Birth Religion and Current Religion.

[JovesChild]

 
I was raised fundamental evangelical/pentacostal Christian and married into an even more cultish-sect of that non-denomination. It was not uncommon to have people "manifesting" interactions with the divine - falling/being slain in the spirit, rolling/moaning on the floor, speaking in tongues, interpretation of said tongues, prophecies/visions/dream interpretation, spirit-inpired dance, "warring in the spirit" against the enemy... It's with great humility that I admit to you all publicly I was very active in the whole shebang. I look back on it now as gifts being used, or rather abused. At that time, I thought I was being a blessing...

People would come for a prophetic message for their lives, or an interpretation of a dream, and I would see what I thought were angels telling me what those meant. I would also see what I was taught were demons and would have to pray to "release those strongholds" over those people and cast the evil spirit off of them. I would dance "in the spirit" for hours on end. I sat in with teams of the prophetic "warriors" and would actively pray against those we were told were the enemy, which was people *obviously* controlled by Satan: witches, pagans, New Age groups, UU, basically anyone not Christian or Jewish. (Jews lucked out here because of the Messianic ties that cult had, I believe.) Of the couple local covens we knew about, we'd pray their work would be bound and fall void. We worked our own supplications to combat theirs. All for "the glory of God"...

(I don't know how to reckon with this aspect of my past. I am disgusted with my former self and the damage I caused. So please, as a pagan community as a whole, please accept my utter regret for my actions... or just understand I have paid dearly, am learning and am not as I once was.)

I began to question and research into what I was told would taint and open me up to the demonic. When my youngest daughter was born with a developmental delay causing her to slowly die because she couldn't eat (gastroparesis), the supplications the congregates would attempt repulsed me. I refused them. I literally shoved one "warrior" away and sought medical guidance to aid my daughter. (With the aid of high-dose antibiotic treatment for 9 months, she was able to gain weight as an infant and outgrow that delay. She's now a spritely 7 year old, no digesting issues.) However, that questioning, that confrontation, and that turning from that set of beliefs cost me my friends and that marriage.

My apologies if this was too personal/off-topic for this thread. That past lead me to where I am.
Me now:I have become skeptical of what I deeply know are intrinsic abilities. I long for the time I can move and work with a healed confidence. I'm nervous I have more to pay with the god/desses for my past misinformed experiences. I question each spiritual interaction and mystical-type experience and each response I have. I don't believe the Christian God is available for me, and I struggle with the concept of omnipotence/omnipresence of god/desses and with viewing those "other gods" as not something to be immediately on guard and ready to combat. I will also say this has caused me to recoil at intolerance and be more sensitive to my effect in this world, wishing to leave a positive mark and heal first and foremost where I have opportunity... which again pointed me toward this particular path.

[SunflowerP]

 
I see you've met our pet gremlin, who likes to make quotes vanish if they have no text in them.  The fix:  when you remove the text, hit "enter" (I'm an old fogey; my brain still thinks of it as "carriage return" to put the two halves of the quote code on separate lines.

Sunflower

[JovesChild]

 

 
Oh, thank you...

What a lovely little gremlin. (I shall not feed it after midnight.)

[Shine]

Does how you were raised, religion-wise, impact your current practices? How?

 
Coulda swore I already replied to this thread. XD Anywho, bored, so I'm stopping by.

I'd say my birth religion has a strong impact on my current practices, mostly in what I look for in deity.

Also, I tend to gravitate toward goddesses--in response to the Christian God, I think.

[Zoness]

Does how you were raised, religion-wise, impact your current practices? How?

 
Yes, I'd say there is a moderate bit of crossover from my upbringing.

I was raised Catholic, my mother and her family were all Catholic and still are. My Dad was nonreligious at the time. I went to Catechism and was confirmed per the standard in 7th grade. Didn't really consider it a whole lot then, though I remember having doubts or at least wondering about alternatives as early as 5th grade and I think that all stemmed from my friends and I talked about parallel universes.

