Churchaphobia Returns

by Carmel 12 Replies latest jw experiences

  • Carmel
    Carmel

    Two weeks ago my wife informed me that the local Unitaran Universalists wanted me to speak at their church service which is only two blocks from our house. She failed to tell me they had originally asked her and she passed the buck, but alas, wiley as she is I agreed to it then heard the "rest of the story". So last Sunday I decided I would case the joint by attending their Sunday service which was a great talk about the black tenor, Paul Roberson. What was creapy was my feeling of discomfort being in the place. After leaving the JUU's I went to several churches looking for answers and I remember how unpleasant the experiance was. The rituals and people seeming to have no interest in challenging the spoon fed ideas.. I was quite a rebel! Well the same feeling came back as the members of the group would get up and light a candle and tell of something happening in their lives.. not a bad ice breaker but too ritualistic for this one.

    When I got home I had to share with my wife that it was a cute little place but even as UU's they had too many trappings and rituals for me. Great people and open minds, but alas, where do these things come from?

    carmel

  • DanTheMan
    DanTheMan

    I went to a few church services after leaving JW world. The first one was at a real fundy Baptist church. Ugh, I don't know how I made it through it. I made a bee-line for the exit when it was over. I should have known better.

  • RAYZORBLADE
    RAYZORBLADE

    I remember that I would NOT even walk into a church or religious house of any sort post-JW.

    Then around 1988 or so, I was out it a few years, and figured I would go take a look around.

    I visited: Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Buddhist, United, Anglican and a few others, some a one-time only deal.

    But, I would get so exasperated, that I would simply, not go back.

    I found that there was some degree of narrow-mindedness, and clashing of scriptural references or interpretations. I just fed up and said: "Screw it!"

    So, now I'm just so not into any organized or disorganized church or house of worship what have you. Been there, done that.

    Edited by - RAYZORBLADE on 5 February 2003 0:32:54

  • Satanus
    Satanus

    On christmas day, i toked up and proceeded to a large catholic church, w the purpose of taking in some organ/choir spiritual type music. The music finished all too soon. Then pomposouty entered, in the form of a speaking priest, churchaphobia kicked in and i left.

    SS

  • Gopher
    Gopher

    Religion seems to be a man-made invention to organize and control ordinary people. As one poster put it, "it is the socialization of the spiritual urge".

    A phobia is an irrational fear. I saw nothing irrational about any of the responses to church attendance above. I saw an intellectual rejection leading to an emotional reaction of "what the hell am I doing here?", which is all perfectly logical.

    Instead of churchaphobia, maybe this could be called churchaversion.

  • gsx1138
    gsx1138

    It took me a good 5 years before I'd go into a church. Once I did I shopped around at many different churches. The socialization was nice but the message was the same. As far as I know Universalists even allow Buddhist monks to give sermons to explain their religion. If I felt a need (which I will never) to be christian I would choose Universalist mainly because they are despised by other churches.

  • Carmel
    Carmel

    Interesting. The only people that seem to dislike the UU's are the bible thumping fundamentalists. They do seem to accept others and be very tolerant, however, their roots by definition are confined to the Judeao/Christian heritage but they claim to take "inspiration" from other non-christian religions. Can't quite bring themselves to accept that the other world religions may be from the same source. Still, nice folks.

    carmel

  • heathen
    heathen

    Religion is a snare and a rackett . I know what you are talking about and have the same symptoms . I avoid the church scene like it was poison. Mainly because religions tend to have these over inflated views of their clergy and most can't agree on anything anyway so why bother ? I can find plenty of other things to argue over with people .

  • Ravyn
    Ravyn

    HUH?

    Carmel-

    *They do seem to accept others and be very tolerant, however, their roots by definition are confined to the Judeao/Christian heritage but they claim to take "inspiration" from other non-christian religions. Can't quite bring themselves to accept that the other world religions may be from the same source. *

    The UUs are the ones who gave me refuge when I left JWs and I am currently a member of CUUPs--Covenant of UU Pagans. They gave me financial aid, sent me to college, and basically gave me room to grow. They asked nothing back. But I did speak to their Youth Group a couple of times about dangerous cults and 'how to handle a JW at your door'(I brought in the Reasoning Book and the kids knocked on my door and tried to stump me---afterwards they wanted Reasoning Books of their own to use against the JWs...I chuckled when I thought of how many books I 'placed' that day--as an apostate! I wanted so badly to hand in one last time slip!)

    It has been my experience that the UUs differ according to the locale---down here in the South they are primarily xtian-oriented, but I never found it the case up in new England--to the contrary, I met more Buddhists and Pagans than anything else.

    Ravyn

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  • pr_capone
    pr_capone

    Because of my experiances with the dubs, I can never be a part of any religion that claims to be "christian". I have the same hangups as you do. I do not like all the rituals that take place in christian religions.

    I went a few times to mass with my x girl. It bugged me to no end that they would chant the same things over and over again. Also all the standing, kneeling, sitting, kneeling, standing, kneeling. A true god cannot take pleasure in this.

    I am currently looking into non christian alternatives to find my answers.

    Eric

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