…stories of growth and stages of belief…
I started off as a good little New York Jewish girl, the only daughter of immigrants from Nazi Germany. My parents weren’t very religious but belonged to a Reformed temple, attended services on holidays and some Saturdays, celebrated the Sabbath with candles and a special meal, and never ate pork. I was expected to Read the rest of this entry »
From MPJ: I have received many requests from people who wanted to send in poetry. Because I wanted the stories to be easy to understand, I said “no poetry” to all of them. Then, this man wrote with the same question. Without knowing why, to him I said “yes, please send them!” He sent several I thought might speak to the concept of this blog. From time to time, I will put one in. I love this one! Enjoy!
The Password
Shhhhhh.
I have found the code Read the rest of this entry »
This is a different type of story - and it is not a first person account. But I decided to put it up because I think it illustrates well the type of problem that can arise with organized religion - whose rules largely come from Man and may or may not have anything to do with actual human goodness or anything any type of god who might be up there actually would want. MPJ
I would be honored for you to post my true story and let your viewers
decide for themselves if they wish to support the catholic church.
michael Teply Chico, Ca.
Let me tell you a little about my mom. My mom was raised a catholic. She was very Read the rest of this entry »
The author of the story I posted earlier today and I have been having a discussion I thought you all might find interesting. I asked her to send it as a comment directly to this blog, but she prefers I just put it up myself. Parts of our discussion appear below:
Karmazin: I wish I were Stage 4, but alas, the signs aren’t there yet. I think a Stage 4 person would be filled with love and much nicer than I am!
MPJ: Ah! But we can’t equate these belief stages with goodness Read the rest of this entry »
I dropped to my knees in the bathroom, blubbering and pleading with
God to forgive me. I was sixteen and had been entertaining
blasphemous thoughts. What if Jesus
Finally! I have had this in draft for weeks - just could not get it down in final form ’til now…
In the discussion of stages of religious belief, it is important to point out that this should not be about who is “right” versus who is “wrong.”
Stage twos (see Religious Development for Dummies for explanation of the stages) tend to need the certainty of knowing Read the rest of this entry »
My comments showing my impression of how the stages unfolded in this person appear in bold type. MPJ
I didn’t have a particularly religious upbringing: Mom was raised an unchurched Presbyterian with a teenage fling as an Episcopalian; Dad was a lapsed Catholic. Raised ten years in a Southern Baptist neighborhood outside D.C., Read the rest of this entry »