Does anyone remember their early experiences with religion?

[pat19989]

I'm taking a look into Gnosticism, and reading things like the Gospel of Thomas in multiple translations, and I'm remembering specific childhood experiences in church. Specifically consciously rejecting the premise of the Nicene Creed which seeks to raise Jesus to the level of the Logos, making him into deity (which is not entirely correct imo, Yeshua was not even close to finished with the octave.) Looking into the religion I grew up with I'm uncovering power seeking behavior of the early church which has been swept under the rug and overlooked through constant repetition and dogmatic assertion.

Does anyone here have any similar experience remembering contradictions that you consciously noted then forgot?

I always thought the Nicene Creed was mad weird growing up. I love a lot of catholic prayers and songs, but the creed seems to take extremely literal translations of Jesus' teachings and say he is God, while we are not. Also, I remember wondering how many of the people in the congregation actually realize what they are saying much less believe it in their core. My guess is a relatively small percentage. From ages 6-17 my skepticism around catholicism only grew as it was pushed on me and i was forced to memorize dogma and doctrine.

Thankfully once I got out of Catholic schooling I connected with eastern perspectives on spirituality which have made me appreciate more of the christianity I grew up with.

Other than that, I was lucky to be in a church with a great choir and pianist, so my main memories growing up were ignoring most of the words, and enjoying the music. I still get many of the songs stuck in my head, some of them are truly great.