seven77 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Context: I was talking with a friend who is still in the church about mental illness recently. Her brother is a recovering alcoholic who suffers from PTSD. She says that his mental illness is the work of Satan and is due to him not being able to overcome his sin nature. She then went on to remind me that God is good, he never gives up and that we can all overcome our 'selfish sin' with God's help. A few minutes later, the conversation turned to the subject of how society makes a lot of concessions for the mentally ill and how that enables them to avoid seeking God. I really didn't have the energy to pursue this sentiment at the time, so I kinda let it go. She sensed that I wasn't buying into her speech, so before I left, she gave me a TL;DR version of how she overcame her 'struggles' (child of divorce, lived in sin with her now-husband before marriage, supposed alcoholism, and a bunch of other stuff that she likes to trot out during her testimonies to her 'broken' friends and during testimony time at the women's retreats....) My Response: Blaming Satan and sin for humanity's problems is a lot like making excuses for Santa when he fails to deliver the desired holiday goods. It's particularly devastating when you know you or your kid's name is on the nice list and yet the jerkface dickhead down the street got the coveted Xbox. The devastation is even deeper when God himself fails to deliver on his promises. At least Santa didn't write a fucking book saying that he never lies and you should trust him and give him money and so on because he knows everything and loves you so much that he killed his son for you and your sins. Santa is just a fat guy who lives in Arctic and probably has diabetes... I had more to say on what I think about the nature of God, but she cut me off. The conversation started to get kind of ugly and since we were in a public restaurant, I didn't want it to get out of hand. She was clearly pissed off at me and wanted to give me several pieces of her mind. I guess she thought that my returning to church meant that I was all 'yay God!' again. Nope. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Isn't it funny how Christians can preach at you for literally hours and constantly shove their religion down your throat but if you ask a couple of tough questions suddenly you are the one being rude? How dare you question the truth? How dare you point out when part of it doesn't add up? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoOne Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Isn't it funny how Christians can preach at you for literally hours and constantly shove their religion down your throat but if you ask a couple of tough questions suddenly you are the one being rude? How dare you question the truth? How dare you point out when part of it doesn't add up? I can't even begin to tell you how freaking accurate this is...annoying AF!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Isn't it funny how Christians can preach at you for literally hours and constantly shove their religion down your throat but if you ask a couple of tough questions suddenly you are the one being rude? How dare you question the truth? How dare you point out when part of it doesn't add up? Yeah i was going to reply but MM nailed it to the cross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sybaris Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Always loved the "mental illness is the work of Satan" Christian meme. If it were true then drugs like lithium or Abilify wouldn't work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Always loved the "mental illness is the work of Satan" Christian meme. If it were true then drugs like lithium or Abilify wouldn't work But don't forget the Greek word for demon worship is Pharmaky from which we get the modern word Pharmacy. See that is why Satan obeys medical drugs! Seriously when I informed my mother that I have been less depressed since becoming an atheist she told me it is because Satan doesn't attack me anymore. Because Satan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yunea Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I've seen a sermon where it was preached that pills are devil's way of getting into your system. I've been told that as well when I started on antidepressants to stop my suicidal thoughts for good (and it worked). Wtf. Totally devil at work in those pills yes. I did feel torn for a while, not over the pills - but over how I did not have jesus anymore because I couldn't trust my safety with him, but I felt he was calling me back. I didn't dare to do a thing about that for a while. It's like in a dysfunctional relationship when you realise you've been lead on and are in danger, and you get ready to go, but right then the other person turns into the most lovable creature in the universe and begs on their knees that you'd give them another chance. (Of course that probably was a part of me just not wanting to leave the familiarity of trusting jesus protects me, which I'd had for years. Currently I doubt that jesus, if he exists, really minded my struggles that much in the first place.) Later, getting clarity in my head about truly being an EX-c and deciding to walk further down that road, further and further away from jesus and all the junk that was involved, has resulted in me feeling calmer, less neurotic, less afraid, and (not surprisingly) less out of touch with the present moment and its realities than any attempts to connect with jesus did. Even if I felt at the time that jesus really did hear me, respond in the coincidences of my life, etc. I just wonder how many ill people there are at churches, who feel that treatment takes away their godly prophetic vision gifts and such, who are encouraged to "use their gifts"... I've met many myself. I think religion puts these people and the ones near them in grave danger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuker12 Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Always loved the "mental illness is the work of Satan" Christian meme. If it were true then drugs like lithium or Abilify wouldn't work But don't forget the Greek word for demon worship is Pharmaky from which we get the modern word Pharmacy. See that is why Satan obeys medical drugs! Seriously when I informed my mother that I have been less depressed since becoming an atheist she told me it is because Satan doesn't attack me anymore. Because Satan. I think it's the word for "poisonmaking", not demon worship. Or more likely just sorcery or potionmaking. Witchcraft, I tells ye! On a second thought. WTF? I would probably not be here if I did not get psychological help. Thanks for nothing, you bunch of jolly-do-good christians. Concessions for the mentally ill? Not seeking god? Who would want to seek god or anything when they either view the world as a an utterly depressing and cruel place or their brain chemicals fire all ways causing all kinds of anguish and desperation? Who would want to seek a confusing god who proscribes eternal punishments for finite deeds? Who would want to seek a god whose book promotes a very confused view of love and morals? Especially when xtianity, by culture and by scriptures, is super-oppressive to it's adherents (not that most xtians would admit that) and by extension to unbelievers as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Isn't it funny how Christians can preach at you for literally hours and constantly shove their religion down your throat but if you ask a couple of tough questions suddenly you are the one being rude? How dare you question the truth? How dare you point out when part of it doesn't add up? Questioning someone's logic is considered the height of rudeness. You wouldn't want to ruin someone else's day by causing them to have to think would you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Isn't it funny how Christians can preach at you for literally hours and constantly shove their religion down your throat but if you ask a couple of tough questions suddenly you are the one being rude? How dare you question the truth? How dare you point out when part of it doesn't add up? Questioning someone's logic is considered the height of rudeness. You wouldn't want to ruin someone else's day by causing them to have to think would you? Christians should wear a sign that says please don't remove blinders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenWolf Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Isn't it funny how Christians can preach at you for literally hours and constantly shove their religion down your throat but if you ask a couple of tough questions suddenly you are the one being rude? How dare you question the truth? How dare you point out when part of it doesn't add up? That's Christianity in a nutshell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenWolf Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Ugh. I was told my mental illness (depression and anxiety) were all part of God testing my faith to draw me closer. Like how fucked up have you got to be in your own head to put someone you supposedly love through that much pain? If God was just a regular human being, he'd be considered an abuser, but since he's all high and mighty, it's totally okay to make his own children suffer and worship him like a bunch of robots for eternity. But if you decide to opt with free will - which he permits, you'll burn in hell forever. How many young people who have died without believing would be down there? Including babies and children. Oh, such love and acceptance. Also my mum didn't want me taking antidepressants because God would "fix" me. Which is fucking ironic because leaving God has made my life a lot better. I still have my dark days, but it's more manageable than it used to be, it was bad because I was relying on an invisible force instead of building myself up instead. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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