Sorcice Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Pre-thought: In my story you will notice a malice that cannot be filtered. Onward.. My journey away from the Catholic faith began at 14. But lets back up to about 6 when my father found me( my mother had taken me to california from wisconsin at age 2 and basically hid from my father,remarried and woulden't show up to family court for sutody hearings my father arranged half way across the country.) and got visitation which my life got considerably better as a result. He started taking me to church every month or so to test the waters being my mother until about 6 years ago(from today, I am currently 22) was not a religous person and he was irritated I was not raised as I was baptised. Catholic. On this went for 6 years gradually brainwashing me into the Catholic guilt lifestyle. Well eventually I moved to my Dad's house at 14 and began going to weekly mass and holiday mass. You name it I went. However, somewhere in the 6 months following me going to live with dad I was given a computer to do school work on and thus the information highway was bestowed onto me. About 2 months later we changed churches for some reason and I actually began to disect what the priest was saying instead of just going and fulfilling the role of "being there". I started to notice the idiocy of the faith and the "rules" of the catholic teachings. Things like "Adopting as a gay couple is still a sin and they are not to be considered a family". I don't know if I was just to bored to realize before or maybe the sermans hit home for some reason. Either way, I had decided to research religion and thus the journey to free thinking began. At first I asked my father who basically stonewalled me saying "you were baptised catholic, you don't have a choice..live with it." Then I went to the internet. TADA! information in droves was available! It was to good to be true. Not only were there sites like this forum but sites deligated for all sects of the occult and polythism and philosophy omg the philosophy. From plato to De Carte. quotes, passages from books, the works. I wrote down and saved a few of my favorites and later retyped and saved them for refference later. I will paste them at the end. By christmas that year I had decided to systematically stop all belief in xtian faith. I kept reading philosophy and basically saved myself. The idea of an all-knowing all-controlling god is absurd on many levels. For instance,(forgive me for choking a dead horse but for those who haven't looked at it in the manner I think should be afforded the opportunity) Evil, in all forms under an all-knowing all-controlling god would not and could not exist unless the deity in question was either uncaring, evil to begin with, or an idiot. Personally if I die and goto "Heaven" and St. Peter asks which of the 3 I truely believe I'd say the idiot. Any diety who can't come up with a better way of instituting faith than sending his own son who happens to be him as well as a holy spirit(don't get me started on the trifecta of idiocy in the 3 is 1 idea) to be beaten and nailed to a cross must be one dumb SOB. Back to the point tho. The question of evil is widely debated as free choice but that idea no matter how good it may sound to 8-year-old boy chasing perves is simply idiotic. If evil is part of an all incompassing plan and the master planner is not evil, why is it that 1 morron with out a thought can flick a cigarette out the window to the grass next to a forest on a preticularly breezy day and burn 100s of acres, the animals, people and homes therin said area. If the god was a loving un-evil god woulden't ya think maybe just maybe it would just extinguish the ember smaller than the size of a dime? And the pope, that had to be 2nd or 3rd on the list of why I can't stand the faith. Not only do countless people believe in the deity but this jackass at the top of the brainwashing claims to be in direct communication to god. wow.. Back to my story, by 16 I had told my dad I could not stand to be a part of the faith anymore and no matter how many times he dragged me to church I'd never be a part of it again. Till this day he still asks me to go though I never do. Most of my family knows I don't believe but some won't. My mom for instance preaches im going to hell ad is purely stunned when I tell her the idea of "Hell" to me is as absurd as God or Satan. Well thats my story and a bit extra. anyway leave comments if ya like or mesg me. OH and here are the passages I have saved over the years. unfortunatly I don't have the authors real name but the handle they use online.: Lucas Foxx wrote: You mention doing good to ones neighbor as an example of a Christian teaching. I propose that the teachings to which you refer are not Christian in nature at all but rather universal moralist. I mean by this that every single known moralist teacher in the history of our universe, including Jesus, has spoken of this moral code. It does not belong to Christians as an identifier. As much as they would love to take credit for it, they certainly have no right to call it their own creation. What does identify the Christian teaching apart from the other religions and thus make it uniquely religious? That would be the teachings of our dear Paul, the bigot who thought women should “be silent in the church and if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for a woman to speak in church.” 1 Corinthians 33 - 35. Is this really a wonderful or even tolerable religion when we look at its teachings? Oh, it would most definitely be Paul, the bloody who established the notion that “we have redemption through his (Jesus’) blood.” Ephesians 1: 7. The blood, gore and pure asinine bull on which this entire system is founded smells of idiocy. It was Paul, the masochists who would that we all be “partakers of the sufferings.” 