A former post by Lmale stated this idea, which I really like. I have only recently fully let go of my faith, and I know it is a confusing and stressful process, especially for those of us with highly religious families/friends. So in this post, if you are a former Christian who wants to discuss/vent about anything, or even formerly in a different religion, or lack of one, feel free to discuss topics/support each other. :)
Subscription Note:
Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
Nice.
Yo
My solution to make sure that my opinion about Christianity was based on evidence and not some other reason that theists will come up with, was to study the religion in deep and analyse it's purpose.
If it is false or contradictory, why is it so?
Why are there contradictions so easily removable?
Peeling off those uncertainties in my comprehension of Christianity really helped me in understanding it's origin and it's purpose.
No one can come to me with something about Christianity without me knowing something on the reasons why someone would believe so.
Eg:
There was a theist Beneames posting on these forums that was quite patient but he was claiming that in the NT there was no Hell and that hell was invented in the middle ages.(he was a local priest)
This changed radically Christianity of course but does it even make sens to have no hell in such a theology?
This guy believed that hell was just too much of an evil act to be done by a good god but instead of saying that the god he believed in was not a good god, he tried to remove hell from the theology.
According to him, hell could not come from his god so it MUST be wrong/mistake. Not that it actually is wrong/mistake but it MUST BE.
Ignoring some of the other dilemmas that would rise when removing hell from the theologie:
Everybody going to heaven now? or some are left behind as ghosts?
Does it really never mention hell in the NT?
I proved him wrong here with direct quotes and after a long dragged discussion he just left this forum and never posted again here.
Those are the lies and exaggerations the theists will come up with sometimes without even knowing it themselves.
The best thing is to verify everything they say.
Do not trust their appearance or attitude, since these guys to even become priests they had to have a degree in psychology.
They know how to handle people pretty well and deceit is their art and hobby.
People take it as a shock when they hear of child rape or sex abuse from priests, but I see it as quite a normal thing.
The priest think they are the chosen ones and they think they are smarter then anybody else since they are practically playing with their sheep everyday.
It takes only 1 more step from there to make them think that they are above the law or that they can get away with the most horrible crimes.
This happens because they can get away with lying to people everyday and always getting away with it, in their eyes people are stupid and believe everything they say.
Then people wonder why victims come forward only 20 years later or so.
It takes a lot of time for the victim to realize that he was abused or to have the courage to accuse a holy priest that has the support of most of the people the victim knows.
You really must treat them as lawyers with robes that treat you as the jury every time you talk to them.
Something that is difficult for me is having to be careful what I say around family and friends. I am no longer in the closet, but I still worry about offending people. But at the same time, I feel proud of myself for avercoming indoctrination. I want to wear my lack of faith on my sleeve because, to me, faith is a vice that I chucked away. I got a little brave and slapped a darwin fish sticker on my folder for school, and even that got some evil looks. I'm thinking about buying a necklace from this site. I don't know if I want to get a humanist one or an atheist one. I'm want people to know, but I don't want them to have to ask. If they do, saying humanist is less likely to get me punched than saying I'm an atheist.
Don't feel badly, or alone, I have been basically atheist since I was 13.---- 72 years ago, but only in the past couple of years have I been able to openly admit that I am an atheist up till then I was more or less hedging, sort of like being half in, and half out of the closet. Now, at long last. I am proud to day I am an atheist, and am finding there are many more of us than I had thought possible. I'm sure you will find then same thing true.
Imagine me?
I have to say anti-theist :)
The usually reply is:
What???
lol
I really tire of door-to-door proselytizing. I’m tempted to order a” No Soliciting, No Proselytizing” sign. The indoctrinators usually want to hand me religious pamphlets. I’m tempted to order some pamphlets arguing against creation to hand to them in return. That would probably be a waste of time and money though. As soon as we exchange pamphlets and I close the door, they will be wadding my pamphlets up, as I am theirs to throw away. LOL
Dude your better man than me ive been tempted to put up a sign 'Religious proselytisers will be headbutted......repeatedly.'
put a sticker on a bin near your door, "Welcome, Throw pamphlets here and leave please."
I am well-versed in the beliefs of the JWs, they are like alcoholics flogging their Jack Daniels door to door. They are cowardly lot dragging their small children to protect them from the verbal abuse some folks would like to hurl at them on a Saturday morning. They have a "No Call List" that you can put your address on and they will leave you alone. They don't come to my door. The LDS boys like to discuss The Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect, go figure.
"The LDS boys like to discuss The Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect, go figure."
id love to discuss those too :P
two weeks ago. I would have agreed, but about a week ago I was accidently visited by the JW. They were here for the people next door who were not at home .I told them (a couple) that I didn't want to discuss their aims, as some many years ago, I unintentionally converted four of then away from the JW, and I have felt guilty about it ever since. To me it was no more my right to convert them as it was their right to try to convert me. However, this couple were a different sort of JW, who believed very much the way I do about the bible, and the trinity, etc. we had a pleasant conversation, and we parted as friends. I wouldn't have believe it, but it happened.
I was actually impressed with the JW's... for a time. They don't celebrate Christmas (which is just a huge commercialization of Christianity). I've always seen Christmas as a celebration of the sun changing direction (equinox) back towards the north. It was a pagan thing. Then I got to Australia where the seasons are opposite and they celebrate Christmas too. Guys dressed up in fur coats in the middle of summer when the heat gets over 100F is not pleasant but Australians throw a fit if you say the holiday doesn't belong there. Which makes me wonder, what evidence could you possibly submit to suggest a holiday doesn't belong in a particular part of the world if the reversal of the most extreme seasons doesn't do it? But it's a religious holiday so reason and logic count for nothing.
actually JW are better then most Christians since they have less pagan things inserted in their theology, less roman habits.
The pagan Caesar cult colored most of Christianity.
Christmas, Easter, trinity, church, priest, etc... are all pagan things that were transferred wholesale to the christian cult.