LIWeddings.com
Post New Topic

Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

aliciahelene Posted:

Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

First off..I am NOT trying to start up a debate by any means, nor am I trying to say any religion is wrong..I personally feel that there is one God...but I have alot of questions:
I was born and raised Catholic, havent been a practicing Catholic though in quite some time. My husband and I both agree however that wehn we have children, we think its important that they are raised with some kind of faith. Well now that we are adopting two boys, they are both the age where they would be making their first communion if we were to raise them Catholic. BUT..I have personal issues with the church and so I went to speak to a priest today. He was very nice and gave me some books to read, but I am not sure that what I believe can be changed and I feel that I need to believe in my religion if I expect my children too. So I am searching for a religion, one that I can believe in and again I am NOT saying that the Catholic church is wrong, I dont think any religion is wrong, I just need to find one that I agree with. My main problem with Catholocism is that I do not think being in a same sex relationship is a sin..I have deep problems with that and the priest was unable to help me see why it is considered a sin..I mean he explained why the church feels that way, but I dont agree with it. But who am I to disagree with a priest? I am not gay, so this church law does not affect me directly, but what if one of my sons was gay? I dont think I could raise him telling him hes going to hell if he falls in love with another man. Am I missing the boat? Are there any religions that dont view homosexuality as a sin? Again..I am NOT trying to start any type of debate, from the bottom of my heart..I am searching for a religion that I personally feel that I can believe in. Its a personal opinion and Im not judging any religion, so if comes across that way, I apologize. Please help if you can!
Sassyz75 Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

My step sister belongs to a Methodist church in Babylon and I know they are open to same sex relationships.

mrswask Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

Alicia -I wish I had some answers for you but unfortunately I don't - especially since I really don't know anything about the Catholic religion. I'm not sure if there are any religions that don't view homosexuality as a sin - but I am sure there are faiths out there that maybe are not as 'strict' as I've been told Catholicism is. Are the boys following any sort of religion now? Is that something to build on? how do you feel about following your own family faith in terms of celebrations of holidays and traditions and families - but not necessarily the organized parts?
Sorry I'm not much help!!
princess99 Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

You are going to be a good mommy !!!! I am not too into religion, my family is mixed faiths- Jewish and Catholic , etc. I would say to go with what you are most comfortable with. Values are taught at home and children learn from there Mom and dad. My boss always says, 'The apple does not fall far from the tree.... ' I am sorry I was not able to give much advice, but I wish you all the best of luck and happiness with these 2 beautiful boys.

aliciahelene Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

You guys ARE alot of help and thank you! Its not just same sex relationships, its a few other things..I definately will check into the Methodist church and someone else had told me Episcopalian..I have alot of research to do!!! Thanks so much!!!
dm24angel Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

I have similair views I think. I get confused a lot because I believe in one god, yet I do not believe in many rules of relgion that cannot be verified and therefore people of that faith feel I have 'no faith'...but what makes one relgion say they are right and the other wrong is what bothers me. Too many questions, too many unclarified answers.

Without going into too much detail, I have read a lot about ' Spiritualism'.... A lot of mediums these days talk about it because they dont find their place in the catholic or Jewish faiths or the more well known relgions.

Its basis is love, faith in God etc. You believe in God, you believe all people are equal and that you can obtain a higher self with values similiar to many other relgions.

Its more or less saying we are all made from ONE GOD and we all are united as we are not seperate from each other...It's a little hard to explain.

Many people who belong to this relgion believe in Jesus, many do not..there is no discrimination. It's more about the common and individual good and experience.

It's something to look into if you want to raise your children with an open mind, but yet instill values and some sort of relgion revolving around God.
aliciahelene Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

Thanks!!! Ill look into that as well. It sounds like we do have similar views with religion. I actually just did a google search and found a site that compared and contrasted Catholic vs. Epsicopalian and I liked what I read. They seem to follow closer to what I believe,more so than Catholocism. I am still going to check out spiritualism and the Methodist church. Maybe this religion search will help time fly until my boys are home!!! YEA!!

dm24angel Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

I grew up in the Episcopalian Church. I liked it a lot. There are not much differences...we never had confession, that was one of the big differences. Lately I found them to be stricter then I thought.

They would not marry us during ' LENT' while FH's Roman Catholic Church didnt even bat an eye...
matron Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

This is so sad. Unfortunately the catholic church is going to lose many people who were raised catholic bc they are so backward with their views. They need to get with the program, or should I say the century.I think they should allow priests to get married, as well, but maybe that's just me. And birth control? hi. sorry, but i'm struggling with the same thing right now - touched a nerve. bEst of luck to you; if you find anything out, pls let me know. i will probably raise my children catholic bc that's how i was raised, but my hubbie and i will instill 'views of the times' to our children. i hope they will not get conflicting information, but until i find out otherwise, i will probably raise them catholic. so frustrating.

