At the Beginning.....

I guess I should start where it all begins in the Catholic Church...baptism.  We are told that we need to be baptized so that God can take away our original sin.....my question is, how can a newborn baby that can't speak have original sin????  Babies are life in its purest form and to think that a baby enters the world full of sin and needs to be cleansed seems to be ridiculous.  Both of my children were baptized, so I did indeed follow the "rules" of the church....God forbid something would have happened and the church teaches us that if you are not baptized you go to hell.....WHAT?????....again - ridiculous if you stop and think about it~especially for a baby!!!!  But, that is what the church wants us to do....just go about our lives, unthinking....never questioning....
I believe that God only brings gifts into our lives, especially babies....brought to this earth to enrich our lives and to live out a truly blessed life....why would God create anything in His image that would be full of sin????  Does the church just need another way to guilt us into submission....another reason to "book" the church for a sacrament???  An example of this comes from my life......friends of the family were refused baptism for their child in the church that they attended because the father of the baby did not give a substantial amount of his parents' inheritance to the church.  It said nothing in the will about donating to the church, mind you, but the priest thought he was owed the money because the family prayed in his church.  I ask you, does this even make sense??????  Once again the church comes across as a business that just wants its piece of the pie - trying to guilt a family into a huge donation......
If baptism were truly about God - wouldn't any child of God be welcomed into a house of God without question?????  Let's all ponder on that one................

Welcome!!

Welcome to my blog....this is all new and exciting for me, sharing my thoughts about "Growing Up Catholic" and all that the Catholic church has taught me through the course of my life.  I have grown to understand and appreciate the Bible and God's teachings more and more as I have journeyed through life and experienced all that life has to offer.  I have been doing a lot of soul searching in the last few years and have read many books.....all in an effort to grow as a person and become more of what God has meant me to become.  I have a lot of questions.....many that come back to the teachings of the Catholic Church...whether it is truly here to teach us of the ways of God and Jesus, or simply a big business to keep us all in check and keep us from having an original thought......my blog will share and hope to answer some of these questions.  I hope that you will comment and join me on this journey of discovery....