RIPw4 Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I remember at an early age thinking of Jesus as Santa Claus. If I pray to him ,and I am good, then I will get what I want. I contemplated becoming a priest at 16. I delved into the bible and really questioned what the verses meant. I got no greater pleasure than stumping a so called "bible expert". One thing that always bothered me was the notion of G-d not being accesible to me. I had to go through his mediator, Jesus, to talk to him. It did not fit in with my belief in a loving G-d. Later in life I began to experiment with drugs and eventually developed into what most people would call a junky. One thing that drugs do well is equalize people. When you are an addict there is no better than or less than, only who has dope and who does not. Jesus was nobody, you were nobody, I was nobody. Everyone was equal in the dope game! To make a long story short I used for too long and eventually got clean. I joined a program for recovering drug addicts and was given some instructions, one of which was to turn my life over to a higher power. The catch was that it has to be loving, caring, and more powerful than me. Those three requirements had me to question who G-d was. Was banishing people to a burning pit loving or caring? Was requiring me to go through a middleman loving or caring? The G-d I had grown up with in Christianity seemed a bit like an ego maniac. Like a powerful person who was insecure so he threatened people. After much more research, including bible study, I came to one conclusion. Christianity was not G-d. Jesus was not G-d. Christianity was nothing but years of subtraction and addition done by leaders who thought their ideas would be better than the ideas before them. The New Testament was full of contradictions and the kicker was that the so called Christ did not even fullfil all of the prophecies that the Messiah was supposed to fullfil. He was obviously not the Messiah. Ostracization from friends and family, arguments with strangers, and feelings of loneliness were the results of my decision to move away from Christianity. Whenever the subject of Religion or G-d came up I would excuse myself from the conversation because Christians tended to be very angry and judgemental to those that don't believe like they do. I did find G-d. I asked him to reveal himself to me as he wanted me to see him. And he did. I didn't find him in Christianity. I did not find him in phony threats of a magical place of fire called Hell. I did not even find him in new age religions. I found him exactly where he had always been. Right here inside me. It turned out G-d was whoever I wanted him to be or not to be. ( G-d is subjective, I am not endorsing or denying G-d or any of his LLC lol) The biggest hurdle in my leaving Christianity was my fear of Hell. Ironic huh? My fear was not in not knowing Jesus, it was burning in hell. I think that is called propaganda. Didn't the Nazis use propaganda? Christianity is a far cry from Nazis but their methods of scare tactics and pressure sure are similar. I am so glad I have left the cage of Christianity. I do not need anyone to tell me who to believe, how to believe, or when to believe. Isn't G-d powerful enough to do that on his own? I think so. I am an Agnostic. Literally translated it means without knowledge. To me, knowledge is the attainment of information based on evidence. No one has concrete evidence of G-d. So I am without knowledge about G-d. I have some theories but they are just that, theories. I really just wanted to introduce myself but I didnt see a place for a quick , Hey I am Rip, so I added the filler above! I just celebrated 5 years clean and I did it without Christianity, although the Christians said that was the only way! I am so glad to have found this website! Rip W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Thank you for your post RIP, I read it with interest. Glad you discovered the truth is within you, not some mysterious outside santa-clause, big daddy- like force. Once indoctrinated with the threat of hell, it is difficult to shake. Sometimes it takes many years to overcome it or one thinks one has, and it returns. One just has to thoroughly see the absurdity of it. It can be hard work. You made real progress when you began to see it for what it really is, propaganda. Remember, Hitler said the people will more readily believe a big lie. He had his agenda and the Christians have theirs, but their methods are not different. We don't need others to tell us what to believe so that they can achieve their ultimate goal of controlling us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPw4 Posted August 10, 2007 Author Share Posted August 10, 2007 thanks for the encouragement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 thanks for the encouragement! Your very welcome. There are many people here in the forums who understand perfectly well what you have experienced. They have managed to free themselves from the irrational beliefs of others which were indoctrinated into them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Wolf Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Congratulations, in breaking the chains and becoming free. Christianity is a far cry from Nazis but their methods of scare tactics and pressure sure are similar. I doubt it. Christianity I'm sure has killed more, and destroyed far more cultures than the Nazis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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