Which prompts me to ask, realmen, psychology aside, what do you have against Christianity personally?
Funny you should ask. There are several examples of the reasons why in your post, and I���ll get to that momentarily. But first, I want to put it on the record that I believe everyone has the right to believe whatever they choose, to live their lives however they choose, and to do so freely and without hindrance from anyone else. MY OWN INTENDED HINDRANCES INCLUDED! I believe everyone has a right both to their opinion and to express that opinion in any way they deem appropriate. While I may vehemently disagree with everything Christianity stands for and professes, I would without hesitation stand up for the right of every Christian to have and practice their religion, though I know with certainty most of them would not do the same for me (as a practitioner of a religion that Christians define as an enemy of their faith). The truth is, Christians have MADE me an enemy of their faith, it did not occur in isolation.
They say a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and Lidstrom you have read my comments and made certain assumptions based on things you have studied. You seem also to be assuming that my hatred of Christians is not just about their behavior, and that somehow what I���m talking about isn���t REALLY the issue. By professing to have knowledge of me and my inner life, you are committing one of the acts that I find so abominable in Christians. But read on���
You said:
Let me get this straight: Christianity is a self-inflicted disease,
Nope, not what I said. I said Christianity is an induced mental illness, not an organic one. As in, it���s something that one person (or group of people) induced in another, it didn���t just happen by itself. You don���t see people just spontaneously fall down in an epiphany and worship Jesus, they always require someone else to plant the ideas in their head first. There has never been a single account of someone who has never been exposed to Christianity speaking about a mystical experience with Jesus! (Or Mohammed, Or Buddha, or Krishna, or Shiva, or the Great Pumpkin ��� I���m an equal opportunity blasphemer! ;-)
The problem begins with their philosophy. They believe, in utter contradiction to the entire body of knowledge humankind has accumulated over the past centuries, that the Earth was made by a male god figure in just seven days. They believe that Homo Sapiens Sapien was made out of mud (and apparently that the essential nature of humankind is male ��� because wasn���t the first human male?) and his mate (a female, an obviously lesser creature) was made from his rib and was subject to the rule and will of the male. Now we know scientifically that this cannot be true, any of it. There are Christians out there who believe Dinosaurs never existed because God didn���t make any mention of them in the Bible. I know what you���re saying, you���re not one of those, but hold on���
Flash forward to the whole Jesus debacle. First and foremost, never mind the fact that the entire mythology around Jesus is based on a retelling of the stories of Zarathustra (or Zoroaster, if you prefer), other things they report about Jesus are simply contextually inaccurate historically. Specifically, that he was unmarried and celibate all of his life. He was a JEW, and the eldest son, his marriage would have been planned and anticipated from a very early age, especially given his proclivities and facility with religion! The likelihood that he would have remained unmarried until his death is so remote as to be unworthy of consideration. Even the most elementary application of Ockham���s Razor would lend more credence to the story told in the ���Da Vinci Code��� than the story as related by the Bible. Which makes more sense to you: 1) A 33 year old Jewish man hangs out with 12 guys all the time, but is heterosexual, is something of a public figure, and he doesn���t have sex or even a girlfriend because he���s really the son of God on a Divine Mission, or 2) A healthy, red-blooded, heterosexual 33 year old Jewish Rabbi who travelled extensively, was a known public figure, married one of his converts, impregnated her, and then was executed for stirring up trouble among the locals, and his wife and child had to run for their lives to escape the same fate from the tyrannical Romans. You do the math!
So with some very questionable philosophical foundations, let���s consider the Christian Demographic. Who is the typical die-hard Christian? They are typically less educated on average (High School and Undergraduate, if that, as opposed to Graduate Level and Post Doc), they tend to view the world in absolute terms only (it���s black or white, there is no middle ground), they tend toward elitism (���Only MY religion is valid or worthwhile, and only me and those like me are worthwhile human beings, we���ll pray for the rest of you.���), they tend to dislike new knowledge (especially that which contradicts any piece of knowledge they already have, however trivial or mundane), they stubbornly hold onto their ideas even when faced with incontrovertible proof of the invalidity of their ideas. In short, they don���t often benefit by new learning because their minds are closed to anything but what they already know.
