What kinds of things did you fall for as a Christian?
Offline I'm reading a Stephen King novel (Hearts in Atlantis), which reminded me of some of the things I swallowed whole as a Christian. In the novel, King says Bertrand Russell invented the peace symbol as an expression of two semaphore symbols: "N" and "D," which stand for nuclear disarmament. I checked with Wiki (not always reliable), which says the symbol was invented by Gerald Holtom. Probably Wiki is right on this one, but the juxtaposition of Bertrand Russell, a famous atheist's, name and what I was taught regarding the peace symbol got me thinking.
When I was a kid, I read a Christian comic that said the peace symbol was created by Communists and was representative of a broken, upside-down cross. I didn't question that explanation because I was taught never to question authority, especially Christian authority. As a result, I bought into a lot of crap. I'm reminded of lyrics from one of Dan Barker's songs: "Pride goeth, so the Christians, say, before a mighty fall. But me, I've never felt that way. I never stand so tall as when I say I'm proud to be an atheist, oh yes! It helps me stand for so much more...and fall for so much less." The religious mindset sure makes for a lot of gullible people.
Until tonight I didn't have a clue where the peace symbol really came from or what it really meant. I had, of course, discarded the explanation I was given as a Christian, but it's nice to finally have some pieces of the truth to work with.
So, if you used to be a Christian, what other things did you fall for as a result?
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You name it I swallowed it. Wait, let me rephrase that. *cough* *runs outside quickly to retrieve brain from gutter*
I was brought up in a strongly Roman Catholic family. Both my parents were of the religion, we attended church every weekend as a family, I went to religious schools all my life. These were my parents, my teachers, my parents friends etc. What reason would they have to lie to me and lead me astray? Why would they tell me fallacies and misguide me?
These are the last people I should be questioning, so I didn't. It's not like they were other schoolkids in the yard or strangers. Due to this it wasn't until 8th grade I started questioning and 10th grade I stopped believing in the religion. It was a while later that I stopped believing in faith all together.
Organised religion is the ultimate form of blasphemy.
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Okay, you bit, so I'll own up to a few more things:
- backward satanic lyrics on rock records
- Proctor & Gamble symbol is satanic
- Rock music itself is satanic, especially heavy metal
- speaking in tongues
- discerning of spirits
- demon possession / demon oppression
I'm sure there are more, but that's a pretty pathetic list, huh?Books on atheism, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server.
Let's see Fundamentalist parents/family and church attendance 4-5 times a week adds up to alot of belief in alot of superstitious and improbable crap.
- A benevelont father figure who would let me be tortured for eternity if I did not believe and submit to him.
- Faith Healing:
- Noah's Ark
It all seems embarassing now and I wonder why it took me so long to see the absurdity of it all.
Here's one.... a well known Evangelist picked me out of a crowd and told me he had a reading from god about me..He said "the lord told me to tell you it's time to stop running from him. He can heal your pain and make you whole again". It made a big impression on me for a short time and I bought it of course being unfamiliar with cold readings.. It reminds me of this exchange from the TV show..."House". The Doctor and main character is an atheist.
Boyd: God says you look for excuses to be alone.
House MD (Hugh Laurie):
"See, that is exactly the kind of brilliance that sounds deep, but you could say it about any person who doesn't pine for the social approval of everyone he meets - which you were cleverly able to deduce about me by not being a moron. Next time, tell God to be more specific".
Love that show.
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
Mostly, I believed in the power of prayer. I could see divine intent in the most mundane and irrelevant events. With that one delusion in hand, I never doubted that god existed, not until I realized that I needed a more rigorous standard to believe in something.
It's only the fairy tales they believe.
I believed in god for about 3 months, during which time the most disturbing concept was this invisible huge white, plump, glowing bearded magic head in the sky watching every thing I did. I've been a bit paranoid since. lol
People who think there is something they refer to as god don't ask enough questions.
They told me in church that the band, KISS, stood for Knights in Satan's Service.
I bought the thing about the peace symbol, too.
It pains me to no end to remember how long I listened to fucking Stryper because I was afraid I'd get demons if I listened to any of those satanic rock stars. God damn, Stryper sucked.
