Friday, April 15, 2011

Good god, I was an arrogant little $#@!

Going through a box of old stuff, I found a talk I gave in Primary when I was 10 years old on "The Artichles of Faith":

It is so disturbing how certain and smug I was about my church's superiority and how focused I was on converting anyone who would listen. At that age, I can only say I was a product of my environment.

Related Post: I hope you Have ben teeching the trooth.

Share/Bookmark

If you enjoyed this post, I hope you'll check out my new blog.

23 comments:

  1. OMG. This makes me wish I'd kept a journal when I was younger so I could get inside my own head from the perspective I have now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wish I had that kind of perspective from my childhood, too. I am struck by how certain some people are that all it takes to convert a person to a religion is a few words or a prayer. To me, that belittles those who believe as well as those who don't.

    ReplyDelete
  3. P.S. I should have included this in my comment...I didn't mean to just barge in with a comment. I just discovered your blog and I'm enjoying reading your posts. Looking forward to more of them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cognitive DissenterApril 15, 2011 at 4:33 PM

    I'm glad I'm not the only one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am so very glad that I don't have the multitudes of crap I generated as a kid in Primary and a Young Woman later on. I think my mom might have some of it...I never want to see it again. It would look exactly like this. *shudder*

    ReplyDelete
  6. Carla, I have mixed feelings about having this sort of documentation.
    It's interesting, I suppose, but also sad in a lot of ways.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Elizabeth, considering I'd been told all my life that I belonged to
    the One True Church, it's not surprising that I thought that all I'd
    need to do was tell someone a bit about it and they'd be convinced.
    You are right; it is a condescending point of view and one I'm glad I
    no longer hold.

    And I never consider thoughtful comments to be barging! Thanks so much
    for reading!

    ReplyDelete
  8. CD, really, what else could we have thought, given what we were told?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Diana, yeah, this is not one of my prouder moments.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very interesting Leah. It shows how we, as children, (as you very well noted) are the product of our environment; but it also shows how we grow as humans and adapt our views when we have a more open mind towards the world we live in.

    This is something that lacks with many religions, they want to push their views, and convert and proselytize without realizing that the beauty of this world is that we all hold different beliefs and traditions. It should be our sense of humanity what sustains us as a society, not religion.

    ReplyDelete
  11. O man, this is nothing compared to stuff that I did over and over in my teens. It's brutal to look back. But truly? Almost none of it was really me, I was regurgitating what had been drilled into me all day every day.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Secular Dentist, I agree. There are some religions who just think that
    they're Right, and so everyone else should naturally see things their
    way and share their views. More tolerance and diversity would be nice.
    I'm glad I was able to adapt my worldview and I got more information.
    Some people (e.g. my parents) never do.

    I don't currently take my children to church very often because
    they're with their dad most Sundays, but I've been thinking about
    taking them to the UU church, because I would like them to know ABOUT
    religion and the UUs have a good religious education program for kids
    that still encourages them to think for themselves and form their own
    beliefs.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Young Mom, I was regurgitating as well. What else can you do at that
    age, especially when you've been told there's really no need to think
    for yourself because church authorities already have all the right
    answers.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks, Catherine! Still a ways to go, I think, but at least now, I'm
    open to a journey!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yes, disturbing in one way (religious aspects) but cute in another (you were a very cute and smart little girl). Glad to know that we all grow up and can think for ourselves.

    Do you know the primary song "Follow the Profit"? It reminds me of something that would be sung about Warren Jeffs, the leader of the FLDS in Colorado City, AZ.

    "Follow the profit, follow the profit, follow the profit don't go astray. Follow the profit, follow the profit, follow the profit he knows the way!"

    YIKES! Now that is disturbing!

    ReplyDelete
  16. The perfect blend of disturbing and cute!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Confession is the beginning of redemption !!
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks, Collette! Yeah, some of those Primary songs are pretty scary.
    Glad my kids won't be learning them!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Michael, I'm glad people are finding some cute in there! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is an excellent well thought out and doctrinally accurate talk. Thank you for sharing it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Nice to know a ten-year-old can master church doctrines, President.

    ReplyDelete

Religion, skepticism, and carving out a spiritual life post-Mormonism