Now, if that was where it ended, there would be no problem. As I said, I believe everyone has the right, nay, the OBLIGATION to believe whatever they choose and live their lives accordingly. But with one caveat: You must afford the same right to others equally, not just in words, but in deeds. Did you know that there are only a handful, actually I think it���s just four, religions in the world that actively seek new converts? What does that say to you about those religions and their ambitions? Christianity, Islam, Hare Krishna, and Scientology. If you know of others, please post them here.
So imagine you are standing on a street corner somewhere and a person comes up to you and asks you if you���ve given thanks to the Great Pumpkin today. When you say ���No,��� they say ���Well have you asked the Great Pumpkin to come into you heart and wash away your sins?��� By this point, the human reaction is what? To express incredulity, offense, confusion? If you just politely say ���The Great Pumpkin is not a part of my system of belief.��� Might arouse retorts of ���You will burn in Hell for denying Him! Come back to the Great Pumpkin, renounce the Evil One and come back home to the Great Pumpkin. The Great Pumpkin will turn your lost life around and bring meaning to it for the first time!��� blah blah blah���
Look at all the presuppositions in the questions asked. ���Have you thanked the Great Pumpkin today?��� assumes A) He exists, B) He has done something worthy of thanks, C) You should thank him, D) You should do it daily. If I were an attorney I���d object that each of those assume facts not in evidence! ���Have you asked the Great Pumpkin to come into your life and wash away your sins?��� Assumes A) The Great Pumpkin exists, CAN come into your life, and CAN wash away something called ���sin���, B) Something called ���sin��� exists, you have an abundance of it and it is undesirable in the heart C) The Great Pumpkin is the only option for washing away ���sin��� D) Your life is somehow needing because you haven���t asked for the Great Pumpkin���s help. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
The point is this. Would you want advice from someone who is clearly delusional? No, of course not. They clearly do not have all the information they need to make an informed prescription for anyone, since they clearly have not been able to apply to their own life first. So, I get a little resentful when people who don���t have enough common sense to see through a fairy tale try to tell me how to live my life! ;-D
Now, let���s get back to what you said in your post. Let���s take a little closer look at your sentiments. You said:
Real Christians are such because they experienced a loving God that took care of them when no one else could - or would
Presuppositions: A) There are real and ���unreal��� Christians. B) ���Real Christians��� are the only valid ones, C) Only those that have experienced a ���loving God that took care of them��� are ���Real���., D) These things are valuable. Look at who appointed you judge! Can I again object that you���re assuming facts not in evidence? So here again we have a flawed human being making judgments about others and holding those judgments out as standards for comparison. My entire thesis is that what you are taking as fact and demanding others respond to as fact, is really just your opinion, and that opinion is no better or worse, no more accurate or inaccurate than mine. But it���s not being presented as your opinion, you present it as fact. Why is it when I do the same thing, most Christians swallow their tongues, their head rotates 580 degrees, and pea soup comes out of their mouth as they condemn me for doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING? Physician, heal thyself!
Why? Because most people want to know a powerful God that can help them with the troubles of life
Look what you are presupposing here: A) You know what ���most people��� want, B) Your God is the only powerful one, C) Only your God can help people D) It takes a God to deal with the troubles of life, E) ���Most people��� are powerless without God.
Your post, and the posts of your less tactful Christian contemporaries, are filled with these kinds of judgmental OFFENSIVE presuppositions and inferences!
So even in this post of yours in defense of Christianity, you make my point for me. Someone who believes in fairy stories, someone who hasn���t even figured out that he is the only significant force in his own life is trying to tell me ���How things are.���
Throughout history, this kind of thinking has characterized Christian interaction with the rest of the world. They are better than the rest of us because they believe the fairy tales and no one can change their mind. And they convey that they are better than the rest of us in every aspect of their speech and the ways they deal with other people.
