A few times a month, I feel a rush of shame and embarrasment over how much I used to bug people about Jesus. Anybody else have this?
2007-04-26 19:14:57 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I do not remember being much of a proliferator, however I do remember being a pro-lifer. (Bad word play... I know.)
When I was 14, I wrote a paper for my freshman year, first semester theology class on abortion. In the Catholic school that I attended (raised LCMS, but attended Catholic HS), first semester theology for freshman was basically Sex-ed. It was a good course covering everything from STDs-pregnancy-contraception-adoption-abortion-etc. I learned more about sex than some of my friends who went to public HS. I chose to write my term paper on abortion. Sometimes I wish I could go back and hit a big delete key.
I was 14...what did I really understand about abortion?...what did I really understand about medical procedure?...what did I really understand about the psychological aspects?...what did I really understand about being a woman having to choose?
The paper was well-written and I am still proud of the written skill and research ability that I showed at such a young age. The paper was passed around my High School and Church. Everyone was so proud of me...a child who had composed a well-researched and well-written argument against abortion arguing on religious, psychological, & medical grounds. But I was just that... a child. I look back now, almost 10 years later, and have difficulty believing that was me.
I do not want to dicuss in detail my current stance on abortion here. Suffice it to say that I am in favor of a woman having all reasonable and safe (I realize those are subjective.) choices. I feel that it is an issue where medical professionals should be the ones making the decisions and that there needs to be a medical standard implimented. I would never choose an abortion for myself, but I respect the choices of other women.
A paper that I wrote my senior year of college did not get the acclaim that the paper I wrote my freshman year of high school recieved. It was a combined term paper for my Women in World Religions course and a course in the Letters of Paul. It was about women in the church. The LCMS does not allow women pastors. The same pastor that loaned me his sermons and personal writings to the 14-year-old-me for my paper on abortion and passed it amongst the congregation...now would not return my emails.
It really is too bad for them...They could've had a well-spoken, educated writer on their side. If the opportunity had been played well, I could still hold the beliefs of that 14-year-old-me and be advocating them. It's just too bad...I have a vagina and therefore do not have standing within the church.
As I have mentioned on Yahoo!Answers previously, I am currently composing my withdrawal letter from the LCMS. It is quite a different document. I cannot go back and push a big delete key, but I can open a new document.
:-)
2007-04-27 03:49:50 · answer #1 · answered by ducky0501 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, some people I have actually looked up and apologized to, the ones I could find. I actually made it a kind of mission to go and make amends for the damage I caused when I was a Christian.
You see I did much worse than simply bug people about Jesus, when I say I was a fundie, I mean it in the worse possible way. I know when I was a fundie I really hurt and offended some people by my words. I believe you have to take responsibility for your actions and words, so if you wrong someone, you have to make amends with that person.
2007-04-27 03:43:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well,actually I don't think I ever really did preach that much to people. I really always felt a bit embarassed about the fundie church I grew up in. I remember inviting people to go to a Billy Graham crusade, and I probably did some half hearted witnessing, but I was never really "into" it like some people get.
I always knew it wasn't for me. I never did get baptised, which was full immersion in front of the congregation, I just knew I didn't really believe that crap deep down. I never participated in any of the youth groups. It all just felt wrong. I didn't officially leave it and become an atheist until age 20 though.
I don't have anyone to apologize to.
2007-04-26 19:27:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
not so much. then again i wasn't really into the "share your faith" thing. it's an excellent question though, and i can certainly think of other regrets related to my past investment in religion/christianity...
all the money i threw away giving to the church. if i had invested all that money over the years, i might actually have a nice retirement nest egg...
my bogus attitude toward non-believers
assuming i had all the answers
wasted energy trying to...
- make sense of all the contradictory statements regarding salvation doctrine in the bible
- make sense of revelation
- justify the concept of hell
- figure out why the OT God was an asshole and the NT God was much cooler.
feeling guilty about looking at porn and er, other things
i could go on and on...
that really only scratches the surface i think. one thing about my attitude now that surprises me the most is the resentment i have for my parents, having raised me into *their* system of beliefs. Us ex-fundies have lots of unfortunate baggage to carry around... sigh...
2007-04-26 20:00:41 · answer #4 · answered by Tree Hugger 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I do, especially since a couple of people entered the church because of my "witnessing." But I had the opportunity to apologize to some people the summer after I graduated from high school.
2007-04-27 03:48:56 · answer #5 · answered by GreenEyedLilo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As a Christian, I don't take an agressive tackic to spread god's word. But use outlets like this to share knowlege and to learn.
Those people you talk about where just trying to do, to the best of their abilites, to spread God's word(as Jesus told them to do so). I know some can be overwhelming and I'm sorry for that.
But not for their trying their best, just shows we all have much to learn.
2007-04-26 19:27:48 · answer #6 · answered by jay f 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
greater effective to come back out of the hearth burnt than stay and be ate up. Forgive your self to your former lack of knowledge. all of us would desire to try this! what's important is which you have found out out of your previous and moved forward! i'm no longer an atheist (i'm Jewish) yet i'd particularly be contained in the organization of an atheist than a fundamentalist Christian, purely for the sake of verbal replace.
2016-10-03 23:41:42 · answer #7 · answered by kelchner 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes! Here is my apology:
Dear Catholics,
When I was a fundie, I believed you were all in the service of Satan. I exhorted you to stop worshiping idols and to come out of that "Whore of Babylon". Please accept my most profound apologies. I now realize that the Catholic Church is the One True Church, founded by Christ Himself, and have become a fully-initiated Catholic myself. Deo Gratias!
2007-04-26 19:31:14 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Instead of apologizing, I found myself living the life of someone who my old church would bug, insult, harass, and hate.Now I know what is really in the hearts of fundamentalists and it isn't pretty.
2007-04-26 19:19:47 · answer #9 · answered by Tobeornottobe 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I do. Even more I feel I was totally stupid for getting into that. On the other hand, regret is a wasted emotion.
2007-04-26 22:53:59 · answer #10 · answered by in a handbasket 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