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Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 26, 2015 at 4:32 am
Technically I'm agnostic, however, I have been leaning towards full on atheist. Lets just say I really don't think there's a God and don't think it really makes any sense at all.
But anyways, I grew up in the Mormon faith. Nothing against the religion itself, I just honestly believe that religion is more used as a way to control the masses. My parents are good members of the church and probably some of the most tolerant and accepting Christians. They know that I only go to church for an hour every Sunday and are fine with it. But I always get worried if I tell them I don't believe in God what they'll do. I mean they're tolerant and are smart people. They're both lawyers for crying out loud. LOL
I tried this one website called ex-mormon.org but that website is just full of bitter former members who seem to just hate the Mormon faith. I'm not interested in finding another religion; I just want to kind of move away from it. I'm a 22 year old community college student still living at home. I am transferring to a 4 year in Jan of 2016 so maybe that's when I should tell my parents I just don't believe in God anymore?
I don't know...I had a best friend and she stopped being friends with me just because I told her I didn't believe in God anymore. She apparently wanted to only hangout with "worthy" return Missionaries who are wanting to get married in the temple. Keep in mind the weeks leading up to this she was sexting me and we were drinking quite a bit.
I really just don't know what to do. HELP  
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 26, 2015 at 4:41 am
(This post was last modified: November 26, 2015 at 4:44 am by robvalue.)
I'm sorry to hear what you're going through
In my opinion, anyone whose friendship with you is dependent on believing in a load of supernatural garbage is no loss. If they can't like/love you for who you are, then you're betting of finding people who will.
It becomes more difficult when it's family. Although religion is not an issue, I hide many facets of myself from my parents because they live in a different kind of delusion. They simply can't handle any form of truth, and so I give them as little of it as they need to know. It's about weighing up how much it matters to you to be able to be open and honest with family, versus what kind of reaction you think you'll get; and how much you care about such a reaction. If you think they'll go mental for example and even disown you, as an extreme example, how much would that matter to you?
Sadly I'm still financially dependent on my parents and so I literally can't afford to tell them the truth. Otherwise I would.
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 26, 2015 at 9:36 am
Telling them as your leaving sounds like it could get messy. They may feel as if they've lost complete control and have no avenue to address it, with you basically heading out the door. They may decide to address the situation through financial means.
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 26, 2015 at 9:40 am
Pretty much anything you grew up with as a child is going to follow you for most if not all of your life. Especially if you still live around those kind of people. It's just a part of life. There are help groups, though, and the internet is great for otherwise isolated individuals.
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 26, 2015 at 10:15 pm
Were here to talk if you need us 
Atheism is a non-prophet organization join today.
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 26, 2015 at 10:55 pm
Why say anything? The only possible good it will do is show you who your friends are and who are the ones who are just conformist assholes. You've already seen once how that works out.
College is a time for moving away anyhow. Use it. You don't have to stand on the kitchen table and shout "Joey Smith was a lying shit" ( even though he was). Sometimes you need to do a cost/benefit analysis and just go off and do your own thing.
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 27, 2015 at 1:08 am
(This post was last modified: November 27, 2015 at 1:09 am by GoHalos1993.)
You don't have to stand on the kitchen table and shout "Joey Smith was a lying shit
lol
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 27, 2015 at 1:31 am
If your parents are reasonable, not in ministry, and/or not that devout, then you probably won't rock your own boat too much by telling them. I keep a lid on it because my dad is a preacher, so I'm pretty confident he would spend the rest of his life trying to re-convert me. He's kind of old and we have a good working relationship overall, so I'm not inclined to inflict knowledge of my atheism on him or my mom.
I lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, for 9 years of my childhood. It's my understanding that Mormons emphasize abstaining from birth control but place less emphasis on abstaining from sex. What that supposedly does is create situations where girls are willing to have sex but not willing to use contraception, resulting in a pregnancy and a marriage of necessity for which the man must convert to Mormonism. There is some speculation that the church (at some level) creates this dynamic on purpose with the intent of using Mormon girls' sexuality as a conversion tool.