Anyways, my parents were divorced when I was around the age of 10 and when my Dad remarried he converted to Christianity. As a result, for a number of years I attended a non-Denominational church which had some Pentecostal concepts. It was very happy-clappy and everyone at least pretended to get along. Eventually, through a series of huge socio-political fallouts we eventually left that church and by that time in my life I was in full on doubt mode. Mostly because the people I grew up around were super repressed and wouldn't confront problems but they would stab you in the back at any given moment. My best friend at the time and I were both kicked out of the church for awhile as a result of some personal matters he became involved in that stepped on some toes; he started talked about magic and what not. Psychologically at first it was really interesting because I wanted to be rebellious plus being raised as a full-on nerd some of the "magical" elements of it really appealed to me. Had none of the nasty social elements shown up, I'd probably to this day be a moderate Non-denominational protestant. Though, growing up Catholic I may have probably became Lutheran or Anglican since I have always preferred structure in my worship.

Since then, my faith has changed a lot and has become significantly less formal. Right now I identify as Panentheist since I don't really have much of a complete religion including stories, morality, and gods but I do just have a general philosophy about the universe. That said, I have been getting a lot more into Wicca and my Catholic upbringing makes me want to seek structure so anytime I can pre-compose a ritual and have prescribed documents I am happier.

Without my wordy life story I'd say my Catholic upbringing definitely makes me prefer structured rituals and worship instead of unstructured activities. But this is how my mind works on most matters.

[Sofie]

Does how you were raised, religion-wise, impact your current practices? How?

 
I wasn't raised with any religion, which actually made for much confusion when I started going to elementary school in the southern United States. All my friends would talk about Jesus and God and I would have no idea what they were talking about. I still remember, as a small child, asking my dad why he hadn't taught me anything about Christianity (I was beginning to feel left out), and I still remember his response verbatim.
"I'm not going to brainwash you."  
I didn't understand what he meant initially, but now that I've grown some, I'll always appreciate my father encouraging me to research and find the religion that works for me on my own.

[Dracona]

I was raised fundamental evangelical/pentacostal Christian and married into an even more cultish-sect of that non-denomination. It was not uncommon to have people "manifesting" interactions with the divine - falling/being slain in the spirit, rolling/moaning on the floor, speaking in tongues, interpretation of said tongues, prophecies/visions/dream interpretation, spirit-inpired dance, "warring in the spirit" against the enemy...

 
Oh goodness we could have been twins! I too was involved in 'spiritual warfare' and indeed my parents were teachers for it, in fact my dad is an author of books on it!

As I grew up I was also a firm believer, especially as I grew up in an area that was Christian or agnostic and nothing else. I didn't even know there WERE other religions until they mentioned them in high school. I stayed on that path until I was 27 and had some personal cataclysms that made me examine my beliefs.

While growing up I had always 'gone bush' as I grew up in the country and that means I would wander off into the trees and rocks with our dogs, cats and wildlife and I would commune with the Spirit I felt there from about the age of 3. It wasn't until I was 8 I realised the god of the church and the Spirit I felt outside were meant to be the same thing. That never sat right with me but I pushed it aside.

Sorry to blather on, but basically, when I grew up in the pentecostal churches and travelled with my parents, at times I did feel Spirit, faintly. Then at 27 when I had lost absolutely everything (mother, husband, daughter, home, friends, support) out of curiosity I went to a psychic fair that 'happened' to be being held 3 doors from my hovel. I walked in and burst into tears... because the same Spirit I had sometimes felt in church was suddenly everywhere around me. I was buzzing for days.

That started me on my studies of all religions, their origins, deities, etc. I was rabidly anti-xian for years and only now am coming to terms with it and the truths hidden in it. I too wish to apologise publicly to the poor natural and aboriginal spirits we may have harmed.

I'm still anti-religion in general because it's rules and regulations. Spirit is a completely different matter.

Hope some of that makes sense!! :ashamed:

[Grimnir]

I'm still anti-religion in general because it's rules and regulations. Spirit is a completely different matter.

