The End of Faith

[OMEGA]

I fully realize WHY people like religion and adhere to it.

.

actually dont be so sure you do....

you cannot speak for another

your motives are YOUR motives not others......

 

[Lestat]

actually dont be so sure you do....

you cannot speak for another

your motives are YOUR motives not others......

I'm a fairly empathetic person, plus I have witnesses this firsthand in my closest family. I speak from experience.

 

[jackangel]

holy shit that's a long post. lestat has a lot on his mind when it comes to religion. damn upbringings.

 

[Basic_wonder]

Why does someone always have to attack me ....

*runs and hides in the corner*

just grab the money and leave .......

 

[needtogetaas]

I think you will really enjoy the book, its a well researched and written book.

I have told people this many times, but I grew up in a fundamentalist christian home.

My parents found jesus in their early 20s and were "born again in christ"

Growing up I went to church Sunday morning, then we came home for a few hours and returned at 6pm. I also went to church Wednesday nights at 7pm. There was no youth group of sunday school, I had to sit through the same sermons as everyone else. The entire congregation was about 12 people too, fundamentalist baptist.

I went to a private school until 6th grade when I did everything I could to get expelled. Finally I got into a fight big enough that I was asked to leave and never return.

Once I got into the public school system I excelled, but that isn't the point.

I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior when I was younger, I prayed, I tried to live my life as a good Christian.

But as I got older and I started to think for myself, I realized that everything didn't quite add up. The first thing I noticed was that there were A LOT OF DIFFERENT christians out there! They all believed in Jesus, but they lived their lives in different ways. Some people went to church, others did not, some friends could see R rated movies, some could not. I couldn't watch much TV at all, because it was almost all sinful.

The breaking point for me was when I was 12.. I was playing in the yard with a neighbor doing karate kicks on a tree.. the kid tells me "I can't play karate" i ask him "why not?" he says "cuz we are jehovas' witnesses"..

so I didn't get it.. what the fuck does being a jehovas witness have to do with playing karate??? I realized that his parents just didn't want him going around kicking anyone or anything.. so they tell him its against their religion.. basicallly meaning that if you do it, you can go to hell for it!

I ask my parents about this.. they basically told me that jehovas witnesses are a cult and they won't go to heaven.. so now I have this shitty feeling cuz my friend is gonna go to hell.. so I go to him and tell him that his religion is total crap, a cult, and they and he is going to go to hell unless he asks jesus to be his savior.

Well his parents paid a visit to my parents.. there was a lot of shouting (seemed un christianlike to me).. and i was no longer allowed to speak to this kid... sucks.. i lost a friend over religion??? and he believed in the bible too.. i just didn't get it.

Also, I was a good baseball player.. I got to play 2nd base in pee wees.. you know where they have like 20 people in the outfield and the people who have a clue get to play the bases and what not? Well since I had to miss 1 practice a week on wednesday nights I got bumped from 2nd base to the shitty outfield.. im still bitter over that.

The next awakening came when I met friends in public school.. i met people who were all different flavors of Christian.. i met mormons.. i met jewish people.. muslims.. buddists... guess what, my parents had answers as to why all of those people who were wrong, and of course, going to hell. That just didn't add up to me.. some of these people were NICER then me.. seemed to be all around better people in some respects.. how on earth are they gonna go to hell?

Then something big clicked again.. I realized that all of these friends of mine were simply doing what their parents told them to do! There was no free thought or free will involved.. if their parents were mormon, they were mormon.. if their parents were catholic, they were catholic, if their parents were muslim, they were muslim.. what the fuck!! we are talking about the fate of our sould for ALL OF ETERNITY!!! It simply just can't come down to what our parents told us was right??? could it??? I mean some people are born into wealthy families.. others into poverty.. its not a choice, its random.. how could religion be so random too? how could all of these people be so wrong and go to hell?

So either I got really lucky being born to the parents i was born too (and lucky that they found jesus in their 20s even after living in sin beforehand).. or eveyone's got this whole thing really REALLY wrong.

All the evidence and searching I have done since has all lead me to the same conclusions.. the biggest one being, religion is extremely flawed... and there is no evidence to support that any one religion is any more right then the rest!

I've done a LOT of research on the subject since... religion seems to have been something that evolved out of neccsessity... this is getting long winded but bear with me.. back in cave man days people were subject to all kinds of horrific events.. volcanoes.. hurricanes.. tornados.. tsunamis.. flood.. famine.. these events took HUGE tolls on early civilizations... most if which had no clue who moses was and what not... we're talking people in all parts of the world..

so when something bad hapenned, these people would be FULL of anxiety.. wondering if it is going to happen again.. wondering if there was something they could do differently to prevent it. We now know through science how and why all of these events occur, we also know that we are powerless to stop these events for the most part.. we are good at preventine famine in most areas, but we can't control the weather which can be deadly..

