Jump to content
Goodbye Jesus

Cherry-picking The Good Things From Xianity


Not_Scarevangelist

Recommended Posts

I think families are much stronger where there isn't multiple relationships (before marriage or after).

 

 

On what do you base that?

 

I can understand how infidelity could wreck a family, but I don't think whatever relationships one had before marriage would affect the future family produced later in a committed relationship ... unless one or both of the spouses can't let go of the past and/or is extremely insecure.

 

I guess what I'm saying with that run-on sentence is that I think mature people shouldn't have a problem with their partner's past (over and done with) relationships.

 

Well, in my experience (and that's all I have)...it seems to be true. But, hey, lots of my theories have been blown out of the water. It does seem true to me though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not judging you, just saying what I think. If you are good with it, then that's your life. For me, however, that would be very uncomfortable. So, I am just trying to get a feel for people's feelings here.

 

Okay, I understand then. But I might point out that your discomfort with a partner's previous partners is insecurity. Insecurity is unhealthy and leads to the destruction of a relationship. I'm not gonna lie, I have been insecure about my boyfriend's previous relationships, wondering if they were better, etc. But what I've had to remember is that those relationships ended for various reasons, and all that matters is that we're together now.

 

 

 

Okay, so it's insecurity, maybe. However, if a person is insecure and I probably am as insecure as the next person, if you don't have those multiple relationships to contend with, you just don't have to deal with it. It may not be a cure for insecurity but insecurity in relationships can be dealt with on a perhaps more comfortable level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think families are much stronger where there isn't multiple relationships (before marriage or after).

 

Do you have evidence? Not trying to be antagonistic. What we think or feel doesn't necessarily measure up when examined more closely. It's been my experience that everyone is different. Just like some people are naturally gay, some are naturally polyamourous and some are naturally monogamous while even others aren't interested in sexual relationships at all. I tend to try and live and let live because I will never understand what is right or best for others not having walked in their shoes or felt what they feel.

 

I have the evidence of my own life and experiences and that's all I can go by. I don't have proof if that's what you mean. If I was 100% confident in my answers I would not be exploring the questions. However, it seems to me to be true. I am very much naturally monogamous. I would not want to be married to anyone who was otherwise or I would not be married for long!PageofCupsNono.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From a guys perspective, I think that my premarital relationships were a necessary process I had to go through. None of the previous girlfriends and I would have made it as a couple and the woman I eventually married, I told her of my "exploits", she even met a few of the old flames.

 

I think b/c I was open and honest about it, she had the assurance that that part of my life was behind me. Post my marriage, there were opportunities but I never pursued them as I am too honest a person to be able to hide that if anything happened. We are going on for 26 years now with a courtship of 18 months before that where we lived together for a year.

 

The idea that men are allowed to sow wild oats and then find a virgin is BS. Reality is that if I had so many partners, then those ladies are all probably married and some even grandmothers by now. The whole sex before marriage and with a number of partners IMO is healthy, better to get this out your system before going magnanimous. I also believe that divorces happen when kids marry too too soon, often because there is a baby already on the way or where the woo woo kids ess. just want a license to fuck w/o guilt leads to the high divorce rate.

 

But then different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

 

I do believe that kids should not be just tarred and feathered for what I would consider to be mistakes. Too many are so condemned for premarital relations, they make even more mistakes. That's a bad approach, IMO. However, I don't know that "getting it out of your system" is such a good approach either. My kids are in their early adulthood and I am trying to just mind my own business. But they know that I am not for messing around. So, I stated my opinion and I don't want to know anymore about it unless they get into trouble. Then, I would do what I could to help. No pressure to marry if it's not right.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

r where the woo woo kids ess. just want a license to fuck w/o guilt leads to the high divorce rate.

 

But then different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

 

I'm deep in FundyLand and I see this a lot. It makes me sad for young kids getting married so early just because they can't wait to have sex. My advice is to have sex and wait to get married until you are sure. It just makes sense. Although I'm one to talk. I was a "woo woo kid" and I got married because I was pregnant at 21. So I revise my advice. Wear protection or get on the pill (or both) and have sex. Marriage can wait.

 

freedom

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not judging you, just saying what I think. If you are good with it, then that's your life. For me, however, that would be very uncomfortable. So, I am just trying to get a feel for people's feelings here.

 

Okay, I understand then. But I might point out that your discomfort with a partner's previous partners is insecurity. Insecurity is unhealthy and leads to the destruction of a relationship. I'm not gonna lie, I have been insecure about my boyfriend's previous relationships, wondering if they were better, etc. But what I've had to remember is that those relationships ended for various reasons, and all that matters is that we're together now.

 

 

 

Okay, so it's insecurity, maybe. However, if a person is insecure and I probably am as insecure as the next person, if you don't have those multiple relationships to contend with, you just don't have to deal with it. It may not be a cure for insecurity but insecurity in relationships can be dealt with on a perhaps more comfortable level.

 

Sure, in a perfect world we would all meet the right person right away and fall madly in love and be equipped to make the relationship work. But... the fact is that not everyone does, so it's unavoidable. If my boyfriend were a virgin just like I was, sure, I'd love that, but he wasn't, so I'm not going to dwell on it. It's much easier to push back your insecurities than it is to rewind time. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From a guys perspective, I think that my premarital relationships were a necessary process I had to go through. None of the previous girlfriends and I would have made it as a couple and the woman I eventually married, I told her of my "exploits", she even met a few of the old flames.

 

I think b/c I was open and honest about it, she had the assurance that that part of my life was behind me. Post my marriage, there were opportunities but I never pursued them as I am too honest a person to be able to hide that if anything happened. We are going on for 26 years now with a courtship of 18 months before that where we lived together for a year.

 

The idea that men are allowed to sow wild oats and then find a virgin is BS. Reality is that if I had so many partners, then those ladies are all probably married and some even grandmothers by now. The whole sex before marriage and with a number of partners IMO is healthy, better to get this out your system before going magnanimous. I also believe that divorces happen when kids marry too too soon, often because there is a baby already on the way or where the woo woo kids ess. just want a license to fuck w/o guilt leads to the high divorce rate.

 

But then different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

 

I do believe that kids should not be just tarred and feathered for what I would consider to be mistakes. Too many are so condemned for premarital relations, they make even more mistakes. That's a bad approach, IMO. However, I don't know that "getting it out of your system" is such a good approach either. My kids are in their early adulthood and I am trying to just mind my own business. But they know that I am not for messing around. So, I stated my opinion and I don't want to know anymore about it unless they get into trouble. Then, I would do what I could to help. No pressure to marry if it's not right.

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply but I need to clarify as it comes across like I was condoning infidelity even before marriage.

 

My pre martial exploits ( I call them that as at that age, that was not true love) were one at a time. Even then I never cheated on a girlfriend I was going with. I guess deep down I was looking for a soul mate but it never worked out. There was passion which led to sex and I was very assertive in this regard, I was also they type of guy that would buy flowers and gifts and only once got laid on a first date which ironically led to a 2nd date and then ended.

 

The idea of keeping yourself for the one you love IMO is a noble but impossible feat to achieve in reality.

 

As it turned out, my brother had to marry and is on wife no 3, my sister once opened up and she also had intimate relationships but is married only once. I guess I was lucky to have had this "example" of how not to do it and made sure she was on the pill or used protection myself. I had decided very early I would not marry until I was at least 27 which happened to be the age I was when I married.

 

That said, I had a lot of other interests other than girls and played a lot of sports, played a lot of pool, went to clubs with buddies, danced with strangers and sometimes got "lucky". The way it was back then, even if a girl turned out not to be interested in me physically, usually because they were in groups, I could still be friends and visit them (still hoping of course but was not the key driving factor in my relationships)

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that if the passion leads to the natural desire for sex, don't fight it, see where it goes. However, if getting laid on the first date is the key driver, contrary to popular myth, you end up have many first and only dates. The other side of the spectrum is the "pick up" where one goes to clubs alone or with buddies and pairing off takes place and whatever happens happens, this was they way I met girls and we had a Saturday morning ritual of going to something like a Wimpy for breakfast where one also met girls/(boys for the girls)

 

Back then the risk of STD's was far less than it is today so we were pretty blase about it.

