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Goodbye Jesus

Any room for a Catholic turned agnostic?


ShotoManhattan

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I found this forum a little while ago after hearing some depressing negativity from some Christians from the Vigilant Citizens forum. I was baptized and raised Catholic, but I've become more agnostic as the experiences I had from both intolerant Catholics and Christians. I moved back home to save up on money but go to Church out of respect for my mom who is an avid church goer. It gets kind of boring after a while.

 

So hi!

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Hi!

 

Welcome to Ex-C. Sure we got room... careful influence from our atheists might rub off and you become one of them :) 

 

Hope to see you around.

 

LF

(Hard nosed atheist.... wait who gave me that title??)

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22 minutes ago, ShotoManhattan said:

I found this forum a little while ago after hearing some depressing negativity from some Christians from the Vigilant Citizens forum. I was baptized and raised Catholic, but I've become more agnostic as the experiences I had from both intolerant Catholics and Christians. I moved back home to save up on money but go to Church out of respect for my mom who is an avid church goer. It gets kind of boring after a while.

 

So hi!

 

 

There is always room for more.  Welcome!  I hated living with my folks.  That sucks.  But try to get along and if you have to got to church then do what you have to do.

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Welcome. I understand the need to not disappoint parents.  There will come a time when you can launch out on your own, and live your own life.  I worried about leaving, but when couldnt take the sermons any longer, my mother actually took my leaving better than I expected, after her initial dramatic reaction.  Later found she had actually questioned some of the dogma.

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Is your issue with the metaphysical nature of the divine, however you define that, with hypocrisy on the part of adherents, or issues with the human imperfections of the church, or something else?  Also, are you coming from a "people are bad and sinful and can only be redeemed by x" POV or more of a progressive social gospel good works and being ethical bent?

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My issue with Christianity is more basic than plastivore's. There is a mountain of historical evidence that demonstrates that it just ain't true. Historical research indicates the Bible is a collection of fictional stories with fictional characters. Christianity is just one of many man made religions. Historians have never found a historical Jesus or Paul either outside the gospels & epistles. 

 

 

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On 2/25/2018 at 5:19 PM, plastivore said:

Is your issue with the metaphysical nature of the divine, however you define that, with hypocrisy on the part of adherents, or issues with the human imperfections of the church, or something else?  Also, are you coming from a "people are bad and sinful and can only be redeemed by x" POV or more of a progressive social gospel good works and being ethical bent?

It's mostly to do with the Christians and Catholics who claim to follow Christ, but use their faith on the other faiths.

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Welcome! It took me a long time to realize honoring your parents has nothing to do with agreeing with them :)

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On 2/22/2018 at 7:58 PM, ShotoManhattan said:

I found this forum a little while ago after hearing some depressing negativity from some Christians from the Vigilant Citizens forum. I was baptized and raised Catholic, but I've become more agnostic as the experiences I had from both intolerant Catholics and Christians. I moved back home to save up on money but go to Church out of respect for my mom who is an avid church goer. It gets kind of boring after a while.

 

So hi!

 

Howdy, welcome to the forum. I never liked getting up for 10 oclock church on Sunday and then some (probably old) people pushed for 9 am church but it got voted down, thank goodness. Sitting there with my cup of coffee listening to someone drone on about the bible and Jesus while my mind drifted to whatever I 'really' wanted to do got annoying. Then afterward, the awkward milling about of people who were at best, acquaintances was terrible.

 

The potlucks were the only good reason to attend. :) Sorry you're going to church. I suppose it's a necessary evil to keep Mom happy. Just save up that money. :) Then gtfo.

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On 2/28/2018 at 5:43 PM, ShotoManhattan said:

It's mostly to do with the Christians and Catholics who claim to follow Christ, but use their faith on the other faiths.

 

The Catholics I worked with were pretty much like me, except they tried to keep the profanity down when they wore that ash on their forehead on Wednesday. :)

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Welcome!

 

Never was a Catholic myself, but we have a few formers here. ficino, in particular, is very knowledgeable about the Catholic tradition (among many other things). We have all types here though. You'll definitely find your niche if you stick around.

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Welcome!

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Thanks for all the welcomes!

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On 2/22/2018 at 10:58 PM, ShotoManhattan said:

I found this forum a little while ago after hearing some depressing negativity from some Christians from the Vigilant Citizens forum.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

I assume these depressing christians left a link to this forum? 

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On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 1:10 PM, DestinyTurtle said:

Welcome! It took me a long time to realize honoring your parents has nothing to do with agreeing with them :)

Yessssss!  Well said!  

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On 3/8/2018 at 6:59 AM, Joshpantera said:

 

Welcome aboard!

 

I assume these depressing christians left a link to this forum? 

No, I just looked up sites for people who weren't Christian anymore. The fundamentalists pretty much love to rag on non-fundamentalist Christians (especially Catholics) and thought Islam was Devil Worship. The depressing ones pretty much think every decade is the End Times and hides behind Bible verses to justify their views.

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56 minutes ago, ShotoManhattan said:

No, I just looked up sites for people who weren't Christian anymore. The fundamentalists pretty much love to rag on non-fundamentalist Christians (especially Catholics) and thought Islam was Devil Worship. The depressing ones pretty much think every decade is the End Times and hides behind Bible verses to justify their views.

 

That's about it. The whole "end times" thing seems to always render a depressive religious world view. SDA's grow up with a very bizarre doctrine of the anticipated "end times." It's always just around the corner, decade by decade. No one knows the day or the hour, but by golly it must be sometime this decade, right? 

 

What a bunch of horse shit. 

 

It really shouldn't take more than two decades to catch on to that. But unfortunately a lot of fundies never catch on. But hey, some do. Hence our presence here. Some amount of fundies are steady breaking through and getting off of the carrot-on-a-stick, hamster wheel....

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23 hours ago, Joshpantera said:

 

That's about it. The whole "end times" thing seems to always render a depressive religious world view. SDA's grow up with a very bizarre doctrine of the anticipated "end times." It's always just around the corner, decade by decade. No one knows the day or the hour, but by golly it must be sometime this decade, right? 

 

What a bunch of horse shit. 

 

It really shouldn't take more than two decades to catch on to that. But unfortunately a lot of fundies never catch on. But hey, some do. Hence our presence here. Some amount of fundies are steady breaking through and getting off of the carrot-on-a-stick, hamster wheel....

 

How does the end times compare to the carrot on a stick or hamster wheel?

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Everyone's thinking that the second coming is just out ahead of them. Until finally realizing that no, this is all nonsense. The people who have not figured that out yet keep walking their hamster wheels, never really getting anywhere. Chasing a carrot-on-stick held out in front of them. It's the second coming on a stick. Always just ahead of you, but you never get to it. 

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1 hour ago, Joshpantera said:

Everyone's thinking that the second coming is just out ahead of them. Until finally realizing that no, this is all nonsense. The people who have not figured that out yet keep walking their hamster wheels, never really getting anywhere. Chasing a carrot-on-stick held out in front of them. It's the second coming on a stick. Always just ahead of you, but you never get to it. 

It's survival consciousness. The strategy is to keep people in a constant state of flight-or-fight thinking (a sense of mortal urgency), because in that state of mind people are prone to apply less critical thinking or logic to their decision making, and are more susceptible to misdirection or manipulation. It's a similar strategy in spirit to the "you need to forward this email to ten people or you are going to die" type of memes. Some people live their lives frantically clicking "forward" over and over again. What a wasted life. 

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