This describes Christianity (to an extent). When I turned atheist (because I couldn’t believe in God/Jesus anymore, not because I didn’t want to) there is this very Church-shaped hole in your proverbial soul that needs time to close. It’s a very sobering, yet lonely, way to live life, but due to the internet you don’t find yourself lonely for too long, but I imagine it used to be a pretty terrifying way to live life pre-internet.
I am lucky my Christian family still loves me, and I know they only proselytize to me (every now and then) because they care.
This is something that is extremely difficult to process. Most religions that have persisted assuage some of our most natural existential worries (e.g. mortality, right vs wrong, free will, isolation vs being watched over).
When someone stops believing, all of those questions float back to the surface, and “we really don’t know” is such an unsatisfying answer.
Yeah I grew up before the internet was really big enough to find people in my situation so I just had to suffer in silence because I live in a very religious area.
It created a lot of resentment that I’ve had to struggle through because I was basically ostracized whenever my lack of faith was brought up. Some of the kindest sweetest people I’d ever met suddenly would act as if my existence was a disgrace.
I don’t agree with the downvotes here. I fall on the other side of the theistic question from you, but if you’re being sincere in your comment then I think you deserve appreciation, not condemnation. The way I see it, I have no answers, so I can’t judge anyone else’s conclusions, I can only judge them for being unwilling to ask the question and weigh their beliefs against it. A genuine belief, a conviction, should be one that survives trial by fire and stands up to any reasonable scrutiny. If your belief can’t do that, it’s not an actual belief, it’s a superstition. Taking you at your word here, if you genuinely weigh your belief against opposition rather than run from it and still come out with the conclusion of deistic belief, I’m not going to judge you. At least you’re doing the work.
Sorry for the unnecessary soapbox here, seeing the majority downvotes just left a bad taste in my mouth on this one.
Me too, but like I said, at least they did the math. I can respect a bad conclusion, I have less respect for ignorance and unwillingness to question. That’s all I’m saying here.
You haven’t seen them going around posting that exact same comment elsewhere then and telling people it’s the only true faith and going all evangelical with “if you don’t specifically believe in Jesus you go to hell and that’s the only truth that’s real” then?
Cause it feels like they are going sniping for followers paid for by the “He gets us” campaign.
To the best of my knowledge this is the only comment I’m aware of from them, and the only one to which I am referring. I am NOT attempting to endorse this person or their message in general or as a whole.
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This describes Christianity (to an extent). When I turned atheist (because I couldn’t believe in God/Jesus anymore, not because I didn’t want to) there is this very Church-shaped hole in your proverbial soul that needs time to close. It’s a very sobering, yet lonely, way to live life, but due to the internet you don’t find yourself lonely for too long, but I imagine it used to be a pretty terrifying way to live life pre-internet.
I am lucky my Christian family still loves me, and I know they only proselytize to me (every now and then) because they care.
This is something that is extremely difficult to process. Most religions that have persisted assuage some of our most natural existential worries (e.g. mortality, right vs wrong, free will, isolation vs being watched over).
When someone stops believing, all of those questions float back to the surface, and “we really don’t know” is such an unsatisfying answer.
Yeah I grew up before the internet was really big enough to find people in my situation so I just had to suffer in silence because I live in a very religious area.
It created a lot of resentment that I’ve had to struggle through because I was basically ostracized whenever my lack of faith was brought up. Some of the kindest sweetest people I’d ever met suddenly would act as if my existence was a disgrace.
My faith in Christianity was actually fading, and I started to research it. Doing so actually strengthened it and led me to being baptised lmao.
I don’t agree with the downvotes here. I fall on the other side of the theistic question from you, but if you’re being sincere in your comment then I think you deserve appreciation, not condemnation. The way I see it, I have no answers, so I can’t judge anyone else’s conclusions, I can only judge them for being unwilling to ask the question and weigh their beliefs against it. A genuine belief, a conviction, should be one that survives trial by fire and stands up to any reasonable scrutiny. If your belief can’t do that, it’s not an actual belief, it’s a superstition. Taking you at your word here, if you genuinely weigh your belief against opposition rather than run from it and still come out with the conclusion of deistic belief, I’m not going to judge you. At least you’re doing the work.
Sorry for the unnecessary soapbox here, seeing the majority downvotes just left a bad taste in my mouth on this one.
edit: improved wording slightly
Thank you ❤️
I read it like someone saying they’ve done the math and determined the pyramid scheme is a great idea.
Me too, but like I said, at least they did the math. I can respect a bad conclusion, I have less respect for ignorance and unwillingness to question. That’s all I’m saying here.
You haven’t seen them going around posting that exact same comment elsewhere then and telling people it’s the only true faith and going all evangelical with “if you don’t specifically believe in Jesus you go to hell and that’s the only truth that’s real” then?
Cause it feels like they are going sniping for followers paid for by the “He gets us” campaign.
To the best of my knowledge this is the only comment I’m aware of from them, and the only one to which I am referring. I am NOT attempting to endorse this person or their message in general or as a whole.
It’s alright just providing context for my down votes.