I personally have no religious beliefs, though I'm grateful to be alive in a world filled with so many beautiful women.

But I'm wondering.. many religions (or at least the common interpretations of them) have prohibitions that speak to participation in the hobby, as provider or client.  

Does yours, and if so how do you deal with it?  

Conversely, does anything in your religion argue against society's negative view of the hobby? Or help you enjoy it more? For example (and these are just examples)... god's biggest gift to us is free choice and that's what the hobby is about. Or the bible doesn't actually forbid sex for money if neither party is married. Or when Jesus turned the water to wine he was saying it's OK to enjoy earthly pleasures.

Have a great weekend!!!

and my creed requires that I worship there daily.

...except ride that highway. All night long!

This subject is controversial among Christians. Some like a works-based religion designed to keep everyone in line but that is not Biblical.  In the New Testament, immoratity is not condoned. However, people are saved by faith in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross...period. You are not saved by doing good or condemned for doing bad.  Belief is the only salvation prerequisite.  Righteousness is a gift imputed to you.  

When confronted by a mob about to stone a woman caught in adulatory, Jesus said:  "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."  Obviously, no one was qualified to let fly. When those who sought to condemn the woman were gone, Jesus said to her:  "...neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more".   The point being;  sexual immorality was not condoned but the partakers were not condemned for it (by Jesus) even though condemnation was deserved under Jewish law.  

So, to many Christians, the hobby is considered sinful conduct born of human weakness for which we need (and have) God's forgiveness.  Unfortunately, other people are not so forgiving and other problems exist yielding real world consequences that can be avoided by not participating in the hobby.  To the works-based crowd, you're a Hell bound sinful monger.  

That's the Reader's Digest version...

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I gave the first 30 years of my life to an oppressive religion. I'm sure God will understand my decision to drop religion in order to chase pussy for the last 30 years. There will definitely be a place for me in Heaven. Wait a minute. This is Heaven!! I'm already here. It's a miracle! TER should be canonized. Forever shall it be known as St. TER.

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I used to be an atheist; my parents raised me that way. The story of how I came to believe in God is long and I won't bore you with it, except to say (and please, I'm not intending to start a debate, so hold off on your rational arguments) I found a reason to have faith. I haven't aligned myself with any denomination yet, but I have been thinking about taking steps toward being baptized a Catholic. It's a moral code that resonates with me.

And yet, I still see providers. I don't feel guilty about it; it's been a long time since I thought I was doing anything wrong. And so I don't know what to do. If I became a Catholic intending to continue in the hobby, it would be kind of a counterfeit commitment. And yet, I want to feel that spiritual mooring, to belong to a faith I admire, with a code that requires something from me.  

But I don't want to give up on seeing providers. So I have a decision to make. I honestly don't know yet which way I'll go.

The Pastafarian conception of Heaven includes a beer volcano and a stripper (or sometimes prostitute) factory.  

The Pastafarian Hell is similar, except that the beer is stale and the strippers have sexually transmitted diseases.

I can supply my own organ.

very likely to have been something of a trollop herself. (The original hooker with a heart of gold.)

(Jesus's first words to Mary M:  "Why my mother's name was Mary!")

is there a gluten-free version?

But we do have an Excessive Machine.  I am certain your know of it.  It is just back from repairs.

or maybe you can.

I'm going with the passage I know is in the Bible (but that's from 30 years ago or so) where it says "Nothing is evil except the think makes it so." In other words, sinning is never what other people do, it's all about what your do and what you think you're doing.

(I suppose it's implied in that that one must make a distinction between harm and sin)

Then again, I'm not big on the organize religion thing -- tried when I was younger but it's just not me.

... two (or more) consenting adults getting together in privacy to have fun and give each other pleasure, harming no one, is a religion that needs to re-examine itself, IMO.

Now, if someone else IS harmed by participation in the hobby, then I understand religion taking a negative stance on it.  For example, if a hobbyist isn't fulfilling his responsibilities or commitments to his or her family because of activity in the hobby, or there's deceit involved.  But that's not the sole purview of religion, but of ethics in general.  

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but Jesus was known to run with a fast crowd.  

My point is, Christianity developed from a counter culture not too unlike our own, and there is nothing contradictory about being a part of that culture and our little enterprise on here, as heretical as that might seem to some.

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I believe in a loving God.  Also, I've done an extensive study of people who have had near death experiences, and to a person they come back from the other side and say that all that matters in this world is love. It's really quite simple, and quite good.  

I think God is totally good with the hobby  And for those of us who are Christian, while there is some debate as to whether Mary Magdalene was in fact someone we'd now call a provider, let's just say I'm guessing the teachings of Jesus may well have been a whole lot darker without her lol.    

Love
Live and let live, and
Say a prayer when you need to as it may just be answered

 -- if these three pillars are at the core of our collective being, then that's one hell of a life lol.

-- Modified on 1/27/2017 10:24:18 PM

not a provider,  but a swinger lady. Last time I saw her I was doing her doggy while she was munching on my wife. Wife was blowing her husband at the same time. We can all justify any behavior we want.

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... by basically writing my answer, but better.  Thanks!

a devout Catholic girl from Vietnam.  She told me her weekly confession was mostly about her and I, and the things we did together, so I think I'm covered in the forgiveness category by her efforts.  I have never felt like I'm going to hell, except if I miss a couple of weeks at the gym, but that's a different kind of hell.  

I was curious what Buddhists thought of sex work so I did a little research on it.  One of the main things tenets of Buddhism is that desire (of anything) inevitably causes suffering so it's best to live a simple life and give up pleasures (material or otherwise) in order to attain happiness.  So In that respect seeing one of us is frowned upon by Buddhists but when it comes to actually doing sex work it's a bit different.  If you do sex work to survive and support your family that is seen as ok but if you do it to live a more lavish lifestyle then it isnt.

Excellent question and an excellent answer!

Did you study theology?

when she kneels for forgiveness there's a priest before her ...  
when you kneel, her pussy was there ... very different  
100 dog years in purgatory for you unless she was married  
and you were aware of the fact ... I know the rules all to we'll 😉

Yet you assert it's "very likely" that she was a prostitute, with no solid proof. And that's why the myth was debunked--there's no solid proof for it.  Do you tend to say someone is something or did something without solid proof?  I didn't think you're that type of person.  

I quite agree with Jack and you can add "forgiveness" to love is all that matters.
I`ve read a lot of psychic medium books and most agree that there is nothing physical in the next life as in physical pain/pleasure. Does that mean no sex too? lol

sort of like Russia, that's about all I meant by it.  More than a few people have taken the seemingly accepted (by folk lore if nothing else) idea of Mary M being in the biz as a favorable attribute of Jesus since it shows that he wasn't into holding that fact against her, and was drawn to her positive traits of devotion, which she amply demonstrated after Jesus was crucified.

Morality is in the eye of each of us, which eye should be extending inward, not outward.

.... if sex was work or play.  
The rabbi said it must be play because if it was work, his wife would have someone else do it.

And the whole anointing of the feet with oil ritual was a practice associated with "pagan" temple prostitutes.

Luke 7:37-38 "And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat to eat meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of perfumed oil.  And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the oil."

...but since I'm a spirit having this human experience I look at it like as spirit "I" am the only spirit and everyone else is also that spirit so we are all one soul just taking on different human (or animal) forms. So I have no problem with relating to women who share some pleasurable time with me in exchange for some goods which they buy with the money I share with them. And this does not cause any conflicts with the serenity of the spirit and only serves to further celebrate the brief time I have to explore the great mystery of human existence.

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Rasha told us on the General Board that she carries redemption insurance.

   Subject: No need – I have redemption insurance.
   Posted by: rrasha88
   Posted on: 12/9/2014 2:09:26 PM
   
   I’m just responsible for a small co-pray.

(It still cracks me up.)

From the same 2014 thread:

CONFESSION OR BRAGGING?
An old man went into the confession booth at the Catholic church and told the priest: "I am 82 years old and have been faithfully married to the same woman for 55 years, but last night I had the time of my life with two 18 year old twin sisters."
 
The Priest replied (as he mopped sweat from his brow): "How long has it been since you've been to confession?"  
 
The old man said, "I've never been to confession. I'm Jewish."
 
Priest: "Then what are you doing here, telling me this?"
 
Old man: "Hey, I'm telling everybody."
 
Priest: "Where did you find TWINS?"
 
Old man: "TER!  You've got to check it out!

 
OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES
A married woman is having an affair. Whenever her lover comes over, she puts her nine year old son in the closet.  
 
One day the woman hears a car in the driveway and puts her lover in the closet, as well.  
 
Inside the closet, the little boy says, "It's dark in here, isn't it?"  
 
"Yes it is," the man replies.  
 
"You wanna buy a baseball?" the little boy asks.  
 
"No thanks," the man replies.  
 
"I think you do want to buy a baseball," the little extortionist continues.  
 
