@JustThinkin’: quite a leap from buying into it and walking away completely. As I posted, I went to church for about a year and it served a purpose for me. It’s probably a bad analogy but in my case, I thought maybe it was like taking an aspirin for a headache. It helped…so why am I not still taking aspirin? Oh right, the headache’s gone.
Your story seems different though in that you probably went to church when you were younger, your life was relatively calm etc.
I’ll second you on the Catholic music. There’s some really good stuff there.
@DMC: One of the trends I’m noticing is that the more people are educated, the more they pull away from religion. Sidenote: I work with a bio teacher who is quite religious, right down to the tithing stuff. She says she wouldn’t object to teaching “intelligent design” :smack:
As for Song of Solomon, yeah, that’s some pretty hot stuff. If you haven’t heard the Kate Bush song on “The Red Shoes,” you really must.
@gonzomax, thanks for the link. Quite a bit to digest there.
@Humble Servant, if I read your post correctly, the saying means, “Stay away from things that don’t glorify Christ”?
One point I might make here which pertains to this and other posts is that I wasn’t asserting causation. E.g. suppose someone hears a piece of music and feels transcendence. It could be:
A) that a god “played” the composer like an instrument, launching “His” music via the composer;
B) that the composer, inspired by a god, was able to find the best music in himself;
Sure, those are possible. But what if
C) music, simply by virtue of its nature, can have such a powerful grip on our hearts and minds (see how I’m stopping before including soul?). Who composed it is a secondary issue in a way because I’m not asking you to give god credit for it, either as creator of it or inspiration for it.
Suppose someone did say, “I was a total athiest but then I heard this song and for a moment—just a moment—I thought maybe there was a higher power. And then that feeling went away.” I could ascribe that to the power of music, but I’d also have to agree that the composer, performers, makers of the instruments, guy who designed the acoustics or engineered the recording, yadda, contributed. I remind myself not to think there’s one cause producing one effect.
A question for the athiests…gonzo was asking why I assumed that athiests hadn’t read the Bible etc. Well, like Presbyterian parents raise Presbyterian children, wouldn’t athiests raise athiests? As I posted, I figured some athiests didn’t have a falling out or anything; they just grew up in non-religious households.
DMC mentions going to services occasionally (e.g. bell services) but obviously that isn’t for the religious content. Proactively seeking out religious training (confirmation, catechism, etc.) for the kids is out. But JustThinkin’ was saying how much she enjoyed it—would she send her kids or see if they suggest it or say no, I don’t think you should, or…?
Again, not trying to convert or persuade or anything…just curious how your choice affects (or doesn’t) decisions about your kids.
