22 Awesome things I used to think were sinful

[MajorMajor]

Yes!! So much of the time as a kid and teenager I heard sermons on constantly giving of oneself or being selfless in some way or another. Now, I consider myself to be a pretty compassionate and unselfish person but there are some times when I just want to do what I want to do because I want to do it. And you know what? That pretty fucking okay. No guilt!

It took me going to therapy to come to accept that if I do or don't do something and nothing bad happens because of it I don't need to feel guilty (like sleeping in, having the occasional drink, telling people no just because I don't feel like doing something, etc.) Being forced to always say yes and respond joyfully just leads to really bitter people.

[VooDooChild]

:lol: Thanks to all who explained the root beer bit. I prefer mine in a mug with vanilla ice cream, which is the opposite of the appearance of evil. In fact, I think it is divine.

I do remember some mormon neighbors from my childhood who abstained from soda because of caffeine. I remember being utterly baffled by that.

[Coop]

For me it was everything in the above list except instead of AC/DC or Kiss, it was literally NO music with any kind of drum beat. This included ALL contemporary Christian music. Also, there was a Disney boycott because Disney promoted awful values, e.g. everything works out fine for Ariel in the end of The Little Mermaid despite the fact that she blatantly disobeyed her father. Oh and pants and shorts. Girls weren't allowed to wear either. Or have an education. I think I most appreciate the education.

[holierthanyou]

Reading the original list and the other items FJers have added in this thread, I actually felt kind of sad with the realization again that even though in my head, logically, I do not think these things are immoral, it still gives me a sense of gut-rot to think of actually participating in reading horoscopes, using a Ouija board, actually attending anything Halloween, etc.

Not sure what it was with the "brand" of fundy I grew up with, but it has somehow left me fairly guilt-free as an adult choosing to reject hang ups about swearing, adult movies, not attending church, etc.... yet still deathly afraid on some level on anything that was deemed "occult". Shudder.

[EyeQueue]

For me it was everything in the above list except instead of AC/DC or Kiss, it was literally NO music with any kind of drum beat. This included ALL contemporary Christian music. Also, there was a Disney boycott because Disney promoted awful values, e.g. everything works out fine for Ariel in the end of The Little Mermaid despite the fact that she blatantly disobeyed her father. Oh and pants and shorts. Girls weren't allowed to wear either. Or have an education. I think I most appreciate the education.

I've seen this "no music with a beat" thing touted by other (current) fundies (e.g. the Duggars). I'm curious: What, precisely, makes a drum beat so threatening or sinful? Is it because sex involves rhythmic thrusting motions? :think:

Edited for imprecise word choice.

[lizziesmom]

I believe the ban is on hot beverages specifically coffee and tea. Mitt Romney ate coffee ice cream. Many drink sodas.

Now that makes even less sense to me. :cray-cray: But I have to keep telling myself that logic has very little to do with religion.

[Rachel333]

Now that makes even less sense to me. :cray-cray: But I have to keep telling myself that logic has very little to do with religion.

It is hot drinks that are prohibited, but hot chocolate is okay (though some avoid it), as is herbal tea, but you still can't drink coffee or regular tea if they're cold. I've also heard that a lot of European Mormons will drink decaf coffee. This blog post talks a bit about tea and some other stuff: mormonism-unveiled.blogspot.com/2013/04/several-authoritative-lds-sources.html

I think it makes sense and has value as a cultural marker, something that sets you apart as a member of a particular culture/religion (lots of other religions have something like this--circumcision comes to mind for Judaism). I don't think you can really justify it otherwise.

[formergothardite]

Not a fundie but had a strict Catholic upbringing so several of these are familiar.

May I add:

- KISS and Ozzy Osborne

- Males with hair touching the top of their collars - to this day, when I see a guy with long hair, I automatically assume he's a bad boy ;)

- Smoking (even when of legal age)

- Motorcycles

- Wearing leather

- Girls who chew gum and/or whistle (it made Mary cry)

- Using Procter & Gamble products (does anyone else remember the supposed tie-in to Satanic cults?)

I might have written P&G some really sincere letters of concern about this. :embarrassed:

[fun2beme]

Was that because you were told that KISS stood for Kids in Satan's Service? That rumor was passed around among my mother's friends at church and they all decided that their kids would never go to a KISS concert. Not that any of us were allowed to go to any concerts - they were for bad kids who did drugs.

