church

When I was small and the priest would read out the intentions for masses for the coming week, I used to think that the people he was talking about were so huge (people of giant spider proportions!) that they had to have the whole church to themselves!

Mary

I remember as a young Jewish kid in a religious school, about 5-6 years old, learning about Isaac and Ishmael and the notions of the two separate religiong Judaism and Islam. I have two brothers and occasionally we would fight and then forgive each other and get along again. And I remember thinking of Muslims: "they're our brothers, and we need to forgive each other and get along again." I actually would start looking around the synogague during prayers hoping to see some of our "brothers" who had decided to forgive us.

Anon

when i was little i was taught in sunday school about sin. I didnt understand so the teacher said when u did something bad black spot appear on ur soul (i figured a soul was ur insides) and if u got to many u went to hell.So i thought that if u filled up ur soul with black spots u would die. I was so afraid for years about doing to much bad things cause i didnt want to die.

Anon

When I very briefly went to Sunday school at the age of about six or seven, they used to have a collection plate passed around. I asked what the money was for.

"Well, it might be for..." Mum thought about it. "It might be for mending the church roof."

I didn't say any more about it, but I was convinced that I knew now what was going on. After the service, the organist would melt down the pennies with the steam from the organ pipes (!) and cover the leaks in the roof with the hot metal. Even though I know better now, it's still a persistent image.

silverstar1809

In Catholic church as a kid, when everyone shook hands and said, "Peace be with you", I believed they were saying "Pleased to meet you". So that's what I said until my dad corrected me. Opps.

Anon

When I was young and going to a Southern Baptist church that preached about the evil side of everything all the time, I believed they had trapped numerous demons they caught wondering the earth and locked them on the top floor of this church which was always locked.

Linda Smith

As a child I went to a prodestant church, but I used to tell people that I was a pedestrian.

Megan

I used to believe, and very strongly and at a very young age, that only our particular Catholic Church parish of my German ancestors was the absolute only church which worshipped god in the right way. I was therefore appalled when my parents took me to another church in our smallish town when a German cousin was marrying a someone from the French/Irish Catholic parish. But then my eyes were opened and I came to realize that I had French ancestors too, so that was ok.... it was a few years later that things finally got straightened out with me concerning not only Catholics but all faiths.

Lynn

i didnt used to realize that there were different religons. i just thought all churches were the same. i used to ask my mom why the heck we drove a half hour to church when there was one just down the street!

Audrey

When I was four, our family had a young man from the church stay with us for a while. His name was Davy, and he used to make microwave popcorn for us.

One morning in Sunday School, our teacher was going over the creation story. "Who made the sky?" "God did!" "Who made the birds?" "God did!" Living in rural Kansas, she named things familiar to all of us. When she asked, "Who made the popcorn?" I shouted, "Davy does!"

Joe

Of course our church had an organ. I thought the harder you pressed the keys, the louder it played. The easier you pressed the keys, the softer it played. To give it that warbling effect, I thought the organ player was wiggling his/her fingers on the keys.

Anon

In my hometown, we had one Jewish temple. I was riding my bike around town one day when a dog started chasing me. I rode home as fast as I could and told my dad about it. He asked me where the dog was, and I told him it was by the Sherriff's station (which was over 2 miles away). I later learned that just because there's a big star on the front of a building doesn't make it a police station.

Josh

I remember hearing in church that we are all sinners and Jesus had to die to save us. I felt so bad and wracked my 7 yr old brain trying to remember what I had done that was so bad it killed Jesus.

Julianne

when I was little my dad would drop my sister brother and I off at the church while he drove the van to pick people up. one morning we were just walking around the church and I saw this room where they kept all the offering money and I thought they were stealing from God

Michelle