ricky18 Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hey Guys.This is for you guys who experienced the annointing.I know that the Bible is inconsistant,full of loop holes,etc. I so much want to believe that christianity is not true so I can live in peace.Tell me how does one get pass His experience with the Christian annointing and presence of God. While still being a Christian his spirit felt so real,tongues,presence so real.How do you get pass that, testimonies of people, testimonies of demon, healing. This is not to cause confusion in the newly deconverted but I need to have an explanations. As I said before, I could never go back to christianiy but the big question is How can I be sure that the Christian God is not who he says he is. One of the greatest things that caused me to turn from Christianity is that a God of love could send his creation to hell for all eternity. If I as a human with faults think that’s cruel how much more shouldn’t a god of love. Christians always come with the explanation that it’s because god is holy and cannot tolerate sin. How can one live for only 120 years max,for His limited amount of sins and suffer for all eternity for not repenting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnosis of Disbelief Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Welcome aboard, Ricky18.... That's a lot of questions for so short a post! It takes a long time to get over fundy christian brainwashing, it is a healing process. Talking about it here will help; there are a lot of people on this board who have been through what you're going through now. You'll get no arguments from us about the insanity of the hell doctrine. Any being that would torture people for all eternity is psycho and not worthy of worship. If such a being were human, he would be thrown into a psych ward and put on lots of medications. You might also start reading a few books like Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus or Robert Price's The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man. There's a list of other recommended books in the Critics Corner section of this site below (or you can just click here.) Once again, welcome! Hope to see you more on this board! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japedo Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 First let me Welcome you to Ex-C! I had a lot of those same questions, You'll get more of an answer if you look research other Religions or beliefs that have some of the same type of experiences but aren't Christian. It will be easier to study and dissect as you have no emotional ties to it. For example. look into how and why in voodoo, people go into "Trances" and start babbling uncontrollably. (The Christian equation would be Slain in the sprit and speaking in tongues there is no difference) First Question is how can something not coming from the Christian god obtain the same type of results? The truth of the matter is, 1) the power of suggestion 2) the Power of Belief can alter reality. These things you list in your post aren't unique to Christianity, hence the logical conclusion would be what's the one common thing Christianity and for example Vodooism have in common? The only answer is the same deep level of belief. I will also illustrate, as another type of example is, Why is it Catholics see Mary statues bleed from the eyes and what not? Each religions has its 'powerful' convincing experiences, It all depends how much the person wants it to happen. I studied Hell in much the same way, the underworld, Hades, so on and so forth. These existed in the times of the Greek and Egyptian gods. Hell (and its evil beings) is another thing that isn't unique to Christianity. Once you see hell in that light, its extremely easy to write it off as ancient non-sense and mind control adopted by modern day religions. It goes the way of Anubes and Zeus. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycorth Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hey, ricky - welcome Tell me how does one get pass His experience with the Christian annointing and presence of God. By realizing it's all in your head. Of course, I'm not trying to be smug, but I've felt the "anointing" once myself, but only when it got old and lacked the "magic" it seemed to have did I realize I was only making myself feel what I wanted to. This is not to say a god or spirit cannot make his/her/its presence felt, assuming a god who can do that exists, but most of the time, Xian spirtual "perception" like that are just manufcatured by our minds and encouraged by Xian propaganda. We have the "wonderful feeling of the presence of Almightah Gawd!" drummed into our heads, and for our parts we want to feel what the preacher boy is talking about, so we sort of program ourselves to feel what we're told to feel. Emotions are powerful things, and can really lead us astray if we're not careful. Besides, do you really think a phony religion so full of loopholes like Xianity really has a god who can make you feel like that? If the evidence against the Xian god is so strong, then consider that these feelings you've had or still have may be of your own manufacture. While still being a Christian his spirit felt so real,tongues,presence so real.How do you get pass that, testimonies of people, testimonies of demon, healing. Again, see above. If you can manufacture your own feelings and such, then certainly so can others, right? I do not deny that there could very well be malevolent noncorporeal life-forms, but that doesn't validate the Xian demon myths one bit. If you must trust in anything, I urge you above all to trust in your mind, the one thing that really sets us apart from all other beings. We can use our minds for good or evil - the power to see the truth in these things is right there, within you. This is not to cause confusion in the newly deconverted but I need to have an explanations. As I said before, I could never go back to christianiy but the big question is How can I be sure that the Christian God is not who he says he is. One of the greatest things that caused me to turn from Christianity is that a God of love could send his creation to hell for all eternity. If I as a human with faults think that’s cruel how much more shouldn’t a god of love. Christians always come with the explanation that it’s because god is holy and cannot tolerate sin. How can one live for only 120 years max,for His limited amount of sins and suffer for all eternity for not repenting. There are a good amount of websites out there that can really help you find some answers to those questions. The false idea of hell, the absolute fallacy of the Xian god, the lack of evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth - it's all out there. Check out this link to a page on a website I made just recently - I have a little paragraph with anti-xianity links, and the sites are well-researched and very thought-provoking. Give them a read and let the information soak in for awhile - you'll see why people like us think as we do. Reason trumps superstition everytime. Welcome again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqua Kitty Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 This is not to cause confusion in the newly deconverted but I need to have an explanations. As I said before, I could never go back to christianiy but the big question is How can I be sure that the Christian God is not who he says he is. One of the greatest things that caused me to turn from Christianity is that a God of love could send his creation to hell for all eternity. If I as a human with faults think that’s cruel how much more shouldn’t a god of love. Christians always come with the explanation that it’s because god is holy and cannot