Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: March 28, 2024, 7:07 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
My Intro...
#1
My Intro...
Hello All,

and thank you to those who have already welcomed me!

I'm Canadian, female, late 30s.

My journey to Agnosticism and Antitheism:

I was raised by devout Christian parents in a strict Baptist home.
Until about age 14, I tried hard to fit into the church.


However, there seemed to be an inherent conflict for me, in Religion.


It would end up taking me a couple of decades to sort out, for myself,
what would eventually turn out to be a fairly simple concept:

That God, and Religion, might have NOTHING to do with each other.


My rebellion began clumsily, in my early teens,
and gradually progressed through the years,
until, by my 30s, I had arrived at position of being basically Agnostic and Antitheist.

No-one influenced me; I read no books on the subject of Atheism;
I arrived at my conclusion on my own.

My position is this:

If someone simply "believes in God",
that,
in and of itself,
doesn't really bother me.

But unfortunately people never seem to want to simply leave it at that.

People seem to feel a compulsion to pile all kinds of DOGMA on top of their belief in God,
and place parameters onto god:

What god Loves, what god hates,
what god intended, what god never intended,
what god said, what god didn't say...etc.

It is when people are so sure that they "know" what pleases or displeases God
...usually based on a book...
that is the dangerous part.

Personally, I am willing to allow that God may, or may not exist.

But I am extremely scornful of the idea that any organized religion has ANYTHING to do with God.

I consider that "sin" is an entirely man-made concept,
and one that God, if he exists at all,
wouldn't care about, whatsoever.

I reject all Holy Writs, all Prophets, all Saviours.

I am scornful that religion professes to be primarily about "serving and worshiping God"
yet in reality it caters to a broad cross-section of fundamental human needs:

- Unconditional Love
- Unlimited Forgiveness (death row inmates)
- Immortality
- A source of strength (alcoholics anonymous)
- An explanation of our Origins and our Destiny
- A reason why bad things have to happen ("god has a plan")
- Justice (good will be rewarded, evil will be punished)

...and the people who can't be lured in with bribes,
can be coerced with threats of Hell, alternatively.

But, as I see it, a true God shouldn't have to bribe...or threaten...mankind into worshiping Him.

And a God that truly loved us wouldn't hold us accountable for our "sins" when we are not Omniscient, like He is said to be.

And a God that truly loved us wouldn't throw us into Hell simply because we chose to go our own way.

And a truly divine "holy writ" wouldn't require translation,
and people wouldn't be ABLE to misinterpret it;
Everyone would agree on it's meaning.

The main idea I would like to get across to Theists is this:

Not only is Religion NOT the bridge between Man and God,
but Religion may well be the single biggest OBSTACLE between Man and God
(...providing, of course, that god exists, at all)

Because BELIEF and TRUTH do NOT mean the same thing....in fact, they can even be OPPOSITES.

Theists often claim to equate GOD = TRUTH

but then contradict themselves by rejecting any feasible truths that might exist about God
if it doesn't fit in with their preconceived BELIEF structure.

Now, as I see it,

You cannot serve a God that you deem to be synonymous with TRUTH
with any degree of integrity,
as long as you allow your pursuit of the TRUTH to be biased by a BELIEF you refuse to relinquish,
because it makes you more comfortable.

Thanks for reading my story!

Now, I just need to make a little disclaimer:


I welcome all good discussion and new online friends,

HOWEVER:

1.  I am very private.

I never post or send out images of myself.
and I do not use facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc.

I will not give out my phone#, email, location, etc.

I will not consent to meet up IRL.

I'm sorry if that sounds a bit stand-offish,
since that is NOT my intent at all,

but I need to be clear on this:

Basically, I am *delighted* to make new friends here,
but I am ONLY able to offer ONLINE friendship,
in this forum, only.

2.  I will do my best to reply in a timely fashion to all comments directed my way;
however I am new to this format of online discussion and I confess I find the navigation a bit daunting,
so if I do not reply to you, it may just be that I didn't see your post.
I don't mean to snub anyone.

3.  Real Life will of course always trump online activity.
Inactivity or absence does NOT necessarily mean disinterest.

Looking forward to some edifying discussions, and happy to be here!!

Thanks again for the welcome! Smile
Reply
#2
RE: My Intro...
Woooh. That was quite a deal. Tongue

Welcome!!!
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great

PM me your email address to join the Slack chat! I'll give you a taco(or five) if you join! --->There's an app and everything!<---
Reply
#3
RE: My Intro...
Hello newcomer! Welcome
I can't remember where this verse is from, I think it got removed from canon:

"I don't hang around with mostly men because I'm gay. It's because men are better than women. Better trained, better equipped...better. Just better! I'm not gay."

For context, this is the previous verse:

"Hi Jesus" -robvalue
Reply
#4
RE: My Intro...
Welcome aboard.

We have a few nutty theists who think 'jesus' is their special friend.  I figure you'll spot them in no time!
Reply
#5
RE: My Intro...
Welcome. Smile

Don't worry about not posting a lot, or inactivity. I think most people here are spotty. For the most part, we have lives outside this forum. Big Grin
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?” 
― Tom StoppardRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Reply
#6
RE: My Intro...
Hi OP Hi plenty friends here and they're MINE

(June 14, 2015 at 11:55 pm)Aroura Wrote: Don't worry about not posting a lot, or inactivity. I think most people here are spotty. For the most part, we have lives outside this forum. Big Grin

What are those.....'lives' you speak of??
Reply
#7
RE: My Intro...
^Bos, I think she plays a lot of Sim Life online or something?
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
Reply
#8
RE: My Intro...
Ooooh, ok

I mean I take breaks too
when I sleep
Reply
#9
RE: My Intro...
MTL, thanks for that. I sort of guessed you were Francophone-Cdn. MTL means certain things in that context. I've only ever been to CGY. Did have friends in DDO, though.

I certainly respect your limits. Hopefully you've become comfortable in here, and will continue to be so.
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
Reply
#10
RE: My Intro...
Nice job with the intro, and welcome to the forum!

Welcome

You'll find many here who share your views on religion, myself included.
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' -Isaac Asimov-
Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Intro DocIllinois 14 1153 August 6, 2021 at 1:15 am
Last Post: Fake Messiah
  Belated intro Dom 20 1715 September 29, 2018 at 10:47 am
Last Post: Angrboda
  Intro Reltzik 21 950 September 26, 2018 at 6:33 pm
Last Post: The Valkyrie
  Intro Bow Before Zeus 15 1847 November 14, 2017 at 10:13 pm
Last Post: ignoramus
  intro JamieBra 28 5066 September 23, 2017 at 5:17 pm
Last Post: Seraphina
  MY INTRO rjh4 is back 7 1307 August 13, 2017 at 1:00 pm
Last Post: brewer
  Intro Court Jester 25 4896 June 24, 2017 at 1:53 pm
Last Post: KerimF
Bug I guess I should intro Monkeybuttorama 21 3830 May 26, 2017 at 11:24 am
Last Post: Caligvla XXI
  intro Otisknows 17 2380 February 6, 2017 at 12:02 am
Last Post: ignoramus
  Slightly Generic and Dramatic Intro Thread Redoubtable 16 3292 February 5, 2017 at 10:13 am
Last Post: Otisknows



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)