Guest ThereIsNoGod Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 You could say that the christian faith built me up to knock me down. I turned to religion in the first place cause I lacked self-belief. I allowed the christian faith to build up my self-belief and once it reached a certain height I started to get that sense of "I'm not good enough, I'm nothing without Jesus" which led to fear and paranoia over whether Jesus was truly looking out for me or not. I'm sure that nearly EVERYBODY goes through this same process. No matter how a christian says "It's all about believing in Jesus" they know as well as anyone that you NEED self-belief in order to get through the day. I guess the initial confidence that christianity seemed to give me was based on feelings of "There might be a God, there might be a Jesus, there might be something out there helping me along". And this feeling was helpful as long as I didn't take it too seriously. Of course the more dependent you become on something, the more you hurt when you don't have it. And with something as elusive as "God" or "Jesus" you're taking a big risk by putting faith in that. I think religion should, at best, just be something to help people along a little, but well let's face it, evangelists wouldn't make big bucks by selling something just to help people along. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeCycle Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 I find a contradiction (one among many) in Christianity that on the one hand you are supposed to be made in the image of God and on the other you are a poor, miserable sinner with no hope without Christ. So, what does that say about the image of God? I mean I know all the torturous reasoning about the so-called curse of sin and all that jazz, but does it still hold, made in the image of God? If so, in what way? It cannot mean the physical body, so what is it? We were made in the image of God. Capable of fucking up apparently. I guess God is a fuck-up too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest r3alchild Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Think about christianity and its corrective mental formulas. Its not based on any tried and tested methods, its not science its not psychology its not even spirituality. So what the fuck is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
◊ crazyguy123 ◊ Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Think about christianity and its corrective mental formulas. Its not based on any tried and tested methods, its not science its not psychology its not even spirituality. So what the fuck is it? It is fear-mongering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edie Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 I think I know how you feel, ExXex. I was always shy, and the church told me I wasn't meant to mix with non-Christians anyway, so it made me feel OK about not talking to people. Then the church taught me to fear them because of their badness, and I didn't take much convincing! I could have spent time overcoming my shyness, instead I got it reinforced. They taught me I was bad and unworthy, and I believed them. I've been out of the church about 12 years now and I'm 31 years old, but although I can't blame the church for all of my problems, it's certainly left me with a lot of difficulties that are difficult to overcome. I dived straight out of the church and into an abusive marriage, and it's honestly difficult to see much difference between the control techniques used by the church and my ex. There are counsellors who specialise in cult recovery. I think that's what I need. But because my church describe themselves as Christian, it's hard to convince anyone of the harm done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExXex Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 Its not based on any tried and tested methods Since it's been going for over 2000 years I'd call it pretty tried and tested! I wouldn't be surprised if that aspect of it developed further as people realised how effective it was. I think seeing it as a cult is a good part of the recovery process Edie Because it does damage people, it stunts them (well maybe not all of them but certainly me) and it ingrains a certain way of thinking that isn't your own. I think if people can recognise that and how it was done it's a good start to patching things up and trying to avoid similar circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 The church doesn't do a thing for a shy person trying to make it in the world. It reinforces a poor self-image and this is reinforced even more if one of your parents (who got you into the church) also has a poor self-image. Churches seem to feed off this - and it makes it almost impossible to accept yourself and be happy. There is no instruction on finding a proper career and not being a helpless female. On the contrary, the church was family oriented (strange!!) and being single was really discouraged. Just how a person is supposed to find an appropriate mate was never gone into. Although I am now self supporting, it took many years and a bad marriage. I have never been able to overcome the poor social skills I developed as a young, shy person. It may not be the church's fault entirely, but it certainly contributed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest r3alchild Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Its not based on any tried and tested methods Since it's been going for over 2000 years I'd call it pretty tried and tested! I wouldn't be surprised if that aspect of it developed further as people realised how effective it was. I think seeing it as a cult is a good part of the recovery process Edie Because it does damage people, it stunts them (well maybe not all of them but certainly me) and it ingrains a certain way of thinking that isn't your own. I think if people can recognise that and how it was done it's a good start to patching things up and trying to avoid similar circumstances. I mean tried and tested as in the scientific method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramen666 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 The church doesn't do a thing for a shy person trying to make it in the world. It reinforces a poor self-image and this is reinforced even more if one of your parents (who got you into the church) also has a poor self-image. Churches seem to feed off this - and it makes it almost impossible to accept yourself and be happy. There is no instruction on finding a proper career and not being a helpless female. On the contrary, the church was family oriented (strange!!) and being single was really discouraged. Just how a person is supposed to find an appropriate mate was never gone into. Although I am now self supporting, it took many years and a bad marriage. I have never been able to overcome the poor social skills I developed as a young, shy person. It may not be the church's fault entirely, but it certainly contributed. That is a interesting post..