 

I'm deep in FundyLand and I see this a lot. It makes me sad for young kids getting married so early just because they can't wait to have sex. My advice is to have sex and wait to get married until you are sure. It just makes sense. Although I'm one to talk. I was a "woo woo kid" and I got married because I was pregnant at 21. So I revise my advice. Wear protection or get on the pill (or both) and have sex. Marriage can wait.

 

freedom

 

Pretty much the way I feel about it. Told my kids to use protection and they are 22 and 19 this year and still single

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would not want to be married to anyone who was otherwise or I would not be married for long!Posted Image

 

I can understand that. What I can't understand is why it would matter to you what took place before you met and decided to get married. Not everyone is sexually compatible. How can you know if you are or aren't until you've tested the waters? In other words, how do you know if pistachio ice cream is your favorite if it's the only flavor you've ever allowed yourself to eat? What about your spouse? Believe me, compatibility can make or break a marriage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have my morals "loosened" since I became an atheist? Yes and no. If we are defining "morals" as "Christian Fundamentalist Morals" then I have taken a nose dive in the area of morals. Whilst a Christian I never swore, drunk alcohol or listened to secular music. I turned the other cheek, let people walk all over me. I never told outright lies and so on. Now as an atheist, I don't hold onto these moral values anymore but in some ways that has made me a better person. I now don't judge people based on their sex, their religious beliefs or their sexual orientation. I had very little regard for the "unsaved".

 

 

As for the good in Christianity, there is a little bit of good in everything. I can look at the Bible now and point to a verse and say "those are words of wisdom" and then skim down to another and say "that's dangerous and stupid". I'm no loner blinded into trying to see it as all good even when I can see it is clearly not.

 

As for the sex topic, as others have pointed out we're all wired differently. I have friends who all they can think about is scoring with chicks and then in the middle of these guys I have a friend who is looking for his "true love". He thought he found her but he was betrayed so his search continues. He would have been quite satisfied with having had only the one sexual partner. Though I've had none thus far, I think I would find it hard to settle down immediately with just the one partner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think it's the result of Christianity so much as that's how some people are wired. My boyfriend has never been a Christian and has only been with three other women besides me. At 27 that's not many, and I think it's awesome. He and I are just wired for committment. My brother has been with countless women, and he believes in god! He's just not the committed type. Some aren't, some are. I don't think it has anything to do with god.

I don't think it has anything to do with Christianity either. I've seen Christian parents try to stop their kids from having sex and all it did was lead them to make bad decisions. Others didn't need to be stopped because they just weren't that way. I also don't think having or not many partners makes a relationship better or worse, a person can be emotionally healthy having had a lot of partners or be emotionally unstable not having many partners. I guess it depends on compatibility if it's going to work.

 

Personally I've had very few partners but that's just the way I am. To be honest I don't want someone who's had a lot of experience, I'd rather they be like me but I also believe it could work if they aren't. Honestly though, I don't know what I'm talking about because I haven't had much experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The idea of keeping yourself for the one you love IMO is a noble but impossible feat to achieve in reality.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that if the passion leads to the natural desire for sex, don't fight it, see where it goes. However, if getting laid on the first date is the key driver, contrary to popular myth, you end up have many first and only dates. The other side of the spectrum is the "pick up" where one goes to clubs alone or with buddies and pairing off takes place and whatever happens happens, this was they way I met girls and we had a Saturday morning ritual of going to something like a Wimpy for breakfast where one also met girls/(boys for the girls)

 

 

I don't think it's impossible, frankly. I honestly don't see why anybody (women in particular) would choose to "get laid", period. Sex in a monogamous relationship can be great, but the casualness that people approach sex with is alarming to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would not want to be married to anyone who was otherwise or I would not be married for long!Posted Image

 

I can understand that. What I can't understand is why it would matter to you what took place before you met and decided to get married. Not everyone is sexually compatible. How can you know if you are or aren't until you've tested the waters? In other words, how do you know if pistachio ice cream is your favorite if it's the only flavor you've ever allowed yourself to eat? What about your spouse? Believe me, compatibility can make or break a marriage.

