Non-christians

[jrmarlin]

I have just noticed with some of the threads lately that it seems more and more that even we are guilty of acting like we're somehow inferior to the 'normal folk.' Atheists on their death beds.... Can Atheists have a normal happy life...

 

What the fuck is a non-christian, an alien or what?

 

Atheist, deist, agnostic, satanist -- whoever we are, we all have lives - normal lives -- which we live very happily without the trappings of christian religions. Big deal? So what? It's not like we die and our bodies immediately turn to fairey dust. I mean hells bells. All people need to get over these notions that just because we're not christian means we live our lives in such a bizaro weird way that we don't have happy lives.

 

I mean, YEEK GADS!

 

 

Is it that people think we're all from outer space? People being xians or recovering xians....

 

People living healthy happy lives has nothing to do with religious stature. So why are we putting so much emphasis in it?

[Lycorth]

Unfortunately, most people who ask such questions have been brainwashed in a thoroughly Xian climate which has them believing that only a Gawd-fearing Xian can have a happy life or a happy afterlife. It's sad that people have to ask those questions, because of how that cult has harmed peoples' self-esteem, but it's a good thing overall - of course it's ridiculous to think that a non-xian has a sucky life, but the newly-deprogrammed may need to hear that.

[jrmarlin]

Deprogrammed is the word.......

 

The sad thing is most xians I know are NOT happy people. How can you be happy and live in contrary to your belief system day after day? Look but don't touch. Touch but don't feel. Feel but taste. Taste but don't enjoy. Cult livin' sounds grand don't it?

 

There is truth to the saying: happiness in slavery.

[Lycorth]

I know Xianity never helped me enjoy my life. Especially when depression struck me, it was no good - and it did no good for anyone I knew who tried to rely on it in times of need. But that's off-topic.

[Amethyst]

Is it that people think we're all from outer space? People being xians or recovering xians....

 

People living healthy happy lives has nothing to do with religious stature. So why are we putting so much emphasis in it?

 

IMHO, it's because their brainwashing tells them that anyone not brainwashed can't possibly be happy -- ever. Even if they look happy, they must be pretending because they are "obviously" being tortured emotionally/spiritually/whatever because they don't have Jesus' love. That is where the myth comes from.

 

I had the most depression symptoms ever when I was Christian. Of course, that time also coincided with the most stress I've ever been under, with my mom dying and whatnot, so it was probably a combination of factors. But still, I've had almost no depression after admitting to myself that I didn't believe in it anymore. It's like I'm at peace with myself now.

[jrmarlin]

Not exactly, Var, it ties in. The brainwashing is outrageous. They make people think that all non-christians are aliens or some foreign species that does not live a normal life. We all go to work, we all pay taxes, we all die, we all live, we all breathe.... what's so hard for these people to understand?

[lothartx]

Is it that people think we're all from outer space? People being xians or recovering xians....

 

People living healthy happy lives has nothing to do with religious stature. So why are we putting so much emphasis in it?

 

IMHO, it's because their brainwashing tells them that anyone not brainwashed can't possibly be happy -- ever. Even if they look happy, they must be pretending because they are "obviously" being tortured emotionally/spiritually/whatever because they don't have Jesus' love. That is where the myth comes from.

 

I had the most depression symptoms ever when I was Christian. Of course, that time also coincided with the most stress I've ever been under, with my mom dying and whatnot, so it was probably a combination of factors. But still, I've had almost no depression after admitting to myself that I didn't believe in it anymore. It's like I'm at peace with myself now.

 

Very much like my experience. No one can be happy with out Jesus.....

 

Everything is not perfect in my life, but I'm more at peace with who I am and my world view than I ever as quasi-christian. I never been around such a miserable bunch.

 

Maybe a some folks here have a defensive reaction to the subject. I know I do to some extant.

[Lycorth]

Not exactly, Var, it ties in. The brainwashing is outrageous. They make people think that all non-christians are aliens or some foreign species that does not live a normal life. We all go to work, we all pay taxes, we all die, we all live, we all breathe.... what's so hard for these people to understand?

 

Of course - that's part and parcel of the Prime Directive of Xianity. The world has to be made Xian because the world is wicked without Jesus™. Thus, anyone who chooses to live a non-xian lifestyle or hold non-xian beliefs is seriously screwed up and needs to be converted asap. I recall when I was fervently believing this notion, and I thought it strange to ponder that people who were not Xian really just lived, slept, breathed, and enjoyed things, just like all my Xian friends and family did. Non-Xians had culture, had friendships and relationships, experienced joy and pain and everything else, just like me. The Xian Prime Directive is inculcated so strongly that the Xian is led to believe that any non-xians cannot even be living normal lives without Jesus™.

[jrmarlin]

I guess the xians got me though.... I sleep hanging upside down... And I eat micobiotic food items with all the necessary nutrients.

