Greetings, humans!
June 30, 2015 at 3:21 pm
(This post was last modified: June 30, 2015 at 4:01 pm by Redbeard The Pink.)
My name is Redbeard The Pink, Wizard of Staunton!
I am a fictional character portrayed by a nonfictional human; the fictional me is heavily based on the nonfictional one (with some supernatural story twists, of course), so effectively I'll be speaking for both of us and I'll generally be referencing your non-fictional universe in my posts (unless I state otherwise).
The fictional universe I'm from has all kinds of gods, alter-dimensions, and supernatural phenomenon, but I (like my nonfictional self) believe not only that there is insufficient evidence to support a belief in nonfictional gods, but also that there is sufficient evidence to believe that all humanity's gods and magic are fictional constructs dreamed up by the humans themselves to explain things for which they had no understanding.
I came to this conclusion within the last few weeks. I was raised in the Presbyterian church and have been in a ministry family for many years, so I was deep in the faith; not only did I believe the Bible wholeheartedly (through whatever mental gymnastics would reconcile it with my concurrent belief in science), I shared my faith with others openly and even lead others to Christ on various occasions.
Nevertheless, I'd had serious questions and misgivings at various times in my life. There were a lot of factors that went into disassembling my faith, but the final push was when I encountered cogent, convincing, historical evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was never a live, historical human, but a celestial and mythological sub-god to Jehovah who was later humanized during a retelling of his story.
In order for modern Christianity to have even a chance at truth, Jesus has to have at least walked earth so it could be left up to faith whether he had powers. In the face of the Christ Myth theory, the test for salvation is no longer whether you believe a mortal man was the son of a god, but whether you believe a historical fiction about a person who never existed. At that point, I was done; the god glasses had finally come off.
I haven't yet summoned the courage/justification to share this news with most of my family, so until now I've pretty much been relegated to the comments section of youtube while discussing my new views. I'm joining this forum in an effort to find a better medium and perhaps garner some support as I explore this new mind of mine and face the struggles that will likely come from living as someone who doesn't believe in any gods. I feel really free from a lot of things that I feel have been holding back my progression of thought, but some of the possibilities are daunting as I look across potential futures.
I am a fictional character portrayed by a nonfictional human; the fictional me is heavily based on the nonfictional one (with some supernatural story twists, of course), so effectively I'll be speaking for both of us and I'll generally be referencing your non-fictional universe in my posts (unless I state otherwise).
The fictional universe I'm from has all kinds of gods, alter-dimensions, and supernatural phenomenon, but I (like my nonfictional self) believe not only that there is insufficient evidence to support a belief in nonfictional gods, but also that there is sufficient evidence to believe that all humanity's gods and magic are fictional constructs dreamed up by the humans themselves to explain things for which they had no understanding.
I came to this conclusion within the last few weeks. I was raised in the Presbyterian church and have been in a ministry family for many years, so I was deep in the faith; not only did I believe the Bible wholeheartedly (through whatever mental gymnastics would reconcile it with my concurrent belief in science), I shared my faith with others openly and even lead others to Christ on various occasions.
Nevertheless, I'd had serious questions and misgivings at various times in my life. There were a lot of factors that went into disassembling my faith, but the final push was when I encountered cogent, convincing, historical evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was never a live, historical human, but a celestial and mythological sub-god to Jehovah who was later humanized during a retelling of his story.
In order for modern Christianity to have even a chance at truth, Jesus has to have at least walked earth so it could be left up to faith whether he had powers. In the face of the Christ Myth theory, the test for salvation is no longer whether you believe a mortal man was the son of a god, but whether you believe a historical fiction about a person who never existed. At that point, I was done; the god glasses had finally come off.
I haven't yet summoned the courage/justification to share this news with most of my family, so until now I've pretty much been relegated to the comments section of youtube while discussing my new views. I'm joining this forum in an effort to find a better medium and perhaps garner some support as I explore this new mind of mine and face the struggles that will likely come from living as someone who doesn't believe in any gods. I feel really free from a lot of things that I feel have been holding back my progression of thought, but some of the possibilities are daunting as I look across potential futures.
Verbatim from the mouth of Jesus (retranslated from a retranslation of a copy of a copy):
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you see your brother's head up his ass when your own vision is darkened by your head being even further up your ass? How can you say to your brother, 'Get your head out of your ass,' when all the time your head is up your own ass? You hypocrite! First take your head out of your own ass, and then you will see clearly who has his head up his ass and who doesn't." Matthew 7:1-5 (also Luke 6: 41-42)
Also, I has a website: www.RedbeardThePink.com
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you see your brother's head up his ass when your own vision is darkened by your head being even further up your ass? How can you say to your brother, 'Get your head out of your ass,' when all the time your head is up your own ass? You hypocrite! First take your head out of your own ass, and then you will see clearly who has his head up his ass and who doesn't." Matthew 7:1-5 (also Luke 6: 41-42)
Also, I has a website: www.RedbeardThePink.com