Happier Without Christ?

[HoustonHorn]

I've found myself writing a lot during this process. It helps to get my thoughts down and makes me actually process them rather than be pushed to the back. This short thought I'd like to share and get y'all's opinions on.

 

I "found Christ" about the same time I entered the working world. It was about a year after I graduated from college and started working at my first real job.

 

Since that time I've gone through times where I have been very stressed out and unhappy. My assumption was always that the real world is tough, and that the stress and worries are just part of it.

 

But I've realized something since my beginnings of doubt. I think Christianity played a large part in that stress and worry. I find myself a much happier person since I've stopped considering myself a Christian - agnostic is probably the most accurate term for me today.

 

Let me explain. As a Christian I believed that every bad event was either Satan trying to tempt me away from God or God punishing me for something I did. Neither of these are good options. Satan tempting me meant that the embodiment of evil was working specifically on me. The most evil creature ever created was focusing their time on me. Picture Hitler focusing on one specific person. That's how I felt. Or, I was being punished for something I did; or for something an ancestor did thousands of years ago. And that punishment may have been for something I didn't even know I did. I could have picked up a dollar from the ground that God had put there for a homeless man to buy dinner with. My greed for that dollar just caused God to punish me with cancer for less than the cost of chicken nuggets.

 

Having taken God, and by extension Satan, out of the equation I find myself in a much happier place. No longer is everything that goes wrong specifically focused on me or my family. No longer am I the cause of every negative action. It is now a case of bad things just happening. And I am much more able to accept that than the alternative.

[white_raven23]

((HUGS))

 

It's much more healthy and productive to understand that life is simply life, come good or bad. Without religion, you are much more inclined to just roll up your sleeves and deal with what happens, than wasting precious moments (and likely making things worse) agonizing "why me?" rather than just dealing.

 

Religion prevents people from having to live with life as it really is, which hurts them very badly in the long run when Real Shit comes down the life-pipe, they are not equipped to cope.

[Lycorth]

((HUGS))

 

It's much more healthy and productive to understand that life is simply life, come good or bad. Without religion, you are much more inclined to just roll up your sleeves and deal with what happens, than wasting precious moments (and likely making things worse) agonizing "why me?" rather than just dealing.

 

Religion prevents people from having to live with life as it really is, which hurts them very badly in the long run when Real Shit comes down the life-pipe, they are not equipped to cope.

 

Not all religion, my friend. Only obsessive cults, like Xianity, ones that preach total spiritual and intellectual dependency on its gods and its theology and philosophy can damage a person like that. I hate when the term "religion" and the implication of Xianity are used synonymously

 

But the truth of the matter is that using Christ™ as a crutch does only one thing, and that's slowly incapacitate a person't ability to survive in the real world. I've known folks who just can't deal with little things like a one night stand or a bad day without feeling guilty or thinking that Jeezus™ and/or his deadbeat dad are angry and are levelling punishment. What an unhealthy way to look at things. No wonder so many poor people run screaming from Xiaity - and bear its teeth marks besides. I know - I was almost one of those people

[white_raven23]

Sorry bout that Var.

 

I guess I should have been more specific. Dependant theologies like you mentioned...yes they are harmful, and yes I consider them religions.

 

I personally don't consider the other belief systems religions....and yes, I know that is in spite of the dictionary definition of 'religion'. They just don't "feel" the same. They lack that 'you will be assimilated' feel that the organized religions do.

 

So yeah, in my mind they have seperated. Religions. Belief systems or spiritualisms. And I keep forgetting that no one else is in my head and realizing that I've Pbbbth-ed the dictionary definition in favor of what feels more accurate.

[Gnosis of Disbelief]

I've found myself writing a lot during this process. It helps to get my thoughts down and makes me actually process them rather than be pushed to the back. This short thought I'd like to share and get y'all's opinions on.

 

I "found Christ" about the same time I entered the working world. It was about a year after I graduated from college and started working at my first real job.

 

Since that time I've gone through times where I have been very stressed out and unhappy. My assumption was always that the real world is tough, and that the stress and worries are just part of it.

 

But I've realized something since my beginnings of doubt. I think Christianity played a large part in that stress and worry. I find myself a much happier person since I've stopped considering myself a Christian - agnostic is probably the most accurate term for me today.

 

Let me explain. As a Christian I believed that every bad event was either Satan trying to tempt me away from God or God punishing me for something I did. Neither of these are good options. Satan tempting me meant that the embodiment of evil was working specifically on me. The most evil creature ever created was focusing their time on me. Picture Hitler focusing on one specific person. That's how I felt. Or, I was being punished for something I did; or for something an ancestor did thousands of years ago. And that punishment may have been for something I didn't even know I did. I could have picked up a dollar from the ground that God had put there for a homeless man to buy dinner with. My greed for that dollar just caused God to punish me with cancer for less than the cost of chicken nuggets.

 

Having taken God, and by extension Satan, out of the equation I find myself in a much happier place. No longer is everything that goes wrong specifically focused on me or my family. No longer am I the cause of every negative action. It is now a case of bad things just happening. And I am much more able to accept that than the alternative.

 

 

That's pretty much been my experience, HH. The deeper I got into

christianity, the more I realized that the christian gawd was a really

sick bastard, unjust and vicious and sadistic beyond hope. Oh, yeah,

Jeebus supposedly died for all our sins, but that just kept you from

burning in hell forever. When it came to this life, the christian gawd

was still out there teaching you "lessons" by tormenting you for every

"bad" little thing that you did.

