tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19963266.post158211833955730382..comments2022-12-24T20:04:15.057-05:00Comments on The Cybernetic Atheist: Again, why I oppose religion. and especially Dominionism.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05578145425454731854noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19963266.post-9547314208159521422012-10-19T18:17:20.443-04:002012-10-19T18:17:20.443-04:00Judi,
I feel for you and your childhood, and the ...Judi,<br /><br />I feel for you and your childhood, and the grief you've suffered since. It is a perfect example of why I also stopped going to church. Not the abuse, my family was fortunately not infected with that kind of disfunction. But the arrogance, the intolerance, the holier then thou attitudes were more than enough. "Good christians" who go to church on Sunday, listen to the preacher <i>tell them what's wrong about that behavior</i> and then go back to cheating people selling bad used cars on Monday. Sickening.<br /><br />All I can say is that I hope you can work your way through it. Getting there is well worth the hard journey.<br /><br />All I will say about my own situation in defense of atheism is that getting away from those things, realizing that my life and my future belong to me without obligation to an invisible being whose desires and wishes are so badly communicated by people of ill feeling and intent has been so freeing and such a wonderful release it is not easy to communicate the freedom that brings to one's life.<br /><br />That is what makes me do this - the knowledge that there are people who will intentionally try their best to bring that grief and pain and force it upon the rest of us. It makes me almost blind with fury sometimes. And often quite sad that so many people can't see through their fool's gold-gilded promises.<br /><br />Feel free to come back and comment, bring your feelings and let's discuss these things.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05578145425454731854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19963266.post-72812417265083545542012-10-19T16:04:45.647-04:002012-10-19T16:04:45.647-04:00judi here..i don't want to flood our political...judi here..i don't want to flood our political group with my personal background and views on religion...unlike some "Christians"and /or religious zealots on FB, i prefer,to keep my religious belief system out of the political arena.. bare with me..i have no agenda to proselytize..but there is some story telling to get to the point..and there is one! i respect your beliefs in atheism as i probably understand more than you might realize..so..your pieces on dominionism and theocracy have given me thought provoking insights...i enjoy how you think and articulate..i feel very much as you do on so many issues..with one pivotal exception..i believe in God..i believe he is supernatural..as i believe that the creation of this universe is supernatural and specifically speaks of Him..i work on my faith in Him every day and..i dislike the puritanical mind set when it comes to religion..as it stole from my childhood and beyond..i was raised as a strict southern baptist in the deep south..south carolina and south georgia..i went to church with my family every sunday, and then went home to a house filled with alcoholism and abuse of every kind..and God confused me....i got that he was an angry,unfair, unrelenting God who meted out punishment for the smallest of indiscretions..or none at all..so i was guiltily angry with Him...and all of those people who were so full of platitudes...the smug faces and pasted smiles of "Christians".....so i discounted them all as BS!..and.. i had a mother..since dead(she died accepting me for who i am)...and i still have living siblings who are strict fundamentalists..i have often been judged and rejected by them as lacking in my faith of God and his biblical laws..and i have plowed and wandered through this life hurt and angry with God and my family..fortunately(i subscribe it to a strong mind..with the three rhetorical concepts of id, ego and super ego if you believe freud)i somehow separated that from my everyday life..and am a strong, independent woman...free spirited and free thinking..i have achieved much and have been successful by many standards..i have raised two sons on my own who are good and kind young men who themselves are free thinking and free spirited; who have achieved their independence and are content & self confident..<br />having said that...and meaning every word of it..i will say..(every one has their achilles i believe) that over the years i have yo yo-ed with clinical depression..that i have worked ferociously to contain..it can be exhausting..one day..i felt myself slipping down again..i said as much to my friend..who is a strong minded, independent, successful individual.. i admire her..she asked me to visit her church just once..i acquiesced..that was almost two years ago.. now i never miss an opportunity to listen to this one pastor..i don't always agree with him..but he always hears my view....and he speaks to those views...he speaks to my soul..and most importantly..his message is about pure Grace..it is about the love of God and Jesus..the total acceptance of who i am, as i am..i wish i was better versed in the difference between the message of God's Grace vs the message of condemnation & biblical law.. that i find so narrow and puritanical...the message of grace is to go out into the world and show the same acceptance and forgiveness and love that Jesus gives us "let us not live merely in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth, in practice and in sincerity"..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com