Have your religious beliefs changed much in the last 10 years?

[rightnow909]

Mine have.. although there are some things that have definitely not changed.. Think: What the Catholic Church OFFICIALLY teaches and you will have what I myself believe

but that said, I am fed up with all the corruption in the Church (just as I am w/ the corruption in the nation and the world in general)

It is beyond sad and disturbing that the Church is as corrupt as it apparently is. Priests are no longer very effective in Confession.. some are downright rude and uncaring, which with some people could lead them to depression... and worse.. but they don'tseem to care. Then there's the fact that priests live well, while some parishioners do not have what they even need and cannot get it from the Church... which seems to care more about foreigners than Americans... hey, just like the gummit...

and I could go on.... but I would like to hear thestories of others.. Any similar to mine?

 

[Mr Natural]

My religious beliefs haven't changed in over 60 years.

 

[rightnow909]

My religious beliefs haven't changed in over 60 years.

is this a bot?

 

[night_son]

Mine have.. although there are some things that have definitely not changed.. Think: What the Catholic Church OFFICIALLY teaches and you will have what I myself believe

but that said, I am fed up with all the corruption in the Church (just as I am w/ the corruption in the nation and the world in general)

It is beyond sad and disturbing that the Church is as corrupt as it apparently is. Priests are no longer very effective in Confession.. some are downright rude and uncaring, which with some people could lead them to depression... and worse.. but they don'tseem to care. Then there's the fact that priests live well, while some parishioners do not have what they even need and cannot get it from the Church... which seems to care more about foreigners than Americans... hey, just like the gummit...

and I could go on.... but I would like to hear thestories of others.. Any similar to mine?

Personally, my traditional Protestant Methodist faith somehow managed to endure my direct participation in six wars without much change. Times of doubt came and went, sure, but they never took much meaningful hold. Then, at some point in my middle age, much of that war stuff I had previously been capable of justifying or reconciling with God, myself and my faith returned to the forefront of my mind and dreams in higher definition memory; memories more raw and pungent than ever previously experienced; grinding my teeth like hell every night. That, coupled with the intensity of current events and shall we say a certain universal endemic lack of most human beings giving a shit about them has indeed, at bloody long last, changed my faith somewhat. I now genuinely believe God hates us all. However, my recent belief God hates everyone will not drive me to atheism as it has so many other faker Christian haters. Just the opposite in fact. Knowing God hates us all has only strengthened my conviction to believe in Him and carry on in good Christian faith. God raises his middle finger at me, I sneer, God breaks out in endless, convulsive laughter. What's not to love about that?

See, when someone loves us that love comes with expectation we love them back and do things out of love for them; time consuming sappy things no one really cares to deal with. But, on the other hand, when someone hates you that hate does not come with real and timely expectations for anything save perhaps the expectation to leave them the fuck alone and beat feet elsewhere. It's really the most perfect kind of relationship.

 

[rightwinger]

I figured out that God stuff was made up gibberish to deceive the masses when I was 12
Haven‘t changed since

 

[playtime]

i've become more spiritual. i believe in angels & that there is more beyond the physical world.

 

[dudmuck]

I figured out that God stuff was made up gibberish to deceive the masses when I was 12
Haven‘t changed since

 

[norwegen]

Mine have changed considerably in the last five years.

I realize what the Bible says now. For example, Jesus never said a single word to me. Not one. He addressed only Israelites.

But like most Christians, I once thought that he and everyone else who wrote the Old Testament were addressing me.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Mine have.. although there are some things that have definitely not changed.. Think: What the Catholic Church OFFICIALLY teaches and you will have what I myself believe

but that said, I am fed up with all the corruption in the Church (just as I am w/ the corruption in the nation and the world in general)

It is beyond sad and disturbing that the Church is as corrupt as it apparently is. Priests are no longer very effective in Confession.. some are downright rude and uncaring, which with some people could lead them to depression... and worse.. but they don'tseem to care. Then there's the fact that priests live well, while some parishioners do not have what they even need and cannot get it from the Church... which seems to care more about foreigners than Americans... hey, just like the gummit...

and I could go on.... but I would like to hear thestories of others.. Any similar to mine?

Why is your thread title about religious beliefs, but your OP is entirely about churches? Did you not know they aren't the same thing?

 

[night_son]

Mine have changed considerably in the last five years.

I realize what the Bible says now. For example, Jesus never said a single word to me. Not one. He addressed only Israelites.

But like most Christians, I once thought that he and everyone else who wrote the Old Testament were addressing me.

Fascinating.

 

[occupied]

It's been about 12 years ago now the last dregs of my childhood faith died along with my mother. After the suffering she endured I could not bring myself to believe anymore. No God that would do that to her is worth worshiping. The last prayer I ever prayed was to let her die easy but it was not to be. She suffered the torments of the damned and rather than walk around angry with God for the rest of my life it was just easier to let it all go.

 

[norwegen]

Fascinating.

The entire Bible is by, for, and about the same ethnic group - Adam/Israel. It's not about foreigners at all until the very end when Israel no longer considers them unclean and welcomes them into the kingdom.

 

[Meriweather]

Mine have grown, deepened, expanded.

While my dad had a comparatively easy death, my mom died the death she feared most...Ahlzheimers. I watched my grandfather face the same. Here is what I noticed, and something had they known might have brought them comfort in their younger years. True, they lost their memories, but essentially they remained the people they had always been who not only face their existence with no memories, and eventually no words, with the same approach and integrity they had built throughout their early lives.

They would have been proud of themselves. In some ways, strange to say, the experience broadened them. Now anyone who has been with loved ones through Alzheimer's know there are terrible times, and I do not wish to downplay those. Just saying more goes on that may go unnoticed by those not paying very close attention or living through their own great sorrow due to the disintegration that is so readily apparent.

 

[Stann]

Mine have.. although there are some things that have definitely not changed.. Think: What the Catholic Church OFFICIALLY teaches and you will have what I myself believe

but that said, I am fed up with all the corruption in the Church (just as I am w/ the corruption in the nation and the world in general)

It is beyond sad and disturbing that the Church is as corrupt as it apparently is. Priests are no longer very effective in Confession.. some are downright rude and uncaring, which with some people could lead them to depression... and worse.. but they don'tseem to care. Then there's the fact that priests live well, while some parishioners do not have what they even need and cannot get it from the Church... which seems to care more about foreigners than Americans... hey, just like the gummit...

and I could go on.... but I would like to hear thestories of others.. Any similar to mine?

GOD resides in your heart first and foremost:not so much in institutions supposedly dedicated to him.

 

[SweetSue92]

Mine have changed considerably in the last five years.

I realize what the Bible says now. For example, Jesus never said a single word to me. Not one. He addressed only Israelites.

But like most Christians, I once thought that he and everyone else who wrote the Old Testament were addressing me.

Um. He sat and talked with the Samaritan woman at the well. As just one example. And changed her life. ???

 

[SweetSue92]

Personally, my traditional Protestant Methodist faith somehow managed to endure my direct participation in six wars without much change. Times of doubt came and went, sure, but they never took much meaningful hold. Then, at some point in my middle age, much of that war stuff I had previously been capable of justifying or reconciling with God, myself and my faith returned to the forefront of my mind and dreams in higher definition memory; memories more raw and pungent than ever previously experienced; grinding my teeth like hell every night. That, coupled with the intensity of current events and shall we say a certain universal endemic lack of most human beings giving a shit about them has indeed, at bloody long last, changed my faith somewhat. I now genuinely believe God hates us all. However, my recent belief God hates everyone will not drive me to atheism as it has so many other faker Christian haters. Just the opposite in fact. Knowing God hates us all has only strengthened my conviction to believe in Him and carry on in good Christian faith. God raises his middle finger at me, I sneer, God breaks out in endless, convulsive laughter. What's not to love about that?

See, when someone loves us that love comes with expectation we love them back and do things out of love for them; time consuming sappy things no one really cares to deal with. But, on the other hand, when someone hates you that hate does not come with real and timely expectations for anything save perhaps the expectation to leave them the fuck alone and beat feet elsewhere. It's really the most perfect kind of relationship.

So much of what we experience of God is really what is going on with us, not Him. The ultimate projection, IOW

 

[SweetSue92]

Mine have.. although there are some things that have definitely not changed.. Think: What the Catholic Church OFFICIALLY teaches and you will have what I myself believe

but that said, I am fed up with all the corruption in the Church (just as I am w/ the corruption in the nation and the world in general)

It is beyond sad and disturbing that the Church is as corrupt as it apparently is. Priests are no longer very effective in Confession.. some are downright rude and uncaring, which with some people could lead them to depression... and worse.. but they don'tseem to care. Then there's the fact that priests live well, while some parishioners do not have what they even need and cannot get it from the Church... which seems to care more about foreigners than Americans... hey, just like the gummit...

and I could go on.... but I would like to hear thestories of others.. Any similar to mine?

Mine have not changed.

 

[SweetSue92]

It's been about 12 years ago now the last dregs of my childhood faith died along with my mother. After the suffering she endured I could not bring myself to believe anymore. No God that would do that to her is worth worshiping. The last prayer I ever prayed was to let her die easy but it was not to be. She suffered the torments of the damned and rather than walk around angry with God for the rest of my life it was just easier to let it all go.

You haven't even come close to letting it go.

 

[norwegen]

Um. He sat and talked with the Samaritan woman at the well. As just one example. And changed her life. ???

Samaritans were not foreigners.

Yea, there were others. Pilate, for example. Did Jesus minister to them? To the centurion, perhaps, whose servant was ill? Who loved and benefited Israel? Healing an illness is not exactly salvation for Israel.

"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24).

[H]e will save his people from their sins (Mt 1:21, emphasis added).

 

[SweetSue92]

Samaritans were not foreigners.

Yea, there were others. Pilate, for example. Did Jesus minister to them? To the centurion, perhaps, whose servant was ill? Who loved and benefited Israel? Healing an illness is not exactly salvation for Israel.

"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24).

[H]e will save his people from their sins (Mt 1:21, emphasis added).

Yes, Jesus on earth ministered to Israel (and the centurion, and the woman with crumbs/table, and the Samaritan woman) but that does not mean that's ALL He was sent for. Um:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”--Matthew 28:19-20