Looking4Answers Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I was thinking about how unreasonable hard-core Christians are. There is really no reasoning with them. For example, as a de-converted individual, I can imagine how events in my life would be viewed by many fundamentalist Christians. If I become successful in my endeavors or something good happens, then they would simply claim that god was being merciful to me despite my absolute denial of him (oh, the great, great mercy of the heavenly sky daddy!). If bad things happen to me, then they would conclude that that was the chastening hand of god attempting to get my attention and bring me back to himself! If I get cancer and die, then I can imagine them saying, "God took him out for his sins!" If I don't get cancer, but live a long, long life then they would say, "Despite his sins, god has been so very merciful to him!" In other words, it does not matter what happens in life, they have a ready, stock answer that ensures that everything that happens is attributed to god! What started me thinking about this today? Well, I was looking at my finances and was a bit concerned about making ends meet this month as well as about getting some needed things. The mail came and, lo and behold, there was, of all things, a refund check from my wireless company. The refund was for almost $150! As I was on my way to the bank to deposit this unexpected check, my thoughts went like this" "When I was a Christian, I would have thought that god knew of my financial shortfall and had made sure this check arrived just when I needed it! Isn't it funny that I have absolutely denied the Christian god and things like this STILL happen in my life!" Then I started to think about what a Christian would say if I told them about this check (as well as several other things that had happened on this same day that affected my finances positively) and this thought came, "They would simply tell me that god is being merciful to me despite what I have done to him." Ugh! I realized more clearly that you really can't demonstrate to a fundamentalist Christian that the events that transpire in everyday life happen without the divine intervention of god! They would claim, as the Bible says, that it rains on the just and the unjust alike! However, a check from a wireless company is not "rain." I know this is old news. I know that most of you hear realize all this already. But I just wanted to rant a bit. The more I think about it, the more I see Christianity as a form of "mental sickness" that affects an otherwise rational person's ability to actually think and reason clearly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted March 31, 2009 Super Moderator Share Posted March 31, 2009 Your writing of this post is God's way of telling me he doesn't exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpheliaGinger Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 You are just as likely to get through to them your views as theirs are to you. The best you can hope for is that they understand why you feel the way you do and why you differ from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looking4Answers Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 Here's an example of a coincidence that happened to me just today. When I was a Christian I would have attributed this to the divine working of god. Now that I am not a Christian, I just find it quite interesting how things added up. I am a 2D/3D graphic artist. A client contacted me via email this afternoon and wanted to know if I knew how to do a particular kind of 3D model set up for animation. To be frank, I am not much of an animator, but I have been itching for an opportunity to get into it and learn more about it. I decided that I would do some on-line research and play with the 3D modeling program a bit to see if I could handle the client's request before responding to his email. But it was dinner time and I decided to head out and grab a bite to eat. After eating I decided to head on over to Barnes and Noble to see if there were any magazines that interested me. I saw a copy of 3D World and decided to look at it. I normally don't buy this magazine because it is a tad expensive. However, I opened the mag, flipped through it and, to my amazement, there was a tutorial article explaining how to do the very task I needed to learn to service my client! Wow! What a coincidence! God at work? Naaaaaw. But now I can learn and get paid too. But if I were to share this with a Christian that knows I walked away from the faith ... they would push in my face that this was only god's mercy. Why can't a coincidence be just that ... a coincidence? And frankly, just because I realize that god did not have anything to do with it did not make it any less amazing to me. I was completely tickled that I held in my hand a concise step-by-step guide that I needed for the task. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I just today bought a couple of books today for an English reading assignment, one of them was: A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole. To my surprise I watched a recorded show of Life tonight, on our DVR, and one of the characters was talking about his peers and called them... well, guess what... A Confederacy of Dunces. What a coincidence! The Pulitzer God must be ALIVE!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpheliaGinger Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 This is easily explained. Since you are not a Christian, it is Satan rewarding you for leaving the fold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 This is easily explained. Since you are not a Christian, it is Satan rewarding you for leaving the fold. That was actually one of my fears after I deconverted, and I still am not fully over it. That Satan would make sure that life would go nice and good for me compared to how I had it before (not getting laid at all, for starters!), to make sure I don't go back to the Lord and get re-saved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Yes. That Satan is one tricky guy with his set of ill-defined abilities and all. So if you say "I love you Jesus" then you get all sorts of jesus-y presents? Then you say "I hate you Jesus" and you get all sort of Satan-y presents? But you can't tell these presents apart? So maybe Satan sent all the presents? Or maybe jesus did? But no one signs the cards so how to tell who your secret admirer is? Who is rewarding you for "hating" the other invisible critter? It can't be jesus since he wants you to spurn the things of this world. His gifts are up in the sky somewhere floating around with him. So all earthly type gifts must be from Satan. It only makes sense. Why give you things that could tempt you to be more and more "earthly?" Unless it's a test? That might be it. It's a test and you need to pass so he's giving you lots of earthly goodies. If you don't pass he'll give your sky presents to that old lady that just fell under that bus. He's a sly one making it look like Satan is gifting you when it's really your pal jesus. But what about people that don't get all sorts of gifts? Does jesus know he's got them hooked? Or does he not care? Or when you have jesus he takes your stuff so you're guaranteed sky presents? Or maybe they belong to Satan? But why does he not gift them so they don't convert and get saved in order to get sky presents? Maybe they weren't home when the supernatural FedEx guy came by and missed the deliveries? That sucks for them. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts