As a youngster, Sunday School consisted of general bible teaching, but also involved a degree of examination every year. In the most part, examination was built around knowledge and understanding of the Shorter Catechism, knowledge of the Psalms and the more popular tunes and repetition of well-known biblical verses.

I never quite understood the point until late in life. The whole process was designed to indoctrinate.

My time as an adherent was not always negative and punishing. I did enjoying the singing and found I had inherited my fathers’ singing voice, though I could never quite match his tenor. Nor did I quite have the confidence to lead the praise, despite much encouragement to do so.

The Shorter Catechism was something I never enjoyed. This is probably why I can recall none of it, except its’ primary teaching:

‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever’

God always had a capital ‘G’. Forever, is genuinely understood to mean forever. In other words, a Christians primary purpose is to spend this life, the only life we have, glorifying the supernatural, deluded into believing that a subsequent life will follow, be never ending and will be filled with endless praise and enjoyment of a God in whom we must both love and fear at the same time.

Sorry, but it just isn’t for me. I’m not built that way. I see nothing attractive in the proposition whatsoever.

There is something far more noble in understanding that our purpose, if you will, is quite simply to enjoy this precious life we are fortunate to be living, to do good by our fellow humans and to ensure that we leave this world in a better state than when we arrived.

It is a wonderful experiment, of which I am only to thankful to be part of.

P