Hmmm, actually, we were never told why KISS was bad, just that they. were. very. bad. Interesting about the acronym, though. I was always afraid of the make-up anyway.

[Trynn]

I still find it weird to go out to eat or shopping on a Saturday (grew up Seventh Day Adventist, so Saturday was sacred).

I'll look at the list later (my computer is being soooooo slow today)but I'm going to guess sex was on there somewhere. Actually, though, secularism gave me the freedom FROM sex, if that makes sense. See, in conservative Christianity you're not supposed to want sex, but at the same time you're seen as having something wrong with you if you don't. Even for a girl in some sects it's supposed to be a struggle. The fact that it wasn't for me raised huge red flags that scared even me. Then I discovered that asexuality as a thing, and that It's Ok Not To Want Sex.

So, I'm adding asexuality to the list.

Power Rangers! Oh man, I have no idea what they are... I was never allowed to watch them or read the books. One time in a bookstore they had these interactive books where you punched a button and it made noises. I was just pushing the noise on the power rangers interactive books, and my dad said not to do that because that could lead to watching the show. They never bothered policing 99% of the books I read, and very rarely prohibited me from watching any kind of tv show, so as an adult I have no idea why power rangers were out of the question. Maybe they were really really really super bad? I mean, are they really worse than Scooby doo?

The article finally loaded.

Ah yes, Halloween. I grew up with it, but by the time my brother came along, my parents had decided it was evil. At the time, I was old enough to go trick or treating by myself (I was 12, I think) and by the year after that I was too old for trick or treating. My brother was around 5 or 6 at the time, so he wouldn't have remembered much anyway, and grew up not celebrating it.

I never had the desire to wear short skirts because... actually by the time they got around to giving me this particular lecture I didn't have a desire to wear skirts anyway.

I really want to wear a bikini... I've got one but it's too small cuz no one taught me how to find one that fit...

I was really surprised when I went to my first club as an adult. It was not this place of debauchery I thought it would be. Hardly anyone was even drunk. It was kind of a letdown, actually.

Also, my dad went through a phase where he tried to tell me science fiction was evil, but by then I'd been so steeped in it that that went over like a lead balloon. So we can add science fiction, fantasy, and pretty much any sort of fiction to the list.

I'm going to stop now before I come up with my own mega list...

[kpmom]

:lol: :lol:

That's similar to how AC/DC supposedly stood for "After Christ, Devil Comes." :dance: :dance:

How unselfish of the devil to let Christ come first. ;)

[EyeQueue]

How unselfish of the devil to let Christ come first. ;)

*rimshot*

:clap: :clap: :lol:

[acheronbeach]

Can you explain the ban on coffee and tea? Someone told me it is because of the caffeine but if that is so, why are you allowed chocolate?

The "word of wisdom" in Mormonism bans hot drinks. The LDS church interprets that as coffee and tea. It's not a ban on caffeine.

[dawbs]

Hmmm, actually, we were never told why KISS was bad, just that they. were. very. bad. Interesting about the acronym, though. I was always afraid of the make-up anyway.

At "The truth about Rock" thingamajiggy I went to, I was told (please to note, I have NO IDEA where this came from. I assume it isn't true but, who knows?) that they wanted their band name to be F.U.C.K. but their manager wouldn't let them so they went with K.I.S.S.

[Savoring Samsara]

and the color marking on toothpaste for the automated packaging machines have something to do with the purity of the product.

This urban legend is still making the rounds on Tumblr, believe it or not.

[Rachel333]

This urban legend is still making the rounds on Tumblr, believe it or not.

The only place I've seen it is snopes--http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/toothpastemarkings.asp. I like to browse it to see what urban legends are out there.

[ThisOlGirl]

Curiosity got the best of me and I had to watch the Deception of a Generation. Scooby Doo was dabbling in the occult and He-Man transformed minds from believing God's word to spawning disbelief. Wow. I feel really bad that this was your childhood. This is some crazy shit! I am only 30 minutes in and I can't take the stupid anymore!

How is Scooby Doo dabbling in the occult? If anything, I'd be worried about what kind of monkey business went down in the Mystery Machine. :o

[RosyDaisy]

The only place I've seen it is snopes--http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/toothpastemarkings.asp. I like to browse it to see what urban legends are out there.

I saw that in my Facebook news feed last week. Some people are so gullible.

[miffy]

My two 'fundie' things are no blasphemy, swearing only when infuriated or in pain & no games of chance.

