I
Isambard
Guest
Hello.
I don't know if I should call myself a Christian or not. What do you think?
I was brought up by Catholic parents, was baptised, taught dozens of bible stories at school, church, etc but I was orphaned when I was 10 and I was brought up by my grand-parents. They are lovely gentle, open-hearted people but they follow no religion at all and my Christian upbringing dropped away. We were given the option to continue going to church but because they didn't go to church, neither did my sisters and I.
Now in my late twenties I still say the occasional child-like prayer but I am not confident that the prayers go anywhere. I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had continued with my Christian up-bringing so I thought I may be allowed to hang-out here for a while and see if anything rubs off on me.
I tried going to local churches but found the whole process a bit embarrassing. They all seemed to expect me to be a 100% believer - when I wasn't really. I also found great difficulty with the 'holier than thou' types who seemed to think that they had some supreme right of authority over others and just treated me as a fool if I asked any questions. I just I hate that attitude and hope there is not too much of it here.
The majority of forum members appear to be from the US where Christianity is more prominent. In England, active Christians are increasingly rare, vocal Christians even rarer. Most villages don't even have a full-time vicar/priest/pastor any more. Our local church is only opened a few times when the travelling vicar calls. This may help you understand a rather different culture than you may be used to in the US.
I don't know if I should call myself a Christian or not. What do you think?
I was brought up by Catholic parents, was baptised, taught dozens of bible stories at school, church, etc but I was orphaned when I was 10 and I was brought up by my grand-parents. They are lovely gentle, open-hearted people but they follow no religion at all and my Christian upbringing dropped away. We were given the option to continue going to church but because they didn't go to church, neither did my sisters and I.
Now in my late twenties I still say the occasional child-like prayer but I am not confident that the prayers go anywhere. I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had continued with my Christian up-bringing so I thought I may be allowed to hang-out here for a while and see if anything rubs off on me.
I tried going to local churches but found the whole process a bit embarrassing. They all seemed to expect me to be a 100% believer - when I wasn't really. I also found great difficulty with the 'holier than thou' types who seemed to think that they had some supreme right of authority over others and just treated me as a fool if I asked any questions. I just I hate that attitude and hope there is not too much of it here.
The majority of forum members appear to be from the US where Christianity is more prominent. In England, active Christians are increasingly rare, vocal Christians even rarer. Most villages don't even have a full-time vicar/priest/pastor any more. Our local church is only opened a few times when the travelling vicar calls. This may help you understand a rather different culture than you may be used to in the US.
