How you were raised vs. your current beliefs...

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I was raised conservative christian, and now I am an apolitical left leaning nontheistic satanist.

I wasn't really raised religious. Nothing we did was evolved around religion. Everything was based on morals. To this day I still live this way and I don't need god or religion to tell me how to think and live. We did attend church from when I was 7-12 and then we never went again. Sunday school just got boring and the reception because of too much talking from the priest than singing. I found out as an adult I nearly got us kicked out of church because I asked "strange questions" about their religion and god. I was 11 then and then 12 so my mom started to volunteer in my Sunday school class and she would rephrase my questions to make them religiously correct.

Was raised as a Catholic , but I 15. Was experiencing serious hypocrisy of the Church and church members even in my own family and this had been used to psychologically torture me since I , was understanding the concept of heaven and hell and life and death. Which was very early . Eventually by 16 , I consciously made an effort to forgive them . Started leaning towards Buddhist beliefs eventually , With brief acknowledgements of Nature religions .
As I aged , eventually , I had decided the basic tenets of Christianity , were a good thing. For character forming when I was young . But in the last few years have experienced Alienation by both Catholic and Buddhists .Priests and monks
But I believe that is just local to this area. Had my belief in hypocrisy of the Catholic Church reinforced At this later age. Possibly because Maybe to me as a Aspie , I do not do well socially . Haven’t a clue , but now just identify as a Christian . It keeps my mind at ease , possibly cause that is what I was brought up with in Catholicism .

Yes, I'm talking about America. Here, almost every Christian I know is racist or homophobic/transphobic or all of the above. I have very few friends, but only two or three of them are Christians. As for my family, only my mom is slightly open-minded (she actually had gay friends when she was younger). My dad is a racist and LGBT-phobic yet claims Catholicism. I would never tell my family that I consider myself bisexual. My mom might be okay (I'm not sure), but I have very real fears that if my dad were to know, I'd have to leave the house.

In America, you often hear about Christian homeless shelters denying LGBT people. One lady was said to have frozen to death when the Salvation Army turned her away for being trans.

Those sorts of people are the reason I'm embarrassed to even identify as Christian.

I do think the hateful and narrow minded are a minority of Christians, but their visibility and impact is much larger. Quite a few Christian thought leaders are using disparities like that as evidence the American Christian community needs to clean house. It isn't Christ-like to be hateful and exclusive, yet those that are hold an outsized amount of power.

Oh, the way I see it, the American Christian Church and community has long ago cleaned house ...
They cleaned Jesus Christ out of the house,
As in,
"Hey mate, your power to transform lives and to save the lost for eternity are great and all but we have matured and advanced and moved on from that to agendas and policies and programs and causes and candidates and politics and parties. Any time you want to change your priorities and join us you are welcome to, but we got to get going, there are things to do."

My parents were raised Christian and I was theoretically baptised but we never went to church. My dad was somewhat patriotic/american exceptionalism/law and order conservative, but probably not Fox News conservative, if that had existed in his lifetime.

I became christian as a young adult, but gave that up under disappointment and frustration. My current thinking is that if I and my life were intentionally created, that'd be one sadistic Motherf***er unworthy of my admiration.

My experience is the opposite- the bad ones are an explosive majority, dwarfing the rare, extremely sparse spattering of occasionally kind people.
Christians, Jews, Muslims, people in general - I’ve lived in 5 states, 4 countries, and visited loads of others. They ostracize and beat down the “other”.
How can anyone explain the wealth of religions and supposedly religious people? It’s all just excuses.

when i heard pat robertson cryptically talk on multiple occasions about how the poor will not share in god's glory, i could not help but think that he thinks only the rich with their camels [earthly riches] will not only pass through needles but be the exclusive inheritors of heaven.

I guess this is where being autistic and not being a follower of popular people/personalty cults/culture, all the things/people one is "supposed to" follow in order to be a socially acceptable/recognized member of a given group/herd is a benefit to my life and person.

I have known of Robertson's existence and that's the extent of it.

Am extremely disdainful of religious people / Christians / Catholics that represent hostile opinions/values towards
Alternate lifestyle individuals , / gay / bi/ lesbian/ transphobic , in fact , I may behave in a bias way against So called Christians that behave that way.

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As "4 Non-Blondes," So Eloquently
Relate By Song, "What's Going On"

And Or "What's Up," Well Before
"What's App," Arrived With Facebook
Instragramming Pics With Snazzy Captions too...

In the Case of Humans, We Bind And Bond Over Common
Aspects of Life; DarK Thru LiGHT; We Forage Together For
Subsistence, We Find Shelter, We Defend Our Territories; And
Most of Us Find Suitable Enough Mates And Reproduce; True, We

Have A Common Rodent Ancestor From 75 Million Years Ago, Where
Rats Today and Us Inherit the Same Basic Evolution of 'Religion' today...

