My beginnings

​How important is religion? Or maybe not?
 
Some people claim religion is not important because they dismiss it. I remind them that they are surrounded by others saying otherwise. And they have to deal with it.
 
What about me?
My grandmothers were very vocal about believing in God and Christ as a kid. My parents were mostly silent. Kids are like empty books, waiting for the family to write in them. And whatever a kid hears, believes it. No big philosophy here. You trust those feeding you, caring for you, and overwhelming you with love. Kids have no chance of an option.
               When I was about four or five, I learned that everybody dies, but my grandmothers assured me that we live before death, in God. That was a good and reassuring thing. But slowly, I learned about the eternal punishment if God does not want to take you into his garden. And the nightmare began. As I learned later, Hell as told in the New Testament, was invented by Christianity. Some apologists are saying that Sheol and Gehenna in the Old Testament are the precursors of Hell, but I read enough to find out it is not so.
               Going back to my childhood, I was scared to death not to do something wrong to make God angry. Did it shield me from doing bad things? Maybe. But what it took out from me, I see now as a missed childhood.
 
What about my young years? About that in the next post.