characters

As a child I heard a line in the song "I Saw Three Ships" as "Diversion Mary and Christ were there", rather than "The Virgin Mary and Christ were there". But that was more than a mere misheard lyric for me, since "Diversion Mary" was how I heard "The Virgin Mary" generally. I didn't grow up in a religion that put much emphasis on Christ's virgin birth. Later, when I did learn what "virgin birth" meant. my understanding of the word "virgin" remained strictly in that context until I was a High School senior and then got puzzled about talk of girls "remaining virgins". For I thought the word was exclusively associated with virgin birth, that is, giving birth by "virgin birth" was the only thing that made one a virgin. So I thought, by the orthodox Christian view, at least, Mary was the only virgin that ever lived. Quite a shock when I found out the actual meaning of "virgin".

Joanna

When i was a kid i used to believe that in the sky we have God who must be about
8-9 feet tall.We are the centre not more than 6 feet, and the evil is under us not more than 2 feet.

Joseph Barrett

I asked my mother one day,when i was very young, "mommy...where is God?" she said " he's everywhere honey". For many years after that...i imagined him, sort of Zeus looking, curly-haired and bearded, Surfing in Hawaii, sitting in a Cafe in Paris, all the time wearing sunglasses (he didnt want any one to know it was him...he was secret-agenty about it).

dudeman

I used to believe in god as a person, like a humanoid being and he had magic powers and was friends with Jesus and the holyspirit and his enemy was the devil and if you wern't of a particular religion then this guy would not let you live forever.

Raspertuertry

I used to watch power rangers, and in the early episodes, there was a floating head in a tube that lead the power rangers. Well, I have no idea how I thought this, but I believed that was EXACTLY what God looked like. I was an odd child...

Anon

I used to believe Mary and Joseph were terrible parents... After all, they left the baby Jesus in the desert for forty days and forty nights with Satan.

Sherry

My priest speaks with a pretty thick Texan accent, so until I was about 12, I thought Pontius Pilate's named was pronounced "Punch-us" Pilate. I thought that was a violent name, even for the guy who ordered Christ crucified.

Anon

I went to kindergarden in a Catholic school, and whenever the priest came to visit our class all the other kids would address him as Jesus. He'd sit down to read a story with us and there would be a chorus of children announcing "Hi Jesus!" He'd always blush and say "I'm not Jesus. I just try to do the things that he would do and follow him." It always made me laugh, because I felt like I was the only one with a good enough grasp on theology to distinguish a priest from Jesus.

Margaret

When I was a kid, I long thought there was a girl somehow associated with Christmas, named Jo Lisa Pan. I eventually found out that I got that idea from hearing my uncle sing "Oh, Christmas Tree" in French. The French words include, "Jolis sapins, comme ils sont doux!", which means, pretty fir trees, how sweet they are. The reference to fir trees is a more literal translation of the original German than in the English version, since "Tannenbaum" means fir tree. Anyhow, I was hearing "Jolis sapins" as Jo Lisa Pan. I had fond Christmas associations with that imagined character Jo Lisa Pan, and I sort of miss her, now that her very existence even as a fantasy has been debunked for me.

Wendy

I used to believe that Satan would take on the form of inanimate obejects and spy on us. I was always on the look out for new things in my house and once I was convinced that a new toy my parents brought home was Satan.

Maya

I used to believe that God was a switchboard operator complete with little headset since that was the only way I thought he could answer all the prayers. I pictured him sitting up there saying "all circuits busy, please hold" to everyone who was praying. I must have had a special line because I was never put on hold!

Jen

I used to believe that God was angry with my mom when her laundry got rained on. (I was only 3 or 4).

Morgan Prior

I used to believe that if u were surrounded by loud noises and couldnt hear then satin would sneek up behind you kill you or something, so i would never vacume in fear that it would be the last thing i do...i still wont vacume

fudge nuckles bi-atch

i used to believe when i was 10 that god is a one who always punishes those who are not obeying their parents and i was so immersed in what is god...

syed zaffer

I believed that if you said Satan's name at night, he would come to get you - via the front door. It didn't help that right after I told my mother about my belief (and night, yet), there was a knock on the door! I was terrified and begged her not to answer it.

rlo

until recently, the leader of the archdioces of the Boston Catholic church was Cardinal Bernard Law.
When the whole church molestation scandal started (only a few years ago), I started hearing the phrase "Cardinal Law" in the news a lot. I assumed it was the laws that cardinals, priests, etc. had to follow, and that molesting little boys was against that law. It didn't occur to me that is was somebody's name until I saw him being interviewed on TV!

chris