Brother Jeff Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 How many of us once saw the world through these damn Jesus Goggles? I got sucked into the fundie Christian cult at the age of 19, and I spent 15 years with my Jesus Goggles firmly in place. Sure, I had bipolar disorder, and that meant "backsliding" periodically back into periods of alcohol and drug abuse, but even during those times I never doubted the existence of God. I spent 15 years of my life swinging between periods of devout and extreme religious belief and periods of severe substance abuse. I didn't get free until I was 34 years old -- two years after I was finally properly diagnosed with the bipolar illness at the age of 32. I spent 15 years of my life self-medicating with extreme religion or with alcohol and drugs. Now, I am finally FREE! I still have bipolar disorder, but it is well controlled and is usually not much of an issue. I rarely drink and I no longer use drugs. Hell, I don't even smoke cigarettes anymore. I quit that nasty habit 11-1/2 years ago and am alive because I did. With the exception of a few bipolar-induced "re-conversion" experiences, I have been free from religion since early 2000. But it took a very long time to process the intense anger and rage I felt at having spent so many years enslaved to a false belief system. It wasn't easy letting go of God. I really, really wanted him to exist. But now, I am comfortable with my lack of belief and with the probable reality that death really is the end of existence, and there is no heaven waiting for us. I love THIS life now immensely, and now that the Jesus Goggles have been ripped off and I am at or near the end of the de-conversion process, I intend to live the rest of THIS life FULLY! I wish I could help my Christian friends on Facebook and in my extended family rip their damn Jesus Goggles off so they could see the world clearly as it really is. But we all know how difficult it is to show people the REAL WORLD when the Jesus Goggles are firmly in place. I got lucky. I went through a lot of hellish pain getting FREE, but I am very lucky! I wish I could have that 15 years back so I could live them very differently, but since I can't do that I will live my remaining years without religion FULLY and with great gusto! End of rant. Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHorse Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 I wish I could help my Christian friends on Facebook and in my extended family rip their damn Jesus Goggles off so they could see the world clearly as it really is. But we all know how difficult it is to show people the REAL WORLD when the Jesus Goggles are firmly in place. I got lucky. I went through a lot of hellish pain getting FREE, but I am very lucky! I wish I could have that 15 years back so I could live them very differently, but since I can't do that I will live my remaining years without religion FULLY and with great gusto! End of rant. Glory! I hear you! I'm also glad to be free of those damn heavy things, but get so mad that those I love the most still have theirs on. Every time someone posts another "praise jesus" or "how awesome is our god?" picture/quote, I feel like banging my head against the wall, and screaming at them through the screen. 99% of my friends and family are still christians, so I can't run away and hide, lol. Maybe we should hold "cell groups", for the sole purpose of attempting to deconvert people. Hey, if christians can do it in order to pursuade former athiests or members of other religions to turn to christianity, why can't we do the opposite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedah Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 It's not just Christianity, but any beliefs that are unfounded in reason in general. http://www.livescience.com/39038-how-delusions-shape-perception.html Delusional People See the World Through Their Mind's Eye"Beliefs form in order to minimize our surprise about the world," said neuroscientist Phil Corlett of Yale University in New Haven, Conn., who was not involved in the study. "Our expectations override what we actually see," Corlett added. The general public remains disturbingly unaware of just how fucked a persons perception of reality is just by being a fundie. Religion doesn't just affect a persons private spiritual journey, it affects how you judge people every moment of every day. Religions based on absurdities will result in members viewing the world through an extremely warped filter. Hell we all heard about the recent movie "Gods not dead" where fundies portrayed every single non christian as unhappy, lost, and amoral. That movie most likely wasn't a deliberate attempt on the people behind it to misrepresent the situation. More likely, that's what they actually believe. They see someone acting immoral, and instantly their mind judges that person to be a non christian, which further increases their delusions. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubtingNate Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 It is a process! I am still working on it. Thank you for sharing your story. The idea of 'Jesus goggles' reminds me of this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Good old god glasses, glad I got rid of mine. They're the only glasses that make one's eyesight worse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts