(November 28, 2017 at 10:26 pm)possibletarian Wrote: It gets better with time, I was actually raised as a Jehovah's Witness which I left at 16 (as soon as my parents said i could make my own choices) which led to all manners of discord, which to a degree i understood. I believe the indoctrination left me emotionally immature in some ways.
The 'god' bug though was very strong and later in life I got involved with a baptist church, I always had believed in a god and got involved with a much more traditional church, which for me , now an adult i fared much better. I became very active in my faith, I identified with the closeness of god, the holy spirit, indeed i was very winsome with my faith and had about 30 or so spiritual (people i had the then honour of guiding to faith) children , many of which keep in touch despite my rejection of faith, in fact they still come to me for advice. I lost a great deal of friends, kept others (who pray for me) to be fair i think it's simply awkward for them i have rejected what is most dear to their hearts and that's hard to take.
The road out is as complex as the one in, it takes years to unravel what it took years to indoctrinate but bit by bit is does unravel and I no longer fear any backlash, i am finding a new found freedom especially in the area of discovery, science, and the people around me, now not having to filter everything through the irrational filter of religion, i can see clearly now. The road out can be very hard, and very costly.. but it is worth the journey.
Thanks for sharing your story. And I appreciate your caring words, but I "came out" as an atheist in my early teens. It was a problem then, but not anymore. As for "indoctrination" I have one vague memory of it when I was a young child. I went to Sunday school with one of my protestant friends. In my Catholic Sunday school classes we did crafts or listened to Bible stories, stuff like that. But in my friend's Sunday school class, these two women came in and talked about "these people who don't believe in God" and how horrible they were. Quite frankly, I think it had the opposite of its intended effect. I was intrigued, never having heard God's nonexistence mentioned before.
It sounds like you invested some serious time and effort in your faith. You said the road out was difficult for you. Do you still have difficulties? Or are you past that? In its own way, Atheism can be rather rewarding.
I think the most rewarding thing about being an atheist is the freedom of thought. One feels free to explore any number of interpretations of the universe without feeling that one has sinned. To perceive the beauty of the universe and not reflexively think of some biblical creator is to truly behold an unfathomable beauty. Another benefit is of not taking offense at things which are not offensive. Gay people aren't trying to rebel against God; they're just gay. When someone is honest and forthright about something, it isn't blasphemy, it's telling it like it is. To me, the advantages of atheism outweigh any potential disadvantages.
