bluewizard Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 I haven't posted here in a while but I will be here more often in 2 months when I'm out on my own in college. Yesterday at church I heard testimonies from a couple members. One from a former drug addict who believes God changed him and saved him from a lif eof drugs. I don't buy the testimony touchy feely stories anymore as I can see right through them as mind manipulating experiences similar to someone being in a dreamy state themselves. I wasn't the least bit scared hearing all the typical Devil and Christ talk and really enjoy the way I am now as an unbeliever. It's been a year and a half since I stoped believing and things are getting better and will continue to increase since i'm going to college and I also put None as my religion on the application so no fundy preachers visiting for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Variable Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 All that is required to change someone's behaviour to to change they way they think. Many of the "transformation experiences" you see in a Christian setting can be seen in psychiatric setting. Much of what is being taught in churches today has been stolen from psychology. My dad had a coworker whose husband used to hold down her head to the ground and play Russian Rolet. The woman left him and told him she'd never see him again unless he got counseling. The man paid a woman psychiatrist $70 an hour to counsel him and within 6 months he was a completely different person. He got back with his ex-wife and never relasped. Why? Because the counselor taught him to think about life, his wife, and himself differently. Once his thinking changed so did his behaviour. Christianity indeed changes the way one sees him/herself, the world, and people. And provides an incentive (forgiveness, undying love, eternal life) to change their ways. Unfortunately, those who do actually escape their addictions through Christianity, find themself addicted to something else. Just as physics states that energy never really disappears, it simply changes form. So these people just traded one addiction for another. Think of all the things that people do to pacify this new addiction: cutting off lifetime friends and family members who disagree with their beliefs, being subservient to men (if you're a woman) or teaching women to be subservient to men, fasting, giving away money when you may desperately need if for your basic necceseties, glorifying poverty, dumbing youself down lest you start agreeing with those scientists, and blindly obeying the bellowing of an alpha male who uses your money to buy new carpet instead of feeding the poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandora Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Variable-- are you a counselor? I think there is a lot of truth to what you are saying, and I ask because I know someone who is getting counseling for all that Ex-C baggage that he's carrying, but his counselor has The Case for Christ and The Bible has all the Answers (no joke) on his desk. The psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to schedule appointments with the M. Div on board. !?!?! I wonder if this is wise.... Glad to hear you're getting past the baggage yourself, bluewizard. What's your major? Or have you decided? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluewizard Posted July 3, 2006 Author Share Posted July 3, 2006 Political Science. I want to become a lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorena Rodriguez Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 bluewizzard, I was still a believer when I started being bored with testimonies. At the beginning of my christian "nightmare," I used to get all excited about people being changed by god. Then, the years went by, and I started to notice that a lot of the testimony-givers regularly disappeared from the church and went back to their old ways. I saw homosexuals going back to their lifestyle ('thank god" for that), alcoholics, drug addicts, etc. Even people with stories of financial prosperity went back to being poor. People who "gloried" in having found the right partner divorced. People who were thankful for pregnancies had miscarriages. People who had been miraculously healed died of cancer or whatever. And some stayed and made religion their new addiction, as beautifully explained by Variable. (Those were usually the most hard-core, legalistic, members.) I am glad you are able to see through all that now, and that you are going away to college. Enjoy your freedom! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrisonjj Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 bluewizzard, I was still a believer when I started being bored with testimonies. At the beginning of my christian "nightmare," I used to get all excited about people being changed by god. Then, the years went by, and I started to notice that a lot of the testimony-givers regularly disappeared from the church and went back to their old ways. I saw homosexuals going back to their lifestyle ('thank god" for that), alcoholics, drug addicts, etc. Even people with stories of financial prosperity went back to being poor. People who "gloried" in having found the right partner divorced. People who were thankful for pregnancies had miscarriages. People who had been miraculously healed died of cancer or whatever. And some stayed and made religion their new addiction, as beautifully explained by Variable. (Those were usually the most hard-core, legalistic, members.) I am glad you are able to see through all that now, and that you are going away to college. Enjoy your freedom! Correct! If its good its god! If its bad its god's will! Fuck it all. Life is random happenings not attrituable to some fuckin fairy in the sky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Variable Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 Pandora= No, I'm not a counselor (Thank you for the compliment though. ). I simply read up on human behaviour when I was leaving fundyism and was amazed at how much of what I had "seen" was explainable. Gee, I hope your friend isn't seeing a counselor that's trying to bait him into coming back into the "fold". He could very well be parading himself as someone that is educated and objective, but who's really trying to score another trophy with Jesus. I hope your friend tries seeing someone else. Preferably someone who specializes in cults and brainwashing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts