Growing up I had a very frightening view of religion, more specifically Christianity. I had been dragged along occasionally to a small church not too far from my middle school. The pastor was a good old fire and brimstone man. I remember him red faced and dripped sweat as he talked about hell but this could be an exaggeration of my memory. I do remember him telling us that to believe in good luck was sinful, so when I got home I threw out my lucky crow's feather. It was seeming a little devilish anyway, a crow as opposed to a dove feather.
I dabbled in and out of different church activities after that. I did a Christmas play so I could talk to and get the pastor's cute granddaughter, who was a year older than me, to notice me. No luck there.
I did AWANA with some friends for a couple weeks. It was a sort of boy scouts for Baptists. I only received one badge and I'm pretty sure it was the one for showing up for the first time.
That's about it when it comes to church before college, though that good ol' fashioned fear of God was infused in me. (I was a good kid, I said "gosh" instead of "god"; very important stuff)
In college I made a couple attempts at going to a big church in Cedar Falls. A big church because I could easily sneak in and out without being noticed and nobody ever knew if I missed a Sunday or two (or all but a few Sundays)
But I was frustrated. It seemed very fake to me. If a mainstream conservative church is what Christianity is then I don't want any part in it. No offense to anyone, it works for some people, just not me.
Soundtrack for this post: "The Age of Adz" by Sufjan Stevens
Book I recently finished: The Hunger Games Trilogy
Food last eaten: an old candy cane
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