Conchubar
New member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2022
- Messages
- 4
- Gender
- M
- Basic Beliefs
- I believe I exist...
I was brought up as a Catholic and rejected Catholicism entirely around the age of 15. I already had serious doubts when I was about 11 and remember asking a teacher of mine (Sister Agnes of the Sisters of Mercy) one question that really preoccupied me. Here is an accurate transcription of our conversation.
Me: So what will we do when we Catholics die and go to heaven?
SA: We will be in the presence of our Lord.
Me: Yes, but what will we spend our time doing for the rest of eternity?
SA: We will praise, worship and glorify God.
At the time, I remember thinking this was not exactly an appealing prospect or proposition. I could just about manage a half hour of this stuff, split into 10 minutes respectively of praising, worshipping and glorifying but no more than that. Seriously. We would still have the rest of eternity to deal with after that first half hour…
I also thought about the concept of “praising” in more detail. It’s not exactly something you associate with mature and responsible adults, is it. I can imagine praising my 18-month old grandson for sitting on a pot and pissing into it. Well done, Johnny, what a good little boy you are! We’re so proud of you, etc. But I think praising an adult for virtually anything is cheesy and embarrassing. Isn’t it? I’m quite happy to receive personally expressed acknowledgment for something I have achieved but I don’t want to be “praised” or “glorified” by anyone at all. Why does the Christian god seem to be such an inadequate individual that he requires this constant excessively enthusiastic adulation?
Me: So what will we do when we Catholics die and go to heaven?
SA: We will be in the presence of our Lord.
Me: Yes, but what will we spend our time doing for the rest of eternity?
SA: We will praise, worship and glorify God.
At the time, I remember thinking this was not exactly an appealing prospect or proposition. I could just about manage a half hour of this stuff, split into 10 minutes respectively of praising, worshipping and glorifying but no more than that. Seriously. We would still have the rest of eternity to deal with after that first half hour…
I also thought about the concept of “praising” in more detail. It’s not exactly something you associate with mature and responsible adults, is it. I can imagine praising my 18-month old grandson for sitting on a pot and pissing into it. Well done, Johnny, what a good little boy you are! We’re so proud of you, etc. But I think praising an adult for virtually anything is cheesy and embarrassing. Isn’t it? I’m quite happy to receive personally expressed acknowledgment for something I have achieved but I don’t want to be “praised” or “glorified” by anyone at all. Why does the Christian god seem to be such an inadequate individual that he requires this constant excessively enthusiastic adulation?