Aww I miss them both though, Kizzy and Kirk also I stand by all my opinions in this ancient thread

Yeah, me and Kizzy very rarely saw eye-to-eye on anything (hey, it happens, right?) but she was a valuable member. You don’t have to agree with someone all the time to like them.

I think (to add another opinion to my thread; I didn’t say this particular one before) Catholics are more likely to be born into a nominal system of Christianity and it gets passed down and upheld for convention’s sake only more times. Having a more personal relationship with your God generally (especially in certain cultural circles) isn’t thought to happen at any less than the Anglican stage (or at least that Catholic + Anglican/Methodist Protestant-Pentecostal syncretism if there have to be elements of Catholicism). Catholics aren’t exactly born again Bible warriors. They just go to mass and do their thing on Sundays from what I’ve seen over the years. If you want to be a serious Christian as an adult, you have to want in on your own terms. It doesn’t matter what your parents brought you into.

Catholicism

Ugh. I mean, each to their own.

It's how i was brought up. Sorry Redway.

What religion are you Redway as a matter of interest?

I’m way more spiritual than I am an organised religion kind of person, even. But I was raised Anglican and then Protestant. I’m naturally quite interested in all this stuff but I’m honestly not religious like that.

And yeah (going back to what you said when I first made this thread). Inasmuch as I still like the aesthetics of the Catholic Church there’s too much about them historically. The child abuse scandals was the last straw but there are times when I’ve overlooked that, not because I was ever trying to defend the Catholic faith but just because most branches of religion have all sorts of negativity attached to them. But child abuse is a different kind of evil and it does leave a black mark against Catholicism.

Honestly I don't really get the indignation people have between Catholicism and other branches of Christianity, all singing from the same hymn sheet imo

There’s definitely some truth to that. Personally I think the Bible is somewhat corrupted (I’m pretty sure both hell fire proper and purgatory were scare-tactics that just found their way into the official books and teachings) in the first place. There’s a lot of timeless stuff in there but a lot of stuff that just doesn’t need to be there. That’s partly why I branded myself an agnostic for years and years but the truth is I do definitely believe in God (maybe not in exactly the same way as the Bible alludes to it). I’m not religious but I’m not an unbeliever. So in that sense I’m out-and-out lukewarm.

I'm definitely an unbeliever, I believe in my family and that's how I live my life, the end.

One thing I hate about Christianity is that people in it are quick to spread rumours about so-and-so backsliding and going in the completely opposite direction to how their parents brought them up (I mean, that can happen generally but I mean in the context of Christianity specifically). No-one should be seeing their child as an extension of them and not expect them to have their own belief systems once they get to a certain age. So long as people aren’t moving backwards or turning into genuinely bad people it just is what it is. It’s none of my business.

Not my experience at all ^^^

LT an I regularly meet up for church events, it's high on the social calendar

I suppose what I’m getting at is that Christians (in certain circles anyway) can be very judgemental about people who aren’t exactly like them, especially if they knew them a bit when they were younger.

I don't appear to have come across this thread in the past.
I'm a baptised and confirmed Roman Catholic.

There's a lot I love about the Catholic church but a lot I cannot go with too.

I just wish there was in reality one faith for Christianity and that it was just called being Christian.
Wherever my own faith has wandered and whether or not I identified myself as Christian.
I do find extremely attracting the fundamental message of Christianity most of what is set out from only the words in scripture said to have been preached by Jesus himself.

The Christian message of how we should be towards others is something I can take on board completely.
However the words stated to be of Jesus and the message from himself, have had so much added, twisted with and even contradicted by the other writings in scripture by others.

Atheists actually despite having no belief, treat others better and care more about the wrongs against others than some so called Christians do.
I have come across more unchristian attitudes already in my life from regular churchgoers and so called devout Christians.
Even from the leaders and ministers of Christian churches too.