[Amethyst]

I guess the xians got me though.... I sleep hanging upside down... And I eat micobiotic food items with all the necessary nutrients.

 

I stay up late playing computer games. Does that count?

[jrmarlin]

I guess the xians got me though.... I sleep hanging upside down... And I eat micobiotic food items with all the necessary nutrients.

 

I stay up late playing computer games. Does that count?

I guess it depends on if you play them naked or not.... But yes, in a quasi-way, it does count. You count! You're weird.

 

<serious voice> So tell me, Am, do you feel you are capable of a good life?

[spamandham]

I have just noticed with some of the threads lately that it seems more and more that even we are guilty of acting like we're somehow inferior to the 'normal folk.'

 

 

Be carefull who you call "we". Deprogramming is a process, just as programming was. It's common to go through a transitional period where the intellect and emotions are in conflict. During that time, the need for resources such as this site are indespensible.

 

If deconversion starts on intellectual grounds (which is probably most common here), the emotional side may still be wracked with fears about hell, demons, ghosts, and all sorts of other bullshit that are exposed in threads such as those you mentioned.

 

I have found that as time goes by, I feel less and less need to even talk about my nonchristianity. It is slowly becoming irrelevant to me. I used to post several times a day, now I'm down to several days between posts. I mostly post when I've been drinking, and then mostly just to talk to people I know won't try to tell me about Jesus fucking Christ, or to flirt with the hot exers here (like you, jr) .

[jrmarlin]

Well, Spam, you never know... I could be a real dog. I could be a barker. Ruff Ruff...

 

I understand what you're saying but sometimes I look at the titles and think, "What the fuck do they think non-christians do with themselves?" The inferiority biasness assessed by Xians is all an illusion to keep people hoodwinked. Nothing more. Nothing less.

[spamandham]

Well, Spam, you never know... I could be a real dog. I could be a barker. Ruff Ruff...

 

I have no idea what you look like, but I have some insight into how you think. You are not a dog.

 

I understand what you're saying but sometimes I look at the titles and think, "What the fuck do they think non-christians do with themselves?" The inferiority biasness assessed by Xians is all an illusion to keep people hoodwinked. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

I think they may actually be right! The people on this sight are frequently still working through their issues and do in fact feel some inferiority. The sick christian mindfuck is trying to take advantage of this weakness, and like any predator, focuses in on the easiest to catch.

[jrmarlin]

I thought you were like big brother, Spam and you could see through my monitor as to what I looked like....

 

As for the mindfuck, yes, they are mindfucked but I'm talking about some of the folks that come here and start threads that ask questions like is an atheist capable of having a full healthy life. That would be like going on a christian board and asking if christians have a healthy life -- in their terms of course.....

 

It is really disconcerning to see these thread titles sometimes. And yet, they are usually the most popular ones.

[spamandham]

I thought you were like big brother, Spam and you could see through my monitor as to what I looked like....

 

...I can (eery music in the background)...mwah ha ha

 

As for the mindfuck, yes, they are mindfucked but I'm talking about some of the folks that come here and start threads that ask questions like is an atheist capable of having a full healthy life. That would be like going on a christian board and asking if christians have a healthy life -- in their terms of course.....

 

It is really disconcerning to see these thread titles sometimes. And yet, they are usually the most popular ones.

 

I suspect you're right that these are the most fun (er um, I mean), popular threads. Personally I enjoy excoriating Christians who come to a site called "ex-christian" thinking they can use dollar store philosophy to reconvert people. I don't think I'm the only one. If a sheep jumps over the fence into a den of pit bulls and starts taunting them, what do you expect to happen, even if they are well fed?

[Amethyst]

I guess it depends on if you play them naked or not.... But yes, in a quasi-way, it does count. You count! You're weird.

 

<serious voice> So tell me, Am, do you feel you are capable of a good life?

 

Well, yeah, I'm pretty much a geek. I also surf the Internet when I can't sleep. I don't play them naked, though. But I have fun.

 

Seriously, I think anyone is capable of living a good life. Some people just never allow themselves to.

[garrisonjj]

I have just noticed with some of the threads lately that it seems more and more that even we are guilty of acting like we're somehow inferior to the 'normal folk.' Atheists on their death beds.... Can Atheists have a normal happy life...

 

What the fuck is a non-christian, an alien or what?

 

Atheist, deist, agnostic, satanist -- whoever we are, we all have lives - normal lives -- which we live very happily without the trappings of christian religions. Big deal? So what? It's not like we die and our bodies immediately turn to fairey dust. I mean hells bells. All people need to get over these notions that just because we're not christian means we live our lives in such a bizaro weird way that we don't have happy lives.

 

I mean, YEEK GADS!

 

 

Is it that people think we're all from outer space? People being xians or recovering xians....

 

People living healthy happy lives has nothing to do with religious stature. So why are we putting so much emphasis in it?

