Greetings fellow recovering Catholic. I never, even when I was a believer, gave a rat's ass what those damned penguins or that pontificating wretch in dog collar had to say about much of anything. They tried to convince me that I was damaged goods when I got here because some naked lady who talked with a snake ate an apple and then got her boyfriend to have some as well. My six year old mind was not buying that original sin nonsense. I was like "But I just got here! That just can't be true 'cuz I haven't had a chance to do anything wrong hardly!" And it did not stop there.
As I grew older, I just went with what my gut told me was right and did not pay them no never mind. I still went to Mass, but skipped confession. That always struck me as totally retarded. God already knew whatever I did, what did I have to tell some nosy skypilot about them for? Just did not make any sense to me. For that matter, I skipped Communion as well. I always regarded it as kind of sick. I mean, what kind of people eat their god???? And I'm supposed to believe that some priest is performing magic up there on the alter and turning bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ? That was something I just could not believe. So I didn't. And if I did not believe it why line up for it? So I went to Mass but skipped communion.
In those days it was, for me, a case of "Well, God gave us free will so I'm quite capable of figuring out what is right and wrong by myself. Sin? That was a bogus concept to me even back then. You had right and wrong, which was something people can figure out on their own. No God needed for that. I saw it as a both a personal and cultural thing, and I still do. We, both as individuals and as a society, figure out that on our own. Life is inherently something precious, so we tend to value it. Treating each other as we'd like to be treated is not much of a stretch for anyone who is not either clinically antisocial or a devotee of Ayn Rand. Perhaps you will disagree, but the above works for me. Welcome to the forum.
As I grew older, I just went with what my gut told me was right and did not pay them no never mind. I still went to Mass, but skipped confession. That always struck me as totally retarded. God already knew whatever I did, what did I have to tell some nosy skypilot about them for? Just did not make any sense to me. For that matter, I skipped Communion as well. I always regarded it as kind of sick. I mean, what kind of people eat their god???? And I'm supposed to believe that some priest is performing magic up there on the alter and turning bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ? That was something I just could not believe. So I didn't. And if I did not believe it why line up for it? So I went to Mass but skipped communion.
In those days it was, for me, a case of "Well, God gave us free will so I'm quite capable of figuring out what is right and wrong by myself. Sin? That was a bogus concept to me even back then. You had right and wrong, which was something people can figure out on their own. No God needed for that. I saw it as a both a personal and cultural thing, and I still do. We, both as individuals and as a society, figure out that on our own. Life is inherently something precious, so we tend to value it. Treating each other as we'd like to be treated is not much of a stretch for anyone who is not either clinically antisocial or a devotee of Ayn Rand. Perhaps you will disagree, but the above works for me. Welcome to the forum.
“To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation—is that good for the world?”
― Christopher Hitchens
"That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject". - George Santayana
"If this is the best God can do, I'm not impressed". - George Carlin
― Christopher Hitchens
"That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject". - George Santayana
"If this is the best God can do, I'm not impressed". - George Carlin
