suzie Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Welcome to ex-c! You should definitely NOT feel guilty for things that are totally normal and natural for you to desire! I'm feeling less guilty every day, which is nice... can't wait until all this religious guilt is totally gone!! Susie, the strange thing is, the advise that you were given by your Christian friends was wrong...most Christians don't even know their own theology....Athiest know it better actually....Suzie, I will let you in on a dirty little secret which should make you feel less isolated: Perhaps 99% of your Christian friends are atheists too; they just don't realize it yet, and unlike you, don't have the courage to face this fact out of fear of being cast into the eternal lake of fire. If you look at their behavior, ethics, you will see that their no different than anyone else. And in fact, your country, the UK, Scotland, and many other first world countries are full of such "Christians". How do you mean it was wrong?? I have been getting the feeling lately that the only reason a lot of Christians still believe is out of fear... Welcome, susie! Love your username, or real name - whichever it is. I've always secretly wished my name was susie! It's just so dang cute! Anyway, thanks for sharing your story with us. I'm so sorry you've been subjected to so much torment over all of that religious garbage! I'm glad you are takin' out the trash! And yippee for you and Pudd! Y'all must tell us all about your first coffee together! Hey!! Its my real name, well a shortened version of my real name but most of my friends call me either Suz or Suzie We went for coffee on Friday, spent 3.5 hours chatting, and Pudd gave me some great reading material Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ ficino ♦ Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 We went for coffee on Friday, spent 3.5 hours chatting, and Pudd gave me some great reading material Very cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingLife Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Welcome Suzie, Nice story and hang in there, trust me all the babble is BS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftIce Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Hiya Suzie! I'm new myself. I can relate do you so well! I had a similar experience, except with me, my aunt threatened my choice of religion and called it a christian cult. It sent me into a big spiral of panic just like you had, although not to that extreme. I'm so sorry for what you went through. I feel absolutely disgusted with people that use scare tactics to try and make others either stay in their religion or join. It's evil, disgusting, morally repugnant, and just plain snake oil salesman-y. I am so glad that you were able to find your way out of that hole of depression and desperation that you fell into. I know how horrible it is to be inside it. I also was able to break myself out of my own downward spiral of panic by finding a similar site to this one a few years back, and because of this sudden a-hah! moment I had. I don't know if it would help you, but I had an epiphany of sorts over the idea of hell, that snapped me out of it as well. If I get scared, I just think something like this: If there really is a god, a god that tortures anyone for eternity, for ANY reason, could I honestly bring myself to love it, or let alone worship it? Would my own morals allow me to think that a god like that deserves anything other than utter loathing? For me, the answer is always a giant resounding NO. So, ironically, it was my OWN MORALS, that pulled me out of the hole I fell into. It was my own moral code that simply blotted the idea of hell out of my logic center. I think I know the website you mentioned also. And it IS horrible, and it is a prime example of pure scare tactics to get people to follow a certain belief. This is kind of unrelated, but I use a free browser add on called 'Web of Trust', that lets its own users rate websites. That horrible website I mentioned was all the way in the red (red is totally untrustworthy, while green is trustworthy.) If you want to get it, here's the website for it: http://www.mywot.com It just kind of adds to the idea that 'this website is total bullsh*t and its owner is batsh*t insane', and it might help you feel less afraid if you come across any other batsh*t insane Christian websites like that (I think nearly all of them come up as red on my WOT thing.) It's come in really handy for me, and saved me a few times from clicking on a potentionally unsafe website (be that unsafe for the computer or unsafe for my mental state!) Anyway, welcome to the site! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzie Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 Hiya Suzie! I'm new myself. I can relate do you so well! I had a similar experience, except with me, my aunt threatened my choice of religion and called it a christian cult. It sent me into a big spiral of panic just like you had, although not to that extreme. I'm so sorry for what you went through. I feel absolutely disgusted with people that use scare tactics to try and make others either stay in their religion or join. It's evil, disgusting, morally repugnant, and just plain snake oil salesman-y. I am so glad that you were able to find your way out of that hole of depression and desperation that you fell into. I know how horrible it is to be inside it. I also was able to break myself out of my own downward spiral of panic by finding a similar site to this one a few years back, and because of this sudden a-hah! moment I had. I don't know if it would help you, but I had an epiphany of sorts over the idea of hell, that snapped me out of it as well. If I get scared, I just think something like this: If there really is a god, a god that tortures anyone for eternity, for ANY reason, could I honestly bring myself to love it, or let alone worship it? Would my own morals allow me to think that a god like that deserves anything other than utter loathing? For me, the answer is always a giant resounding NO. So, ironically, it was my OWN MORALS, that pulled me out of the hole I fell into. It was my own moral code that simply blotted the idea of hell out of my logic center. I think I know the website you mentioned also. And it IS horrible, and it is a prime example of pure scare tactics to get people to follow a certain belief. This is kind of unrelated, but I use a free browser add on called 'Web of Trust', that lets its own users rate websites. That horrible website I mentioned was all the way in the red (red is totally untrustworthy, while green is trustworthy.) If you want to get it, here's the website for it: http://www.mywot.com It just kind of adds to the idea that 'this website is total bullsh*t and its owner is batsh*t insane', and it might help you feel less afraid if you come across any other batsh*t insane Christian websites like that (I think nearly all of them come up as red on my WOT thing.) It's come in really handy for me, and saved me a few times from clicking on a potentionally unsafe website (be that unsafe for the computer or unsafe for my mental state!) Anyway, welcome to the site! I actually had a similar epiphany a week ago... I also realised there is no way I would enjoy heaven knowing so many people that I love are burning in hell.... it just makes so much more sense when you look at it all as made up crap!