In reply to "m2" who wrote the following:
> you said:
> > > 30 Years in Darkness ? ... then moved on to ?
>
> meaning 30 more years under the thumb of my imaginary friend, my god
> delusion. i moved backwards, to the "religion" of my youth,
> atheism... my god was a reflection of my own mind, and i was always a
> stickler for the truth and a perfectionist, so i had a very tough god
> to follow... but he wasnt leading me anywhere... side note: as kids,
> we had a Ouija board, and once me and me brother were playing, and the
> board was answering some question and my brother starts laughing,
> saying that he had not been touching the thing, so i was doing all the
> movement, thus proving what a crock it was... i relate my following
> of god to something similar to that. end note.
>
> you said:
> > > What bought you out of it ?
>
> brought, not bought! ;$)
>
> I already did answer this, in a previous post, the one I had thought
> might have offended you-- perhaps you missed it! Since you didnt
> respond, that was why my paranoid mind assumed my words were
> offensive... so the words below may be offensive to many:
>
> Here is the answer again, in different words:
>
> i was raised methodist, which is a liberal christian faction that
> believes creationist theory is bollocks, and that the creation story
> of Adam and Eve can be understood symbolically, and thus liberal
> Christianity is compatible with modern science.
>
> how and why i became a "Jesus Freak", that's a long story in itself,
> better to skip, as this could be many pages... (look up the jesus
> movement of the late 1960's)
>
> anyhow, in 2008, as unhappy, tormented and frustrated as my life was,
> I could not abandon my faith, which I assumed was rock solid, based on
> trusting miracle testimonies, and such... i even read all the atheist
> books that came out, looking for someone to topple my belief set, but
> all the books did was attack christianity with much the same arguments
> i had with it myself, even Richard Dawkins book, the God Delusion, was
> useless to challenge my strange version of faith. (i didnt belong to
> any church for those 30 years, searching for like-minded believers,
> never found one)
>
> Then one night, as I studied Romans 8:19, (for the zillionth time)
> I noticed something I hadnt really considered before. The author,
> Paul, was saying that "decay" was a product of original sin. This
> startled me, because decay is just a chemical process, without which,
> life on earth could not exist. Digestion itself is a form of decay.
> Anyhow, in a flash, all sorts of connections came together in my mind,
> for example: Paul was a creationist! Something I had never actually
> thought about earnestly (hard to believe now)... And obviously, so
> was Jesus! because if original sin was not something real, that
> actually happened because the man Adam, who was created, not evolved,
> on a planet that was created good, and perfect, no decay or evil of
> any sort, etc, if Adam and Eve were just symbolic characters in a
> story, then Jesus's death on the cross to pay for that sin, didnt make
> any logical sense. Why would the Son of God need to die to fix a
> problem that never literally, actually happened, except in a
> mythological creation story, if it isnt the literal truth about how
> life on earth actually began... it is so blatant obvious now...
>
> It was a flash of great terror, suddenly seeing my faith collapse,
> feeling myself falling back into atheism... but what choice did i
> have? it was a no-brainer... I felt very sick and depressed to have
> wasted most of my life following imaginary ghosts, but i could not
> pretend to believe something that I could now clearly see was fraud.
> That is, either I had to abandon science, and believe that Adam and
> Eve were real people who brought sin into existence, or I had to
> abandon christianity completely, as a true faith. (and as for my
> trust in miracle stories, i was obviously the victim of rumors and
> fake news)
>
> footnote:
>
> This revelation has given me a whole new perspective on everything.
> Now I know why the right wing fundy Christians hate liberals and
> liberality so vehemently, because liberal christianity is more corrupt
> and evil than fundamentalist christianity. So the fundys may be crazy
> to believe in creationist theory and reject science, but at least they
> are being consistent with their bibles. The liberals, by pretending
> that Adam and Eve dont have to be understood literally, are perverting
> their own faith, quite literally, in fact... (do the math! connect
> the dots! i speak to any liberal christians reading this thread)
>
> All the mono-theist religions have this same fracture between fundy's
> and liberals. That is, Islam,Christinaity, and Judaism, in all their
> myriad versions, they are all based on the creation story of Adam and
> Eve, and are split into two groups that cannot be reconciled... about
> two-thirds of the planet is under this delusion.
>
> if only the liberals could realize this, and snap out of their god
> delusion, then they would not be so crippled politically. This is WHY
> the fundys have power over them, because they are less hypocritical
> (even if they are crazy)! this may not make sense, but if only i
> could find the right words... i could change the world!
-------------------------------------
Heavy stuff indeed! I've been an atheist since I was able to fully understand
Paleontology. I was around 16 at the time. I envy people with blind faith.
It'll be much easier for them to die.
|
|