When I was young it seemed to me that to be accepted by God one had to be a 'good person'. One aspect of this involved not hating people. As John and Matthew put it...
- If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
- But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This caused me anxiety because there were several boys I did not like at school. Now this is perfectly normal because, let's face it, some people can be complete twats. Even those who were not in that category could have personalities so alien to one's own that - they could be loud and 'in your face' - that one felt very uncomfortable when they were around.
So, essentially, the church seemed to be saying that the normal feelings one had whilst growing up and learning how to deal with people were wrong because you had to like everybody.
These days there is possibly more guidance. Last Sunday the sermon involved the vicar telling us that some students at theological college used to make her blood boil - gosh, honesty in church. I cannot quite recall how she dealt with this.
Feelings of guilt (i.e. that one is falling short of what is expected) are dangerous for children and can give them a complex of inadequacy.
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