So today I was listening to the lower 80s on the FM dial & came across what I had thought was NPR. It was NOT NPR. This was a religious themed talk show.
The gentleman talking was at the end of this two week topic (topic unknown to me) however he was talking about the *fact* that we are born with sin.
Now…I was brought up Catholic & I graduated from a Franciscan University. I’ve been baptized, twice, had my First Communion & I was confirmed. I took no less than 9 credit hours of college level Theology classes. I was remarried by an Army Chaplain. Brandon & Ella have both been dedicated. With all of this said, I AM a believer. I am NOT a church going regular & due to years of Catholicism I DO feel loads of guilt about it. The reason, above & beyond Sunday morning sloth, is that I am SO unsure of exactly WHAT I believe that I cannot commit to one religion.
One thing that I am DAMN sure of is that I do now want to BE whatever religion THIS man was professing to be. The conversation that I caught, & to be fair it MAY have been out of context, was about the *fact* that we are all born sinners & that we all need to be forgiven. I am a HUGE believer in asking for forgiveness. Knowing when we have done something wrong or committed a sin is what helps so many people to learn from their mistakes. What got right up under my skin is that this man claimed that babies, children, & people without the mental capacity to ask for forgiveness since they cannot understand sin are not exempt from damnation. He claims that God’s grace should fall on these poor souls if they were to die before they could ask for & comprehend forgiveness & penance. Oh boy!
Does this mean if I never teach my children about God, if we never read the Bible, if I never teach them to pray or ask for forgiveness that THEY will suffer because I have failed them? My children will go to hell upon death because I failed at my job? This is not a religion that I can believe in.
Every Sunday comes & goes & I feel sad that I have not taken my children to church. They both would LOVE it. (They have been to church before….just not since we moved here.) They LOVE V.B.S.. I know what I can & cannot handle in a church. I just can find my fit.
