Interview on March 8, 2022, with Damaris, who is studying business administration, outside the Student Engagement Center at Mission College in Santa Clara, California.
Do you consider yourself religious?
Damaris: No, I used to be. I feel like there’s a lot of hypocrisy in religion and I feel like it’s too strict, like every day having to abide by what you’re supposed to do. I believe in morals and principles and in what the Bible says, but we live in a fast-paced world, so there’s not always time to be completely devoted to God every single day, 24/7.
Do you go to church?
Damaris: No, I don’t.
Do you believe in God?
Damaris: Yeah, I do. Definitely.
If someone asked you why you believe in God, what would you say?
Damaris: Because of creation. Things didn’t just appear one day. The sun rises every day. There’s a higher power. I believe in the higher power. I believe that God created the universe because it didn’t create itself.
If someone asked you who Jesus is, what would you say?
Damaris: Jesus is God’s Son, His only Son. He came to this earth as a perfect Man to give humanity another chance to live because we’re all imperfect humans and because Jesus is a perfect Man, He came to this earth to balance imperfection. I don’t have a lot of knowledge, but the knowledge I have is based on the Bible. So based on the Bible, God’s first creation was Jesus and that was His Son. He created Him and through Him, through Jesus, He created everything else. He created earth, the universe, everything on earth, and He’s His first creation.
Do you believe in an afterlife?
Damaris: I believe that the earth was created for humans to live forever on it. But because humans became imperfect, because they disobeyed God, then they grow old and they die. God told Adam and Eve to obey and He told them specifically if they didn’t obey, that they would die. They disobeyed, so they grow old and they die. I believe that God will resurrect the righteous ones and the unrighteous ones, so that they can live on earth like it was originally planned. There is life after death, here on earth.
Do you believe in hell?
Damaris: No. I don’t believe in hell because I believe that God is love, so if God is love, why is He going to have a place of torment for His children? That doesn’t make sense to me. So I believe that if people do bad or do evil, I believe that they will be judged accordingly because an evil person or person that does bad can repent and God is merciful and God can forgive him, but that’s on God. That’s not for us to judge whether a person is repentant or not. We’re all imperfect and we all make mistakes, why should they live a life in torment? That’s not what God intended for us.
Is abortion a sin?
Damaris: Yeah, because you’re ending a life. You’re given the responsibility of a life and you’re ending it. I know it’s very sensitive. I’m not saying I’m against abortion. If someone aborts, I’m not going to judge that person because I don’t know what that person has been through. But personally, I wouldn’t do that, regardless of the situation. Because there’s many reasons that someone may get pregnant, rape is a big one, I can’t put myself in that person’s shoes and say, “Oh, how dare they?” No, because I don’t know what they’ve been through. I don’t know that feeling so that’s why I wouldn’t judge, but I am not for it.
Typical “New Age” stuff. I know. I was familiar with that Movement for many years
Hopefully, she learns the fullness of the Catholic faith as she grows older.
Death, judgement, Heaven, Hell.
It will come knocking at your door, whether you believe it or not.
Arius would be pleased to know his heresy lives on. “God’s first creation was Jesus.”
“Damaris is turned off by strictness and hypocrisy in organized religion” I am my own church,,, the logical result of the protestant revolt
to anyone listening:
(which is probably nobody)
What makes you think Reality
cares a whit what you think?
What makes you think your thoughts
or feelings have any impact on Reality??
It is New Age jargon for “You are your own God”.
Where have we heard “you will be like God” before?
I like her honest and forthright answers to these questions. Women speaking up and getting interviewed. She’s very thoughtful, speaks for herself, understands complexity. I wish her well out in the world.
Shh! Just don’t let the students or staff know what the college is named after! It might trigger them.
Jesus was begotten not created.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Bible translations matter.
Sounds like a Jehovah’s Witness, It is a modern form of Arianism. A lot of people do not want to follow the strict teachings of the Orthodox Jews, but do not believe Jesus is God, so they find a religion that staddles the fence — not really Jewish nor really Christian.
She did not say if she was baptized.
Thank you for ypur honesty amd forthrightness. The fact you are Pro-Life is a big step in the right direction. God love you ?
Is this the school that offers a degree in Obama studies?
You’re confusing it with another college in the same city, the Jesuit-affiliated Santa Clara University. Mission College is for the local riff-raff who pay only $46 per unit. This is unlike SCU, attended by our esteemed governor, where tuition alone is $57,000 per year, while they promote equity and free education for all. Mr. Obama, growing up in the hood of Hawaii, could only afford Occidental College (annual tuition of $60,000) before transferring to Columbia University (undergrad tuition of $62,000 annually). And, of course, the gov and former pres did not attend as commuters.
May God bless Demaris. From campus, she could walk over to Our Lady of Peace Church, a fine parish, which is always open with Adoration and priests are almost always available for Confession.
“Damaris is turned off by strictness and hypocrisy in organized religion”
I much prefer the strictness and hypocrisy of MY OWN Religion !!!