To expand on what Rob was saying about sin and satan being a means of control, you need to remember/realize that religion and politics were very much the same thing. And what do political ideas and movements need in order to gain traction? Numbers. And in a world where the average life expectancy was somewhere in one's 30s, in order to keep and grow numbers, you gotta start at birth. So, the whole thing is engineered to create people who think the same thing in mostly the same way in order to be a political force. And that's why anyone who believes differently is considered an enemy, which is part of why leaving it is so difficult.

There's also a reason why Christianity celebrates meekness and poverty and suffering under oppression in this world as a means of not only being rewarded in the next, but in assuring that those above them that cause their lot in life get punished for it down the line. That's the lens in which they saw the world because a lot/most of them were the peasant class.

So, when you look at it with common sense, you can see the mechanisms in the book - which is really just ancient propaganda ("My messiah can do all these magical things! But he's kind, and hangs out with the downtrodden, like me! I can really relate") - at work.

Satan is an utterly stupid idea as well. Either God could simply stop his interfering actions yet chooses not to, making him complicit, or he's not powerful enough to restrain Satan.

Either way, a big fucking hole in the story. Let's call that hole number 1. I can go on for as long as you want.

I can't help you as I've never been religious however I've heard a lot of people in your situation.

I'm glad it's nothing that I had to go, best of luck.

Hi Dan, welcome to the forum

I was also lucky enough not to have it inflicted on me in the first place.

Thanks, I appreciate it buddy.

Today has me horribly troubled for some reason. My super Christian Grandmother came over today and was talking about how prophecies are fulfilled in the Bible. I told her they are general predictions and the books of the Bible are written after the events take place. She said they are very specific and that I should learn not to question those things. I told her "What if I said there will be a terrorist attack in the future? Of course there will be! It's how the world works!" to which she replied "Seems pretty specific to me!". I then got this doubt. The God Delusion shipped today though and I'm soon going to get like 4 more books (The Selfish Gene, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Blind Watchmaker, and The Magic of Reality.) I chickened out of telling my mom i'm an atheist because I knew it would only bring more doubt from her taking me to her sunday school and things of that nature. When she first questioned my beliefs she said that "You will discover god". I never said anything after that, but I doubted.

This is becoming a much bigger problem for me than HOCD so far. Not good, as I have only been dealing with this for a few weeks, and I've had HOCD for about 6 months.

What a wonderful family you find yourself in... I don't envy you.

(February 10, 2016 at 5:48 pm)pocaracas Wrote: What a wonderful family you find yourself in... I don't envy you.

No one I know does. My mom said "OCD is a label for people who don't want to face satan's doubt" and my dad was "Well, if it's in your best interest to see someone about this I will take you." which is why I like my dad way more than my mother, I can talk about evolution with him and not get some moral lesson from the same book that has angels rape people and stoning wifes' who aren't virgins.

Luckily I have placed an order for the books I was talking about and they will be here soon

(February 10, 2016 at 5:54 pm)GeneralDog Wrote:

(February 10, 2016 at 5:48 pm)pocaracas Wrote: What a wonderful family you find yourself in... I don't envy you.

No one I know does. My mom said "OCD is a label for people who don't want to face satan's doubt"

What a nice thing to say to someone who is sick...

(February 10, 2016 at 5:54 pm)GeneralDog Wrote: and my dad was "Well, if it's in your best interest to see someone about this I will take you." which is why I like my dad way more than my mother, I can talk about evolution with him and not get some moral lesson from the same book that has angels rape people and stoning wifes' who aren't virgins.

Luckily I have placed an order for the books I was talking about and they will be here soon

The books are no magic bullets.... they will help you better define and consolidate some concepts and, possibly, expose you to some arguments and counter-arguments from the believers and non-believers alike.

(February 10, 2016 at 6:05 pm)pocaracas Wrote:

(February 10, 2016 at 5:54 pm)GeneralDog Wrote: No one I know does. My mom said "OCD is a label for people who don't want to face satan's doubt"

What a nice thing to say to someone who is sick...  

(February 10, 2016 at 5:54 pm)GeneralDog Wrote: and my dad was "Well, if it's in your best interest to see someone about this I will take you." which is why I like my dad way more than my mother, I can talk about evolution with him and not get some moral lesson from the same book that has angels rape people and stoning wifes' who aren't virgins.

Luckily I have placed an order for the books I was talking about and they will be here soon

The books are no magic bullets.... they will help you better define and consolidate some concepts and, possibly, expose you to some arguments and counter-arguments from the believers and non-believers alike.

I know they are no magic pill. I hope they will eliminate some doubt. Better than what I am at now. I am very interested in evolution and I have always been but my Mom would always make a big deal about it if I ever heard about it at school. Whenever we learned about the crusades she contacted my school asking them to re-consider.