When I was a kid I was taught God was always watching us, and if we misbehaved we would suffer mightily for our sins. I like this god better.
March 22, 2017
When I was a kid I was taught God was always watching us, and if we misbehaved we would suffer mightily for our sins. I like this god better.
Of course, that belief drummed into little children will do wonders not only to cement a sense of paranoia but, more importantly, to toe the line. It’s why I marvel at the Catholic Church. You commit a sin, you run to confession, you will be absolved. God, up there in the clouds, and in my opinion, will be keeping his own books to hold you to account. And Hell shall be ours. It’s one way of keeping the population in heaven down and manageable.
My father, who instilled in me that there is no need to fear divine retribution because there isn’t a god, had his own fine line of control. Out of the blue one day he made the grand pronouncement that if I’d ever lie to him HE (my father, not god) would KNOW. I took his word for it. Since, and this is no bull, I never do lie (unless I was forced by him – once or twice – to lie on his behalf) I was a little startled at what had brought on that sudden outburst. I was about ten or eleven at the time. The twist in this, and to me amusing, tale that some little time later his mother, a difficult woman though very beautiful and one my father had a more than strained relationship with, accused me of lying. This was to cover her own tracks on some of her many misdemeanours (which I had reported back to my ALMIGHTY father). It was impressive. He didn’t believe HER. He was so incensed at her suggestion that I – his eldest daughter – had lied, he ordered her a taxi, sent her packing, threw her out of the house – and I believe that was the last time I saw her. She was not exactly your fairy tale grandmother, never made any attempt to renew contact with her grandchildren (my father was her only son). Many many many years later I suggested to my father that maybe we could invite his mother to my wedding. He refused. Said it would spoil everything. Well, Jean… how did I get off the rail of your rather funny cartoon to tell yet another of my anecdotes? Self involved? Much?
U
I love it! Thank you. 🙂
I found the idea of God totally implausible from a very early age. The obvious question of course is – if God made us, who made God? Nobody has ever given me a convincing answer to that!
Do you think the Big Bang theory is more convincing?
The only reply option is after my original comment! Yes, I find the Big Bang Theory more plausible because it was conceived by scientists and not religious believers who prefer faith and tradition to evidence-based research.
Having spent a few years studying Theology – I have found the whole biblical thing quite entertaining – not belonging to a Christian faith was somewhat interesting as well – I found professors asking in some of my non-biased essays “that’s if you believe that…” even when I was referencing someone worthwhile in their genre. Then of course there were the different Ch-based students, some of them had extraordinary beliefs that was quite sad (we were not allowed to put down another, but there were subtle ways it came through); everyone had a different bible version – none were like me who had 3 differing versions and I was often asked by one lecturer in particular “do you have your xyz with you today” (that particular lecturer a non-Ch as well)
My thoughts on how we evolved isn’t entirely clear but the biblical version seems quite off edge – like a fictional story that was to make the parishioners believe they had a duty to the church and elders…and these same elders had all the correct answers, if you went outside of their ideals – it was goodbye to you! 🙂
It’s one of the best selling novels of all time!!!
Nick.
Given my science background I like evidence-based theories too. But the Big Bang theory doesn’t solve the problem of how it all came about.
Cathy,
Yes, it is designed to keep us from questioning authority. 🙂
As a parent myself, I think of God as a father who gives his child as much learning as possible then turns him/her loose to learn the rest from experience.
The learning I was given as a kid didn’t make sense to me. For me Camus had it right,
So I spent a lot of time building a solid foundation for myself. I read a lot to learn from other people’s ideas and experiences, not just my own.
I seemed to have had the “devil and some sort of hell” drummed into me…for all kinds of errors in my ways…I would be off down to hell sooner rather than later…
I was raised Catholic and most of my friends were Protestants. It didn’t make sense to me that they would go to hell just because they were the wrong religion. The dogma may be different now, of course.
I have been brought up in a different spiritual tradition and have a vastly different view on the matter altogether. You will find gist of it here.
I know.
I like how you have differing ideals and I’ve have learnt so much about your vast country, vastly different people, with languages, religions, cultural etc…
My own country is becoming hugely ethnic but not with huge populace from each, there are many languages spoken and every day you go anywhere you find groups speaking their own…
we are starting to see more and more festivals as well, which anyone can attend…I like that diversity on those days.
businesses sprout up everywhere, some suburbs are known to have xyz ethnic group at the helm, these usually the smaller street type businesses which once were thriving NZ based businesses – you can probably source every kind of foodstuff – somewhere along those avenues – often at much lower prices than mainstream NZ