So In General, What's Going On and What's Still Up With Abrahamic Religions; Do They
Revolve Around Foraging For Subsistence, Finding And Protecting Shelter/Territories;
Yes, Defending Those Shelters And Territories By Aggression Against the Same Species
When Invaded This Way; And Finally Key, Finding And Keeping Suitable Enough Mates,

Raising A Child
With Enough
Parents
And Village
Sticking Together
For Survival of the Species
to Survive in What Takes Human
Beings Longer As Children to Mature;

God Yes, Requiring A More Complex 'Religion' of
Carrots and Sticks to Make the DarK And LiGHT
oF IT All Work-Out Enough to Survive And Even

Thrive Together in A Gospel Singing With Hero
Worship the Same

For A Mentor
To Model
After
And
Imitate ThiS Way...

So Is Religion That Bonds And
Binds, Per General Social Animal Definition
Required to Survive and Thrive Together this way;
Yes, Yes, And Of Course No Matter How it is Labeled

Or Specifically
Defined, Including
Politics, Philosophy,
And Even 'Tom Brady of
Hero Worship' in the Religion of
Football for Those So Sad to See him Retire;

Yes, Advantage For Human Beings And Their
Complex Cultures With Language, iMaGiNaTioN,
And Creativity Fully Employed As A Story Book

Character Need
Not Ever Really
Retire or Even
Die As Long
As the Pages
Are Served up in
Someway By Record;
The Hero, And Mentor,
to Model After And Imitate LiveS on...

Yet What About, if You Are An Individual Who
Doesn't Fit in the Requirements of the Religion As Practiced;
What About Androgynous Looking People Who are Outcast;
What About Folks Who Don't Have Acceptable Social Skills;
What About Folks Who Aren't Seen As Reproductively Suitable;
What About Folks Who Are Disabled in Ways They Aren't Able

to Fully Contribute;

True, i've Faced All These
Outcast Conditions at 12 Years-
Old, About The Date The Movie "Ben" Came Out
About A Disabled Outcast Boy, Danny, Finding
An Only FRiEnD Ben, A Rat; in Someways later
So Appropriately Sung By Michael Jackson;
When No One Saw The Struggles He
Endured Within in Fame and
Fortune As A Boy
Then So Much
More than

Just ABC,
And 1,2,3; Well
True, At Least Making
Straight A's, The Teacher's
Accepted Me; Yet Not A Willing
Warm Hand of a 7th Grade Valentine's Girl Friend...

True That is the FRiEnD i Dreamed of Most; A Dark
Haired Girl, With me in a Cave in my Innocent Days
of Just Wishing to Hold Hands; Where We Would Be
Away From All the Bullies in Life Who Threatened to

Harm me
if i Even
Dared to
Smile as Back
in Those Days
That Wasn't Part
of the Exercised Christian
Religion Still Raising Boys
Without Empathy for Tribal

Desert Wars By Book, And Vietnam And Such...

True, i Used my Imagination; And We Didn't Have
Rats in Our Home to Make FRiEnDS with Like Danny

Boy Did
With Ben...

i Did Have A Dog
Named Charlie,
my only
Real FRiEnD,
Outside of my Mother
And Sister; Until that Day
on the School Bus Where/When Vickie
And Her FRiEnDS were Taunting me
Calling me A Girl Because They Said
my Eye Lashes Were too Long And Eyes
Were too Pretty Green to Changing Blue

of the
Emerald
Green Gulf;
They Didn't Do
The Poetry then;
They Were Just Mean
Girls Then; as i Looked Away
Outside of the Bus Window And

Saw Charlie Laying on the Side of the
Road, my Only FRiEnD Outside my Mother
And Sister, Escaped The Fence to Greet me
at the Bus Stop After School; You Know, i Guess

i could Have Turned out Different if my Mother and
Sister Weren't There to Cry With me; Some Folks Aren't the
Teacher's Pet Either; Some Folks Are Abused Horribly; Yes, and

In Unspeakable Ways By Their Closest Relatives, And Priests and Such They
Should Have Been able to Trust The Most For Any Trust to Gain for Their Chaotic Worlds...

i Don't Like to See Folks
Bullied, No matter What
Their Difference in Outcast is;

i Have Gay Relatives; i am not
Happy At all with the Church Holding
Hands with Politics in Religion Trying
To Cancel Even 'The Word Gay,' in Schools in Florida;

So Even More Kids may Not Think Their Lives are Worth Living;

i don't Have A Big Enough Voice to Change That; Yet i Did from
Within the Catholic Church by my One Voice in 'that Wilderness'
As i've Related Before Here; By Poetry Free Verse Like this Delivered
Straight to the Priest After Deacons Verbally Abused Gay Folks By Behavior
in Church, And Single Mothers Not Fit to Raise Children; And Hurricanes Called
Evil For Spreading Ocean Warmth to Other Species for Basic Surviving And Thriving too

Around
the

World;

Here's The Thing;

