I called a friend who is a believer...

[MTL]

I'm wondering if theists think it's better to go through the motions and attend church etc. despite regarding it all as an utter waste of time than to be honest and say we don't believe.

Interesting you should say that.

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My sister, who is a loathsome, manipulative little shit,
is a self-professed Atheist
...but an Atheist who is happy to directly serve a Religion...if it suits her purposes.

She doesn't care if Religion causes harm;
on the contrary, she is happy to pose as a church-member for the social advantages it offers her,
even if that means perpetuating the lies of Religion, herself.

Our parents raised us to be devout Christians.

I have, myself, obviously, also rejected Religion;
yet, as an Agnostic, I at least allow for the remote possibility that God may exist;
and in any event, I encourage people to seek the ACTUAL TRUTH, in all matters.

It took me 20+ years of unaided spiritual, emotional, and mental turmoil, as well as lots of research,
to detach myself from my strict Christian upbringing, and arrive at my current position.

Along the way, I realized that I need not blame "God" per se,
for the evils of RELIGION,
because they are not the same thing.

You would think that my open-mindedness toward the possibility of God's existence
along with my obvious interest in the dogged pursuit of the ACTUAL TRUTH
would please  my parents,
(and, to his credit, in my Dad's case, it does, at least to a significant degree)
but my mother seems to hate me all the more, for it.

My Grandmother, my Aunt, my Mother, and my sister
would rather that I NOT care about the ACTUAL TRUTH,
if it means boring them or challenging their so-called "faith" or posing uncomfortable questions...

...and would prefer that I instead simply toe the line and observe the RELIGIOUS status quo of this family...

...even if this hypocritically goes against the very integrity they profess to have,
as so-called "Servants of God";
even as they lie through their teeth that the cornerstone of their Belief is that:
"God is synonymous with Truth".

I even pointed out this hypocrisy to my mother;

I said to her,

"Mom, I thought you would at least be pleased that I CARE enough to devote this much thought and energy to the subject, in the interest of integrity...

...but you seem to prefer my sister's method:  To sit in a church pew like a mealy-mouthed little humbug,
a flagrant hypocrite, whose heart is empty, whose purposes are corrupt...
as long as she doesn't inconvenience you by asking any UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS,
and just puts on a façade of Christian piety! "

And my mother replied:  " Yes, I do prefer that. "


(!!??)


Okay, then...alright....let me catch my breath...

Consciousness-expanding moment:

My entire upbringing is a lie,
and HALF my family are nothing more than 'whited sepulchres'.


It all comes back to what I'm frequently saying about the difference between:

Theists who are Theists because their intentions are genuine;
they belong to a Religion only because they think they're on the right track toward finding God
(understanding that they believe "God" is synonymous with "Truth",
but they still fail to realize that what their Religion teaches ABOUT God is not necessarily the ACTUAL TRUTH,
so they have yet to realize the vital need to separate "God" from "Religion")

vs.

Theists who are only willing to accept the "truth" about "God" as they've been taught it,
(or according to the religion of their choice)
and are NOT willing to look at the possibility that while God may well exist,
He might NOT be anything like what they BELIEVE He is,
....indeed, He may have  NO ASSOCIATION, WHATSOEVER with their awful religion.

To my mind,

Any Theist who is not willing to consider that possibility,
is choosing to believe what other stupid, fallible humans have told them ABOUT God,
RATHER than being interested in pursuing what the ACTUAL TRUTH might be, for themselves,
lest it not be to their liking.

For instance, if it turned out tomorrow that God's existence was conclusively proven,
but that Jesus was NOT His Son, (maybe, I don't know....just a demon that pretended to be His Son)
and the Bible is NOT, in fact the Word of God,
and that God does NOT, in fact, have any problem with homosexuals...

...would all those fire-and-brimstone, pulpit-pounding homophobic Southern Baptists still WANT Him for their God?

My point:

For some Theists, who are sincere in their pursuit of ACTUAL TRUTH, religion is just a misguided mistake,
and it is those Theists whom I encourage to investigate the concept of Deism;

I encourage them to realize:

You CANNOT (with any degree of integrity, anyway),

- pursue the ACTUAL TRUTH (and therefore pursue God...assuming God is, in fact, synonymous with TRUTH),

AND

- serve a Religion (which only emptily asserts itself as "truth")

...at the same time.

When they realize that truism, they are free to be Deists,
and free of the Religion that was polluting their otherwise harmless Faith in God.



But for OTHER Theists,

The pursuit of ACTUAL TRUTH is not really what motivates them.

They only want the "truth" if it's a certain  truth.

(They only want a God, for instance, that hates homosexuality).

Therefore, this second category of Theists don't really serve God...

What they really serve, is RELIGION.

Not God.  Not TRUTH.

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