Guest Common Sense Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 I originally wrote this for people who read my blog but I thought I should post it here also. I'm completely open minded for anyone out there and I would appreciate if you can tell me what you think of it. Click here for my thoughts on christianity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythra Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Hi Common sense. Welcome. I read your blog. The questions that you are asking are many of the same ones that we ask. Such as questions about hell and prayer and the nature of God, or if he even exists at all. Christians don't like to think too critically about their religion. They remain only semi-informed (or sometimes totally ignorant) about the origins of their religion, about how their religion developed in its early stages, and even about the Bible itself. They don't look to deeply into things, because they want to keep their little world of faith neat and tidy. Keep the answers simple. Looks like you are going to examine things on a little deeper level. You are in the right place. Look around. You're among friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Hi Common Sense! Yes, you are among friends! Welcome!!! I read the whole thing...I understand where you are coming from. I don't believe in biblegod anymore....You are so right, typical christians accept things without understanding why or asking any questions. So, that may be what they believe, but it doesn't make it reality. So, you're still waiting from God to respond? I did that....I prayed and prayed for SOME kind of sign, anything. Nothing ever happened. I mean, I waitied till the cows came home AND the fat lady sang and STILL NOTHING. I was born and raised in a xtian family too, but this year was the year that I said goodbye. It all seems so foolish and silly to me now. Anyway, make yourself at home here! Glad you make it here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizard Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 So, you're still waiting from God to respond? I did that....I prayed and prayed for SOME kind of sign, anything. Nothing ever happened. I mean, I waitied till the cows came home AND the fat lady sang and STILL NOTHING. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Aww..Leeesa..you didn't wait for pigs to fly? See..ya gotta wait for the pigs to fly too.. And..welcome, CommonSense.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Hailings from Germany Common Sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Common Sense is a perfect username for you! You're plea on your blog for an intelligent response from Christians will be met with enthusiasm by many zealous Christians, but with no doubt in my mind, their answers will be sadly disappointing to you and serve to confirm everything you're already seeing. You seem too rational to accept circular logic and that's all you're most likely to get from them. To me, a perfect place to start around here is looking at the history of the Church and how the Bible came into being historically. The origins of the belief system are a great way to understand everything that follows, and all those contradictory pieces begin to fall neatly and intelligently into place. Lots of info here, but also check out infidels.org. There are a lot of scholars who contribute there who delve into great depth in many areas of these topics. Good luck and welcome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Welcome CommonSense. I liked your blog, it was straight to the core issues, and you can tell it was written from your heart. You'll see that exactly the same questions have been raised by most of the ex-christians here, and many more questions too. Some became deists, or pagans, or other faiths, and some became agnostics or atheists. You probably will see that your opinion about religion and also what you believe or not, will change over time, and it never completely stops. We keep on learning as we walk. I saw that you live or lived in S.CA? You still do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Aww..Leeesa..you didn't wait for pigs to fly? See..ya gotta wait for the pigs to fly too.. Don't forget the cows, too. Gotta wait for the cows to come home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuroikaze Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 I originally wrote this for people who read my blog but I thought I should post it here also. I'm completely open minded for anyone out there and I would appreciate if you can tell me what you think of it. Click here for my thoughts on christianity <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I read you blog, I can completly understand where you are comming from. There were many times I wished I could just stop asking all these hard questions. And 90% of the christians I've ever tried to converse with about the questions I had, either had no answers or thier answers were so trivial and simple that they might as well have not been answers. Once a person tried to evangilize me and when I questioned her on why God comanded the Jews to commit genocide in the OT her answer was "Some things are not given for us to know" At which point I stopped even talking to her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Once a person tried to evangilize me and when I questioned her on why God comanded the Jews to commit genocide in the OT her answer was "Some things are not given for us to know"At which point I stopped even talking to her. Yeah, isn't it strange that supposedly the alleged God put these stories in the Book of his, but never really explained why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Like you, I was raised in a Christian home (Lutheran). Everyone I knew was Christian. I was forced to attend a Lutheran school until 6th grade. The analogy I like to use is, what if you were brainwashed to believe that the sky was green even though it was blue and you didn't know any better, you just had faith that it was green? Same thing. I quit believing after I got out of college because I couldn't believe in hell. I also did a lot of reading into the history of Christianity. Guess what? It is just an offshoot of Paganism! There were many similar Pagan deities. No, there aren't any cookie-cutter ones; it looks like the writers of the Bible picked and chose whatever they liked, much like Christians do today regarding what they believe. But look up Mithra, Zeus, Hercules, Zorastrianism, Isis, Ra, etc. The Bible is a conglomeration of many ancient deities and myths, all rolled into one big fairy tale. Sort of like what George Lucas did with Star Wars, but at least nobody claims that Star Wars is the real thing, and that we will be tortured for eternity if we don't worship Yoda. Christianity is really just the popular cult of our time, and will go down in history as such. Most people today will never realize how brainwashed they are. They think themselves into prisons and never bother to look for the key. You have found the key. It is up to you to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Common Sense Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 wow.. first of all.. i feel very welcomed.. it seems like you guys know exactly what i'm going through.. i really appreciate all the responses.. i've been so confused about the issues that i talked about. i think i will visit this website very often from now on. Welcome Common Sense, you are surrounded with out of the box thinkers, it's nice to have you here. May I ask you a question? Have you ever considered the possibility that the "true" religion is non at all? I'm an agnostic/deist. I cannot prove that there is a higher power, nor can I prove not. However, I do believe in a higher power but not as defined by anyone or any group. Also, I doubt that if in fact a higher power does exists, that people will be fried eternally for their beliefs or lack thereof. I don't force my opinion on others or make things up to scare people into believing, which is what I believe religion is; institutions made-up by men in order to control people with fear and some special "revelation". Just something for you to consider. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> you are right. when i said "true" religion, i was thinking being agnostic or being atheist as well. i should've said true belief instead of true religion. thanks for pointing that out though. once again, thank you so much for the responses and i hope i will learn much on this site. i'm so gald i found this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Common Sense Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Like you, I was raised in a Christian home (Lutheran). Everyone I knew was Christian. I was forced to attend a Lutheran school until 6th grade. The analogy I like to use is, what if you were brainwashed to believe that the sky was green even though it was blue and you didn't know any better, you just had faith that it was green? Same thing. I quit believing after I got out of college because I couldn't believe in hell. I also did a lot of reading into the history of Christianity. Guess what? It is just an offshoot of Paganism! There were many similar Pagan deities. No, there aren't any cookie-cutter ones; it looks like the writers of the Bible picked and chose whatever they liked, much like Christians do today regarding what they believe. But look up Mithra, Zeus, Hercules, Zorastrianism, Isis, Ra, etc. The Bible is a conglomeration of many ancient deities and myths, all rolled into one big fairy tale. Sort of like what George Lucas did with Star Wars, but at least nobody claims that Star Wars is the real thing, and that we will be tortured for eternity if we don't worship Yoda. Christianity is really just the popular cult of our time, and will go down in history as such. Most people today will never realize how brainwashed they are. They think themselves into prisons and never bother to look for the key. You have found the key. It is up to you to use it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> lol that's funny. i graduated from a lutheran high school as well. now i see the people who graduated from that school, and they are far from being christians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Actually I went to a public high school, it was just the elementary school that was Lutheran. I was severely bullied and begged my parents to send me to the public Jr. High. They did because it saved them money. I consider myself agnostic these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Common Sense Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 ummmm i don't know why my thread was moved to "ex-christian life" forum. i was actually asking christians questions. i don't consider myself as an ex-christian yet. i'm still studying and seeking the truth. i would appreciate it if a mod can move this thread back to the debate forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkepticOfBible Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 Welcome Common Sense, you are surrounded with out of the box thinkers, it's nice to have you here. May I ask you a question? Have you ever considered the possibility that the "true" religion is non at all? I'm an agnostic/deist. I cannot prove that there is a higher power, nor can I prove not. However, I do believe in a higher power but not as defined by anyone or any group. Also, I doubt that if in fact a higher power does exists, that people will be fried eternally for their beliefs or lack thereof. I don't force my opinion on others or make things up to scare people into believing, which is what I believe religion is; institutions made-up by men in order to control people with fear and some special "revelation". Just something for you to consider. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ditto here. Hey Common Sense Welcome to the forum I was never a Christian, but I was raised a Hindu. I am suddenly pushed into this christian debate thing cause I have come to fundamentalist part of new zealand. Many questions you asked were pretty much the same. I felt the same frustation cause a lot of christians didn't jack about their own religion. None of the pastors will actually study the bible, especially the OT which includes a lot of bloodshed, rape etc. No one had answers to the attrocoties described in the OT. But thank god (or goddess or force) there is the internet. You can pretty much have access to a lot of viewpoints about any topic. And the thing I found about christianity was that there are hundreds of viewpoints about every core issue, because at the end of the day they have layers of speculations for their beliefs. The biggest thing which turns me off from christianity is that the creation of the bible. The bible was voted by a council of men. And then christians would say that it is not man made. But here is a question why would the word of god require the vote of men to say what goes in his holy book. And then yet again 1600 years later the great anti semantic Martin Luther comes along and says "we need to throw out a couple of books so that we can have corrected word of god" Anyways I highly recommend you to two sites Agnostic Review of Christianity The above sites is one of the best counter apologetic site since it actually takes the bible and examines the claim Honest Bible Study This bible study site actually looks at the conflicts within the christian world I hope you find peace in your spiritual journey Pritish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euphgeek Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 Common Sense, what you are going through is similar to what I went through. I believed (and still do believe) in a God/Source/Higher Power but I couldn't reconcile the concept of an eternal hell. I knew that if I went to heaven that the only thing that would make me happy there would be if nobody was being eternally tormented. Then I thought, why do I think I would be the first one to think of that? Wouldn't someone else have thought of it and done it long ago? That was the beginning of the end for me. Thinking further about it, I thought if God is infinitely more loving and compassionate than I am, why would he make a hell for people to be tortured in in the first place? I'm still seeking the truth, but I don't think the truth lies in Christianity (at least not for me). Christianity was merely my starting point, and now it's time for me to move on and grow up, and as the Bible says, "put away these childish things". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reach Posted October 11, 2005 Share Posted October 11, 2005 i would appreciate it if a mod can move this thread back to the debate forum. Done. Welcome to Ex-C, Common Sense. We can use a lot more people like you around here. I am beginning to think that perhaps, common sense has gone out of style or something. Or maybe, there has never been any such thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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