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Growing up Catholic

Mailliw

New Member
I grew up Roman Catholic with a family whom feverishly believed in the word of the Lord. I went to Catholic School until I was 14 years old, at which point I moved across country and began attending a public school.

Growing up, I was religious and admittedly naive. Once I was in high school, I began to truly evaluate Catholicism and how it related to my personal beliefs. I had never questioned this prior to high school as I did not want to be the so called "cafeteria Catholic", where you pick and chose what suits your beliefs best. I understand accepting a religion is accepting it in its entirety and because of this I cannot remain under the wing of the Catholic faith. After 18 years of mass, I felt that I was just repeating the motions and going about without any true connection to faith. Furthermore, the homily's had started to infuriate me rather than inspire me.

In college, I took a world religions class to hopefully expose myself to new possibilities. Instead, I have since been utterly confused. I have searched and searched and tried various churches in my area, but it seems my "logic" not longer let's me blindly believe in faith. Weirdly enough though, I have what my sibling and I refer to as Catholic guilt in the sense that even though I do not practice Catholicism, I feel extremely guilty and almost blasphemous for even considering anything different. Yet, I consistently doubt the existence or validity of the religion which makes my guilt all the more perplexing.

Here are somethings I believe:
I believe in a higher being
I believe in an afterlife
I believe in maintaining morality
I believe that a higher being would not discriminate
I believe everyone sins and everyone's sins can be forgiven through true repentance (yes, everyone)
I believe in the big bang theory and scientific evolution
I believe the Bible has many interpretations, but I do not believe it quoted literally for political gain.

I do not know if I belief in Jesus Christ as accepting his super natural existence defies logic.There are days where I can see this and days where I wonder if his deeds were grossly misinterpreted.

Now, my mother is currently practicing with a non-denominational Christian church. My husband, who also grew up Catholic, has been "worn out" by a religion that used money as a driving force and scolded the congregation weekly. My brother, is an agnostic atheist. As for me, I am not quite sure what to do; I am a confused individual. I am 24 and have been searching for religion for what seems like ages. Any suggestions on which route to take, I am all ears.
 

lovemuffin

τὸν ἄρτον τοῦ ἔρωτος
I'm not good at advice but it never seems to stop me. I think the most important thing is to seek a real experience of God. Pray, contemplate, meditate, live in a way that emphasizes mercy and kindness towards others, be drawn towards the real presence of God and seek to experience it. There are many ways to do this, but I think living out a desire for God is more important than the exact intellectual formulation.
 

nafisa

New Member
Hello,

Would you like reading a book about Fundamental Principles and Teachings of Islam?

I am asking you this, because from what I have read that your beliefs similar to the islamic beliefs, such as: The afterlife, sins can be forgiven, ...etc.
 
I agree with Nafisa .Also, I suggest for you to read the Quran, you will find all the answers to your questions. Here is an interesting program if you would like to watch. For the translation, just press (cc).
 
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