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest r3alchild Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 You are who you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolaida Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 The church doesn't do a thing for a shy person trying to make it in the world. It reinforces a poor self-image and this is reinforced even more if one of your parents (who got you into the church) also has a poor self-image. Churches seem to feed off this - and it makes it almost impossible to accept yourself and be happy. There is no instruction on finding a proper career and not being a helpless female. On the contrary, the church was family oriented (strange!!) and being single was really discouraged. Just how a person is supposed to find an appropriate mate was never gone into. Although I am now self supporting, it took many years and a bad marriage. I have never been able to overcome the poor social skills I developed as a young, shy person. It may not be the church's fault entirely, but it certainly contributed. Yes, I agree 100%. I am very shy myself and tend to have anxiety when in groups of people. Even just going to the mall a few weeks ago I began to feel like I was suffocating and going to hyperventilate because there was so many people around me and I usually like going to the mall! This has been happening more frequently recently. I had Proverbs 31 drilled in my head over and over again and books on Women of God, blah, blah. And it was seemed to be the same, be meek and humble, support your man, pray. But there never was any guide to getting a man while being all this. Women who were louder and more outgoing and who did not seem to be the "women of god" (with the exception of one girl I knew) seemed to be getting married. I was told to look for a man at church because where better to find a Christian man than there? Well, all the ones my age or close to my age were married, engaged, etc and there were practically no single ones. The ONE that was there didn't really seem interested at all, too focused on finishing school. I always felt like I was never good enough. I still do sometimes. Not as often, but it still creeps up and it's like when is it gonna be enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chikirin Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Think about christianity and its corrective mental formulas. Its not based on any tried and tested methods, its not science its not psychology its not even spirituality. So what the fuck is it? It is a bet, a gamble, a wager. Funny because Christians say gambling is a sin but the Christian life is just a cowardly acceptance of pascals wager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Jeff Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I have bipolar disorder that was not diagnosed until close to the end of my Christian experience. Christianity made my symptoms much worse than they had to be! I was prayed for many times and had some ecstatic religious experiences, but was of course never miraculously healed. And of course the fact that I was never healed was my fault... I had some sin I hadn't confessed or I wasn't pleasing the Lard faithfully enough... Let's all worship the Lard together. Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExXex Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 Gurgh, even as a Christian I hated that song, I was all 'Urgh I've already said the word 'holy' do I really have to say it 2 more times?' Yay now I don't have to sing any more endlessly repetitive songs! Yayyy! Well.. if you don't count Killing In The Name and Baby One more Time and all that.. I dunno what Christianity did for my mental problems, I don't really want to think about it. I felt bad during confession sometimes because I'd been so depressed that day I hadn't actually done anything to consider sinful, except perhaps sins of omission haha. I suppose going to church got me out the house sometimes though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
◊ crazyguy123 ◊ Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Gurgh, even as a Christian I hated that song, I was all 'Urgh I've already said the word 'holy' do I really have to say it 2 more times?' Yay now I don't have to sing any more endlessly repetitive songs! Yayyy! Well.. if you don't count Killing In The Name and Baby One more Time and all that.. I dunno what Christianity did for my mental problems, I don't really want to think about it. I felt bad during confession sometimes because I'd been so depressed that day I hadn't actually done anything to consider sinful, except perhaps sins of omission haha. I suppose going to church got me out the house sometimes though! You might never need to sing the song again, but if you hear a song that annoys you, it could become stuck in your mind and it will play over and over in your mind when you do not want it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExXex Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 I can always mentally change the words! Holey holey holey, are arguments for the almighty Hmm, could do with some work there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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