So these people lived with CONSTANT anxiety.. what are they supposed to do? This anxiety lead to higher heart rates, blood pressure, weakened immune systems.. it literally shortened the already short life span of many early people. So what did they do? They came up with religion, belief systems.. something that would explain all these crazy happenings in the world...

and what did they do to put themselves at ease? They worshiped gods.. rain gods.. sun gods.. volcano gods.. they would do ANYTHING to makes these gods happy. For example, it was common practice in the Americas to sacrifice your most valuable possesion to volcanos in hopes of preventing an eruption.. what was their most valuable posession? Virgin women. People actually would take their young virgin daughers and sacrifice them on public alters to appease a non existant god!!! There is and was no proof of a volcano god, but all the people needed to see was one eruptioon and they were convinced that there was someone controlling it!

Even in more modern day history you saw this same flawed thinking.. the inquisition, the salem witch trials... all of this torture and suffering done by the most RELIGIOUS of people.. in the name of some god.

I'm sorry, but there is no way I can understand how and why a logical, intelligent, rational being would subscribe to something that seems so absurd. The only way to reconcile everything is to allow yourself to be duped (believe in it) by the myths and folklore that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Its time to wake up.

this saidens me.its a proven fact that children whos parents slam religoin down there threots.and teech the fire and brimston rellegoin are 100% more likely to hate god when they get older.and reabel aganst god and there parents.again this is not the way god wants it to be.yes god dose say tech youre children about me but it allsow says not to exasperate them or they will tern from it.my parent talked about god my father told me about jesus.but he never made me do anny thing i dident want to do on my own.my family never went to church not even on holidays.no lestat i choce in my own heart in my own way in my own time to believe that god was there and that jesus died for my.yes it was at a time in my life were i realy did need god.i needed something to live for.i needed help.am i week for that yes i am.i am week and i dont find anny thing wrong with saying it.i dont know all the awnsers.i dont know evry thing.some times i just dont have what it takes to deal with things.so maby god is just a essy way out fore me when things get tuff or i cant explane some thing.i could just say tomorro is another day.things will get better.i could count to 10.i could try harder.i could see a counsler.i could talk to some one.i could do a hole lot of things.but i dont when things get realy bad or hard or tuff.i give up.and i ask god to help me.and when i do he takes my weeknees and makes it strong again.he brings me to a place were i can rest.because i admite that i need him.
so you see lestat maby there is no god to you because you dont need one.
i here you talk about how you grow up and figerd this out and found that out.how you do so well in school and at the gym.how you read this book and that,and now you can think foryourself and how you figerd it all out on youre own.
god dosent come into youre life just becuase you said a sinners prayer.who ever told you that is full of crap.god comes into youre life because you need him and you ask him to from the bottem of youre hurt.dont you think that the king of the unaverce knows youre hurt.he knows it better then you.
his word says seek with all youre hurt and you will find.

so let me ask evry one this and espasaly you lestat.if there was a god.one that loved you before you were even born.one that wanted to help you and comfert you walk with you throw life.if that god did exsist.do you need him right now in youre life.or are you just fine the way you are.the awnser to that quastoin is why there is or isent a god to you.

 

[Lestat]

this saidens me.its a proven fact that children whos parents slam religoin down there threots.and teech the fire and brimston rellegoin are 100% more likely to hate god when they get older.and reabel aganst god and there parents.again this is not the way god wants it to be.yes god dose say tech youre children about me but it allsow says not to exasperate them or they will tern from it.my parent talked about god my father told me about jesus.but he never made me do anny thing i dident want to do on my own.my family never went to church not even on holidays.no lestat i choce in my own heart in my own way in my own time to believe that god was there and that jesus died for my.yes it was at a time in my life were i realy did need god.i needed something to live for.i needed help.am i week for that yes i am.i am week and i dont find anny thing wrong with saying it.i dont know all the awnsers.i dont know evry thing.some times i just dont have what it takes to deal with things.so maby god is just a essy way out fore me when things get tuff or i cant explane some thing.i could just say tomorro is another day.things will get better.i could count to 10.i could try harder.i could see a counsler.i could talk to some one.i could do a hole lot of things.but i dont when things get realy bad or hard or tuff.i give up.and i ask god to help me.and when i do he takes my weeknees and makes it strong again.he brings me to a place were i can rest.because i admite that i need him.
so you see lestat maby there is no god to you because you dont need one.
i here you talk about how you grow up and figerd this out and found that out.how you do so well in school and at the gym.how you read this book and that,and now you can think foryourself and how you figerd it all out on youre own.
god dosent come into youre life just becuase you said a sinners prayer.who ever told you that is full of crap.god comes into youre life because you need him and you ask him to from the bottem of youre hurt.dont you think that the king of the unaverce knows youre hurt.he knows it better then you.
his word says seek with all youre hurt and you will find.

so let me ask evry one this and espasaly you lestat.if there was a god.one that loved you before you were even born.one that wanted to help you and comfert you walk with you throw life.if that god did exsist.do you need him right now in youre life.or are you just fine the way you are.the awnser to that quastoin is why there is or isent a god to you.

I'm fine just the way I am bro.