If or how often that actually happens, I honestly don't know, but having all that in mind leaves me completely unsurprised about your friend's response. She was basically telling you "Oh yeah? Well, if you still wanna get with THIS, you'd better be an exemplary little Mormon boy."
What I really find amusing, though, is that she was getting shitty with you about not following her religion when she's violating the ever-important "Word of Life" by drinking alcohol with you.
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
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 27, 2015 at 12:07 pm
(November 26, 2015 at 4:32 am)godzilla_22 Wrote: Technically I'm agnostic, however, I have been leaning towards full on atheist. Lets just say I really don't think there's a God and don't think it really makes any sense at all.
But anyways, I grew up in the Mormon faith. Nothing against the religion itself, I just honestly believe that religion is more used as a way to control the masses. My parents are good members of the church and probably some of the most tolerant and accepting Christians. They know that I only go to church for an hour every Sunday and are fine with it. But I always get worried if I tell them I don't believe in God what they'll do. I mean they're tolerant and are smart people. They're both lawyers for crying out loud. LOL
I tried this one website called ex-mormon.org but that website is just full of bitter former members who seem to just hate the Mormon faith. I'm not interested in finding another religion; I just want to kind of move away from it. I'm a 22 year old community college student still living at home. I am transferring to a 4 year in Jan of 2016 so maybe that's when I should tell my parents I just don't believe in God anymore?
I don't know...I had a best friend and she stopped being friends with me just because I told her I didn't believe in God anymore. She apparently wanted to only hangout with "worthy" return Missionaries who are wanting to get married in the temple. Keep in mind the weeks leading up to this she was sexting me and we were drinking quite a bit.
I really just don't know what to do. HELP
IF their were a God out there would you want to know about Him?
If no then just let everything go.
If yes I would let your religion God and seek Him yourself. Look for real truth and follow it Honestly where ever it may lead. Not an Agnostic truth or an Atheist truth, Mormon truth, or any other brand of religious truth. Look to find God by what God Himself told us to do to find Him. See what happens.
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RE: Will the influence of religion always exist in my life
November 27, 2015 at 12:47 pm
(November 27, 2015 at 12:07 pm)Drich Wrote: (November 26, 2015 at 4:32 am)godzilla_22 Wrote: Technically I'm agnostic, however, I have been leaning towards full on atheist. Lets just say I really don't think there's a God and don't think it really makes any sense at all.
But anyways, I grew up in the Mormon faith. Nothing against the religion itself, I just honestly believe that religion is more used as a way to control the masses. My parents are good members of the church and probably some of the most tolerant and accepting Christians. They know that I only go to church for an hour every Sunday and are fine with it. But I always get worried if I tell them I don't believe in God what they'll do. I mean they're tolerant and are smart people. They're both lawyers for crying out loud. LOL
I tried this one website called ex-mormon.org but that website is just full of bitter former members who seem to just hate the Mormon faith. I'm not interested in finding another religion; I just want to kind of move away from it. I'm a 22 year old community college student still living at home. I am transferring to a 4 year in Jan of 2016 so maybe that's when I should tell my parents I just don't believe in God anymore?
I don't know...I had a best friend and she stopped being friends with me just because I told her I didn't believe in God anymore. She apparently wanted to only hangout with "worthy" return Missionaries who are wanting to get married in the temple. Keep in mind the weeks leading up to this she was sexting me and we were drinking quite a bit.
I really just don't know what to do. HELP
IF their were a God out there would you want to know about Him?
If no then just let everything go.
If yes I would let your religion God and seek Him yourself. Look for real truth and follow it Honestly where ever it may lead. Not an Agnostic truth or an Atheist truth, Mormon truth, or any other brand of religious truth. Look to find God by what God Himself told us to do to find Him. See what happens.
Shhhh don't pander your religious propaganda to the new guy.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization join today.
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