 

I've been married 25 years and we have not always been "compatible". What we have been is committed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been married 25 years and we have not always been "compatible". What we have been is committed.

Vigile has no respect for commitment. Everything is contingent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been married 25 years and we have not always been "compatible". What we have been is committed.

Vigile has no respect for commitment. Everything is contingent.

 

That's a little scary. A pretty good recipe for short lasting love.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think wisdom is found in many places. Just because Christianity has some outrageously erroneous things in it does not imply that there is no wisdom to be found there, in my opinion.

 

Aristotle was brilliant in my opinion to elucidate the four causes. But he also thought the function of the brain was to cool the blood.

 

 

 

My brain certainly helps to cool my blood just before i go for a person's jugular, and a good thing too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My brain certainly helps to cool my blood just before i go for a person's jugular, and a good thing too.

Your brain manifests a mind which has an illusory view of your very self. So does mine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The idea of keeping yourself for the one you love IMO is a noble but impossible feat to achieve in reality.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that if the passion leads to the natural desire for sex, don't fight it, see where it goes. However, if getting laid on the first date is the key driver, contrary to popular myth, you end up have many first and only dates. The other side of the spectrum is the "pick up" where one goes to clubs alone or with buddies and pairing off takes place and whatever happens happens, this was they way I met girls and we had a Saturday morning ritual of going to something like a Wimpy for breakfast where one also met girls/(boys for the girls)

 

 

I don't think it's impossible, frankly. I honestly don't see why anybody (women in particular) would choose to "get laid", period. Sex in a monogamous relationship can be great, but the casualness that people approach sex with is alarming to me.

 

Really, because some of the best sex I have ever had was casual and volcanic. Depends who is looking I guess. I don't really attach emotion to sex so it makes little difference to me. I am in a committed relationship now that I plan to stay in, but should that finish I would have not problem with casual sex again.

 

Also after 36 years in church I have to say that asshole goes right to the bone. Can't tell you how many christians of 20 plus years were some of the most revolting humans I have ever met. I left coz I don't like hanging around with assholes and it became clear to me there was no holy spirit guiding them, just their own collective bullshit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been married 25 years and we have not always been "compatible". What we have been is committed.

Vigile has no respect for commitment. Everything is contingent.

 

Now you're just talking out your ass. You have zero basis for this claim other than your own personal vindictiveness. IMO, this makes you a sorry human being. How long have you been married? I'm going on 12 years.

 

Good to see you take your political discussions so personally that it makes you feel free to make personal attacks on my character. :Wendywhatever: One could ascertain from this that you're just a little crazy, as in off-your-meds crazy.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The idea of keeping yourself for the one you love IMO is a noble but impossible feat to achieve in reality.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that if the passion leads to the natural desire for sex, don't fight it, see where it goes. However, if getting laid on the first date is the key driver, contrary to popular myth, you end up have many first and only dates. The other side of the spectrum is the "pick up" where one goes to clubs alone or with buddies and pairing off takes place and whatever happens happens, this was they way I met girls and we had a Saturday morning ritual of going to something like a Wimpy for breakfast where one also met girls/(boys for the girls)

 

 

I don't think it's impossible, frankly. I honestly don't see why anybody (women in particular) would choose to "get laid", period. Sex in a monogamous relationship can be great, but the casualness that people approach sex with is alarming to me.

 

Sex in a non-monotonous relationship can be pretty great, too. I was rather promiscuous in my 20s, enjoyed it immensely, and have no regrets.

