Quote:
Originally posted by Nicole@Aug 31 2003, 01:07 PM
I got into a United Pentecostal church when I was 8 years old and suffered therein for 8 more years. I quit when I was 16 and no longer have a religion. I'm a very moral person with strict beliefs on how one should live their life, but I have yet to find a church that reflects my beliefs.
In the UPC organization, I believe they've lost the true meaning behind Christianity. They are totally caught up in appearance and acquiring power. They've forgotten that what is on the inside is most important. In fact, I was ridiculed and picked on to an unbearable degree while in that religion. When I was just a little girl, adults and kids alike would gang up on me and bring me to tears with absolutely no remorse. I was taught that I could not associate with 'sinners' and had no friends in school either. I think I was better for the experience and it taught me that I should never say hurtful things to another person because of the damage it could cause. But at the same time, I feel like I'm better off without 'religion.' I can be a good person without an organization to fall back on.
I do believe in God and believe that there are guidelines one must follow, found in the Bible. I hope to someday find a church to attend. |
Any religous organisation that has to bully and intimidate its members about anything is fundementally wrong to start with, either you simply believe in what that organisation offers with no pressure on you or you walk away with no questions asked from either party.
If you are however disrupting or mocking their belief they have every right to remove you from themselves if you will not listen to their reasoning first, which has to be simply that, reasoning, not bullying.