This is sort of nebulous, but my distinct lack of a girlfriend in highschool was partly because I was just a geek, but also because I was terrified of giving in to "urges" and touching a vagina or something horrible like that. I mean, they really drilled me with how evil any sort of sexual contact was before marriage.
And, I suppose you could include the fact that I believed there was a lot of evidence that Jesus lived.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
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I, too, used to believe and for the same reasons...these people profess to love and care about me, why would they tell me lies?
Being raised lutheran, I was taught to hate catholics because they worship mary and pray to her. According to lutheran dogma this is a clear violation of the first commandment. Was also told that organ donation is wrong as well as divorce under any circumstances (including abusive relationships), cursing, abortion. Gosh, there are lots of things!
Here is a question that might belong in a different thread: If Eve is the cause of childbirth pain then why do so many xian women get epidurals? Also, who is to blame for all of the other pain...like migraines...did adam do that? If he did, then why do men get them?
Here are a couple of others:
Evolution is just a theory and they define theory as a guess therefore creationism is right because it is in the bible and isn't a guess. (Huh???)
Moses wrote the first five books of the bible including his own death. Now that is quite an accomplishment!!
I used to believe all the shit about heavy metal music until I started listening to it. That may have been part of what turned me agnostic and eventually atheist. I found out I disagreed with Chirstians about virtually everything and then realized just how ridiculous the whole myth is.
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I once freaked out during a Keith Green song about Satan ("No One Believes in Me, Anymore"
, thought I was being attacked by demons and threw the record out the door. 
Even Keith Green wasn't safe, apparently.
Now, how fucked up is that?
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What didn't I believe?
Healthy skepticism is a hard habit to get into.
I was never a Christian and have never believed in a God, but I know when I was younger I thought the Bible HAD to be true, because so many people believed in it...how's that for some logic
I've also never been a Christian, but I used to believe that it was obvious that Jesus existed, just that he wasn't God.
Now I am skeptical about Jesus ever having existed, and still don't believe he was any kind of god (not even a demi-god).
Shaun
I'll fight for a person's right to speak so long as that person will, in return, fight to allow me to challenge their opinions and ridicule them as the content of their ideas merit.
This is probably a little off topic, sorry about that. I grew up in a non-religious household
The first time someone told me I was going to hell because my parents didn't take me to church I freaked out (I was 7). I thought I was a bad person because god didn't talk to me and he wasn't my friend.
I was also terrified of Christ on the cross because a religious friend told me he had come back from the dead and I thought she meant he was a zombie.
If god takes life he's an indian giver
That shows it can even affect kids who aren't indoctrinated. Wow. Even after I stopped believing I still had a residual fear of hell for many years. I spent a long time laughing at my former beliefs before that fear went away.
I feel that the thorough indoctrination I received will probably affect me for the rest of my life. I would like to see a world where kids aren't exposed to such ideas. I won't live to see it, but it's a nice thing to strive for...a nice thing to think about...why can't I find a way to not end this sentence with a preposition? :P
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Yea but the whole rock music thing wasn't a representation of all of chirstanity just the angry moms. As for the demonic possesions People like to claimed that the devil did it instead of the person. I;m sure very few demonic possesions actually occur
I'm sure NO demonic possessions occurred because demons don't exist.
As for the "angry moms" thing, that's baloney. I saw fear of rock music, fear of movies, fear of anything that wasn't strictly "christian" all over my little corner of christendom. My father would have beat the shit out of me had he caught me listening to rock music. As a result, I didn't have a normal, exploratory childhood. Oh, the things I could tell you!
I've been told I am "demon-possessed" by more than a few Christians who don't like my questions, most recently by my "angry mom" a few years ago. I'm friggin' middle-aged! At a war protest a fundy Christian tried to "lay hands" on me because of my unbelief. Had I not been representing a peace group, there's distinct possibility she might have ended up on her ample posterior.
Regardless of whether or not these people are the "norm," I encounter them in my day-to-day life. And moderate religionists are enablers because they make it look "okay" to believe crazy things. Even moderate religionists believe in god and miracles, for example, and cry foul if anyone cries bullshit. This insulates the crazies. Little kids like I was get hurt in the process.
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