What is your general experience with Christianity, including my church?
This is a very touchy subject, so be kind, but I too would be interested to know of other people’s experiences, and why they don’t go to church?
Asked by Ben and Ama
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Before I give any answer to any of those questions I will have to think about it seriously and get back to you.. They are really good questions.
Hello again,
Experiences with Christianity .. starting with the Mormons .. always good. Interesting people to talk to, rather judgmental .. some of them, not all of them. Very determined to show everyone that their way is the only way .. but then so is every other religion I have met .. so I shake my head and move on.
Other ‘good’ Christians. Sometimes I think that’s an oxymoron (lovely word). I have met some beautiful genuine Christians (people who believe in the Christ), and I have been judged and condemned to hell but many more. It’s sad. I know I sit on the fence between Christianity and the New Age people, but God sent me here, I didn’t come on my own. I exist to help the people in both groups who cannot find the help they need in either.
I was expelled from the Methodist sunday school at 9 years of age for saying that Jesus didn’t have blue eyes and blond hair. Their statue did. I also said that God loved everyone and didn’t send anyone to hell .. how would I know that at 9.. one wonders .. heck I knew it at two. I remembered the unconditional love of God right back then, and still do.
The other thing that always struck me as interesting, when I had the ‘healing centres’ is the number of ‘christians’ who rang to find out if I had back stairs they could slink up when no one was looking. No we didn’t. So I would go to their houses instead. Healings or readings, they wanted them both .. hell or not.
So to me some Christians are hypocrits, but as long as they try to live good lives, and not harm others, I will help them any time they ask.
That’s one of the reasons why I seldom go to church, or I didn’t in Armidale NSW where everyone knew ‘that woman’ .. I would get stared at. They didn’t actually cross themselves when they saw me coming, but they might have. LOL I miss church. I would love to find a good one down here – where God is LOVE and not judgment. Until then, I’ll stick to talking direct and trying to be the good person I know they see me to be.
MHO,
Love & Peace
Ama
We’ll look forward to your answer George.
Love & Peace,
Ama
I guess you could say I was born with a Christian bible in my mouth. For as long as I can remember, I was force fed religion.
My memories of church are bad ones. Early morning Sunday service, Sunday school, home for lunch, back to church for bible studies, and then an evening Sunday service. During the week, when my mother wasn’t attending some sort of church service away from home, we had religious group gatherings in our home. I had to attend a bible group and choir practice every Friday afternoon. As a child, I travelled South Africa singing, testifying about the goodness of Jesus Christ. I was also in various religious stage plays etc. Our lives revolved around religion. By the way, they no longer call it religion. It is now called “having a relationship with God”. Whatever.
As a child, I drove my very pious mother insane with all my bible questions. Even back then, I did not really believe that “the word” was “the truth”. It simply made no sense to me.
I have 7 siblings, and I am the one who is “psychic”. I have always been able to see, sense, smell, and hear spirit. As a child I would have premonitions. These premonitions were often about death or accidents. I dreamed my mother’s friend and her 2 sons were involved in a car accident. I dreamed the mother and one son died on impact. That is exactly what happened. I dreamed my brother had a car accident the night before he was due to join us on holiday. The accident happened exactly the way I described it to my mother. There were many other similar dreams.
My mother and the church decided I was demon possessed. I still have nightmares about the day they decided to conduct an exorcism on me when I was about 12. I was made to lie down on my mothers bed with all these Christians hovering over me, praying and speaking in tongues and rebuking the “demons” that were supposedly inside of me. They left the bedroom windows open for the “demons” to leave. They never did, and I still have a good relationship with the spirit world
I still get a little annoyed when I think how ignorant there were (and probably still are).
I recently had a conversation with my mother. My sister in-law was dying of cancer, and my mother thought it an opportune moment to preach the gospel. She told me how sad she felt about not seeing me in heaven. I assured her we will meet again in the afterlife. She then brought Jesus into the mix and told me unless I repent and accept that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, I would spend eternity in hell. My mother then told me I was not a child of God because I am not a Christian.
My first marriage was to a Muslim. Our very good neighbour, who became an evangelical preacher, told me I was condemned to the pit of hell because I converted to Islam, and he no longer wanted his children to associate with me. What a beautiful Christian.
I believe that the root of the spiritual problem is the intense competitiveness that has been injected into religion. Each person believes their religion is the best and it is therefore their obligation to save the world by converting everyone else to their mode of worship. My family certainly falls into this category.
I don’t like the label “Christian”, and much prefer referring to myself as a “Believer”.
To quote Gandhi “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ”.
Love and Understanding
Lucinda
Dear Lucinda,
This story always breaks my heart. My father didn’t like what I could do, but the family never took it to extremes.. they just stayed out of churches.
I love Gandhi’s quote. It’s a pity it’s so accurate. Humanity has such a great capacity to do good. Why don’t we?
Love & Peace
Ama (who is a Christian).
Deaer Lucinda,
can understand to some extend of what you are saying about being force fed a religion. I usually don’t go to church, and I’m not quite sure what to think of Christanity just yet. My mother was rather lax on the idea of going to church, and she wanted me to have the freedom to choose religion. That is why I am still considiering. (sorry for my spelling) But the moment I told my friends about it, one of my friends would not stop tring to force feed it to me. It usually makes me shy to talk about this kind of stuff, and it was a accident when I said the truth out loud. So for the next week, i was uncomfortable around my friend, until i finnally said that i will go to church with her at least once.
But going to that extend, in your case, I have always thought that it never really happened, and that it only was true in movies and fake stories. But . . . that’s just terrible. And Gandhi’s quote? I like it and I agree/
Hi Celeste
You are very fortunate to have been given the freedom and encouragement to make your own choices.
Many people find it difficult to separate religion and God. I honestly and truly do not believe you need to belong to any religious denomination (or man made institution) to have a relationship with God.
I was lying in bed last night thanking my angels and guides for their hard work during the day. I then spoke to God and told her/him I really needed a hug. I felt an incredible warmth surround my body and an immense feeling of joy.
Celeste, I believe our purpose in life is to grow in spiritual understanding and maturity. We should try to live a happy life, filled with love and compassion, and allow ourselves to receive the same from others. We should be evolving to having unconditional love for all mankind – without war and conflict.
Love and Blessings
Lucinda
Hi guys,
I gave my kids the right to choose. I would talk about my beliefs, as I still do, but never expected them to follow any of them. My son chooses not to believe in anything – except in the last census he listed his religion as Jedi .. which means he believes in the ‘Force’. LOL My daughter believes in God and the angels, but won’t go near a church. She is a lot like me, and growing into her abilities daily, much to her disgust. She does NOT want to deal with ghosts and things, but does anyway. She’s wonderful! Now if we could just give people something equally wonderful to believe in.
Love & Peace,
Ama
Personally. Religion in its many forms is dead to me.
I was an athiest. Now I believe in a higher power. Something definitely exists. I just felt what I can only describe as an unconditional, pure love. Like a mother has for her child. I felt protected. I felt no matter what my faults are, I’d always be accepted with open arms. I felt like I knew for a split second the answer to the universe. I also felt that it was very surreal but as real as it can get.
I don’t follow any religion. I choose to believe in this higher power. For arguments sake, I’ll say God. I guess if I look at it, I appreciate the idea of the freemason belief system. A higher power. The Great Architect.
I think while religion provides a comfort to some people, it becomes a war to many others. Innocent blood has been spilt over religion. Yet people still kill in the name of their religion. Do you think that is what their God wants?
I choose to live my life in relative peace. I talk to my higher power in times of great sadness and happiness. I live my life without intentionally hurting anyone and always try to think before I act if my actions would indirectly cause harm to another. If I explore all avenues and the answer is yes, I don’t act at all, or I’ll ask the person how they would feel.
However, I have hurt people. I’ve acted on impulse before. I’ve learned to always think. My first instinct is usually right. I still think it through.
I don’t need religion to know I’m loved. By my living family and friends, family and friends that are sadly no longer here, and by God.
I don’t need religion to tell me I’m a good person. I know I am.
And I don’t need religion to tell me how to live. I know this already.
I have friends who are religions of all faiths. I respect their beliefs. I tell them this. They respect mine.
So therefore, I will not pass judgement on Christianity as a whole. Only say that its not for me, as any other religion is not for me.
Hi Steph, and everyone.
Hmm.. I love your answer.
One thought – it depends on which ‘God’ you ascribe to. The old testament one really loved having ‘his’ own way, the new testament on taught Love your enemies.
Why is that so hard?
And yes, religion provides comfort .. or the belief system, to some degree, does .. as does the ‘gathering together’ … you’ll know people with a common focus produce profound energy, for good, or evil (think of the mobs who roam the streets of the world at the moment). As human beings we need structure in our lives, because we live a linear existence .. from a beginning to an end. It’s normal to us. Given an unexpected ‘day off”, if we do not have a hobby .. or chores .. do we search for ‘direction’, for something to do? Even sleeping is ‘something to do’. Actually searching for direction, for our life purpose, is one of themes of many people’s lives right now – as if something has been taken away ..
When our focus was on God, a god of some sort, we had a set of rules that grounded us and told us what to do – even if the only ‘rule’ was ‘love one another, and do good’. Nowadays so many people feel lost, and often helpless. We need to return to a structure that teaches us to be responsible for our actions, to not blame others for our choices, and just simply to love ….
Religions might have turned into a nightmare, but they are only a set of beliefs, and we can change our beliefs anytime we want to .. with a little effort. We put so much effort into being negative, it would be nice to make the choice to do the opposite.
It was the Buddha who said “with our thoughts we change the world” and the world could certainly use a little positive change.
Ok, so that was a bit of rambling thoughts. LOL
Love & Peace,
Ama