 
I grew up in a non-religious household and barely paid attention to religion ever when my mother sent us to sunday school - not for the religion, it was a good way to get time for herself I think!

Add to that the fact she read Tarot cards, and in fact gave me my first deck (Swiss IJJ, never got on with them, no visuals on the minor arcana).

Overall though, I mainly believed in Skepticism.

It wasn't until my early 20's I started looking at Paganism. I studied Wicca, Druidry, Heathenry, Hellenic and Kemetic, but nothing really clicked, so I stayed as 'just' a pagan until my early 30's. Eventually I had an epiphany of sorts when studying the Runes, and from there found the Gods I follow today, chief among them Odhinn. I still have a large belief in Skepticism though

[SunflowerP]

I still have a large belief in Skepticism though

 
Is that intentional irony, or an accident of casual/hasty word choices?

Sunflower

[Grimnir]

Is that intentional irony, or an accident of casual/hasty word choices?

Sunflower

 
Definitely a little on the Ferric side

[coxy123]

Does how you were raised, religion-wise, impact your current practices? How?

 
I was brought up in a Catholic household but my parents only had me baptised for family reasons. Thankfully my dad never went to church and did everything he could to distance himself from the church and my mum was very open minded about all religions.

A few months back when I decided to convert to paganism my parents were obviously a little sceptical but they let me carry on and now here I am !

[Holdasown]

Does how you were raised, religion-wise, impact your current practices? How?

My grandparents were both Christian and took me to church. My one grandmother was Presbyterian and they are pretty mellow. I didn't understand much. My parents were never talked religion. It wasn't until I was 19 I even knew if they believed in god.

I got saved in college and fell away from that 5 years ago. I would say it has allowed me to feel free to change my beliefs and practice.

[Zephie]

Does how you were raised, religion-wise, impact your current practices? How?

I was raised evangelical, conservative Christian....seriously and deeply involved. Just talking about it makes me uncomfortable and bit angry that I wasn't given a choice and missed out on a bunch of life events due to that religion.

It does affect my practices in that I am still afraid of doing things like communing with the Goddess or even celebrating Sabats, esbats and the like.

[sparrow]

Does how you were raised, religion-wise, impact your current practices? How?

It makes me a lot more cautious when working with deity. I hear people talking about how they work with god/desses that is really demanding, bossy, or domineering, or they'll say, "(goddess) is the boss of me" and I don't know how they do it. I would freak out, and that whole paradigm is kind of revolting to my brain because that's how Christians are (I was raised conservative christian), and their god is kind of a huge jerk IMHO. I'm also more involved in my own magical practice than I probably ever will be with goddess worship, and my Lady knows that. I'm a little cautious when entering into a group setting too. If it seems like the other people at a group ritual are complete religious zealots I'm probably not going to hang around.

[Kimberly]

Does how you were raised, religion-wise, impact your current practices? How?

I was raised Lutheran by a Lutheran mother and a Catholic father...both bitten hard by the Christian Guilt bug.  I would say I always questioned it.  I remember questioning the sunday school teachers all my life...was even kicked out of sunday school a few times for "not accepting the truth".  It was hard not to roll my eyes at that line.

I think the hardest thing for me was getting over the Christian Guilt thing.  And getting over using the word God, or the word Church.  Both meant christianity to me and I was so against that in the beginning of my new path.  

But funny how time changes people.  My dad still considers himself Catholic and believes in Jesus Christ  but is a huge proponent for gay marriage and human rights.  He doesn't believe the Pope knows more than he does (shhh...don't tell the Pope!), and that no one needs to attend church or confession to get into heaven.  My mom believes in Jesus Christ but she is a member of a local Celtic group.  I think she is torn...Christian Guilt at it's finest.  My brother is flat out atheist, and here I am...a nature worshipping, Premonition/Pre-Cognative looking for her path.  My daughter?  My luck is she'll be hard-core Catholic.