23 people shared the ‘sins’ banned by their extremely religious parents and it’s a proper jaw dropper
It’s tough enough growing up as it without your parents banning you from doing perfectly ordinary stuff because of their religious beliefs. Not any old religious beliefs, mind.
We mention this after Redditor thecyriousone prompted a fascinating and frequently jaw-dropping discussion on Reddit after they asked this.
‘People who grew up with extremely religious parents, what were some dumb things they claimed were “sins”?’
And the responses came flooding in. We’ve read them all – well, quite a few of them – so you don’t have to and these 19 were real eye openers.
1.
‘I wasn’t allowed to watch He-Man because “he says ‘I have the power’ and only God has the power.”
itsmyfriday
2.
‘I got my Pokémon games and cards taken away after my parents found out that Pokémon evolve. They didn’t want me to grow up believing in evolution.’
SmokedProvolone
3.
‘Dancing. And my mom nearly had a heart attack when I told her that drinking wasn’t a sin, but it was a sin to say it was a sin.’
RonSwansonsOldMan
“Dancing is the vertical expression of a horizontal act.”
Pentacostal-Haircut
4.
‘The 2 that stand out the most are:
‘Coming home to find my pikachu stuffed animal’s ears cut off to 1/3 length and sewed at the new ends since the old ears were too long and were basically the devil’s horns.
‘Being forced to throw out my extensive deck of yugi-oh cards. I had the best deck in my class and played at recess all the time.
‘I’m agnostic now …’
nokiatoth3moon
5.
‘If you thought about sinning, you may as well have done it.
‘So I would for example, get punished and have to beg forgiveness just because I looked at the cookie jar after I had been told I couldn’t have one. They could decide at random what they were convinced was going on in my head.’
[deleted]
6.
‘I didn’t grow up with religious parents, but living in the south, all my friends parents were.
‘I remember being around 10 years old and was eating breakfast after spending the night at a friend’s place. We started talking about Harry Potter and his mom fucking loses it saying that magic is Satan’s work and to not talk about that evil stuff in her house. Even at 10 I was like, man that’s weird.’
statscowski
7.
‘A microscope. An acquaintance of mine called a microscope a ‘gift from the devil’ because it makes people question the divine plan.’
ArbutusPhD
8.
‘Chewing gum, because it was sexual.’
evanjw90
‘Wait till they find out how one eats a popsicle or a banana.’
CrimeSceneCop
9.
‘Knew a girl who only wore pads since using a tampon would equal losing her virginity … religion is dumb’
LiakaGold7
10.
‘Not me but in middle school my friend had religious parents that helped run a church.
‘One day we were talking about super hero’s and I asked him what his favourite super hero was or something like that.
‘He then told me he wasn’t allowed to watch superhero movies because “god is the only hero”.’
HoppityFrogs
11.
‘Watching people kiss on the TV. My mom would often claim that crows would eat my eyes in hell.’
PowerofThunder
12.
‘Smurfs? Evil.
‘Care Bears? Evil.
‘Alf? Evil.
‘Star Wars? Evil.
‘Lord of the Rings? Evil.
‘Star Trek? Evil.
‘Christmas? Evil.
‘Santa? Anagram for Satan.
‘Easter? Evil.
‘Halloween? Pagan, ergo evil.
‘Harry Potter? Evil.
‘Dating? Evil.
‘Holding hands or kissing? Evil.
‘Birthdays? Evil.
‘Pork or shellfish? Evil.
‘Shaving your legs? Cosmetics, pierced ears, plucking your eyebrows, dressing in good fitting clothes not 5-10 years out of date? Evil.
‘Body piercings? See Entry: “Catholics”
‘Credit Unions, or any kind of union for that matter? Evil.
‘Other denominations? A threat.
‘Catholics? The whore of Babylon.
‘Pope? Antichrist.
‘Asking “why?” or any response other than immediate or “how high?” to “jump!” Rebellious, bullheaded, disrespectful, and.. you guessed it, evil.
‘There’s probably lots more, but it served to raise generations of kids cowed by the outside world, and pretty much all adults. If you didn’t end up cowed, you ended up angry, and that falls under the category of.. well you get the picture.
‘One other memory jumps to mind. A recent conversation with my mom about how much I was enjoying the Star Trek franchises of the 90s, adding a caveat that “I know you don’t approve, but”. To which she replied, “I don’t really know anything about it.”
‘I have a feeling that this may also apply to that church’s lengthy list as above.’
lilbubbie