 

Eventually, I could no longer ignore the fact that the christian gawd

that I was worshipping was a very demented being who was prone to

childish temper tantrums. I decided that this gawd had turned my life

into a living hell, so I left. It's been a long road, but I've reached the

point where I've realized - like you have - that there is no malevolent

mind behind the universe. Good things simply happen, bad things

simply happen, and very often, there aren't any real explanations for

them. That might scare a lot of crybaby fundies who want a cosmic

sky-daddy to make everything better for them, but for me, it made

life much easier to deal with.

[Vigile]

Not only that, but xtians have real self esteem problems. Xtianity teaches that we are all miserable dirty sinners of the like that god can only stand our presence if we are not washed and covered in the blood of his son. The way I always understood it was that in this state god saw Jesus when he looked at me. If he would have actually seen me, his holy nature would destroy me.

 

As an xtian, every thought every deed is called into question and second guessed to the point where a thoughtful xtian leads a life of never ending guilt. We were told that he would carry our burden but instead we are loaded down with the burden of self loathing and ongoing struggle against our flesh. What is flesh? Our natural desires, imbued through millions of years of evolution. Most of our fleshly desires are what makes our species survive. Yet we were taught that our flesh was degraded and therefore evil. We were told to cut it off, poke it out, deprive it of food, bruise its knees, and fill it full of neurosis in a constant struggle to morph it into something unnatural and unworldly and impossible.

 

Life as an xtian is not free, it is miserable, self-hating, and neurotic.

[Lycorth]

No sweat, W_R I had to learn to deprogram myself from linking "religion" and "Xianity" too - after all, as a Xian, that's what I was taught, that only Xianity was "religion" and all else was just fake. When I deconverted, I did bash all religions across the board for a period of time, but since I've pretty much calmed down since then, I find it easier to separate them. But for me, I don't see things in terms of "religion" and "non-religion" (except when I consider freethought traditions), I see the specific religions.

 

Not only that, but xtians have real self esteem problems. Xtianity teaches that we are all miserable dirty sinners of the like that god can only stand our presence if we are not washed and covered in the blood of his son. The way I always understood it was that in this state god saw Jesus when he looked at me. If he would have actually seen me, his holy nature would destroy me.

 

As an xtian, every thought every deed is called into question and second guessed to the point where a thoughtful xtian leads a life of never ending guilt. We were told that he would carry our burden but instead we are loaded down with the burden of self loathing and ongoing struggle against our flesh. What is flesh? Our natural desires, imbued through millions of years of evolution. Most of our fleshly desires are what makes our species survive. Yet we were taught that our flesh was degraded and therefore evil. We were told to cut it off, poke it out, deprive it of food, bruise its knees, and fill it full of neurosis in a constant struggle to morph it into something unnatural and unworldly and impossible.

 

Life as an xtian is not free, it is miserable, self-hating, and neurotic.

 

Very well-said Xianity encourages the worst self-esteem in order to hook the believer. It convinces the believer he or she is naturally fucked-up and needs Jeezus™ in order to be good or not be tortured eternally. Humans are taught to hate themselves and hate anything about them that "leads them away from Jeezus™". It's symptomatic of asceticism taken too far.

[RHEMtron]

i know many people who have been happier without christ. you are not alone. as youll learn, or probably have learned, christianity is about me me me me. it's a self-righteous, aarogant religion. and like everyone here said... it's teaches people to believe that they are sinners, hate themselves, and it's a form of mental, emotional, and spiritual slavery.

 

glad youre happier and have seen the light.

[Amethyst]

I personally don't consider the other belief systems religions....and yes, I know that is in spite of the dictionary definition of 'religion'. They just don't "feel" the same. They lack that 'you will be assimilated' feel that the organized religions do.

 

Yeah, I would agree with that. Most of the Pagans I've met have been pretty cool and never once shoved their beliefs down my throat, unlike the Christians.

 

As for being happier, I am *much* happier without organized religion and my self-esteem has greatly improved.

[Evelyn]

I, like Houston Horn, used to believe that every bad thing that happened to me was Satanic in origin, though I carried it a bit further - if I was close to Jeezus, then Satan was attacking me to try to make me me fall; if I was far from Jeezus then, of course, I was open to Satan attacking me. Always an excuse. So, yes, I now see that good and bad happen, especially natural disasters, often for no apparent reason, and gawd and satan are not to blame.

[RHEMtron]

So, yes, I now see that good and bad happen, especially natural disasters, often for no apparent reason, and gawd and satan are not to blame.

isnt it funny though how christians says god is in control of everything? but when a natural disaster hits, theyre quick to blame mother nature, and quick to praise god for any survivors.

[Amethyst]

So, yes, I now see that good and bad happen, especially natural disasters, often for no apparent reason, and gawd and satan are not to blame.

isnt it funny though how christians says god is in control of everything? but when a natural disaster hits, theyre quick to blame mother nature, and quick to praise god for any survivors.

 

I seem to recall quite a few fundies blaming Hurricane Katrina on god.

[Evelyn]

[quote name='Amethyst'

 

I seem to recall quite a few fundies blaming Hurricane Katrina on god.

 

Oh yes, they said it was punishment for New Orleans being sinful.