hello

I also read that Florida's governor declared WWE wrestling an essential business.

I'm not sure where to put this as I don't see an Off Topic subforum. Never in my life did I think I'd be shamed for buying a pack of toilet paper. I mean people getting insanely mad. Have any of you gotten the stinkeye at a store or otherwise been told you're basically a bad person for this? I wonder if I get more of this because I'm under 65. Because people under 65 don't poop. /s I just needed a place to vent about this.

For many years I've identified as pagan, but there's one thing that I can't seem to shake that has me wondering if there's any validity to Christianity. It's a silly thing but I need to share it somewhere. My brother is a former pastor and now an atheist. What bothers me is that he takes things a step farther and wants to proselytize for atheism instead of living and let live. What also bothers me was how angry he got about people even saying the word "God." The only way I can describe what I'm experiencing is like when a parent catches their kid in some mischief and the kid reacts in a way that lets the parent know something is up. That's not the best comparison, but I just get a feeling sometimes that if someone gets that angry about something not existing, then is something up? I hope this ramble makes some sense.

I find that I want to fall back into Christianity during this time. Especially with all the unknowns about this virus. I tend to catastrophize about crises, and my anxiety leads me to want to go back to that familiar, seemingly comforting place that Christianity was.

You're not weak. Especially in these crazy times with the pandemic and all.

I never bought into that bullshit. I've never been married. I witnessed so much domestic violence in my family done under the guise of "wives submit to your husbands" that it's very hard for me to consider ever being married.

Hi Disgruntled, Welcome to Ex-C! I don't know where you are in the world, but the Quakers are more focused on Jesus' message and don't have any of the churchy baggage that the vast majority of Christian churches do.

This is the point I wanted to get to, where I mentally could not cite scripture. I used to be able to cite book. chapter, and verse. I haven't read a Bible in years. For me, deconverting was like an alcoholic keeping drinks out of the home. So proud today.

I grew up witnessing so much domestic violence done under the guise of "wives submit to your husbands" that I knew it was all bullshit.

Have you considered that YOU created this God in your mind, and YOU willed yourself to stay awake?

https://time.com/5639876/joshua-harris-christian-divorce-apology/ Thoughts?

Do you own any Bibles? If so, do you read them as literature? Do they just collect dust? I have one Bible, and I have not opened it in years. I treat it like a recovering alcoholic does with drinks in the house. I know how I can get when I open a Bible. That devotional mindset comes right back, and I want to get to the point where I can read the Bible as literature, and have no emotional investment.

I've seen so many Christians misuse the "upper room" mentioned in Acts 1:12-14 to give themselves a higher spiritual status and treat others as unclean. I used to belong to a Christian forum where there was an "Upper Room" for believers and a "Seekers Room" for unbelievers. Seekers were not allowed in the upper room. Not only does such separation prevent Christians from doing the witnessing they say they do, but also hurts others by casting them out as unclean. The upper room is literally a room upstairs. The writer is stating a fact. It's like saying "the curtains were blue."

I viewed non-Christians as agents of Satan in a cosmic war between good and evil. But my experience proved otherwise. It was the Christians who treated me like a social leper, and the heathens who reached out in friendship.

What scientific evidence would Christians cite for the extraordinarily long lifespans of Old Testament people?

What got me was the last part, "perhaps being tortured they were more open to salvation." That's a whole new level of demented.

This is the most recent conversation I've had:

These people are impossible!!!

Funny how the guy tried to avoid the question by mentioning Messianic Jews. Come on, man.