To wonder if Jesus Christ is swearing

Very similar! In fact I went to a Chirch of Ireland service many years back and could almost have been in Mass! I go to a non denominational church now that has no traditions except worship and preaching the Word. Maybe I am more simple minded than I thought, but I like need things to be stripped down to the bare minimum before I get the point! And you are right that many Protestants are raised in believing homes and they aren't believers or it doesn't resonate with them, at least until later in life.

The Anglo-Catholic wing of the Anglican is ceremonially very similar to the Catholic Church, they’re Catholic apart from the Pope in that way. The evangelical wing (otherwise known as ‘low church’) is very different.

Doctrinally, though, the Anglican Church is not Catholic at all, it’s based on Cranmer’s Common Book of Prayer and is very much Protestant. They have 3 sacraments rather than 7.

I was always fascinated by Church history.

Edited for grammatical error

I see what you mean. Is that not a common experience for many Protestants too though? Not all denominations focus only on the bible. Isn’t Anglicanism quite close to Catholicism in their tenets, for example?

I’m loving this thread too. I always enjoy reading other people’s faith stories, it’s lovely to see how God works in other people’s lives.

I was brought up Protestant, though I went to an Anglo-Catholic convent girls’ school. I came to faith as a young child, despite my childhood not being a good one.

Interestingly, the specialist college my DD1 (17) goes to is Catholic in ethos.

I had a similar experience as a child. I found peace through my faith in the last few years. I am very much still learning too.
This thread has been great. I have learned a lot from all who have contributed. It is not easy to navigate. I find a lot of Catholic people in Ireland look for comfort or reassurance in Jesus like they would be a great friend, it is okay to not be perfect and drop the ball. A lot are reformed addicts who have been through the worst, are drawn to Religion they feel safe, no judgement, at peace with their faith. It takes all sorts, even those who use the lord’s name in vain (occasionally).

I do know that its a denomination of Christianity. I didn't quite have the mental capacity (and still don't this morning!) to describe the distinction between my Catholic upbringing which felt more diffuse in its approach to Jesus, compared to what my faith evolved into (Bible believing, Christ being at the centre of my every decision and action). I am sure that many Catholics have a pretty exclusive devotion to Jesus and study the Scriptures in longer chunks than what is presented in Mass, but I wasn't raised that way. My parents told me to just 'be a good person' which could apply loosely to any faith, or lack thereof. But you are right, Jesus and the story of salvation is in Catholicism of course but it look me a long time to pick it out. My experiences are all of my own so I can't speak for anyone else.

I do have to disagree with you on one point though. You said you weren’t born in to Christianity but that you were brought up Catholic. Catholics are Christian, just a different denomination to your current one.
I am not well educated on Religion. I am a believer, raised Catholic. It always surprises people when people don’t realise that Catholicism is a Christian religion, the obvious word being “Christ” Our Lord and Saviour.
I have been told before that I am not a Christian because I am a Catholic. 🫣

I guess what I mean is that I wasn't brought up as a Bible believing Christian for whom the Gospel was a central point of my life. I did make all of my sacraments and go to Catholic school and through that kind of got the gist of what it was all about, with some key references and familiarity with some Bible stories. I studied the Gospel of Mark for GCSE Religion amd learned about Jesus healing people and some of the symbology.

I think I learned more about the Religion than the big man himself. However you are right in that I absolutely did have a huge step up in terms of my knowledge compared to my Buddhist friend who came to Christianity knowing absolutely nothing about Jesus, except just her interstellar to want to know more. It was interesting to meet someone who really was starting from scratch.

My husband was raised Catholic too and he is actually a die hard atheist. I would say he is pretty unknowlegdeable about anything related to Christianity bar the basics but I would also say that he tunes a lot out: he doesn't want to know. I do think my Catholic upbringing instilled a foundation in there, yes.

I don’t doubt you did research before converting. It’s not an easy decision. However, I very much struggle with the certainty of some Christians re the bible given the confounding factors I mentioned. Obviously you feel differently.

I do have to disagree with you on one point though. You said you weren’t born in to Christianity but that you were brought up Catholic. Catholics are Christian, just a different denomination to your current one.

And yes, I’m enjoying the discussion too.

If only I had the mental wherewithal tonight to go through all of the studying I did on that very matter. It was around 8 years ago when I started digging around into Christianity and found the arguments for the reliability of the Bible to be very compelling. What a cop out that I don't remember any of it tonight 😄 but I wasn't born into Christianity. Certain things started going off in my mind in 2013 that led me into questioning things more. I put a big fat pause on that for another 4 four years because I was terrified I was going to become a Protestant! 😄

I used to go a Buddhist centre years ago and read around that. When I lived in the Middle East I read the Qu'ran and in 2018 I had a strange supernatural experience with a passage from the Bible (if you can humour me!) as I was dipping my toes into that. I had always thought it was just another old book of religious stories and some wise old sayings and nothing more.

I had a feeling that I needed to research it and I did, and felt like I could believe in its authenticity. I actually didn't want it to be true! I do think its worth remembering that many Christians are born into cultural Christianity and grow up accepting it as it and never think too deeply into it. Many of us also have very varied backgrounds, many very intelligent logical thinkers, many who were experts in fields a million miles away from Christianity. Muslims, Buddhists, witches, satanists, Hindus, Jews, atheists, you name it, there are deep thinking people who have a transformative moment that leads them to Jesus. They do their research because they need to be sure that what they are embarking on is worthwhile, because it can be costly.

I am sure you already know this but I do find that on mumsnet there is an implied view that Christians just came out of the cabbage bush as fully formed dunderheads and I am just saying we aren't (all) like that. I dont mean you btw!

Anyway, my kids are all in bed, time for me to hit the hay too. Its been nice talking to you!

Glad to hear the meds helped.

As an atheist, I’m obviously no use to you answering your questions but I am finding your position very interesting and thought provoking.

I struggle to understand the certainty that some Christians have, given the bible contains stories handed down orally before it was ever written down. Then you have the fact that these texts were hand-copied for centuries, resulting in human errors and variations in the manuscripts plus the massive differences in how scholars interpret and translate those languages today means there is no one translation from the originals.

In real life I would never say anything, although I did ask my dad about taking the Lord's name in vain because he really is on quite a deep walk with his faith at the minute and we have really good chats. He couldn't really answer and I left it.

Other than that, I have never asked a Catholic who says 'Jesus Christ' how it reconciles with their relationship with him because it isn't any of my business. It just is a thing I have noticed and in real life, I don't feel like I can ask anyone such a question just to satisfy my curiosity.

I saw a few people on this thread say 'I'm Catholic and I have no problem with saying 'Jesus Christ' and I suppose I saw it as an opportunity to address this question that I have for a few years. Can you reverence someone and use their name like that? Its a genuine, genuine question. I actually wish a practising Catholic would come on and tell me; maybe it is something I had never thought of before.

I have a complicated relationship with Catholicism myself and do want to know more about it from people who truly follow it but can't seem to anyone to answer me.

Those were my musings on an anonymous forum. The thread went off on a tangent and the polytheistic issue came up and I chimed in on that.

The migraine lifted thank you. I got new medication called triptans and it cut the episode in half thankfully!

Of course you have your right to your views on what Christianity should look like However, I don’t think you have the right to question another individual’s level of devotion simply because their interpretation is different.

I hope the migraine clears soon. They are awful.

It isn't my way, its the way that is laid out in the Bible, which, whether anyone believes in it or not, is the Holy book of Christianity and not things I have thought up myself. If I was in charge of how things should be done, we would all be in trouble 😄. Anyway, yes I do have views about Catholicism and have had very edifying and respectfully discourse with some lovely practising Catholics on this board. I do have a lot of questions and find few Catholics who want a good faith discussion, because I do listen. Leaving Catholicism as a Northern Irish Catholic was actually difficult and my life would have been easier had I felt able to stay. In many ways I am almost open to someone changing my mind on it, but it has never happened. I even went to a priest to talk about it and even he didn't really want to engage.

