My Childhood Brainwashing

[Iridescence]

LOL @ these dopes who proudly display no more than a ten year old's understanding of something but arrogantly claim to have it all figured out. If these same people were to apply this same attitude to other subjects they would surely be a danger to themselves and others.

This has me cringing at my own levels of idiocy... and I have even been cracked in the head with the toilet tank today...

Must be an interesting story behind that!

Nothing interesting here... I am a 'modern' minded woman who does the basic plumbing maintenance as it's needed.

 

[mudwhistle]

I quit religion when I was 8.

I was forced to go to catechism (CCD) every Monday after school and I guess i was annoying the nun with all kinds of questions. She called in the priest who squeezed my face in his bony fingers and got right up in my grill and yelled, "You are not here to ask questions! You are here to listen and believe!"

I started skipping Monday CCD the very next week and haven't been in a church since.

As far as believing; I do not believe the god that the bible tells of exists.

If there is a supreme being then I have yet to see evidence proving that existence.

It wasn't a Catholic, but a Presbyterian who essentially said to me, "You are not here to ask questions! You are here to listen and believe!"

I was 10. I really liked the missionary family that brought me to the place; every now and again we exchange a letter or two, or catch up on the phone. But back then, even to my 10 year old mind, the shit taught by the Church-Lady-freak-shows in Sunday School was fucking bananas; and the questions that my 10 year old mind presented to them apparently revealed some embarrassing truths about their beliefs--too embarrassing to allow the churchers to be understanding, patient or welcoming.

What they, and frankly every single (alleged) "Christian" I've encountered since (including those here), have managed to validate for me is their God is a vain, sadistic, bloodthirsty God; that their God is the God of human suffering and misery.

I reject their God of torture and human misery on moral grounds. I refuse to validate the authority of a being who (allegedly) created imperfect volitionals to worship him, and then refuses to accept responsibility for the predictable consequences of such imperfection in his creation, so that he can rationalize justifications to inflict eternal suffering on those who (predictably) are imperfect "believers."

AND I SWEAR, if you offer me salvation through the blood of the Lord, Jesus Christ(TM), I'll say "NO THANK YOU" to this offer to expunge my "sins" in the blood of an innocent, nor shall I place upon him the burdens of "sins" he has not committed. In other words, I refuse to make a sacrificial animal of any human being -- including Jesus.

So, while the God of misery is certainly my enemy, Jesus is all-right with me; and I'm pretty certain that I'm all-right with Jesus.

Presbyterian only has a few differences from Catholicism. They don't believe in the Trinity and the redemption of Christ. However they are almost the same.

I think the problem you have with the church is what man has added to the teachings on Christ, not what Christ himself taught. For a time the church had a standing army and prevented the common man from being able to read the Bible itself. When the King James version was written it was one of the earliest forms of the Bible that the unwashed masses could understand, and even that version has been edited from the orginal Dead Sea scrolls.

 

[Iridescence]

Well... NOW there are several versions to help the 'unwashed' masses... supposedly.

 

[Unkotare]

This has me cringing at my own levels of idiocy... and I have even been cracked in the head with the toilet tank today...

Must be an interesting story behind that!

Nothing interesting here... I am a 'modern' minded woman who does the basic plumbing maintenance as it's needed.

Well then, you're one up on me!

 

[Unkotare]

That is, not so dumb as to suggest or imply that nailing someone to a cross (let alone Jesus) is reasonable or decent--

Ok, I can't stand to see you embarrass yourself any further. Who did that nailing? (hint: not the "Christians" you deem indecent)

Cue the crickets...

 

[mudwhistle]

Well... NOW there are several versions to help the 'unwashed' masses... supposedly.

Yes. Course anyone who has been saved knows that most of the Bible is meant to teach us a lesson on what not to do. It's not a field manual on what exactly you must do every day. There is only one primary commandment and only the born-again Christian knows it.

 

[LOki]

That is, not so dumb as to suggest or imply that nailing someone to a cross (let alone Jesus) is reasonable or decent--

Ok, I can't stand to see you embarrass yourself any further. Who did that nailing? (hint: not the "Christians" you deem indecent)

Irrelevant to my point.

I think human sacrifice is wrong--even if it's sacrificing one's self. I think that all the rationalizing done to validate sacrificing human beings is a leading cause of world suffering. I see nothing reasonable or decent in it.

I think torture is wrong. I think glorifying torture is wrong. I question the morality of sanctifying the torture of human beings or a particular human being. I think elevating torture to a moral virtue is a recipe for more torture and greater suffering in the world. I see nothing reasonable or decent in it.

I think that the notion that shedding, washing with, bathing in, drinking, whatever ... the blood of an innocent, or any human being for that matter, can be a means to absolve "sin" is a reprehensible affront to reason and decency.

 

[Unkotare]

Well... NOW there are several versions to help the 'unwashed' masses... supposedly.

Yes. Course anyone who has been saved knows that most of the Bible is meant to teach us a lesson on what not to do. It's not a field manual on what exactly you must do every day. There is only one primary commandment and only the born-again Christian knows it.

The Old Testament is about what not to do. The New Testament is about what TO do.

