divorce & church/religions

know1 wrote:

inlet13 wrote:

know1 wrote:

I'm very religious and a regular attender at church.

But...if the Catholic church was my only option, I wouldn't go there. All the goofy rules and regulations are so far removed from my beliefs it's hard to fathom we have a faith in the same God.

Just curious - what are your beliefs? And how do you know the Catholic rules and regulations if you're not or weren't Catholic?

As someone who grew up Catholic, I know a lot about their beliefs and whatnot. One of the aspects of that religion I do like is that they don't take the Bible literally - unlike many other Christian sects. I also like that they believe in works, meaning doing good deeds are important - many other Christian sects think if you believe in Jesus - that gets you saved - Catholics don't. They think you actually have to do good stuff. They also believe you can go to heaven if you're not Catholic or don't follow the Bible - unlike most Christians (see former statement).

That said, the fact that priests can't marry, the abuse scandals, etc. - that stuff totally turns me off, personally.

I guess I meant all the ceremonial and symbolic traditions, rituals and formality. They all seem silly to me and some border on idol worship. I also don't like all the responsive reading and chanting and the very structured worship services where they say and do the same things that their reading out of a book. Plus the worshiping and praying to saints and Mary. I grew up in a Lutheran church and even though that's not Catholic, there are a lot of similarities and they use some of the same worship services.

My church is a non-denominational Christian church. Our whole creed or church mission is to Love God and demonstrate that by loving people. A significant part of every worship service is devoted to discussing ways to help people - monetarily, spiritually or whatever. It's a big church, but every week we give $10K to a person, family, group, etc. that we determine needs help. That's in addition to all of the other ministries we have such as a free medical and dental clinic, help for disasters around the world, etc.