 

The Mr. and I met in 1990 when we were both 32. By then, we had probably both had a fair share of partners. (I don't know his "number." Don't care. Never asked.) Doesn't affect our current relationship at all. What's past is past.

 

However, I realize that people have, and are welcomed to have, different attitudes about sex. So, all I can advise is: If casual sex alarms you, don't do it and try not to think about other people doing it. It'll just make you feel worse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Sex in a non-monotonous relationship can be pretty great, too. I was rather promiscuous in my 20s, enjoyed it immensely, and have no regrets.

 

The Mr. and I met in 1990 when we were both 32. By then, we had probably both had a fair share of partners. (I don't know his "number." Don't care. Never asked.) Doesn't affect our current relationship at all. What's past is past.

 

However, I realize that people have, and are welcomed to have, different attitudes about sex. So, all I can advise is: If casual sex alarms you, don't do it and try not to think about other people doing it. It'll just make you feel worse.

 

No doubt about that. This probably goes without saying, but I could change and be promiscuous, but those who have been promiscuous can never go back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No doubt about that. This probably goes without saying, but I could change and be promiscuous, but those who have been promiscuous can never go back.

 

Why would you suddenly "choose" to promiscuous? IIRC you are in a relationship. You would have to break that to go play the field. That anyway is not how it works, at the time of promiscuity, kids and setting up house were the farthest things on my mind. There was 50-50 time shared with my guy friends and the stuff guys like to do, the girlfriend never came with as the buddies did not have partners, only on Friday and Saturday nights when we went out partying was this acceptable to bring the other half. Plus when we did the guy things, the girl would be like a spare wheel.

 

I, like Thackarie, have no regrets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Sex in a non-monotonous relationship can be pretty great, too. I was rather promiscuous in my 20s, enjoyed it immensely, and have no regrets.

 

The Mr. and I met in 1990 when we were both 32. By then, we had probably both had a fair share of partners. (I don't know his "number." Don't care. Never asked.) Doesn't affect our current relationship at all. What's past is past.

 

However, I realize that people have, and are welcomed to have, different attitudes about sex. So, all I can advise is: If casual sex alarms you, don't do it and try not to think about other people doing it. It'll just make you feel worse.

 

No doubt about that. This probably goes without saying, but I could change and be promiscuous, but those who have been promiscuous can never go back.

 

The only reason I'd want to go back is to pick up some of the guys I missed the first time around. :wicked:

 

But, I'm glad for my misspent youth; I had lots of fun and made memories to last a lifetime (or until alzheimers strikes). And, it's a good thing I did it then and that I'm in a long-term, committed relationship now. I assume that, as one (especially a female one) gets older, it gets harder and harder to launch a new life of promiscuity (though I understand that some of the gents in retirement homes have fun with their choice of the ladies, by whom they are severely outnumbered).

 

To each his or her own (or more, if we all play safe and no one's feelings get hurt).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No doubt about that. This probably goes without saying, but I could change and be promiscuous, but those who have been promiscuous can never go back.

 

No. You can't turn the clocks back. And promiscuous behavior may have negative consequences of course the obvious being std's. I think though there is the emotional aspect too. And often, not all, the reason for promiscuity is that the person is fulfilling some kind of emotional void and casual sexual encounters can sometimes leave the person feeling crummy. But for many there is no regret, no guilt attached, no feeling of shame and there is a sense of having a temporary mutual connection with someone which was pleasurable.

 

I am sure many people may regret being promsicuous but I still believe much of that regret is rooted in shame, a shame feeling that is linked to the Christian teaching that sexual behavior outside of marriage is 'sinful' I carried a whole ton of guilt and shame over sexual promiscuity from my past which I felt I needed to be 'cleansed' from by the 'blood of Jesus'. This is when I learned about Christ and becoming 'born again' and felt that is what I needed. I didn't feel too badly about my past prior to the religious path I went on. I was probably more embarrassed to admit anything because of the social stigma on women who are 'loose' so it was more of a fear of what others would think of me. I met my husband he accepted me for me, didn't want to know about who what and when, and I felt the same way about him. it just wasn't an issue, but my sexual past became an issue a few years after my marriage and I began going to church. I think that if it wasn't for the religious 'condemnation' I wouldn't have felt tormented over what I had done. There is so much shame attached to sexual behavior when it comes to Christianity. I literally felt 'filthy as rags'. I think that is kinda sad I felt like that.

 

In regards to the other comment about relationships. I think everyone is wired differently. Many of us are made for one on one committed relationships and could not invisage anything else but some people I don't think they are wired that way and have to have the sexual freedom and not have that committment.

 

Well I know this is not really referring to the original post about cherry picking. Just wanted to respond to this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No doubt about that. This probably goes without saying, but I could change and be promiscuous, but those who have been promiscuous can never go back.

 

No. You can't turn the clocks back. And promiscuous behavior may have negative consequences of course the obvious being std's. I think though there is the emotional aspect too. And often, not all, the reason for promiscuity is that the person is fulfilling some kind of emotional void and casual sexual encounters can sometimes leave the person feeling crummy. But for many there is no regret, no guilt attached, no feeling of shame and there is a sense of having a temporary mutual connection with someone which was pleasurable.

 

I am sure many people may regret being promsicuous but I still believe much of that regret is rooted in shame, a shame feeling that is linked to the Christian teaching that sexual behavior outside of marriage is 'sinful' I carried a whole ton of guilt and shame over sexual promiscuity from my past which I felt I needed to be 'cleansed' from by the 'blood of Jesus'. This is when I learned about Christ and becoming 'born again' and felt that is what I needed. I didn't feel too badly about my past prior to the religious path I went on. I was probably more embarrassed to admit anything because of the social stigma on women who are 'loose' so it was more of a fear of what others would think of me. I met my husband he accepted me for me, didn't want to know about who what and when, and I felt the same way about him. it just wasn't an issue, but my sexual past became an issue a few years after my marriage and I began going to church. I think that if it wasn't for the religious 'condemnation' I wouldn't have felt tormented over what I had done. There is so much shame attached to sexual behavior when it comes to Christianity. I literally felt 'filthy as rags'. I think that is kinda sad I felt like that.

 

In regards to the other comment about relationships. I think everyone is wired differently. Many of us are made for one on one committed relationships and could not invisage anything else but some people I don't think they are wired that way and have to have the sexual freedom and not have that committment.

 

Well I know this is not really referring to the original post about cherry picking. Just wanted to respond to this.

 

 

This is exactly what I am dealing with at the moment. I have so much hidden sexual shame, and Im trying to take control of it. My whole life, and Im sure this is pre-christian too, I picked up feelings of shame that women could never express their sexual desires or be eager for sex. It has been bound up so tightly in me, and then when I became a christian, well it just compounded it deeper and deeper into my psyche. Im really struggling with this now, and trying to accept that as a human being those physiological things are inside me whether I want them there or not.

 

Oh what irony for christians who are told to suppress it and ignore it..when god supposedly put it there in the first place. How cruel and monstrous to be told to ignore something human and innerant inside of us that we have little control over.

 

If women want to be promiscious let them, its their business. Frankly Im so tired of being controlled and told what I can and cant do with my OWN body. I want to make those decisions for myself from now on. If those decisions cause me pain, then I am in control of it and Im to blame. I sick of christians telling me and controlling me what they think is good for me and supposedly god telling me too. I want to take control of my own damn life and be accountable for the consequences of it...argh!!!

 

ok must calm down..have been feeling a tad angry and crazy these past few days. :vent:

 

Someone please tell me its ok for women to want sex and be eager for it, because my feeling from society in general is that we should be passive about it and not want it. Is this right or wrong?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Super Moderator
Someone please tell me its ok for women to want sex and be eager for it

Consider yourself told.

 

Women want sex. It's the Big Secret. I wish I had known this back when I hit puberty!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.