Strange church experience from childhood:

[rbnyc]

Okay, now that I've been turned on to this topic forum, I'm gonna dive right in with another OP. I actually wandered over to the atheists/agnostic group and posted the story below inside another thread. I hadn't thought of this story in a long time, but it's one of those stories I do recall from time to time - it's one of my definitive stories.

Anyway, I wanted to ask if anyone else had any strong memories from any experience at church as a child.

Here's mine.

The weirdest and scariest experience was when a neighbor girl's family set their designs upon me. I was about 8. I was very interested in paleontology and fossils and I was overheard talking about evolution. I also was badly supervised and kind of a wild child, even at that age. Mary, my neighbor, came from a very religious family. Her father was an Evangelical minister. They brought me to church one day and during the service, a big theatrical spotlight shone down on some member of the congregation and he started speaking in tongues. It was so dramatic and so freaky to me that everyone took this at face value. It was very disturbing.

The family was disappointed that I was unmoved by the display, and that I questioned the authenticity of what I saw. They gave up on me and would no longer allow Mary to play with me.

Oddly, a few weeks later, I was trying to climb the fence behind their apartment to get into the neighboring yard to pet a dog. It was one of those fences with the sharp barbs across the top. I slipped and was impaled through each palm and into the center of my chest. I was crucified, if you will. Mary heard me crying and she was able to get me down from the fence. So there I was, bleeding from each palm, a non-believer. I had a feeling the image and the irony really struck her.

I still have those scars.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Mine is not as dramatic as an Evangelical church, but

a turning point for me was when I was in a catechism class in a Presbyterian church. At that time, my best friend was a Catholic. They were teaching me that Catholics were all going to hell for several reasons. I remember one reason was that they worshipped false idols with the statues and saints. Another was that they confessed to a priest instead of going in pray directly to Jesus. Then there was the "they don't read the Bible, they are just told what to believe" by the priests. When I told my best friend what I had been taught, we had a huge fight. There was nothing right about the way my church was judging other churches. This was where I first questioned religion and how it is possible that only people in my church would be "saved".

[rbnyc]

4. It just seems so crazy that they tell this stuff to kids.

I'm in another thread right now in GD about childhood sexual abuse. Between 1 - 4 kids getting molested, and a huge majority being sent to church (and then the overlap of kids getting molested in church) it's a wonder any of us are okay.

[ZombieHorde]

2. I agree. Your story is strange.

It's entertaining too.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. I was a Luthren. Every week there was a "special donation" for something

I was 14. At that point I figured it was all about the money and my mother never made me go back. I think she figured it out too..

[richmwill]

8. Lutherans do that too?

In the Pentecostal church I used to attend, I've seen collections taken at every living opportunity. Every Sunday (10% of your income, of course! Otherwise you were "stealing from God". Luckily I wasn't fool enough to ever believe that one), at the Wednesday night Bible study, at the Youth Group, whenever a guest speaker gave a sermon, when somebody moved, when a couple got married, when someone was going off on a Missions trip, every night during our once a year 4-nights-straight Revival services, when any musical group or singer came to perform, at church barbecues, etc. etc. I am not exaggerating about any of these- they were all events for which collections were taken.

[rbnyc]

5. I have a lot of stories.

Perhaps the unseen forces of they universe know that I am a writer and have made sure that I have a lot of material.

;-)

(I am kidding.)

[frogmarch]

6. What a freaky accident!

Poor kid, it must have hurt a lot! Glad your friend was able to get you down from the fence.

Did her parents see your wounds? If so, did they think they were an "Oh, yeah? Well, I'll show you!" type of punishment from God or some bizarre kind of stigmata?

My story is nothing like yours, I'm relieved to say. My mom always gave me a nickel for the Sunday School collection plate, until one Sunday, when she had no nickels and gave me a dime instead. I put the dime in the plate and took out a nickel, telling the Sunday School teacher my mom wanted change. The truth was that I wanted to buy a candy bar on my way home from Sunday School. (Everything was cheaper in the 50s.) The teacher told my mom when she saw her at the evening church service, and my mom called me a heathen. Again.

[rbnyc]

7. Oh my.

Again, huh?

Her parents did not see, and I didn't talk to her mach since she wasn't supposed to play with me.

I had climbed the fence a million times before. The house behind the apartment complex had a huge yard and a very friendly great dane. I loved that dog. The yard was so big, the owners never saw me climb over to play.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. LOL, I hope that candy bar tasted good.

Because you are surely going to hell, you heathen. (Yet again.)

[AlecBGreen]

10. REPENT!

:P