When I was going to church I was made to feel guilty about certain life style choices, like drinking, having sex, even watching certain movies.

Plus church was a big waste of time, I've found many more productive uses for my time, even simple things like just relaxing and doing some self reflection.

 

[curling]

You know what is funny lestat. For somebody that don't believe in God anymore you sure do spend alot of time trying to convince yourself and others of it.

 

[needtogetaas]

I'm fine just the way I am bro.

When I was going to church I was made to feel guilty about certain life style choices, like drinking, having sex, even watching certain movies.

Plus church was a big waste of time, I've found many more productive uses for my time, even simple things like just relaxing and doing some self reflection.

god loves you just the way you are lestat.just the way you are.even when you drink and smoke no matter what movie you watch he loves you.and wants to know you.even if you were "gay" he still loves you.even if you killed some one he still loves you.the bible says there is nothing on this earth or the heavens above can seprate you from gods love.nothing.if you choce to be his sone he will love you.my son could do a milloin things that would make me made and upsat me but i will allways love him.and that how god sees you and me and evry one.
the gilt you were made to feel is called condumnatoin and its wrong.it dossent come from god.yes god dose say not to do sertain things.but he says them for a reason.he only wants the best for you.its called trust you have to trust that god knows what is best for you.
some one broke that trust with you when you were young.some one made you feel like crap and beet you down mentaly some one did the "wrong" thing.
so now you feel like you cant trust anny one but youreself.but like i said its still youre choce.you can put aside what others have said and done to you growing up and make a choce.
sat to youreself .if what needto is saying is right."if there is a god that loves me no matter what i do or say or watch"and wants to know me and be in my life and help me.then i want to know this god to.
you cant tell me that you wouldent want some one like that in youre life.some one that crated the unavers.who knows all and is all.some one that loves you that much and some one with that much power to help you.
who wouldent want some thing like that.
ill tell you who.some one who dossent trust because there trust was broken at an erly age.or some one who thinks they will have to give some thing up to reseave it.you dont have to give up anny thing to have god in youre life.thats the best part about it.
so now thats the truth about god lestat.thats what he is realy like.i dont want to here about how some one made you feel gilty or said this or did that.
thows are all dead exusis now.now what.now you no you dont have to change and you dont have to feel gilty.now you know the truth.


one of my faveit versis in the bible is."the fool says in his own heart there is no god.i studded this verse for many years.why i dont know.i looked at the verce in hebro and latten and studded what the words ment.
and i came to this.
the man"fool" in this verce is telling himself there is no god.he is literly telling himself there is no god.he knows there is but he is telling himself there isent.wow. its like the old expratoin lestat







you keep telling youre self that

 

[Lestat]

god loves you just the way you are lestat.just the way you are.even when you drink and smoke no matter what movie you watch he loves you.and wants to know you.even if you were "gay" he still loves you.even if you killed some one he still loves you.the bible says there is nothing on this earth or the heavens above can seprate you from gods love.nothing.if you choce to be his sone he will love you.my son could do a milloin things that would make me made and upsat me but i will allways love him.and that how god sees you and me and evry one.
the gilt you were made to feel is called condumnatoin and its wrong.it dossent come from god.yes god dose say not to do sertain things.but he says them for a reason.he only wants the best for you.its called trust you have to trust that god knows what is best for you.
some one broke that trust with you when you were young.some one made you feel like crap and beet you down mentaly some one did the "wrong" thing.
so now you feel like you cant trust anny one but youreself.but like i said its still youre choce.you can put aside what others have said and done to you growing up and make a choce.
sat to youreself .if what needto is saying is right."if there is a god that loves me no matter what i do or say or watch"and wants to know me and be in my life and help me.then i want to know this god to.
you cant tell me that you wouldent want some one like that in youre life.some one that crated the unavers.who knows all and is all.some one that loves you that much and some one with that much power to help you.
who wouldent want some thing like that.
ill tell you who.some one who dossent trust because there trust was broken at an erly age.or some one who thinks they will have to give some thing up to reseave it.you dont have to give up anny thing to have god in youre life.thats the best part about it.
so now thats the truth about god lestat.thats what he is realy like.i dont want to here about how some one made you feel gilty or said this or did that.
thows are all dead exusis now.now what.now you no you dont have to change and you dont have to feel gilty.now you know the truth.


one of my faveit versis in the bible is."the fool says in his own heart there is no god.i studded this verse for many years.why i dont know.i looked at the verce in hebro and latten and studded what the words ment.
and i came to this.
the man"fool" in this verce is telling himself there is no god.he is literly telling himself there is no god.he knows there is but he is telling himself there isent.wow. its like the old expratoin lestat







you keep telling youre self that

^^ best of elite material right here

 

[Extra_Strong]

sounds like a good book about my way of thinking. I will have to give it a read.

I was also raised religous it sucks growing up with doubts and thinking you are the only one questioning things. Like you are missing something not knowing others question it to, but are just scared to talk about it. I spend so many hours thinking about it when i was a child. I like the family digging for the diamond analogy good stuff..