tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post355975617753008791..comments2024-03-12T19:57:41.861+00:00Comments on THINKING CATHOLICISM: THE CATHOLIC DISEASE - BEING RC+Thinking Catholicismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16589713565062075036noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-12925072447682271562014-07-21T19:31:09.183+01:002014-07-21T19:31:09.183+01:00Good Man Oban. It is great to see a real pewrson w...Good Man Oban. It is great to see a real pewrson who is not afraid to put their name where their pen or mouth is. As for guilt growing up in the west of Ireland I can identify with that and relate that I suffered from the infection even though I had no reason to be guilty for anything. I was brought up by my Mother and two Aunts. Shal we say that their experience of relationships with the opposite sex were in the most part negative. Logic has nothing to do with it but I grew up with a sense of inferiority and believing I was not good enough (& perhaps not physicaly capable) of having a meaningful relationship with a woman. Guilt like Faith is for the most part caught and not taught in my belief. I wish I had some concrete advice for the man from the west but talking to somebody like yourself is a good start. Sometimes the blogs can be dressed with irony or indeed sarcasm but I know that face to face this man will get a caring ear from yourself. The West's awake was the old warcry. I wish this man well and God Speed on his journey. Seanroscommonmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08748800697962234196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543129696041324861.post-75036825680352458582014-07-21T00:38:59.506+01:002014-07-21T00:38:59.506+01:00Pat,
Delighted to see that you are blogging again...Pat,<br /><br />Delighted to see that you are blogging again about such relevant topics.<br /><br />What you have written about in this blog piece is of great significance and importance. It is important for people to realise that RELIGION and SPIRITUALITY are fundamentally two different things. <br /><br />Religion is about control. Humans for millennia have used it to control the thoughts, minds, souls, bodies, sexual organs, bedrooms, sexualities and most of all the wallets and purses of its believers. <br /><br />Spirituality is about freedom. Humans, until they invented religion as an institution were seeking into the depths of wonder, living life to the full, experiencing everything that is good, experiencing mistakes without guilt ridden regrets and finding love, happiness and contentment along this journey of ours.<br /><br />Now, Jesus came not to form religion but to set us free from it and to encourage us to find our spiritual roots and to dig deep into the journey of life.<br /><br />I have been cured from RC+ and i consider myself to be free from middle men who believe they control Jesus. I am a liberal Pat, a Christian Liberal, and i believe that You as a bishop or the Pope of Rome are no different to me nor do you possess some secret power that controls Jesus. jesus, was a revolutionary in the sense that he set us free to live life to the full, and when we experienced the falls we trust his hand will be there to reach down and raise us up on high. <br /><br />Tonight i sat outside with a wee dram watching the stars over the Firth of Lorn, Bessie my Labrador sat next to me. As i looked up into the stars above, i felt the stillness. I felt Awe. I felt Wonder. I felt the smallness and yet my importance in my place in the world. Then, i recalled your blog and that poor trapped young man. I took a sip of the dram and felt the closeness to my pet Bessie, who sat beside in complete stillness and silence, not even a breath, while her eyes looked down the Glen and out across Oban and onto the Firth. I'd no idea what she was thinking but i didn't need to know either. Because in that that moment i knew her soul, her spirit just like mine was free and full a deep emotion that words couldn't describe. In that moment, i knew that Religion would be like confining Bessie to a travelling Kennel and depriving her of that moment and life of freedom, which at best she would only glimpse through the angle of metal grills. <br /><br />If the young man is reading this blog ... open the windows of your life and breath in the air of true Spiritual freedom. You will look back, smile and never give religion a second thought.<br /><br />Edmund, Oban. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com