 

As far as people's behavior and happiness,,,,,,,,,I see no real trend. There are Christians who are living bastards,yet they are at that communion rail every week. Consequently,there was me who rarely received because he felt unworthy and i consider myself a good human and such.I think religion is irrelevant for most whether they admit it or not.

Face it,its that fuckin hell and heaven thing. i'd like to think a diety will forgive anything and take care of his own,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and really i care less and less either way be damned? maybe.

[Evelyn]

If you listen to what you think people are saying, depending on where you live, you can feel odd or inferior for not following what you think majority are following.

 

Where I live in California, not just in a blue state, in a blue county, I'm surrounded by free-thinking people. When I was watching "Grand Old Opry Live" on TV last night (I visited Nashville a few months ago, went to one of their shows, and was watching out of curiosity), one of the performers, a member of the group Diamond Rio, talked about their new single, "God Only Cries For The Living" and said, "This is how most of us feel." Made me feel *really* included! I'm sure it's a lot of fun being an "out" xian in the South.

 

So, if you're swimming against what you perceive to be the current that's around you, it's something to rant about and this is a good place to do it.

[godlessgrrl]

I'll be honest and confess that sometimes I do feel a little like an alien. Not so much from a sense of inferiority anymore, but just knowing that a lot of the time, Xians are going to think I'm inferior anyway once they learn my religious position. Granted, it depends on the Xian and depends on the situation; nonetheless it can be kind of crunchy revealing my agnatheist status to hardcore believers. They really do treat a lot of us like pathetic, loveless creatures with no purpose or meaning to our tiny lives.

 

It can be rather wearing to have to explain the real story, and frustrating to get that sort of condescending smile and nod of the head that says, "Well, you just think you're happy, but I know you're not because you don't have Jeebus™." I think a lot of Xians have been taught to treat non-Xians as something less than - less than them, less than human. That can be a pain to deal with.

 

Hmm, and it occurs to me that there are certainly plenty of Xians who actually are very happy being Xian and it does make them a better person - so I wonder if there's a portion of Xians that just know how happy they are personally with Jeebus and can't see past their own version of what would make someone happy. Kind of a "it makes me happy, why wouldn't it make everybody happy?" thing.

 

But I'm rambling a bit.

 

I sure can't convince any diehard fundiegelical Xian that my life is really happier and better now that I've ditched the Xian mind virus, but the reality is that it is much happier. I'm so much more laid back, so much less self-hating, so much less depressed and anxious overall, so much more relaxed and angst-free. Even though my life is having bigass issues and problems right now too. Shit happens, y'know? I'm still so much more relieved by not having to deal with everything in life being undercut by the constant implication that I'm somehow displeasing a big Eye In the Sky and that nothing I do is worth anything.

 

Whoa. Heh. As I typed that I just realized that it was when I was Xian that I was sure my life and efforts and self were utterly worthless. I mean that was something I was taught constantly, that I'd never measure up to the standards god had set and that I was always going to be struggling to do right and be okay, and that even though I was Washed in the Blood™ it really wasn't enough. I had to act like it and be perfect and be godly and all this crap and I never would be.

 

So I guess I do find it a little ironic to sometimes encounter Xians who think my life is worthless because I'm a non-Xian now, when all along it was when I was Xian that I was taught to think that it was.

 

Anyway. Thanks for reading my rambles.

[jrmarlin]

A friend of mine who wrote numerous books on the subject said one thing, "It takes a hell of a lot of guts to chose to be happy." He's right. Happiness is a choice....And it's a journey, not a destination.

[Thackerie]

... As for the mindfuck, yes, they are mindfucked but I'm talking about some of the folks that come here and start threads that ask questions like is an atheist capable of having a full healthy life. That would be like going on a christian board and asking if christians have a healthy life -- in their terms of course.....

 

It is really disconcerning to see these thread titles sometimes. And yet, they are usually the most popular ones.

 

I agree. When I saw the title of that particular thread, I was sure it had been posted by a xian just looking to stir up a little trouble. But then, again, I think there on some people who post to these forums who are not very far along on their recovery and who might eventually turn out to be OK human beings, given enough time and distance from the church cult that fucked them over in the first place.

 

What gets me is the more "seasoned" posters who, presumably, have been out of the cult for sometime yet feel the need to lord it over others by assuming some guise of intellectual superiority -- you know what I mean, like people who start threads accusing agnostics of being "irrational," full of weird academic jargon straight out of Philosophy 101, and then disparage opposing viewpoints by calling them "retarded."

 

I think people with this mindset generally suffer from deep feelings of insecurity and inferiority that they try to mask by being arrogant assholes (i.e., they'd be arrogant assholes regardless of previous religious indoctrination.) But years in the xian cult no doubt intensified their underlying psychological problems -- because one-upmanship is built into the xian creed yet there is a conflict because the idea that one is never good enough and is always being judged is part of the creed as well.