tolerate sin.e for only 120 years max,for His limited amount of sins and suffer for all eternity for not repenting. It's not just the "damned for all eternity" thing that is just plain wrong, but all the killing and suffering that "god" inflicted for reasons that seem just plain stupid. God killed children, families, nations, etc. just because they "didn't please him" or some other equally lame excuse. One atrocity that sticks out in my mind is Elisha cursing a bunch of little kids that basically called him "baldy" so that bears came out of the woods and killed them. Apparently god never had any kids. Oops. In my opinion, the "god" of the bible is one of the biggest mass murderers that (n)ever existed. This website explains what I'm trying to say much better than I can say it. I'm pretty sure the person that wrote this is a member here also. But I'm embarrassed to say that I can't remember who it is at the moment. Oh, and Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taphophilia Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Hey Guys.This is for you guys who experienced the annointing.I know that the Bible is inconsistant,full of loop holes,etc. I so much want to believe that christianity is not true so I can live in peace.Tell me how does one get pass His experience with the Christian annointing and presence of God. While still being a Christian his spirit felt so real,tongues,presence so real.How do you get pass that, testimonies of people, testimonies of demon, healing. This is not to cause confusion in the newly deconverted but I need to have an explanations. As I said before, I could never go back to christianiy but the big question is How can I be sure that the Christian God is not who he says he is. One of the greatest things that caused me to turn from Christianity is that a God of love could send his creation to hell for all eternity. If I as a human with faults think that’s cruel how much more shouldn’t a god of love. Christians always come with the explanation that it’s because god is holy and cannot tolerate sin. How can one live for only 120 years max,for His limited amount of sins and suffer for all eternity for not repenting. I was in those kinds of churches, but now I understand that what I felt was a direct result of the very emotionally charged services in charasmatic churches. I spoke in tounges too and I can still do it (la tota ma seia), once you get the hang of it you can always do it. My own mother even had a demon cast out of her. I've seen people healed and demons cast out. Well, no actually I didn't, I thought I did. I have seen people told they were healed of diseases (they didn't know they had) and then go to the doctor to find they didn't have that disease and were miraculously healed then come back and testify to the healing power of Jesus. I seen people believe they are having a demon cast out of them and testify to that. I've seen teeth healed and when other people looked in their mouth, they all claimed to see the healing, but did I actually see it? No, but if you asked me when I was a fundy, I would have said "yes" I saw it. Can we all say Praise Jesus! Not! Taph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky18 Posted April 4, 2006 Author Share Posted April 4, 2006 Thats true Taph - about the tongues.After my first eperience I have realized that after 2 years I still utter the same world.I actually remember sum of the things I spoke. Thanks guys for your replies.It really helped me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 If you separate the emotion from your religious experiences, you'll probably find there isn't much else. People get in a different mindset when in a group - the urge to go along becomes much stronger (especially when a cheerleader urges them on). Mass hysteria is a very real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkepticOfBible Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 This is not to cause confusion in the newly deconverted but I need to have an explanations. As I said before, I could never go back to christianiy but the big question is How can I be sure that the Christian God is not who he says he is. You are pretty much on the right track. As far as deciding whether the Christian God is real or not, is something you must do. Only you can decide whether the God of the bible is the God of the universe or is just a manifestation of human thoughts, just like every other religion. Research is the only way I suppose. The internet is great tool for that. Try to look at all sides of the issue. We have listed a couple of links to help out recent ex-christians here My favourite site is listed in my signature. The site demonstrate biblically the difference in the theology of the OT ant NT. eg The OT repeated states that righteousness is achieved through following God's "eternal" and "perfect" laws, yet in the NT righteousness is achieved through faith in Human Sacrifice, and that "the law is curse". The site is presented in debate format which common xtian apologetics and the rebuttal to those arguements. This will help you with your debates with Xtians, because you already know what their next move will be and you'll be able to atleast put them in tizzy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RHEMtron Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 like they said... power of suggestion and power of belief. i just wanted to add that many of the feelings associated with religion can be like a placebo effect... or another way to view someone being filled with the holy spirit is like watching those fans cry at a beatles, elvis, or michael jackson concert. just check out the thread we have here of people dancing and going into convulsions at church!! hilllllarious!! =D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkepticOfBible Posted April 9, 2006 Share Posted April 9, 2006 Hey ricky18, I thought you might like this article Persuasion & Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today Cya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duderonomy Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 Ricky, The only thing you get from sitting on both sides of the fence is a sore crotch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkepticOfBible Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 Ricky, The only thing you get from sitting on both sides of the fence is a sore crotch. Except for those who have balls of steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosingMyReligion Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 I remember when I first got "saved." When I joined the church I was in my late teens, fresh out of highschool(which was a living hell), lonely, and depressed...Only weeks before that I had contemplated ending it all. Anyway, when I walked to the alter and confessed Christ as my personal savior My mom was in tears(happy tears), and the entire congregation just welcomed me into it's embrace. It felt really wonderful, and I still can't explain it. At that time I believed it was the annointing of God coming into my life... But now I realize that I needed that human companionship. I realize now that it worked wonders for my self esteem. Being in the church helped me to build confidence and communicate with others. The "anointing" I had was all about interaction with people...not a holy presence being put into my body. Admittedly, at the time, I NEEDED to be apart of something. I was in the church my entire life before getting "saved." But I was never apart of it. Now that I am outside of it again I realize that through human companionship and self expression we can all be happy and confident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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