"It has messed me up so badly."

by scout575 9 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  scout575

  "Christianity has made my life a living hell. It has messed me up so badly, and I haven't been able to see it until now. I look at all of my family and I really do pity them. I still believe in a high power, but I choose to believe that god ( whether it be male, female or some force ) is bigger than any dogma, church, or set of rules written by a bunch of men thousands of years ago."

  The above quote is from an ex-Christian website. The author is a former member af an evangelical Baptist church, in his mid-twenties. His sentiments reflect those of many others on the site, who come from denominations from right across the Christian spectrum. How paradoxical that a religion claiming divine origin, should 'mess up' so many of its members.
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  sonnyboy

  I tend to believe in a higher power of some sort since it's highly improbable that the existence of anything is coincidental. But the notion of the Christian god being responsible seems kind of silly to me. He's too child-like to have been around since the beginning. I don't believe that a true god worthy of the title would feel the need to play cruel jokes on his creations and call it love.
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  Shazard

  Sounds like... "chemistry has messed me so badly in school so I don't believe anymore in atoms and chemical reactions as I believe there are processes higher and more complex then chemistry books describe and stupid Mendeleyev invents"
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  Scully

  One of my favorite quotes is this: "Dear God, save me from your followers."
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  Narkissos

  Scout,

  As you don't mind repeating yourself I hope you won't mind if I do...

  Imo, if religion were not potentially harmful it wouldn't be helpful to anybody either. Every remedy is a poison. If you don't need it don't take it, and if you do need it make sure you take the type and dose which are suited to you.

  I remember Kierkegaard once wrote (in his journals, I guess, but I can't locate it now) that if Christianity is taught too early in life it can break a person down forever.

  What I find sorely missing among Christian pastors (and parents!) is responsibility. Most of them don't know or want to know about the harm their teaching can cause. They prefer to regard it as a harmless panacea. I never heard one of them telling anybody: "You don't need Christianity, you will be better off without it." That's the problem imo.
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  carla

  Scully, sometimes I think your my mom incognito! You often will say something that my mom has just said quite recently! weird huh?
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  scout575

  Narkissos: I listened to a radio program the other day saying that 500,000 Brits are now living in France. An Estate Agent pointed out that 80% of Brits who move to France, move back to Britain within 2 years ( no offence ;-). The advice given to people considering moving to France was: DO YOUR RESEARCH CAREFULLY before you take on something as life-changing as emigrating.

  It seemed to me, at the time, that one very important part of that research would be to talk to people who had emigrated and then returned, and ask them why they felt that had to move back to Britain. This would then put them in a much more enlightened position before making the decision whether to emigrate or not.

  The religious parallels to this are clear: If someone were considering becoming a JW, they would do well to read the postings on JWD before they made their decision whether to become a JW or not. Similarly, if a JW ( possibly one secretly reading my post, but having missed my offering last week ) were considering joining another Christian church, they would do well to read ex-Christian websites and message boards, before making their decision. Maybe then they would decide that Christian 'medication' of any brand is best left on the shelf.
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  Scully

  carla:

  Scully, sometimes I think your my mom incognito! You often will say something that my mom has just said quite recently! weird huh?

  I'll take that as a compliment, although I don't know if I'm old enough to be your mom....
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  drew sagan

  I still believe in a high power, but I choose to believe that god ( whether it be male, female or some force ) is bigger than any dogma, church, or set of rules written by a bunch of men thousands of years ago."

  The great paradox of religion, does religion make man or does man make religion? I somewhat see it both ways. Man without question has used religion in more ways to hurt than to heal. But it is man who has done this, not the creator (if you happen to believe in one). To be fair to all sides, creator included we must as humans recognize that what people choose to do, even with divine revelation isn't proof that there is or is not a creator. Personally I've allways been impressed with Christian scripture which clearly states that the church would be corrupted and abused by men in the future. It's our own choice to believe or not to believe. A choice that should be made on our own, and not entirely dependent upon the actions of others.
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  jojochan

  "Dear God, save me from your followers."

  I wanted to scream this out last night so bad.

  But really I feel the same way when it comes to organized religion,especially when the witness group tends to put things into catogories.Black and White. But to me it's not that simple as they put it.

  Spirituality to me personally, is so much bigger, so much more complex. Are they serious in thinking that they can peg God down so easily?

  Give me a break....

  jojochan.