You don't have to get it. I also don't really care what other faiths have to say. I said this already. Instead of giving me ideas of what to do, why don't you wake up on a Sunday and go to your nearest Catholic church and listen to what they have to say...to you. Maybe you'll change your mind instead of trying to change mine.
I really wanted to keep my own beliefs out of it but you've basically challenged me into writing this, so, please, at least have the courtesy to read all of it. It will probably piss a lot of you off. Allow me to offer a pre-emptive apology, since that's not really my intent. I really only want to clarify
my own personal belief.
I've gone to church for several years, I was even confirmed, so I know what Catholicism is all about. It's not God I have an issue with, it's the whole of the church, and the silly manbook they pass off as a control mechanism.
Once I started doing more digging into faith based beliefs and philosophy and realized Buddhism was very very similar to Christianity, and then started reading the bible and then even went so far as to realize that almost every single thing in the Christian myth has been blatently plagerized from older religions I couldn't take it seriously at all.
But then, again, that's the difference, I was immersed in the church, just like you are, however, I sought out knowledge and changed my mind because of what I'd found out, and now I see an institution that is nothing more than a hate machine desperately clinging to whatever power it has left.
I hear every day how religion destroys lives and how the bible tears families apart because sons and daughters are being kicked out of the house and disowned because they're gay or bisexual, or even for the simple reason they're non-believers. I hear about people who til 10% or more of their income to the church, who demands it, even though they can't afford to feed their children or pay their rent. I've seen first hand marriages ripped apart because one spouse 'lost their faith'. I hear about people who were abused sexually as children by priests constantly, and I see evidence of a pope who protected those priests instead of the children. I see unimaginable wealth within a Country-State where a pope sits upon a throne of gold while his followers have no where to live.
No sir, I will not be apart of that cult any longer. I went back to Mass 2 years ago for a friends wedding after having been away for about 8 years, and it was mind-boggling how robotic it was. I can't believe I'd never seen it before.
So there you have it. Every reason and every rational I have for my hatred of the church. I bet you believe I'm an atheist, right?
You'd be wrong.
I believe in god, but I would align myself closer to Buddhism if I had to pick a name for my beliefs. I don't particularly know what role god plays in the universe or my life, or what will happen when I die, but I'll find out along the way whatever happens.
My thought is that if the
christian god exists, he would be infuriated with the state of the church. And certainly I think Jesus would be flabberghasted.
I'm glad Catholicism works for you. If you truely believe it helps you be a better person and allows you to love unconditionally, and you feel your quality of life is improved because of your faith, that's awesome. Maybe you, like me, attended a chruch that was full of awesome priests who truely did care about the congregation and really didn't judge at all. However, when I started looking at everything, it stopped working for me. I now simply live my life and do right by everyone. That's good enough and works for me.
.,,,.I'm the same way. I'm more in the agnostic camp. I've had some things happen in my life that I cannot explain through mere coincidence or with a logical explanation. I could fill a book with this stuff, but I tend to keep that part of my life private... So that leads me also to the open-minded camp.....I live with the idea that as an observer in the world we live in, it's very possible that I don't have all the answers either, and the reason behind whole existence may be more complicated than I have the answers to, and I've learned to accept that, but I still don't believe in an anthropomorphic 
