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Originally Posted by newday7121
I say, trust the Lord lean not to your own understanding and a direct path is what we pray for. Forgive, move on. If necessary bring this part of you into therapy to discuss. I don't think a T can make your religious decisions, but the man thing is personal forgiveness. In the Bible showing you how none of us are perfect but also removing yourself from a toxic situation, church included. It is ashamed especially for those who grew up with religion and hold those ones to higher standards. I can understand how that would have you shaken but get yourself back out there, there are plenty of churches doing the right thing!
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You don't seem to understand;
I hate religion. I don't believe in any god or "lord" -- I think the whole thing is a fabrication of man designed to keep people "good" and especially "obedient." I know firmly that I'm through with religion. I did study various other religions in my high school and college years, especially Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto and other eastern religions. But I still didn't feel comfortable with any of them. They still asked me to put "faith" in things I found ridiculous.
Finally in college I read Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and I found my path -- I'm an atheist through and through. I
want to be totally irreligious but it's hard when there's so much religion in the media and in the world in general, and it can be extremely pushy. Especially here in Utah, I've had people just assume I'm Mormon and ask me where I went on my "mission" -- I hate having to tell them I'm atheist, because they get this look in their eye like I'm the devil incarnate and then distance themselves from me as much as possible. There's very real, illogical hate for atheists in this country, and that bothers me like crazy.
So thank you for your kind words and advice but frankly I disagree with your worldview. No church is doing "the right thing" because they're all lying for your benefit, and that's not something I will tolerate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KQiao
Hey newday. You were very polite and encouraging, but I'm still really rather uncomfortable with this response, so I'm going to bow out of this thread.
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I'm sorry he scared you off; I really appreciated your comments. And yeah, I loved Rush in high school -- haven't listened to them in awhile so this is a great chance, thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by krisakira
I am atheist now. There's nothing better I could have ever done for myself than to ditch religion all together. I am healing, slowly, but being an atheist is the best thing for me.
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Same here; atheism is the best thing that ever happened to me. I was conditioned in the Mormon Church to believe that "apostates," and especially atheists, will be severely punished. But finally I allowed myself to let go of all those negative thoughts and decided to believe what I actually felt to be true, and that was all it took. I think I've really been a closet atheist all along -- I thought it was ridiculous as a child when I realized that all the adults around me believed that the fanciful stories I heard every week in church ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I just... never saw the point of it all. Yes I may have been taught morality but it was all too constrictive for me, a black-and-white view that doesn't work in the REAL world where EVERYTHING is a shade of grey.