 

[Dragon]

Unlike many here, I was lucky enough to be raised by two agnostics. They always encouraged me to explore spiritual reality just like any other kind, and to think for myself. I found ultimately that I experienced a spiritual dimension of life too profound to let me be an atheist in any conventional sense, but that I also experienced it too immediately and personally ever to be religious in any conventional sense either.

So I remain happily a heretic.

 

[Unkotare]

That is, not so dumb as to suggest or imply that nailing someone to a cross (let alone Jesus) is reasonable or decent--

Ok, I can't stand to see you embarrass yourself any further. Who did that nailing? (hint: not the "Christians" you deem indecent)

Irrelevant to my point..

It is entirely relevant that you repeated the same ridiculously erroneous claim over and over and over again without even being capable of seeing your error. This is what happens when you stop even trying to learn anything at 10 years old but pretend you understand it. Let that humiliation soak in and teach you a lesson.

 

[Unkotare]

I think human sacrifice is wrong--even if it's sacrificing one's self.

Oh really?


If a person saw a child in the street about to be run over by a truck and ran over and pushed the child out of harm's way knowing he would himself be killed in the process would that be wrong?

If a soldier in a foxhole jumped on a grenade, saving the lives of 20 of his comrades around him, would that be wrong?

If a wealthy doctor gives up her mansion to go and treat desperately poor and suffering people in a jungle somewhere knowing the chances of her dying of illness or violence are very great, is that wrong?

If a man works a back-breaking job for decades knowing it will likely shorten his life but doing so to provide for his family the only way he can, is that wrong?

The list goes on and on and on...

 

[Iridescence]

Must be an interesting story behind that!

Nothing interesting here... I am a 'modern' minded woman who does the basic plumbing maintenance as it's needed.

Well then, you're one up on me!

Um, yikes... no.. no.... nope... nopey. Not me up on you...

 

[Iridescence]

Well... NOW there are several versions to help the 'unwashed' masses... supposedly.

Yes. Course anyone who has been saved knows that most of the Bible is meant to teach us a lesson on what not to do. It's not a field manual on what exactly you must do every day. There is only one primary commandment and only the born-again Christian knows it.

The Old Testament is about what not to do. The New Testament is about what TO do.

Um... What??!

 

[Iridescence]

Yes. Course anyone who has been saved knows that most of the Bible is meant to teach us a lesson on what not to do. It's not a field manual on what exactly you must do every day. There is only one primary commandment and only the born-again Christian knows it.

The Old Testament is about what not to do. The New Testament is about what TO do.

Um... What??!

Perhaps location makes a difference, aye? (*lola* locomotion is admirable...) *kiss*kiss*

 

[mudwhistle]

I wonder why so many find it comforting to criticize the beliefs of Christians?

Does it really matter what others believe?

Why can't you just live and let live?

Because Christianity is so incredibly powerful, and it is a huge obstacle to those who have an agenda that counters it.

Yeah, it's a lot easier to tear down a society without morals and principles.

 

[mudwhistle]

I think human sacrifice is wrong--even if it's sacrificing one's self.

Oh really?


If a person saw a child in the street about to be run over by a truck and ran over and pushed the child out of harm's way knowing he would himself be killed in the process would that be wrong?

If a soldier in a foxhole jumped on a grenade, saving the lives of 20 of his comrades around him, would that be wrong?

If a wealthy doctor gives up her mansion to go and treat desperately poor and suffering people in a jungle somewhere knowing the chances of her dying of illness or violence are very great, is that wrong?

If a man works a back-breaking job for decades knowing it will likely shorten his life but doing so to provide for his family the only way he can, is that wrong?

The list goes on and on and on...

Usually Christians do all of those things.

I've never heard of a communist or a satanist doing those things.

 

[Dragon]

Usually Christians do all of those things.

No, most Christians do nothing of the kind.

I've never heard of a communist or a satanist doing those things.

I have. It's almost as rare as among Christians, but it does happen.

 

[Iridescence]

OMGoodness Gracious by all that is Holy Be SOMEONE stupid is unwisely keeping scores! :where's the dunce cap now:

 

[Baron]

It started from my parents and grandparents when I was two...My grandmother telling me "OL' Scratch Will Get You."...my first recollections.

In grammar school I was required to memorize bible verses and pray. Wednesday night prayer meetings in Baptist or primitive Baptist churches. Prayers before every public event.

Add to that nearly forty years in the church until I finally gave up about 15 years ago and knew I wouldn't believe all that BS if I live to 100. 'Course that ain't that far away.

I suggest you would rethink your disbelieve and more think about afterlife.Do not forget that we all will be punish for our sins.

 

[rightwinger]

It started from my parents and grandparents when I was two...My grandmother telling me "OL' Scratch Will Get You."...my first recollections.

In grammar school I was required to memorize bible verses and pray. Wednesday night prayer meetings in Baptist or primitive Baptist churches. Prayers before every public event.

Add to that nearly forty years in the church until I finally gave up about 15 years ago and knew I wouldn't believe all that BS if I live to 100. 'Course that ain't that far away.

I suggest you would rethink your disbelieve and more think about afterlife.Do not forget that we all will be punish for our sins.

But we will be punished by a "loving god"