My brother's bible class was teaching him about "addiction"

[MusicLovingAtheist]

so my brother's bible class apparently was teaching him that porn and sex are an addiction. Every time I try to tell him what I think he's saying he tells me that I'm twisting his words whenever he says something. He says that porn is purely for self pleasure. I told him that sex and porn are a good thing because it releases endorphins into your brain and it's good for your dick and there are benefits to having sex. I told asked him what the science behind this is and he said "what does science have to do with anything." He thinks that sex is a moral decision. Sex is not a moral decision. It's necessary to survival and it's what we are meant to do. Keeping yourself from having sex is simply unnatural. He said "yeah it's natural between a man and a woman". I told him the only reason the church is telling him these things is because they think it's sinful and they want you to focus more on god. The church thinks that focusing on pleasurable things takes away your attention from god. He said I was twisting his words and that that was probably a Catholic idea.

My brother is 15 years old and he hardly ever talks to me or my parents. My dad is an atheist who does not go to Church and my mom is an agnostic. They are both strongly liberal and my brother seems to be going down a strange path. He said "you're probably going to tell mom and dad about this" and I told him that I wasn't; I want him to tell them about it. He said before that homosexuality is just a type of self pleasure and it's immoral. I tried to tell him yesterday that homosexuals literally have no interest in the opposite sex. I feel so unequipped to actually have real debates with him though. I'm used to just talking to people on the internet and I have no real knowledge of how to have this kind of discussion with someone. Even after today's discussion where we were standing in his doorway for like 30 minutes, at the end of it he just told me that he doesn't know why he's even having this discussion.

I hate to see my brother getting indoctrinated into these kind of twisted idiologies and beliefs. He's a smart guy. He's in advanced courses at school and he builds computers. I wish I had arguments down for how to deal with this. He doesn't feel that I am a valid source of information so he doesn't want to have these discussions with me or my parents. It's almost disturbing. Can anyone help?

[The Grand Nudger]

15 bud - I think the jury is still out on your brother....I'm just saying.....

Work on your positions, your arguments. Have these conversations with your -adult- brother at some later point. In the meantime, whenever he expresses some thinly veiled bigotry, just hit him in the back of the head and say "you know why!"

[MusicLovingAtheist]

So I went into his room and asked him if sex is a biological function, what does that have to do with religion? He said "doesn't masturbation lead to low testosterone?" I asked him "is this what they're telling you in bible class?" He gets really annoyed and says "are you serious?" I told him that I know that sex for pleasure has benefits and I'm not a scientist but I urge you to go look it up yourself. He just said "I don't even know why we're having this conversation.". I feel horrible. I feel like I've completely failed to get across any point. I don't even understand where he's coming from with the things he says sometimes and whenever I ask him to back it up he just doesn't. I feel depressed.

[Jenny A]

I hate to see my brother getting indoctrinated into these kind of twisted idiologies and beliefs. He's a smart guy. He's in advanced courses at school and he builds computers. I wish I had arguments down for how to deal with this. He doesn't feel that I am a valid source of information so he doesn't want to have these discussions with me or my parents. It's almost disturbing. Can anyone help?

I wish I had some magic bullet for you, but I don't. Indoctrination is indoctrination. Not listening to those outside is part of the program.

If I were you, I'd avoid the subject of religion entirely and concentrate on what you like to do and talk about with your brother. Set a good example as a together, happy, successful atheist. Wait.

[MusicLovingAtheist]

I don't have the heart to tell him that I masturbate every single day and it doesn't lower my testosterone. I even had a testosterone test done at a hospital a few months ago and it was completely normal.

[Jenny A]

I don't have the heart to tell him that I masturbate every single day and it doesn't lower my testosterone. I even had a testosterone test done at a hospital a few months ago and it was completely normal.

It would be. Masturbation never hurt anyone. That isn't the point. The question is what do you like to do with your brother. Concentrate on that and skip religion for a while.

[MusicLovingAtheist]

I don't have the heart to tell him that I masturbate every single day and it doesn't lower my testosterone. I even had a testosterone test done at a hospital a few months ago and it was completely normal.

It would be. Masturbation never hurt anyone. That isn't the point. The question is what do you like to do with your brother. Concentrate on that and skip religion for a while.

My brother and I never talk. He's unwilling to have an actual discussion with anyone about this. He seems very anti-social. He doesn't hang out with friends anymore and seems to have no desire to talk to me either.

[Crossless2.0]

It would be. Masturbation never hurt anyone. That isn't the point. The question is what do you like to do with your brother. Concentrate on that and skip religion for a while.

My brother and I never talk. He's unwilling to have an actual discussion with anyone about this. He seems very anti-social. He doesn't hang out with friends anymore and seems to have no desire to talk to me either.

It's hard to know what to make of this. After all, your brother's behavior isn't different than the behavior of a lot of people that age. Did this anti-social behavior noticeably begin when he got religion?

[MusicLovingAtheist]

My brother and I never talk. He's unwilling to have an actual discussion with anyone about this. He seems very anti-social. He doesn't hang out with friends anymore and seems to have no desire to talk to me either.

It's hard to know what to make of this. After all, your brother's behavior isn't different than the behavior of a lot of people that age. Did this anti-social behavior noticeably begin when he got religion?

I have no idea. I don't have a clue how his life has been developing because it all happens behind closed doors. He's always in his room on his computer.

[Jenny A]

Ah, the problem is he's an introverted teen. Let him alone. There's nothing much you can do.