Religion hurts :(

[Torin]

Hi guys,

today i want to cover something that happened recently in my life, so the story is little wacky and for some of you may seem weird but here goes nothing.My family is religious(Roman catholics) and one of my grandmothers brother, claims himself to be a spiritual healer.The story of how he becomed one, is quite common among people like him.When he was younger he was alcoholic.I dont know much about his past, but i know for sure that he was drunkard.So as the story goes, one he day saw, holy Marry near his bed, she told him to stop what he was doing, and after that revelation he felt that he has some powers to heal, and see ghosts, and demons (i know this sounds crazy, movie-like scenario but bear with me guys, i am totally serious about this)

So basically my family and relatives believe in him, when i was little i too believed.It was normal thing, and if one got sick, or something was bad with our health, we would call him and he would heal us(of course we used some kind of medicine, we werent't that crazy to relly only on him ).Sounds crazy i know, i know! Basically he heals by saying prayers.And even when i becomed an atheist, if i endup in some kind discussion about god, or mystical things.They always back up their argument by saying what about him, he is real evidence! (spiritual healer)

But several days back his kidneys stopped working, and his family propabably believed that he will heal himself in no time.My mom said that he felt sympthoms long before.But he still was healing himself.And obviously without medical treatment, he hitted point of no return.And now he has to wait for donor, and every two days do dialysis (or something like that)

The point of the story, that even whem such man, man of god, spiritual healer, becommed sick, and could't heal himself, should raise some doubts about his alleged powers.And when i got the news, i got angry why they didn't took him to the hospital, or to the doctor at least, when he felt some kind of strange feeling in his body.My mom still tried to say that he got tired of healing, or demons that he fights everyday beat him.I was like ,,NO he got sick because, no one took him to the real proffesional doctors,and real treatment"

But she refused to listen.It is a pitty that even though he was a little weird in that sense, he was a good and decent man.If he would had acted beforehand, his kidneys would work.But know he choosed otherwise.

I never encountered something like this in my real life, but this event, showed me actual evidence what neglect and believing in superstitions, hallucinations can do to a man, it can destroy you.Sadly this tragical event, made my beliefs(about atheism) stronger than ever.


Have a good day

[Crossless2.0]

It's a shame that superstition lead your uncle to this point. What's even sadder to me is that there will likely be others, like your mom, who will continue to rationalize it to the bitter end rather than admit that they may have been mistaken. Denial, especially in the case of something that one is so fervently emotionally attached to, is powerful.

I'm glad you see it for what it is.

[The Joker]

Religion hurts the unwilling who are selfish and want to do what they want. From what you said, it only proves that God does exist.

Superstition is based on the ignorant faith of an object having magical powers. Another word for superstition is “idolatry.” The Bible does not support the idea of things occurring by chance, but nothing is done outside of God’s sovereign control. Either He causes or allows everything in keeping with His divine plan (Acts 4:28; Ephesians 1:10). 

https://gotquestions.org/superstitions.html

[robvalue]

Thanks for sharing your story, I'm very sorry to hear that

It is really scary the damage that can be done when someone is living half in a fantasy world.

[I_am_not_mafia]

I'm not going to reply to Joker here otherwise another thread will get derailed.

My grandmother claimed to be a faith healer. She claimed to be a spiritualist and a medium. I didn't grow up in a religious family but the first two schools I went to were religious. After my grandmother died, we took our grandfather off to a spiritualist church to get in contact with her. No message from her, although there was for me which took me and everyone else by surprise. Maybe the medium noticed that I was bored and not paying attention.

My brother decided to go off to a few spiritualist churches himself but after a few times decided to look at other churches. He eventually become a born again Christian instead. He started to mellow out after a few years but he's now got in with a cult which by all appearances seem to be a giant con, and one of the things it does is promote the idea of faith healing.

It's all trickery. I think it works by giving people a sense of empowerment and control over their lives. I know that when I was into new age woo I felt that way about tarot cards and occultism. When you think about it, most people have very little control about how their lives pan out.

[Crossless2.0]

Religion hurts the unwilling who are selfish and want to do what they want. From what you said, it only proves that God does exist.

Superstition is based on the ignorant faith of an object having magical powers. Another word for superstition is “idolatry.” The Bible does not support the idea of things occurring by chance, but nothing is done outside of God’s sovereign control. Either He causes or allows everything in keeping with His divine plan (Acts 4:28; Ephesians 1:10). 

https://gotquestions.org/superstitions.html

You haven't the slightest idea what 'proof' means, do you?