I say 'oh my gosh' a lot, sometimes I slip up & say the other version, then I feel all squirmy. :S Is that how everything 'bad' feels when you were raised fundie & converted to a normal person?

The no games of chance thing comes in handy when people try to sell me raffle tickets or drag me along to the races.

I'm not, nor ever have been fundie. I went to a very religious school, but we read fantasy books as class texts & learned about dinosaurs. :D

[julie paradox]

My dad once told me that drums are "instruments of the devil". I'm fairly certain he was only half joking.

I was in my thirties at the time, and trying to find out exactly what music he appreciated (discovered that he hates jazz, for example). Quite where my recording of Handel's Messiah, a piece he loves but a version which ends with MASSIVE timps, comes in I never discovered.

[dawbs]

I rather assume the 'drums = debil' thing is also some thinly-veiled racism.

I know in the case of one relative, her rants about drums and 'kids these days' tended to be focused around people of color and the 'witchcraft' that was non-Christian religions.

That and that discussion of how 'those people' are genetically designed to like drums and rhythm. *insert a squinchy face here*

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

My two 'fundie' things are no blasphemy, swearing only when infuriated or in pain & no games of chance.

I say 'oh my gosh' a lot, sometimes I slip up & say the other version, then I feel all squirmy. :S Is that how everything 'bad' feels when you were raised fundie & converted to a normal person?

The no games of chance thing comes in handy when people try to sell me raffle tickets or drag me along to the races.

I'm not, nor ever have been fundie. I went to a very religious school, but we read fantasy books as class texts & learned about dinosaurs. :D

This is going to make me sound like I hate fun (hi there, John Maxwell, I hear you're single :lol:), but I kind of hate playing games in general. I can't possibly explain all the negative emotions I feel when I'm at a party or gathering of friends and someone pulls out a board game or - shudder - CARDS or suggests charades. Nothing to do with my faith background...I just don't enjoy it, can't bring myself to be competitive over something that is actually totally irrelevant, and hate seeing friends go from having a nice relaxing time to trash-talking and negging each other. (Some people are competitive over EVERYTHING. I'm really only competitive professionally. No clue if that's good or bad.) My only exception is Scrabble, but I prefer to play without actually keeping score. :) The only thing that sucks worse than being forced to play a party game is when people try to grab you by the arm and drag you out onto the dance floor when you're not feeling it.

Yeah...I'm kind of an introvert, why do you ask? :lol:

[lamariposa]

Oh gawd, fundie memories galore. I'm gonna add going to Disney World because of teh gayz. I grew up in Florida so it was extra torture to be told we couldn't go. Also, this is mega old school but my dad, who was raised fundie and has passed away, was born in 1927 and he use to tell us that in Puerto Rico when tv's first came out they were labeled 'el cajon del diablo' or the devil's box. He said there use to be church services and revivals where ppl would repent and bring in their tv's and they'd smash them in the name of Jesus.

[Full enough quiver]

This is going to make me sound like I hate fun (hi there, John Maxwell, I hear you're single :lol:), but I kind of hate playing games in general. I can't possibly explain all the negative emotions I feel when I'm at a party or gathering of friends and someone pulls out a board game or - shudder - CARDS or suggests charades. Nothing to do with my faith background...I just don't enjoy it, can't bring myself to be competitive over something that is actually totally irrelevant, and hate seeing friends go from having a nice relaxing time to trash-talking and negging each other. (Some people are competitive over EVERYTHING. I'm really only competitive professionally. No clue if that's good or bad.) My only exception is Scrabble, but I prefer to play without actually keeping score. :) The only thing that sucks worse than being forced to play a party game is when people try to grab you by the arm and drag you out onto the dance floor when you're not feeling it.

Yeah...I'm kind of an introvert, why do you ask? :lol:

Omg, I thought I was the only one! I can't stand it when people break out the cards at a party. And I'm not a violent person, but I once shoved my best friend HARD for attempting to forcibly drag me onto the dance floor. She never tried it again, though.

[alchemy]

I rather assume the 'drums = debil' thing is also some thinly-veiled racism.

I know in the case of one relative, her rants about drums and 'kids these days' tended to be focused around people of color and the 'witchcraft' that was non-Christian religions.

That and that discussion of how 'those people' are genetically designed to like drums and rhythm. *insert a squinchy face here*

I remember Jimmy Swaggart going on a rant against rock music, claiming the drum beats came from the darkest Africa which is most certainly the bosom of Satan so yeah....