From: John M Grigg (starman125@lycos.com)
Date: Sun Jul 23 2000 - 22:13:02 MDT
you wrote:
For those of you who are curious about the history of the break, I am
proud to say that my religious disagreements began at the age of five. I was spared the painful break, the sudden crisis of conscience from faith to reason, that often characterizes such transitions; when I was a child, people tried to sell me blatantly ridiculous concepts -like praying in a language you don't understand, or the idea that two
contradictory opinions can both be correct - and I wouldn't buy them,
although I wasn't allowed to say so. I never trusted Authority over my own perceptions - not at age five, and not at any age. And I'm proud of it.
(end)
You are quite different from the norm in this. I expect to be still wrestling with memes/beliefs in my mind even after my cryonic reanimation...
you continued:
I don't remember the exact age when I crossed over from believing that Judaism had accumulated flaws to believing that Judaism was outright wrong, but I do recall that at the age of fourteen I believed that Judaism was just another memetically generated religion. But I still had to follow all the rules. If you've been wondering why it's only in the past month that you've seen any posts from me between Friday night and Saturday night, it's because Jews aren't allowed to use computers on the Sabbath. So it's been a very long nightmare indeed that has just
ended.
(end)
And I thought I had it tough being raised Mormon! I only had to deal with no premarital sex, no drinking and smoking, short haircuts, paying tithing, no tv on sunday, confessions of wrongdoing to churchleaders, regular church responsibilities, a two-year mission, etc. Actually, you would have had problems being Mormon too. lol You could have been Eli Young, and be telling us about how you had serious questions while serving on a mission to timbuktu!
Sensing what a free spirit you are I could only imagine the stress your situation as an orthodox jew caused. Do you feel anything good came out of this in terms of building character or being part of a subculture which gives you a different way of seeing things?
Eli, I just want to wish you good luck in your life as you carve a path for yourself in this big world.
take care,
John
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