But that���s not even the best part! In MY system of belief, (notice how I set that up), the energy of intent is just as real as the energy of action. In other words, there is just as much potential in the intent to turn on a light switch as there is in the actual activity of turning on the light switch. A primary vehicle of intent is language. That is to say I believe both in the power of prayer, the power of magick, and the power of projected intent. In fact I see them as different manifestations of the same concept. One of the most offensive acts that Christians routinely perpetrate against humanity, especially here in the South, is that of public prayer.
How many of you non-Christians have sat through a meal or family gathering where they ���asked a blessing��� over the food you were expected to eat? Did it just make you want to puke when you heard that ���AMEN���? It sure does me! A common component of such Christian prayer is to ���bless this food to Your Service, God, and bring us closer to You���. Think about the intent they have just infused into the food that is meant to nourish your body? They have just put a weapon meant to fight the war they���ve been waging aginst humanity right on your plate and you���re expected to just shut up and eat it! As a non-Christian this amounts to a FORCIBLE infusion of Christian energy into your body! Of course you have the choice not to eat it, but just try to express that and explain it to them! I actually have, and suffice it to say, it doesn���t go well! To pray over food in mixed religious company is just one example of Christian insensitivity and intolerance. It���s an act of spiritual terrorism! It is, by it���s very nature, an act of spiritual RAPE! So yes, the same love a raped woman might extend to her rapist, a non-Christian might express for such Christians.
So lidstrom, when you say things like:
I've prayed for him to know that not all Christians will judge you for everything from your movie collection to a short haircut.
You are in effect working negative magick against me, in the form of praying on my behalf, sending some UNSOLICITED, UNWELCOME, and UNDESIRABLE programmed intent energy to me. That amounts to an attack. And you didn���t even blink as you did it. It takes some pretty judgmental and elitist attitudes to ever imagine that such a thing is appropriate! I assure you, sir (or madam ��� I apologize, I do not conclusively know your gender), I will defend myself and send you some energy back in kind!
Someone commented on one of my other posts that the way I make my point is often wholly obscene and offensive. I want to offend you! When a Christian says to me ���I will pray for you��� or ���God Bless You��� or ���Merry Christmas���, that is incredibly offensive! Christians who affront the world with their public displays of insanity OFFEND THE SHIT OUT OF ME! So why not use their own proclivities toward being offended to deliver the message that offensive behavior is offensive regardless of who does it or for what reason? You offend me, I offend you back. If we are ever to get anywhere, we have to open our fucking eyes and realize that ���Hey, wait a minute, that person I want to communicate with is taking what I���m saying in ways way other than I���ve intended��� MAYBE I SHOULD TRY A DIFFERENT APPROACH!��� But I will dream on��� One of the celebrated definitions of insanity is to continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. So in a sincere and heartfelt desire to elicit different responses from these horribly offensive Christians, I am taking a different approach. And I hope I can so totally offend them as to shock some level of awareness that what they are doing is only making the world an uglier place. I am literally holding up a mirror to them and becoming their equal opposite. If the rules of Algebra hold up, eventually we will cancel each other out, and then maybe some real progress can be made.
So Christians are worthy of hatred because they wantonly attack spiritually all those who are not of their own mindset, they presume that the choices dictated by their religion are the correct ones for everyone in every situation, and they actively seek to suppress every non-Christian idea and person out of a narcissistic need to validate their own shortcomings and ���faith.��� They presuppose at every level that they are wiser than you and that no matter what, if you are not Christian, you are wasting your life. They use negatively programmed intent irresponsibly because their systems of belief do not take the time to teach them how to use it morally, ethically, and responsibly, and they don���t ever have to take responsibility for the harm they do to anyone. They have conducted themselves throughout history as warriors hellbent on eradicating all but their own way of life and they are not subject to making better choices for all concerned because their systems of belief are fixed, set to exclude all new data, and not bound by any manifestation of reason.
But don���t listen to me, I���m just as crazy as they are!
;-D
Q
