My brothers and I were raised very Catholic. We said grace before every meal, went to church every Sunday. And ALWAYS prayed for forgiveness of our sins. Even at eight years old, I knew I must have sins Nothing was overly explained to us. Everything just WAS.
As early as eight years old I feared Hell and knew I didn’t want to go there. I hated church with its music and statues and smelly old ladies, and feared that God knew I hated it and would send me to hell anyway.
That’s pretty deep for a kid, but I was no ordinary kid.
In college I met this really awesome guy of the Bahai faith. We became pretty good friends and I introduced him to my parents. My father always told us that God only judges you based on your own knowledge and actions. In other words, my friends would not be punished for his un- Catholicism. Because my friend was never introduced to the faith, he couldn’t possibly know the truth.
Our religion was the basis for fear in my life. I remember my little bro coming from high school one afternoon in his sophomore year, crying. He never cried. But he came to me very distressed. “I did something bad!” he said. And, he wanted me to fix it.
Well, Little Bro had been invited to attend a Born Again Christian church with a friend’s family. And he went. Apparently, at the service my brother accepted Jesus and the Born Again faith. His friend’s mom told him that he was no longer Catholic, and Little Bro freaked out.
He cried to me and I told him that God couldn’t possibly care what religion he was and that you can’t change religions without personal knowledge of it. But he did not care about God. He cared about our dad. So we kept it a secret for a long while we can laugh about it now.
I really don’t knock religion. But I knock fear. When my friend spoke about his faith he spoke about the beauty of life, respect for women, kindness unto others, and get this: He didn’t believe in Hell.
I find that many of the decisions that my peers make are based around preventing negativity rather than promoting positivity. Go to church so that you can be considered a good person, go to a big university and get a popular degree and job so that you always have security, make ultra safe investments and never live on the edge, never live out their real dreams, never forget about what has to be done tomorrow.
What is your greatest fear? Do you find that it clouds many of your decisions?
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Death. And yes, it definitely clouds my decisions. For the better, hopefully.
Fear has often held me back. Fear of acceptance. Fear of putting my family’s well-being at risk. Of course many believe in the conventional wisdom that working for an established company provides stability. I’m learning each day to overcome fear–especially when it comes to entrepreneurial endeavors. I often hear that entrepreneurship is risky, and I think this is where the fear creeps in. But it shouldn’t be. If I do my homework and find my niche, I can reduce risks and eliminate (or at least substantially decrease) fear.
I can relate to your post about striking fear through religion. We often are so afraid to live because of the consequences we’re taught to believe. Life is about having fun and learning to put fear aside.
Thanks for your comments guys. After further thought– I guess we all have some fear in us. Our imperfections make us human. And sometimes fear helps us make conscious decisions. Perhaps, its more about defining what really bothers us and what makes us tick, so that we can learn not to let negativity hold us back.
G