I'm not really sure how relevant something like this is to this thread since it's more of a question of faith in general than any specific religion, but it's something I'm really curious about.
Some background: my family is "Jewish". As far back as I know we're Jewish. We celebrate the Jewish holidays, got brises, had a bar mitzvah, whatever. I put down Jewish as my religion whenever a survey asks and I tell my friends we're Jewish when they ask. But I've never really felt Jewish. I've been to a synagogue twice, and both of those times were about my bar mitzvah. My family knows the Jewish laws but doesn't really follow them. I've always felt like we're Jewish only in name - I've never felt a real connection to God or the greater Jewish community or anything. I don't even think I've discussed religion with my parents ever, I just sort of formed my own religious beliefs. It's just not a thing in our household. It's not really a thing for me.
So whenever people say they have faith, I wonder what it's like. I don't particularly care for the tenants or what a person does because they believe. I'm just curious as to why (how?) they believe. For those that were just always Catholic/Christian/whatever, that were born into the religion and always did the ceremonies and always believed, what is it like? Has faith just always been there for you, something you don't really think about, or is there some constant reaffirmation that "yes, I am xyz and proud of this." For those that were born into a religion and later renounced it, is it because you became disillusioned with the belief? Did you just take a look at your beliefs one day and thought that it was a wrong, or (since many of you that posted about mention your child/teen years as being important to not being xyz anymore and particularly Catholic school) was it a cumulative thing? Did you ever actually believe in the religion?
I'd also just like to thank cm_latias for his post about how he came around to Catholicism. It was really interesting to read your progression into faith!
ps i hope this post makes sense
Some background: my family is "Jewish". As far back as I know we're Jewish. We celebrate the Jewish holidays, got brises, had a bar mitzvah, whatever. I put down Jewish as my religion whenever a survey asks and I tell my friends we're Jewish when they ask. But I've never really felt Jewish. I've been to a synagogue twice, and both of those times were about my bar mitzvah. My family knows the Jewish laws but doesn't really follow them. I've always felt like we're Jewish only in name - I've never felt a real connection to God or the greater Jewish community or anything. I don't even think I've discussed religion with my parents ever, I just sort of formed my own religious beliefs. It's just not a thing in our household. It's not really a thing for me.
So whenever people say they have faith, I wonder what it's like. I don't particularly care for the tenants or what a person does because they believe. I'm just curious as to why (how?) they believe. For those that were just always Catholic/Christian/whatever, that were born into the religion and always did the ceremonies and always believed, what is it like? Has faith just always been there for you, something you don't really think about, or is there some constant reaffirmation that "yes, I am xyz and proud of this." For those that were born into a religion and later renounced it, is it because you became disillusioned with the belief? Did you just take a look at your beliefs one day and thought that it was a wrong, or (since many of you that posted about mention your child/teen years as being important to not being xyz anymore and particularly Catholic school) was it a cumulative thing? Did you ever actually believe in the religion?
I'd also just like to thank cm_latias for his post about how he came around to Catholicism. It was really interesting to read your progression into faith!
ps i hope this post makes sense