The Whole Story

[Cammmpbell]

I read the book of Mormon before I was 20 years old. I have read the bible from cover to cover and have read the new testament no less than ten times. I was baptized in front of nearly 1000 people at the Robertsville Baptist church in my home town on a Sunday morning in 1956. I was in church at least three times a week. We tithed our gross, I taught Sunday school for young adults, I went to nearby towns and gave testimony before congregations in several small churches, I worked with the RA boys, I was a member of the Brotherhood, the building committee and went with others for visitation on Tuesdays. I had most of the new testament committed to memory and could quote it chapter and verse. When time came for me to be drafted the preacher called me into his study and offered to help me get ordained and become a minister. The reason...to keep me from having to leave the church. Guess what...I went to the army.

Churches are small businesses. They get everything tax free. I was going to a church of god when we moved the last time. When the preacher there realized we weren't attending church he couldn't find our place so he went to the County Sheriff's office and they told him exactly how to find us. When I told him I had a lot of doubts and wasn't going to do anything for a while he turned us over to a church nearby and then I had to get rid of them. It's money. That's all it is...money. I think the first dollar one of them takes from some old person's social security check or from some widow with little to her name should make them guilty of a misdemeanor and on the second offense I think they should be sent up.

That load of malarky has been passed down from one generation to the next for thousands of years and the people who wrote the new testament don't even believe it themselves. When I was in grammer school in McKenzie and Milan TN we started the day with the pledge and the lord's prayer and the teachers assigned each student a bible verse to memorize on Mondays and we recited them back to the class on Fridays. Talk about brainwashing. I'm not just a little perturbed about it I'm on a mission.

I have posted on no less than a dozen religious boards or forums and they dread to see me coming. Main reason...I know what's in the bible and I quote it and tell them it's bullshit. I find it next to impossible that intelligent people still believe that a most powerful, caring god turned the only keys to the kingdom over to ignorant, superstitious sheep herders who believed in witchcraft and that the earth was flat and never showed himself again.

You really need to read the history of religion and not just the bible. The story about virgin birth, son of god, savior of the world, crucifiction, resurrection etc. was told dozens of times in N. Africa and the middle east thousands of years before the Jewish version. Read about Horus the Egyptian sun god. It's a matter of historical record.

 

[LOki]

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Churches are small businesses. They get everything tax free. I was going to a church of god when we moved the last time. When the preacher there realized we weren't attending church he couldn't find our place so he went to the County Sheriff's office and they told him exactly how to find us. When I told him I had a lot of doubts and wasn't going to do anything for a while he turned us over to a church nearby and then I had to get rid of them. It's money. That's all it is...money. I think the first dollar one of them takes from some old person's social security check or from some widow with little to her name should make them guilty of a misdemeanor and on the second offense I think they should be sent up.

...

I have never been to, or heard of, any church where you could feel as free (without shame, dirty looks, fear of gossip or any other negative consequence no matter how small) to take a couple bucks out of the collection plate, as you are free to put a couple of bucks in.

It says a great deal about their spirit of charity.

 

[Avatar4321]

shame you didnt bother learning anything with your studies.

 

[Cammmpbell]

...

Churches are small businesses. They get everything tax free. I was going to a church of god when we moved the last time. When the preacher there realized we weren't attending church he couldn't find our place so he went to the County Sheriff's office and they told him exactly how to find us. When I told him I had a lot of doubts and wasn't going to do anything for a while he turned us over to a church nearby and then I had to get rid of them. It's money. That's all it is...money. I think the first dollar one of them takes from some old person's social security check or from some widow with little to her name should make them guilty of a misdemeanor and on the second offense I think they should be sent up.

...

I have never been to, or heard of, any church where you could feel as free (without shame, dirty looks, fear of gossip or any other negative consequence no matter how small) to take a couple bucks out of the collection plate, as you are free to put a couple of bucks in.

It says a great deal about their spirit of charity.

Yeah right.

The churches in this world own more real property than any other entity except the government. Look at the Vatican...they've been collecting precious art for nearly 2000 years. They wear robes which are embroidered with pure gold. They play with jeweled beads, they sling gold plated smoke pots while the are en masse.

Charity............... People drop by for a couple of hours a week, drop off their tithe and that's all it takes for them to make it a while longer. Nearly all the money donated to churches in this country is spent for preacher's salaries, their travel expenses, their homes, building expansion and maintenance, steeples, oak or mahagony pews, stained glass, carpeting, expensive musical instruments and sound systems, sending missionaries to foreign countries to try and change their cultures, religious retreats, youth programs etc.

C'mon folks...Jesus said to sell what you have and give it to the poor. He also said faith without works is dead. He also said, Be Ye Therefore Perfect...even as the heavenly Father is perfect. Just what are you doing and just where are you headed?

 

[Brucethethinker]

I was baptized...We tithed our gross, I taught Sunday school... gave testimony...I went to the army...Talk about brainwashing. I'm not just a little perturbed about it I'm on a mission.

Pretty interesting post. So it sounds like you were raised Baptist and apparantly bought into it since you tithed your gross and spent your time working with the church. So what happened?

I find it next to impossible that intelligent people still believe...

Ok, so you did believe at one time, right? Were you intelligent then? If anyone should be able to explain why people who are able to function normally and act intelligent are unable or unwilling to use the same faculty to address religous issues. I've pulled out sermon on the mount and showed them where jesus said "give to the one that asks of you", and said if you're a christian, give me your money. I actually had one person give me his money, it was less than a dollar of course, but they'll read it and say thats not what it says. How do they do this? I'm a huge believer in evolution, and I wonder why our brains function in this manner, is there a survival benefit?

Upon reading your post again, when you said "we tithed" did you mean your parents did? Did you come out of the army with your religion lost?

 

[lizzie]

I have posted on no less than a dozen religious boards or forums and they dread to see me coming. Main reason...I know what's in the bible and I quote it and tell them it's bullshit. I find it next to impossible that intelligent people still believe that a most powerful, caring god turned the only keys to the kingdom over to ignorant, superstitious sheep herders who believed in witchcraft and that the earth was flat and never showed himself again.

It sounds to me like you kind of missed what the real purpose of religion is. It's not to make yourself feel superior to others, nor to belittle the beliefs of others, but to make you a better person and instill a little humility and a true spirit of goodwill toward the world around you.

The measure of a man's character isn't in how much he knows, how intelligent he is, what he owns, wears, drives, or how much money he has. It's not found in intellectual circles or institutions of higher learning. It's in what he is when the illusions are all stripped away.