"OK. How much?" the man replies after considering the position he was in.  
 
"Twenty-five dollars," the little boy replies.  
 
"TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS?!" the man repeats. "That's awful expensive", but because of the position he was in agreed to the price.  
 
The following week, the lover is visiting the woman again when she hears a car in the driveway and, again, places her lover in the closet with her little boy.  
 
"It's dark in here, isn't it?" the boy starts off.  
 
"Yes it is," replies the man.  
 
"Wanna buy a baseball glove?" the little boy asks.  
 
"OK. How much?" the hiding lover responds, acknowledging his disadvantage.  
 
"Fifty dollars," the boy replies, and the transaction is completed.  
 
The next weekend, the little boy's father says, "Hey, son. Go get your ball and glove and we'll play some catch."  
 
"I can't. I sold them," replies the little boy.  
 
"How much did you get for them?" asks the father, expecting to hear the profit in terms of lizards and candy.  
 
"Seventy-five dollars," the little boy says.  
 
"SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS?! That's thievery! I'm taking you to the church right now. You must confess your sin and ask for forgiveness," the father explains as he hauls the child away.  
 
At the church, the little boy goes into the confessional, draws the curtain, sits down, and says "It's dark in here, isn't it?"  
 
"Don't you start that crap in here," says the priest

 
ALTAR EGO
"Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl."
 
The priest asks, "Is that you, little Joey Pagano?"
 
"'Yes, Father, it is."
 
"And who was the girl you were with?"
 
"I can't tell you, Father. I don't want to ruin her reputation."
 
"Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?"
 
"I cannot say."
 
"Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?"
 
"I'll never tell."
 
"Was it Nina Capelli?"
 
"I'm sorry, but I cannot name her."
 
"Was it Cathy Piriano?"
 
"My lips are sealed."
 
"Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?"
 
"Please, Father, I cannot tell you."
 
The priest sighs in frustration. "You're very tight lipped, and I admire that. But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself."
 
Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers, "What'd you get?"
 
"Four months vacation and five good leads!"

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This caused quite the scandal, as you can imagine.

In the Song of Songs/Song of Solomon 4:13-14, the same costly perfume, spikenard, is used to describe the smell of the burning bush, at the delta of venus:

"Your "plants" are an orchard of pomegranates
With pleasant fruits,
Fragrant henna with spikenard,
spikenard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with every kind of incense tree,
with myrrh and aloes,
and all the finest spices."

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I am an American so my religious beliefs are tempered by my Western education. This attitude drives the Catholic church crazy as Americans are called menu Christians. We take what we want from the religion but won't accepts other things,  i.e. no condoms, papal infallibility.

But the tool is a close second. Especially mine.

The oppressive christian environment I grew up in had me way behind the ball when it came to things like "taking the plunge."  I can name 6 women off the top of my head who I turned down for religious reasons back in the day, and it's one of my biggest regrets in life.  Luckily, this hobby helps to "make it up" somewhat.  I don't know what this would be like if I were still religious, and I don't want to know.  I'm much happier as an Atheist than I've ever been.  As for the providers I see, I don't give a flying fuck what they believe as long as they show me a good time.  That being said, there is one particular provider who drives me nuts with her posting of Jesus crap on the boards.  I won't name names, most of the regulars can probably guess who she is, anyway.

If one reflects on the biblical law and cannon of the day most of the rules and norms makes sense to me, in the context of that period in time.  

"Do not eat pork".......in biblical times eating under cooked pork could be dangerous and loaded with parasites.

"Do not commit adultery, or, have sex before marriage, or multiple sex partners"  Makes sense for back then....no cure for STD's of any kind, ineffective pregnancy prevention, etc.  Modern science has made it much safer these days such that sleeping around becomes primarily a moral choice, driven by these same ancient rules made to protect the health of the population that are no longer have relevance.  

The one that always gets me is when organized religion beats the drum about tithing 10% off income to the Church, cause the bible tells us too.  Context applies here too.  The federal and state welfare systems have replaced the Church in support of the needy.  Back in the day  these services did not exist, the Church was the social safety net.  I have no issues giving donations to any organized religion, but I do not subscribe to a 10% donation, and anything less is a sin.

Finally, I am a sinning Christian.  I am not sure what is going to happen post death with my participation in the hobby.  Given the fact I am approaching 60, recently divorced, live in a rural area, my mainstream options are close to zero.  I am not at the point in which I can no longer be sexually active, so there you go. Not sure how that will play out at the pearly gates, but that is my argument and I am sticking to it.