Sins

[KevinM1]

If you buy into religion, sure, why not?

So, we want to feel better about ourselves and religion comes along and says, "Hey, I can help you out...just do this and this and pay me such and such and all will be ok." Am I on the right track? And the thing is, it is religion that makes us feel lousy in the first place! So, they have both ends covered...they create the illness and they supply the cure? And then, when you stay sick, they say, here, you need a bigger dose?

It's a bit more insidious than that since the vast majority of people are born into their religion. From day one they're told they're so bad and worthless that they're going to suffer for eternity unless they buy into the Christ story with every fiber of their being.

So, it's not usually an instance where people have a tough time of things, look for help, and then get suckered into religion, although those people do exist (and are usually paraded around as examples of how people can turn their lives around through religion, even though they're really just replacing one addiction with another). Instead, it's more vile because it's teaching children to feel like they're bad for simply existing. That Jesus died for them, and that they owe it to him to do what he says because of that. It's a massive mind fuck and guilt trip.

And, just by looking through this forum, you can see the effect that kind of thinking has had on people. Feeling ashamed for rather mundane thoughts and desires. Never being able to feel peace until they left the church. Being hounded by people to drink more of the Kool-Aid and to dive deeper into the cult, to the point of threats and harassment. Shit, even some of the Christians on here delight in throwing potential familial ostracism in the face of young people trying to find a way out from the madness.

Religion is difficult to nail down with analogous metaphors. It's part addiction, part abusive relationship. All cult. It's hard to get out because the answer to every question is to surrender even more to it.