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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Embarrassed (07/19/07)
Awe of the Judgment of God

I am not embarrassed to say to friends and strangers that I believe in miracles.
Perhaps my worse embarrassment was at perhaps age thirteen. I remember feeling embarrassed by my parents, as I was trying to find my young independence, but knowing; deep inside, that I was so very dependent on my mother.
As a teen I was very active in my church and I am thankful for the sincere, and sometimes stern, guidance I received from so many older true Christians. I was often invited to attend church business meetings and I remember being shocked when I, as a teen, was asked my opinion on many issues…business and personal feelings.
I remember, so clearly, that we, so often, discussed issues that I definitely did not understand and did not feel confidant in discussing. Naturally good and evil was an issue more than once. Years later I realized that they were exposing me to embarrassment that would help me make wiser decisions in my teen and early adult years.
I learned to enjoy making comparisons; right and wrong, free and dominated, etc. I learned that I and everyone have a bad side and that all humans are bad and good, but we need to choose good more often. I learned that security is another name for religion.
Christopher Hitchens wrote, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without evidenced can also be dismissed without evidence.” Today I feel that embarrassment is sometimes, but not always a serious consequence to me.
For over twenty years I have felt shame and total embarrassment for the Christian Church leadership in Northern Ireland. Catholic and Protestant leadership allowed murderers to hide under the apron of religion. These murderers did not meet the criteria of Christians and should have been excommunicated from the Church.
I’ve often been embarrassed by the sinful or unlawful actions of those American evangelists that made mockery of God and the Christian religion.
I am still embarrassed when I think of the sad and sinful events regarding the fraud and racketeering involving the Lincoln Savings and Loan that cost hundreds (?thousands) of elderly investors their life savings.
I feel ill at ease when I read that attendance at Catholic Mass has decreased and that many feel that it is a response to the strong Catholic stand on birth control.
Humiliation is a weak word for the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church involving priests sexually abusing perhaps 10,000 children and paying out over one billion dollars in awards, settlements and legal fees. This should prove that no one can argue with human nature, that a lifetime of celibate sexuality is unwise, and that it is God’s will that sexual satisfaction is the second strongest desire instilled in our DNA (God’s Holy Book}. The Catholic Church cover up was criminal.
A study by the Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate says that only 14 percent of Catholics go to confession even once a year. Sociologists and Catholic clergy list reasons; including changing notions of sin, busy lives, and opposition to the church’s stance on birth control. This is mortifying.
I have fear mixed with dread and wonder when I read the masses of well written atheism articles on the web. These atheists professionally and intelligently present and exaggerate the written scriptures as they refer to the so called “God” that is directly responsible for the many mass-murders, rapes, pillage, plunder, slavery, child abuse and killing…as this God kills 70,000 innocent people because David ordered a census of the people…as this God orders the destruction of 60 cities so the Israelites can live there…on and on. Now is the time to revise the KJV and eliminate contradictions.
However, the ultimate of my embarrassment and all other definitions of embarrassment is the Catholic Church’s doctrine against the use of artificial birth control.
I strongly feel that organized religion encourages or causes most social problems on earth. AIDS is a STD and STDs are spread by unprotected sex. How can organized religion condemn safe sex when God designed this sex satisfaction as the second strongest human desire.
Paul Tillich wrote, “However the Christian message is expressed, whether in abstract theological language, or in concrete language in preaching, it must be relevant for our time if it uses the language of our time.

Religious leadership is fiddling while the world burns!
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Sara Harricharan
07/26/07
Wow! You have a lot going on here. Lots of information and very interesting comparisons. Thanks for sharing.
Delores Baber
07/29/07
Your story seems to be a list of behaviors that upset you. And for good reason. I find most of those things grieve me, rather than embarrash me. Perhaps you are young and are struggling with the unfairness any hypocracy in the religious community. Better to light a candle than curse the dark.
It would be easier to read if you spaced your paragraphs. May God use you to made a positive difference.