M
Mollymultiple160
Guest
I guess it’s easy to love or be fond of someone who makes you feel good or is helpful.
I’ve moved around a lot the last several years and have had mixed feelings about the priests I’ve encountered, but I always respect them to some extent or another. I’m weird about religious authority figures though.
Actually, the last time I was able to go to Mass was when I was still living in Shanghai and I found it to be so painful and strange that I had to leave early (it was going to last almost two hours I think) despite the fact that I had taken my day off to commute around three hours (each way) to the district the church was in. Teenage girls did everything except say Mass and the priest, who had at least some recent training in America, repeatedly refused to use the word “faith”. His English was quite difficult to understand but from what I could hear, he indirectly excused it by implying he was doing his best, and then preached about Hell. I was actually down with that since I’ve never heard a Catholic sermon about Hell before. It was so hot that summer even for there, reaching at least 104 degrees that day and 108 more than once as I recall, and he said that if we thought it was hot and uncomfortable outside then imagine how hot Hell is. Haha. Seemed like he had heard a lot of people (this was a service for foreigners mainly) give excuses for their sins by claiming they were weak, who had only heard about mercy, because he said that your weakness will send you to Hell because God is just and not only merciful. That if you needed to be afraid of God not to sin, then be afraid, like how you have to be afraid of and obey your boss to keep your job. It was kind of the opposite sort of thing I was used to hearing and certainly added to the culture shock a bit.
I’ve moved around a lot the last several years and have had mixed feelings about the priests I’ve encountered, but I always respect them to some extent or another. I’m weird about religious authority figures though.
Actually, the last time I was able to go to Mass was when I was still living in Shanghai and I found it to be so painful and strange that I had to leave early (it was going to last almost two hours I think) despite the fact that I had taken my day off to commute around three hours (each way) to the district the church was in. Teenage girls did everything except say Mass and the priest, who had at least some recent training in America, repeatedly refused to use the word “faith”. His English was quite difficult to understand but from what I could hear, he indirectly excused it by implying he was doing his best, and then preached about Hell. I was actually down with that since I’ve never heard a Catholic sermon about Hell before. It was so hot that summer even for there, reaching at least 104 degrees that day and 108 more than once as I recall, and he said that if we thought it was hot and uncomfortable outside then imagine how hot Hell is. Haha. Seemed like he had heard a lot of people (this was a service for foreigners mainly) give excuses for their sins by claiming they were weak, who had only heard about mercy, because he said that your weakness will send you to Hell because God is just and not only merciful. That if you needed to be afraid of God not to sin, then be afraid, like how you have to be afraid of and obey your boss to keep your job. It was kind of the opposite sort of thing I was used to hearing and certainly added to the culture shock a bit.
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