sethosayher Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I don't know if this is the case for members of mainstream sects of Christianity, but in Evangelical Christianity there is a very strong sense that every aspect of your life ought to be based on the Gospel or the teachings of the bible. As a result, every aspect of the life of an evangelical is tyrannized by religion. Nothing is "outside" your faith in God - Church isn't a weekly communal gathering but a way of life. When I was a Christian, this was an ever-present source of misery - the T.V. I watched, the games I played, the books I read, the way I spent my free time - everything had to adhere to the arbitrary standards imposed by religious belief. After a while it gets very tiring. The idea of a non-religious life was utterly alien to my parents. What do you guys think? What are your experiences with the tyranny of religion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looking4Answers Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 I don't know if this is the case for members of mainstream sects of Christianity, but in Evangelical Christianity there is a very strong sense that every aspect of your life ought to be based on the Gospel or the teachings of the bible. As a result, every aspect of the life of an evangelical is tyrannized by religion. Nothing is "outside" your faith in God - Church isn't a weekly communal gathering but a way of life. When I was a Christian, this was an ever-present source of misery - the T.V. I watched, the games I played, the books I read, the way I spent my free time - everything had to adhere to the arbitrary standards imposed by religious belief. After a while it gets very tiring. The idea of a non-religious life was utterly alien to my parents. What do you guys think? What are your experiences with the tyranny of religion? What you say is absolutely true. While I walked within fundamentalist circles, we had NO TV at all, movies were forbidden in our home, books could ONLY be about godly subjects (missionary stories, stories based on the creation, etc) and even games were barely tolerated because they did not overtly glorify god! The churches we were a part of and the direction our family took was one of very little gray areas. A thing either purposefully glorified god or it did not. If it did not, then time was not to be wasted on it. In my mind, this caused severe burn out in me. I did not find any joy in life and certainly not in serving god. I felt enslaved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurari Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Just the whole "One Wrong Move" syndrome. One wrong deed, one wrong word, one wrong thought, and you would undo that whole Salvation thing and be cast into Hell. I constantly felt like I was walking on eggshells because "God was watching me." And worse, I was a non-denominational Christian...whoever I talked to or read about would contradict the other on what God wanted, so I could never get it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendredie Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 For the short time I went to the evangelical church, no movie could be against God. Maybe my church was a little lenient in the fact that we could watch non-religious movies, but we couldn't watch any that "dishonored God", i.e. anything with witchcraft (Disney didn't count), sex, violence (actually this one the church didn't care about as much as the first two) and cursing. No Harry Potter, which is really quite tame and quite Xtian. Church was also a way of life. It was like school is for kids. Everything was about the church-- help out at the church, go to sunday school, go to the services, all the events, etc. Kids were encouraged to take Bibles and AWANA handbooks to school (I took my AWANA book to school once, but that was because I'd accidentally left it in my bag). Also, my sister and I were the only girls in the entire church who owned two-piece bathing suits... and watched and read Harry Potter... and rarely went to Sunday School... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 My parents weren't quite that fundy when I was growing up, but you can bet if Harry Potter had been around when I was a kid, it would've been forbidden. Also I remember well having to go to church Reformation Day parties because my mother thought Halloween was evil. One year she made a pink and white striped robe (a.k.a. nightgown) for me to wear in one of the Reformation Plays. I was supposed to be Dorcus. Oh, and yes, everything revolved around church for my mother. I don't have that great a singing voice, but I was expected to sing in the choir. I learned to sing very quietly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixolite Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I don't know if this is the case for members of mainstream sects of Christianity, but in Evangelical Christianity there is a very strong sense that every aspect of your life ought to be based on the Gospel or the teachings of the bible. As a result, every aspect of the life of an evangelical is tyrannized by religion. Luckily this was not the case for me. (Liberal catholic family.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Variable Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I don't know if this is the case for members of mainstream sects of Christianity, but in Evangelical Christianity there is a very strong sense that every aspect of your life ought to be based on the Gospel or the teachings of the bible. As a result, every aspect of the life of an evangelical is tyrannized by religion. Nothing is "outside" your faith in God - Church isn't a weekly communal gathering but a way of life. When I was a Christian, this was an ever-present source of misery - the T.V. I watched, the games I played, the books I read, the way I spent my free time - everything had to adhere to the arbitrary standards imposed by religious belief. After a while it gets very tiring. The idea of a non-religious life was utterly alien to my parents. What do you guys think? What are your experiences with the tyranny of religion? The method of telling Christians to cut off every aspect of their life that doesn't have to do with God, reminds me of an abusive husband who tells a battered wife to cut of all her friends, not work, not associate with anyone outside his circle and basically not have any life whatsoever without him. When you think about the Christian God he really does sound like an abusive husband. LOVE ME OR I'LL KILL YOU! If you love me you must die to yourself. You're to stupid to figure out anything on your own so do what I say and don't ask for an explanation. And let's not forget the old testament where God tells his "wife" in every other passage that she's a whore and he's going to "kill her children with death, for they are the children of whoredom". Ya, God has some serious issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyMoon Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 My experience has been no movies, no TV, no Radio, Internet only for emails and banking, no immodest clothing, no games (not even just a harmless game like chess). So yes, it effected EVERY area of my life. Now I'm starting again its pretty shocking the extent to which it binds you. Your life is run by the bible, and everything revolves around some mysterious person you can't see, hear or feel, called god. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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