ETA: The Catholic Church would not marry my husband and I outdoors bc it was not in God's home. Isn't nature more God's doing than a man-made building? They also wouldn't marry us outside of a church unless I was marrying someone out of my faith. ok, so you're condoning marrying outside the faith?
btrflygrl Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

you might want to try Methodists....I have found them to be quite welcoming to any faith...and all the members in our church down here know I was bron Jewish and actually think it's great that I attend church.....it's kind of like a full circle since we couldn't have Christianity without Judaism. The Methodists are very warm and friendly people from what I have encountered....also check into the youth programs for your boys! It's a great way for them to find comfort in their faith without feeling they don't belong.

My grandma always stressed that Jesus was a Jew and I take comfort in that.
JodiBabe Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

I belong to a Methodist Church & I agree they are very warm & welcoming! That is why I joined.I have had all women pastors the first one being a divorced mother.

ETA: I was a single mom (never married) living with my former fiance (he was Methodist). We went to church with him & we were welcomed with opened arms & hearts. We even became the church secretaries. My church was always there to help us when he got sick & passed away. They have continued to be there with their love & support in my relationship with my DH. My pastor married us in Sept. at our hall and not having a problem with the fact that we already lived together.
swags1016 Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

Honestly we are going through the same debate too. DH has major issues with the Catholic church. My Mother is Jewish and my Father Roman Catholic, so I was raised with just a little of both. I figured we would raise our kids Roman Catholic since DH made all of his scarments. Needless to say he is not happy about that. We will be looking into the Unitarian church. I like you Alicia feel that it is important that they are raised with some sort of religion.
trnity44 Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

I am also Methodist. The motto of the church is 'open hearts, open hands' or something to that affect. I think that they really dont follow what they preach. Recently in the news there has been this big thing about how there is a woman Methodist priest somewhere in the mid-west who is a lesbian. The church defrocked her because of this. So, I would say that the motto 'open heart, open hands' is not neccessarily true. Just my opinion.

Jax430 Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

I don't know much about the Christian religions, but someone at work was telling me how her Jewish mother attends a Unitarian Church and loves it, because it is so accepting of everyone, and instills a wonderful sense of community and belonging.

matron Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

This thread has gotten me so depressed. Let's start a LIW reform church.

I also get so upset thinking about how the Catholic Church covered up the molestations that occurred, but I digress....

Moehick Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

Do the boys have a religion that they have been practicing?

tourist Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

Posted by aliciahelene

Thanks!!! Ill look into that as well. It sounds like we do have similar views with religion. I actually just did a google search and found a site that compared and contrasted Catholic vs. Epsicopalian and I liked what I read. They seem to follow closer to what I believe,more so than Catholocism. I am still going to check out spiritualism and the Methodist church. Maybe this religion search will help time fly until my boys are home!!! YEA!!


Alicia, my husband & I were both raised Catholic, and not really feelign contected to it, didn't go to mass, etc. So we got married in an Episcopal churhc & although we are not right now going to church regularly, I would like to attend a Episcopal church when I do. It just fits us better. If we have children, I would most likely raise them in the Episcopal faith. I say, try going to a few services in differnt churches. Keep in mind different congragations of the same faith can vary, in strictness, & openess, friendlienss, etc.

Do you know if the boys were raised with any religion in Ethiopia?

ETA: I agree with the Methodist suggestion as well. my uncle was raised Episcopalian & his wife Catholic, although her father is Jewish & they attend a Method church in Georgia.
tracyg Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

Unitarian Universalist is very open. You can be any religion to join them, and they seem to be pretty liberal. I was thinking of joining them (I was raised Methodist and American Baptist) . I was joking with DH about findign a church that Christians and Jews can go to, and this is pretty much it. Their website says some of the churches even have pagan meeting groups. Worth looking into.

bridget&jimmy Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

I was raised Penecostal (born again), we believe in 1 God, and we believe that everyone is equal, we do not believe in confession and we do worship saints. I love my religion because there is not judging and it is not that strict like you have to do these sacraments and go to confession and stuff like that. I feel that if I have something that I need to confess why not go right to the person I need to get forgiveness from. I know that my church has many religions practicing there, they call it a Non-Demonitational church, which means that many religions are practiced there and we all believe in one God and just worship him without any rules or regulations and that is all that matters is that you love him and want to lead a good life on the right path. If you want more info on my Church just FM me.

BMD'sPeanut Posted:

Re: Religion question..Im doing some soul searching..please help if you can

Do you think it's possible to find a religion where you agree with all the parts of it?

Organized religion is organized religion.

Spirituality is spirituality.

If you're going to choose to belong to an organized religion you have to understand that there are going to be different parts to it...And some of those parts you may not 100% be able to digest.




Reply to this topic

Log in to reply or quote a post.