If We Separate From Each Other;
If We Fail to Find Some Way to Integrate
With Each Other; Other Views That May
Forge Ahead For Change May Be Lost;

Obviously, Not Everyone Has Thick
Enough Skin to Do this; Yet some
of Us Do; And We Just Do it As

We've Lived through the DarK
Days of Outcast And We Wanna Find
A Place For Everyone to Fit in At Least
Enough to Survive And Thrive Loving and
Loved in this Life at Least; Inhaling Peace,
Exhaling LoVE iN JoY oF LiGHT; Giving, Sharing,
Caring, Even Healing With Least Harm for All; And

That is the Version of 'Jesus' my iMaGiNaTioN Captured
Outside of the Church Reading the Parts of the New Testament
i Found Amazing As They Supported The Outcasts And Not Just the

Most Popular
And So-Called
Well Adjusted
Kids Able to Fit-In then;

Yet You See, the Folks Who Wrote
Much of that Book Were Likely Outcast
too; As Outcasts Come to View The World
in a Different Way than Just Group Think;

And The Folks Who Interpret, And Edit The
Books, And Spoon-Feed it to Others May Not have
the Talent to Write A Book to Abuse Others, The Way
They See Fit too, And Send them Outcast Away True;

So What Do they Do;

They Interpret 'the
Poetry' Every Way
That Suits Their Agenda's
to Subjugate And Control Others;
Often for Material Gains, Status, And Power
And Keeping Status and Power As Well; And

This is part of Human Nature too as Evolved;
As Sure We Have Reason, We Have Emotions;
And We Have A Reptile Brain too That Pays Closer

Attention to Basic Surviving And Reproducing too;

Key is Integrating The 3, 'The Trinity: Father Reptile
Brain, Mother Emotion Brain;

And The Son of ReaSon That
Is Not Truly 'The Master' Yet
"The Emissary" to Serve Basic
Survival And Loving 'Thrival' As Well;

Yet Remember, Not Everyone Gets to Be 'The
Teacher's Pet; Some Folks Stay Closer to the Way of 'Ben'...

"Ben" Again, The Rat Who Held A Violent Revolt For Subsistence;
And Escaped The Police Who Burned Up The Rest of His Group;
Finding His Way As Outcast Rat Back to Danny Boy; Where Survival
And Love Matched

Up Again...

Life is Hard...
Life is Easy...

Wish it Was
Fair; Yet IT Isn't...

Maybe Best We Can And
Will Do Is Hold Hands And
Love Just For the Helluva Ride...

Eastern Religions And Philosophies
Pursue More of an Innate, Instinctual,
And Intuitive Way of Inhaling Peace, Exhaling
Love For All in Ways of Practice That Include

Meditative
Autotelic
Ways of Flow;

Just Pure Bliss and
Nirvana; The Place
Where Compassion for
All of Nature in Empathic
Ways of Genuine And Sincere
Love For All Becomes Re-Born
or Perhaps Birthed For Life's First Real Love...

We aRe Fortunate to LiVE iN A WORLD WHeRE
Church And State Are Still Separated Enough to
Find Our Own Ways

That Actually

Work to Survive
And THRiVE iN Life For Real Now...

i am No Longer The Weakest,
Ugliest, Fish in the Aquarium;

It's Sad; Yet It's True; As Long As
'You' are Attractive Enough, Smart, and Strong
Enough With Financial Resources it Does make it Easier to Fit in Still Now;

Even if, For All Practical Intents and Purposes, You
Are Still One of the Strangest People in the World;

Not Everyone is 'Deep'; Ironically Now That Makes it Easier for me to Survive and Thrive...
And That's Probably A Reason too, the More Mystical Metaphors of the Bible Still Survive;

They Just Likely
Went over
The Heads
of Folks
Who
Couldn't Understand
How The Essence Would Reach
People like them Centuries Later,
Whether or Not They Stepped in A Church
or Not; Eastern Religions And Philosophies
Actually Show How to Find "The Place Within"...

Western Religions Are Still Steeped in "An Old Religion of Rats" As Evolved too As Practiced
Still Now; Yes, It's Enough to Survive; Yet Not, Usually Enough to Reach REAL Heaven Within Now...

And Of Course, in General, By Very Core Definition, Religion/Tradition Excludes Those Outside
of Group Think and Act; Bigger Venn Diagram Folks Have A Harder Time Fitting in Smaller Circles;

However, 'When in
Rome" Ya Fit in Enough
And Still Find a Way to Do 'me'..

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The thing about the prosperity gospel is that it's not a gospel at all, nor are it's adherents like Robertson real Christians.

Just a sad thing… very sad that these people actually get air time to preach their own version of the gospel .

Agreed.

Only a shonk would create a defective creature and then blame that defective creature for being, err, defective.

I mean, you don't need to be Einstein's dog to figure out that theologists are putting lipstick on a pig.
Erm, no offence to the pigs out there.

How I was raised:





Current beliefs: