Religious restrictions..

MehGuy said:

Curious about what about your religion restricts you from doing/engaging in things. As someone who grew up in a hyper religious household many things were forbidden. This thread can be open to non-theists as well, if you'd like to share stories of growing up in a strict religious household..

Click to expand...

Why are you showing a picture of the young St. Therese of Liseaux for your avatar if you're an athiest?

MehGuy said:

Curious about what about your religion restricts you from doing/engaging in things. As someone who grew up in a hyper religious household many things were forbidden. This thread can be open to non-theists as well, if you'd like to share stories of growing up in a strict religious household..

Click to expand...

Sacrificing children to Moloch has always been discouraged.

I think a lot of the "thou shalt nots" like cheating, stealing, murder etc go without saying. While my religion doesn't approve of such things either, we don't need a god to tell us not to do them because they are wrong. I don't consider them restrictions in a religious sense. So discounting the things that we can determine are bad based on experience and analyzation of the consequences, I'm trying to think if there are any restrictions on a purely religious level.

We're allowed to learn about other religions, interact with members of other religions, participate in other religions' services, as well as acknowledge other gods.

I have no dietary restrictions (again, eating lots of unhealthy food is discouraged not because god, but because the effects are observably bad). My system doesn't call for any fasting at any time.

I can't think of any gender restrictions. Males and females of any sexual orientation can participate in any aspect of religious ceremonies equally.

I knew of some Pagans who restrict what you can wear or take with you into a religious ceremony. For example, some say you're not supposed to wear a watch, or have money on your person, but I think that's more of a personally imposed restriction in the name of religion. It's not something dictated by the gods, so it's not universal. I don't think that really counts.

I was discouraged from wearing a bikini as a teenager because my mom said it made boys think sexually. Was she wrong even if I had no sexual intentions by my choice? It did feel oppressive at the time. I passed that rule down to my daughter. How horridly restrictive of me.

The religious restrictions were not to be a jerk to people, not to steal, lie, or hurt others.

That pretty much sums up the commandments as well. There is a lot of freedom in Christianity, many just don't see it.

MehGuy said:

Curious about what about your religion restricts you from doing/engaging in things. As someone who grew up in a hyper religious household many things were forbidden. This thread can be open to non-theists as well, if you'd like to share stories of growing up in a strict religious household..

Click to expand...

I'll probably have to refrain from any Samhain rituals next Wednesday.

Like awitch and JohnB445 noted, there's a certain amount of "be a decent human being" that should go without saying.

One less-than-obvious place that religious restrictions interact with my life is in areas related to war. Because I'm almost a pacifist, I would be morally uncomfortable working on projects developing weapons or war-related software for the Defense Department. (I'm a computer scientist, so this is something I've actually had to think about.)

Monk Brendan said:

Why are you showing a picture of the young St. Therese of Liseaux for your avatar if you're an athiest?

Click to expand...

I believe that MehGuy is fond of the quote by St. Therese that appears in his signature.

Lutherans aren't known for legalism, so there's very little we can't do, in the absolute sense.

We were banned from eating meat Ash Wednesday or on any Fridays during Lent
Whole day fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (you get dinner but no meat allowed!)
no food before Mass on Sundays, only water (not a big deal because church is at 9am)
No contraception pill (NFP only!)

I think thats all we were 'banned' from doing, there was a lot of 'compulsory fun' like church every Sunday, confession once a year, prayers, bible reading, follow the 10 commandments usual christian stuff.

MehGuy said:

Curious about what about your religion restricts you from doing/engaging in things. As someone who grew up in a hyper religious household many things were forbidden. This thread can be open to non-theists as well, if you'd like to share stories of growing up in a strict religious household..

Click to expand...

I'm in a spiritual path in which there is absolutely nothing restricted or forbidden by any outside force. If any restricting is being done to me, it's me who's doing it. My spiritual life is giving me a chance to undo or maybe redirect some of my self induced limits.

MehGuy said:

Curious about what about your religion restricts you from doing/engaging in things. As someone who grew up in a hyper religious household many things were forbidden. This thread can be open to non-theists as well, if you'd like to share stories of growing up in a strict religious household..

Click to expand...

We were always told not to make a spectacle of ourselves in public, although the only time it had a religious connection was during the Jesus movement when people started raising their hands in church. Oh, and Bingo.....Bingo was bad.

I've since grown out of being afraid of how other perceive me.

PloverWing said:

I believe that MehGuy is fond of the quote by St. Therese that appears in his signature.

Click to expand...

That's one sick signature.

The belief is:

The more one suffers here, the greater their reward in Heaven.

I wonder if MehGuy would prescribe aspirin to cancer patients like Mother Teresa did?

AV1611VET said:

That's one sick signature.

The belief is:

The more one suffers here, the greater their reward in Heaven.

Click to expand...

I don't think that's what St Therese had in mind, and I'm pretty sure it's not what atheist MehGuy has in mind.

PloverWing said:

I don't think that's what St Therese had in mind,

Click to expand...

Then why, when she died, was her estate assessed in the millions and millions of dollars, yet she didn't send any of her patients to a qualified medical treatment center?

.

AV1611VET said:

Then why, when she died, was her estate assessed in the millions and millions of dollars, yet she didn't send any of her patients to a qualified medical treatment center?

Click to expand...

Thérèse of Lisieux and Mother Teresa are two different people.

Silmarien said:

Thérèse of Lisieux and Mother Teresa are two different people.

Click to expand...

That's true.

But that signature is sick.

I immediately thought of Klebold & Harris when I read it.

Maybe it's just me though, eh?

AV1611VET said:

That's one sick signature.

The belief is:

The more one suffers here, the greater their reward in Heaven.

Click to expand...

That's not it at all. Saint Therese suffered greatly in this life. In her suffering she found that being carried by Love was a very sweet relief for her. It's in Jesus that she found that Love.