy for later on in life - are you?

As for confessions, I think I read somewhere this week that the Catholic church is considering receiving confessions via yr mobile phone - goodness knows what happens next - perhaps absolution will be granted via Twitter????

Sorry if you think I sound flippant but I am very firm in my belief that to be a good Christian you need to actively demonstrate that in deed and word and that it actually has very little to do with sitting in a cold church on a Sunday morning listening to a Hell Fire & Brimstone sermon.

:D

Jan x

[paula lynne]

Hiya, I was involved with Jehovahs Witnesses for 6 years, and their teachings are different to Catholic teachings, but heres my opinion.
First, how can a loving God send people to burn in hell? I dont believe He would.
Secondly, if you are getting these uneasy feelings about what they teach, deep down, something is very wrong here. Maybe your concience is trying to tell you that this isnt for you...I always trust in that little voice in the back of my mind. Its your inbuilt "inner wisdom" if you like. I believe you should be allowed any friends you like, gay, straight, whatever...the bible itself says only God can judge us, isnt that right?

If you are religious, why not pray and leave it with God? Meantime, be who you are, have any friend you like, do what YOU feel is right, dont ever become a sheep like I did, blindly accepting everything I was taught...it nearly ruined me. Its taken me a long time to escape from that cult. Think for yourself, ask questions, research. Most of all, follow your heart. That will never let you down. Start to please yourself, and worship God in your own way.

All the very best to you honey, sending lots of hugs xxxxxxx

[macc noodle]

Oh just meant to say in my previous post that I do not wish to denegrate or belittle anyone who regularly goes to church and gets a lot of comfort and joy from this.

I have many friends who gain a lot from being part of the local church community and take great comfort from that as well as the celebration of their faith within the church services.

Jan
x

[paula lynne]

I agree with everything you said Jan x
I think fear is a big controlling factor in most organized religion, and if daisycake is fearful, and worrying, that doesnt very loving. (To me)

Imagine that, Twittering for absolution...lol.......I actually just spat my biccy out reading that, youve made me laugh....thanks x:D

[mtatum4496]

Daisy, while I've never been a member of the Roman Catholic faith, I have in the past belonged to a church that understood itself as the one true church and placed a great deal of emphasis on church attendance in order to be considered a "good" member that God would smile upon.

As I'm sure you have experienced in your faith, that mindset can sometimes lead to putting a bit of a guilt trip on folks when they don't toe the party line.

Religious institutions can be warm caring places that provide us with love, nurturing and purpose, or they can be places that suck the life out of us and leave us feeling unloved unwanted, and worse than dirt. And over the years I've learned that just about every faith has its extremists who insist on interpreting the group's identity in their terms, regardless of what the actual tenets of the faith happen to be.

The church I attend now places a great deal of emphasis on attempting to live by the two great commandments - loving God and loving others. While there is tradition and there is encouragement to be at church, there is no guilt when someone isn't there, only smiles and greetings when they show up next.

I believe we all go through seasons in our lives. Sometimes we are in the forefront, giving to others who are in need and then there are seasons when we are wounded and need others to exercise a little patience with us, and do a bit of nurturing. Sometimes we need to be gathered in worship, not because someone told us we had to or we would go to hell, but because our spirits crave the fellowship and have the desire to learn. But none of those seasons allow time for an institution to impose guilt and undermine our worth as children of God.

You are still a person who is loved and is worthy of love, whether you set foot in a church or not. I know how hard it is to pull away from an authoritarian style church, but you might find it helpful to spend some time learning about other expressions of Christianity - not all of them are about guilt and fire and brimstone. Some of them are about affirming the worth of all of God's creation and encouraging people to grow in their walk with God without dictating every jot and tittle of how that is supposed to happen.

[blueangel]

I too have had some bad experiences with religion - most of my family were bought up as Catholics (I'm not, my dad insisted that I was christened in the Church of England) and as a result of that, I got made to feel guilty for lots of things.

Then, when I was about 10, my grandmother had a lightning conversion to a very odd religious group who were most definitely into hellfire and brimstone in large doses. She used to come home and preach it, and leave dreadful leaflets about sin and judgement all round the house, which used to absolutely terrify me.

As a result of all this, I've got a very dim view of organised religion as I feel that often it's about controlling people and making them feel bad and/or guilty. This is a shame as I'm sure all religion isn't like this, but I find it very difficult to believe in anything, which I ultimately find very distressing.

That aside though, I think that whether or not we believe in religion or any sort of afterlife, if we try our best to be kind and decent people, then we won't go far wrong.