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akheia Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Welcome! Fear is such a horrible reason to convert, but Christianity would quickly die out if it didn't rely upon this ghastly manipulation of our human fears and feelings. Though I'm sorry to hear you went through all that craziness, I'm glad you're educating yourself and pulled through it into the light of day again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzie Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 Welcome! Fear is such a horrible reason to convert, but Christianity would quickly die out if it didn't rely upon this ghastly manipulation of our human fears and feelings. Though I'm sorry to hear you went through all that craziness, I'm glad you're educating yourself and pulled through it into the light of day again. So today I made the mistake of going to an atheist facebook page, where a christian (presumably catholic) had posted about the miracle of the sun and the virgin of fatima.... i read up on it on wiki and started freaking out all over again... I had finally been actually enjoying my life, not living in fear, until i read about that just hoping i can pull myself back out of it again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TrueFreedom Posted May 4, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 4, 2012 People of all religions have religious sightings, Suzie. There's an elephant god statue in India that drinks milk. People of all religions experience NDEs that fit their worldview. We all experience delusions. Don't let fear control you and ruin your life. Hope you start feeling better soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzie Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 People of all religions have religious sightings, Suzie. There's an elephant god statue in India that drinks milk. People of all religions experience NDEs that fit their worldview. We all experience delusions. Don't let fear control you and ruin your life. Hope you start feeling better soon! I don't want to let the fear control me, I'm thinking of trying to get an appointment with a psycholigist to see if they can help me come up with some ways of dealing with the fear... its worth a try i guess do you know of any other "miracles" from other religions? Because at the moment the whole Fatima miracle thing is one of the main things keeping me from leaving this all behind... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TrueFreedom Posted May 5, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 5, 2012 Hindus have many miracle claims, including the statue that takes milk offerings in my prior post. It is claimed that even current yogis can travel through time and space and be at more than one place at once. A child buddha recently meditated in a tree for months without eating or drinking. Of course, they covered him at night so that nobody could see what he was doing. Many cultures have traditions of magic, spirit possession, prophecy, etc. Many ancient kings were said to be virgin born. Many were considered gods. This video includes a scientific investigation of Catholic miracles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuI6x_9Rr7g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted May 5, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 5, 2012 suzie, I am coming late to this first posting of yours. I think I was away this time last month and missed it. I want to welcome you to EX-c! Really glad to have you here with us. Looks like you're fitting right in my friend! It's always so nice to meet others who have gone through the same bullshit and pain. We understand each other and that's why I keep coming back everyday to see what my intelligent friends have to say for the day!! It's wonderful!! Glad you are now part of that!! sincerely, Margee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzie Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 Hindus have many miracle claims, including the statue that takes milk offerings in my prior post. It is claimed that even current yogis can travel through time and space and be at more than one place at once. A child buddha recently meditated in a tree for months without eating or drinking. Of course, they covered him at night so that nobody could see what he was doing. Many cultures have traditions of magic, spirit possession, prophecy, etc. Many ancient kings were said to be virgin born. Many were considered gods. This video includes a scientific investigation of Catholic miracles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuI6x_9Rr7g Thanks haha I'm kinda scared to google these things in case I just find more Christian Miracles that seem real to me. I'm at work at the moment so I'll have to have a look at the video when I get home... and hopefully after a loooooong sleep lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzie Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 suzie, I am coming late to this first posting of yours. I think I was away this time last month and missed it. I want to welcome you to EX-c! Really glad to have you here with us. Looks like you're fitting right in my friend! It's always so nice to meet others who have gone through the same bullshit and pain. We understand each other and that's why I keep coming back everyday to see what my intelligent friends have to say for the day!! It's wonderful!! Glad you are now part of that!! sincerely, Margee Thankyou for your lovely warm welcome Margee I've seen you around the forums and your posts always seem to bring me comfort 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts