Safe haven chat thread for believers

[Starwisher]

I thought it be lovely to start a" safe haven"thread for all the believers on mumsnet. It doesn't matter what religion or spirituality you are, the important thing is a belief in God or higher power that unites us.

The idea is too talk with other believers to share ideas, thoughts and feelings or even general musings.
So come in and relax!

please can I respectfully ask that this is not a debating thread to challenge people. While I am not the mn police, there are other threads to debate on or please start your own. This is a safe haven

Your post is interesting Rhinos. I started out with Paganiusm but found I couldn't make it "fit" with my need for collective worship.

Never in a million years did I think I would end up as a Catholic but actually the things I liked in Paganism such as the incense and candles etc are all there in the Catholic church too.

I have many problems with a masculine God and if God made us in His own likeness then that has to encompass the feminine too. The Nun who works with our Church often says it is refreshing to say "Our Father AND Our Mother...who art in Heaven" She is a real outspoken one on Women's issues.

I also liked that the Catholic church venerates Mary in the way other Christian paths don't.

Cod, I like the devotion to Mary particularly as I now see her as another bereaved mother so can relate. But I don't like the way that we were raised to see her "purity" as a good thing. Women are sexual beings and I don't think we should think of chastity as being the ideal.

The Mary and St worshipping and statues stuff that goes on in the Catholic church always confused me, the Bible says don't worship idols, I just don't like all of that side of it at all. God is sexless, neither Man nor Woman, imho, I don't think the sex of God is relevant.

Do you all believe in the immaculate conception? I do. I find it difficult to follow Catholic beliefs of ever virgin to Mary, there is reference to siblings of Jesus in the Bible, and I can't see a young womans marriage not consumated.

I don't believe that Mary herself was conceived within a virgin and I don't believe that she remained a virgin her entire life either.

Do you believe Jesus was born from a virgin?

The Saints and Mary aren't worshipped within the Catholic church, but we do venerate them and take strength from their example of holiness and how to live a holy life. People say prayers to Mary and ask her to interceed for us. I personally don't think that's necessary, but some people like to say the Hail Mary etc. I draw strength from her as a mother and how she remained faithful to Jesus' commands even though she must have been absolutely distraught at how he was treated and then put to death. I like to read about the Saints, some of them were truly amazing and some just plain nutty, but all have a message to give to us in our lives today

Yes, I believe that. The Catholic church believe Mary was born from a virgin as well, but I can't believe that.

Jesus had brothers and sisters from what I've read in Matthew. It would have been a sin in Jewish law not to have had sex with your husband. I think she was a typical Jewish mother with a brood around her.

It is my opinion that Saints and Mary are worshipped in the Catholic church, have you done the rosary for example? That is my opinion though, which may be warped by Nuns in Ireland in the 1980's having us walk round a rose garden continually, prior to our communion, continually praying to Mary and delivering flowers to a statue in September of Our Lady, and praying loads to her.

I felt that all that praying to various saints, for example Christopher for travels and the medallions took me away from being close to God.

I have prayed the Rosary but my belief is that I am asking Mary to interede for me when I do rather than worshipping her.

I like this as it feels good to have a feminine influence. My only complaint is that the Catholic church does not demonstrate it's veneration of Mary within it's policies at times.

I don't believe Mary was always "ever virgin" either - I do believe in the Virgin birth but a sure Mary did not remain a virgin once she had given birth to Jesus.

I have been on the JW thread too. I think whatever peoples concerns it is important to remember that there are very happy JWs out there who have no desire to leave. Obviously that has to be tempered with the experiences of some who have left or who want to leave but find it hard.

Oh yes, Sophie, there was Saint Anthony if you lost something, St Jude for lost causes, St francis for animals, it was like a cabinet where they gave different ministries to everyone! I do remember talking to God himself all the time when I was around 11. And when we were told by teachers that God might call us to be nuns, I used to lie under the covers with my hands over my ears, going "Don't call me, don't call me!"

I need a "like" button for your last post chip

I told my local frtiendly priest that "I reckon I could have been a Nun" after a visit to the local convent.

His response?

"Bit extreme Cod"

I love the idea of you with hands over your ears. The Nuns are a lot more tame now, they were lethal when I was young, great long penguin suits and rulers to wallop you on the back of the hand for laughing at someone farting or asking to borrow a pencil, the Irish teacher one's were very strict and obsessed with Mary.

I wonder if God will look after those adults who were shown God and rejected him, I am inclined to think he will not protect them. I think God will take care of sinners who accept, apologise and attone for their sins. I am unsure what happens to the deluded sinner who can't see they have done wrong confused.

I am confused what hell actually is, I have changed my ideas on Hell as I have matured. I used to think as a young child, it was a hot cave with flames and a ram type man lived there, with a poker in the fire!

I feel that hell is simply like being in an isolation cell for a very long time after which you will be rehabilitated. And I think we can't judge really, there are all sort of reasons why people behave badly. I remember a girl I went to school with, who had a hellish home life, though I didn't know that till later. She did all sorts of dreadful things but when I look back now with wiser eyes I know that she was physically and I'm 90% certain sexually abused. ( this from behaviour that as an adult I know was a sign of sexual abuse) Will God judge her harshly? I hope not.

i don't think Children or those with MH issues will be judged harshly. Jesus was all about the Children and weak in society.

Here's a question I've often wondered about.

Does true free will truly exist?

Research has demonstrated that babies/children who are exposed to severe and prolonged neglect and violence undergo biological changes in their brain, particularly in the frontal lobe, which is the part that governs impulsive behaviour. If a person has what is in effect, brain damage, due to their upbringing, do they still have free will once they're an adult? Personality disorders are another thing that I wonder about. Are these people capable of exercising their free will, or shut off from it by their own upbringing?

Are these people capable of knowing right from wrong and are they able to turn away from evil even though they're been 'programmed' not to have a conscience?

My own mother has a psychopathic personality disorder, so this question is quite relevant for me.

I have thought about the personality disorded. has done a lot of research and it would seem that they were born with the empathy part of their brains missing, which is as you describe as brain damage.

I would think there would be forgiveness for anyone ill who does bad. It makes me angry that ASPD get everything their way in life and after death to be honnest, as they cause so many problems for innocent people. It is not their fault they were born without something crucial to not harm though.

There is so much to be revealed and discovered in Science, neurology especially, it all takes time and very smart people with funding.

All those that scoffed fifty years ago about the immaculate conception, must have felt foolish when a sperm was placed in a uterus, and there was no need for a penis to enter the vagina, making virgin births possible. Science is progressing continually.