2 Corinthians 1: 7. It is this belief that is central to all Christian circles and through this suffering they believe themselves to be elevated spiritually. It is this suffering that is placed upon their children. My point is just how intrinsic the abuse is to the very origin of the philosophy. This abuse isn’t something that can be considered a "perversion" of an otherwise great religion. It was there from the beginning. Paul established the Christian church, and it was he who planted the notion that somehow we need to be bathed in blood to be forgiven from our sins within his church and those to follow in its name. These are the teachings of Christianity, and I struggle to find even ONE among them that is remotely good or sound philosophy. Based on this knowledge, I cannot say that I don’t like abusive Christians, but their religion is cool. Both they and their religion are ridiculous. As for the universal moral code that Zoroaster, Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Jesus, the Dali Lama, Ben Franklin, and Ralph Waldo Emerson all spoke of; it belongs as much to myself and my pagan brothers and sisters as it does to any Christian. trollax wrote: Societies evolved as a means of prospering in larger groups, organised religion came with organised military and organised economy, spirituality has always been there, but religion came as a way of codifying the spiritual practices people in these societies shared. And when you've got knowledge someone has to be right, right comes from consensus and consensus is built by a new priesthood. Admitting that the bible is not immutable across the ages puts the power structure of the church in danger. The bulk of the institution is held up by keeping people in fear of hell and promise of reward in heaven. By admitting that the basis for the religion is open to interpretation on the one hand you pass on a bucket of dissilusionment to all the litteralists, and by the other, any nutjob who has a board with a nail in it has a couple more legs to stand on. Saddly the odds are anyone who lived in certain fear of hell will now live in an uncertain fear of hell, which is a lot worse. Martin Luther's break with the catholics helped fuel the witch craze. Imagine what would happen if all the major branches of the church stood up and said. "sorry, it's not actually truth, per-se, more of a guide to good living." trollax also wrote: An Irishman's Wisdom: There are two things in life to worry about: Either you're sick or you're well. If you get sick you've got two things to worry about... either you get better or you die. If you die then you've got two things to worry about... Either you're going to heaven or you're going to hell. If you go to heaven you'll be fine, and if you go to hell, you'll be too busy shaking hands with your friends to worry. Simply put, there'll be plenty of people to keep you company, and 'ol Satan knows I'm only gonna bust out. Shiva would help anyways, because as the hindus say: "you only live 10,000 times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyone Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Congratulations, you've figured it out. It's a shame more people haven't given this matter the thought or attention it deserves. I have nothing to add, really. If you are sufficiently independent, you might want to read some literature that specifically counters supernatural mythological bullshit. Have you read Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris or any other similar writers? My favorite, and the one that cemented my conclusions (arrived at independently, like yours), is a book by George Smith, "Atheism: The Case Against God." It's an old book, but very logical and well written (IMO). You might also consider books by others who "figured it out." Loftus, Dan Barker, Kenneth Daniels and many others have made this journey, and their insights can be entertaining as well as revealing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sorcice Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 Thanks ill give em a look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Then I went to the internet. TADA! information in droves was available!It was to good to be true. Not only were there sites like this forumbut sites deligated for all sects of the occult and polythism andphilosophy omg the philosophy Welcome to Ex-C Sorcice. I enjoyed reading your post and congratulations on seeing through the mess at such a young age. Your statement above made me think that I wish the internet was available to me in the early 70s when I started questioning all the doctrine. At that time, all I could do was smuggle books in from the library and hide them so my fundy parents wouldn't get all upset. Now, information is so freely available and I am absolutely sure the deconversion thing would not have taken like 40 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShallowByThyGame Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 The internet is really really great for porn giving people a way to study religion without being shamed for it. I found that when people really invest in finding out the truth of things, they generally get there eventually. It's no wonder that many priests dislike philosophers, scientists, medical doctors, and psychiatrists: they are losing their jobs to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 Greetings, and congratulations on realizing that religion is bullshit. About 2 months later we changed churches for some reason and I actually began to disect what the priest was saying instead of just going and fulfilling the role of "being there". I started to notice the idiocy of the faith and the "rules" of the catholic teachings.... I don't know if I was just to bored to realize before or maybe the sermans hit home for some reason. I would suspect that there may have been a difference in the priests' deliveries that made it easier to see through the second one's sermons. Or perhaps there was something about the second church that made it easier to pay attention to what the priest was saying. My mom for instance preaches im going to hell ad is purely stunned when I tell her the idea of "Hell" to me is as absurd as God or Satan. You may like the info here: http://godvsthebible.com/chapter13 Anyway, enjoy the journey ahead of you.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qec Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 Welcome bro Imagine what would happen if all the major branches of the church stood up and said. "sorry, it's not actually truth, per-se, more of a guide to good living." That would be a great day indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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