So many of you make it sound so easy to give up something that has been a core value in some of us for our entire lives with your posts like "god is dead. get over it." or "jesus, if he existed at all, was just a popular evangelist who ended up thinking he was god." The will not "cure" us. If we are to be cured at all, it has to come from our own spiritual growth, at its own pace. That being said, the type of Christianity with which I no longer associate does the same thing. "Just believe in God. He's right there beside you." Or, "stop being a homosexual. just get right with God."
if this god is everything they claim it to be .....then you are exactly what it made you to be.....sounds right to me? you should know that the christians are simply fooling themselves....teaching what a group of romans decided we should all know about this jesus guy..... it always sounds so easy..... because giving up the crap the world trys to tell you god is supposed to mean.....is the best thing you could possibly do for yourself ....ever..... the jesus guy said .....its in you...... you dont need anything elts.......its in you...... not the stars.... not the cross... not the moon..... its easy to give up on cus - the crap the world sells is never more then what they want you to think...... the jesus guy would be very disappointed in his modern day followers
I never said it was not a necessary step...though I'm not agreeing that it is. But again, you just made it sound so easy. That's my point. These values are intrinsic to some of us. We may intellectually know that we need to move on (and some of us are seeking a balance), but that doesn't mean that we can just come to that realization and give up beliefs held since childhood. It's as if I said, "humans actually don't have to breath. all you have to do is stop breathing and not think about the need for a breath." Even if it was a true statement, it could potentially take you a very long time to give up that natural instinct. I know that religious beliefs are not life and death like breathing is...but to some, they are. It sort of like how the joke goes - there are no atheists during a plane crash. I know it's not true, but at the same time even years of growth and maturity may not fully remove those old beliefs and fears (which is sad that religion causes fear at all, but that's for a different discussion).
I think for some it is incredibly easy, because they have never actually experienced the Divine. They never did the requisite work to do so. So many of the former religious and current religious are/were luke-warm, as the NT puts it. They were social believers, never "working out their salvation with fear and trembling" and sacrifice, so they never reaped the benefits of truly living a spiritual life. So long as a person feels fulfilled, that is all that matters. But for someone who has never had a radically altering spiritual experience to say that leaving all that behind can be done at the drop of a hat is just misleading at best.
You arent giving up your intrinsic values....you are stuggling (Im guessing) to release the dogma you can no longer fit in. If its Christianity, you dont have to go against anything Jesus preached if those are the values you respect. It seems you might struggle though with giving up the idea of 'Hell'. To me, it doesnt make sense and I cannot MAKE myself believe anything my brain will not accept. It becomes that simple.
the way i feel it.......you dont have to give up anything from your childhood... simply allow that part of your self to evolve.... see thru what you are told to what is actually there to be found.... seek and ye shall find.......yes? i never gave up on what i feel.... but i long ago gave up on what is taught... what it taught is the word of man.... what man calls the word of god...is simply what men think the word of god is.... we can go back to the simplest idea...it is all within you..... everything you need.... you just have to look for it ... sound to me like it is already calling to you anyway religion(and the mess people make of it) is the problem.......not "god" dogma and ritual is man made......synthetic....... ps:everything that is in the book you have about the jesus guy was decided upon by a handfull of greeks many years afer the jesus guy was killed for telling people that religion is the problem
Well for me it was easy to give the whole christian religion a big middle finger up the ass for trying to brainwash me since I was 5. Logic always prevails.
I've never bought into religion..at like 7 when we all went into the separate room to "accept jesus" I kept questioning all of it and just had this uneasy feeling the whole time like it was a big scam
People continually bring this type of stuff up. Religion != Christianity always. Stop focusing on Christianity and try to at least attempt to see what the OP is saying. Inb4 "all religion is a form of brainwashing and/or a scam herp derp"
OP mentioned Christianity in his post a lot. I just so happen to have very strong opinions towards it. It was a core value of mine for years so it seemed only logical to talk about it.
if christianity is the only religion you ever question........ you really miss out on alot...... of coarse it is the most in our face group....... so it is the first thing that pops into so many heads..... but there really is more then that out there...... the trick is finding it for yourself ...not expecting to be led to it...... if you want to be led...to sit in a pew ...and put your money in the plate..... if you want to know for your self..... seek and ye shall find......
Do you have strong opinions toward what is institutional Christianity in this country, or the actual, untampered-with essence of the faith itself? Trust me, the faith I was brought up in (Hasidic Judaism) has a ton of faults. My parents always taught me to look past the faults and toward the heart of the faith though. That timeless message of putting others before yourself in all circumstances, and reaping the benefits of what peace that brings to your life. I think the vast majority of the anti-religious miss the "forest for the trees" as it were.
more often then not...i hear/see people claiming to be atheists......who live far more christ-like lives/have more christ-like attitudes that many who claim to be christians.... and they dont even realize it
Many of the atheists I have met in real life fit that description. Many of them posting on this site? Ehhh not so much Too filled with hate and a provincial mindset. There are a few on here that come to mind immediately though
Most religions, at their core, are fantastic. However, once you introduce man to the equation everything goes to shit. I think the most religions have loads of great ideas and teachings they are just (for the most part) misconstrued, taken too literally, or enforced to an extreme that is not necessary. I can also agree with that statement, far too many people only focus on the fanaticals of each religion. Instead of the majority which are pretty mellow.
atheism is true freedom, its the movement of getting people to stop taking religion literally. the movement of healthier ways of thinking I got nothing against religion, my only rule is don't take it seriously in your everyday life. take it metaphorically for what it is. Back then when they wrote the bibles original texts in the bronze age they didn't have evolved ways of thinking that we do today. I think it's time we just respect those times in our past and not hold on to some of that stuff too much, even though it seems like sacred information to some people. Time to move on.
Who said all religion was a scam? I was just stating that something seemed off about organized religion and all that to me at an early age...I know about all kinds of religion...taoism, buddhism, pantheism, unitarian universalist, ect...I've found my path so it's all good
And perhaps this is where people need to be, but my point is that it is not as easy to stop believing that Jesus is literally the son of god when it has been put in your head since birth. I should mention that I personally have already gone through most of the changes I feel I need to. I do still believe in divinity, and I do consider myself a follower of Jesus (because of his teachings). I'm not afraid of hell, and I'm not obsessed with the idea of heaven. But, it has taken me almost 12 years of real soul searching to come to this point...and I'll likely feel differently in another 12. But, again, that's more than a decade. So when you're (all of us, not you specifically) annoyed with why people just cannot let go of their antiquated religious beliefs, have a little empathy for the fact that it's like asking them to give up an arm. And nathann is right...this is about all religion, not just christianity. Christianity just happens to be my own framework and background.