I did say 'violence in the name of religion' because that is what the troubles were. Catholics and Protestants became tribes and it was about which tribes did your ancestors come from? I know that the IRA weren't planting bombs because they disagreed with the Protestant stance on consubstantiation.

It is difficult when you take your faith seriously and study the Scriptures, ask questions, dig and come to a conclusion and be labelled judgemental for doing so. Jesus said the gate was narrow, and it is. I have strong opinions on all kinds of things. Maybe I've just always been too deep and take everything too seriously but that's how I approach everything I find important. The big distinction and the one that is impossible to prove (so I can't) is how much I try to show the love of Christ as best I can. I can be prideful and maybe you've picked up on that, but I do my best to squash that down every day. I want people to see Jesus' goodness reflected in me and I fight against myself quite a bit for that to happen. I just want to put that out there because having strong views and treating people in a judgemental manner are different and I know that I do my best to channel all of my actions through the lens of Christ's love and it hurts my pride that people on the Internet dont know that about me 😆

But I have no right to look down my nose on anyone because ive lived a far from perfect life. I do think I have a right to my own views on what I think Christianity was supposed to look like. I also think heaven will be filled with all sorts of people and that only God really knows.

I had a migraine this morning so forgive my rambling and probably maybe spelling mistakes and typos!

Why would 'oh my god' be inappropriate in front of children? It doesn't specify which god it's referring to and might be particularly relevant to the speaker.

The troubles had nothing to do with religion. There just happens to be a correlation between religion and political allegiance.

Obviously you’re not burning any churches😀. It’s obvious that you have a deep faith and I respect that but I do think your attitude towards catholics does seems to be very judgmental and condescending. You come across as believing there is only one way to be a proper Christian and that is your way.

It's blasphemy. My DS who has echolalia is at a Catholic school. My lovely friend who would never swear in front of children said "oh my god" in front of him and it became his favourite phrase 🫣 She is a Christian and still attends church, so it's clearly not offensive to all Christians but I would have thought she'd at least know it's not appropriate in front of children.

@NeverDropYourMooncup

Thankfully we live in a world in 2026 with freedom of religion and I am free to leave Catholicism for my own doctrinal reasons and respectfully speak about them in good faith debates with my Catholic family and anyone else who wonders why I don't practise anymore.

I am so glad that the days of fierce persecution of anyone with dissenting views, such as the blood thirsty persecution of Protestants during the Reformation in Europe, are over.

I also grew up in Northern Ireland during the troubles and am well aware of how destructive, horrific and catastrophic violence in the name of religion is. Also, I never burned a church (just in case anyone is wondering): just left one. I am allowed to do that and explain why, unless you actually just don't like freedom of religion.

I certainly do see it this way as well!

It's one of the major threads running through the persecution of Catholics for centuries to accuse them of idolatry/paganism/Satanism, etc. So you're in good company with QE I, Cromwell, Calvin, Knox burning down churches, the KKK/2nd Klan, Westboro Baptist Church, ISIS and Boko Haram with that view.

Yes! I noticed it big time, and its one of the reasons I left Catholicism. I also saw Mary as a kind of goddess worship and embodying a lot of the divine feminine found in a lot of the New Age movement. As a Christian, I have a direct line to Jesus (through no good deed of my own, only his grace) and can talk to him about the tiny and mundane details in my life as well as the huge ones. I don't want to go through any lower g gods when I have a hotline to the CEO of the universe. That's how I see it anyway and I think many other Christians feel the same.

@badmornin "I feel like it’s aimed at me"

WAS it aimed at you?

I try my best not to offend and at the same time one needs to own their offense taken.

I have a belief, but I would never demand others conform to my expectations or beliefs. I hold them lightly.

This. I can’t imagine someone getting offended about this. I’m in Ireland so most people I know are a bit sweary. This would be a total non issue and if you complained no one would be able to keep a straight face

🤣