People - I /was/ a Christian

none of what you just said is reflected in your first post. just thought you should know. especially that part.

yes. arach's mom is an evangelical atheist. she actively tries to convert people from theism.

this is precisely where i'm at right now, and precisely why i'm having a spiritual but not religious wedding. i don't want to make a promise to a god i still believe in but am not sure i like all that much.after 21 years of being a christian, i've been afraid to read the whole bible. and now that i've committed to it, i'm terrified. (btw sorry everyone for skipping out on exodus. maybe we'll get to it next month. i've got comps i'm reading for.)i had a conversation with my mom about (for want of a better word) zombification in regards to why god commanded the anihilation of whole groups. if someone suffers from a physical plague (she included social, but i refuse to), there are several step of how to deal with it in digression by ability.1. you cure it. 2. you treat it. 3. you isolate it. 4. you sterilize the people so they can't spread it. 5. you kill them. if a wound rots the arm you must cut it off. but only if you couldn't treat the infection. but there's no evidence of a physical plague and i refuse to accept that it's okay to take the same steps for a social plague.and of course my officiant was quibbling over god's gender. ridiculous bullshit. people who have issue with gender need to think bigger.

it is compulsion, and my only evidence. Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

neither. i have always tried to choose right. this seems to be supported by neither right now. neither god nor science can tell me how to treat people and how to treat their ills. i understand this is not the realm of science. but for me, that is my need, these are my questions. science has no answers for me anymore because i'm not asking those questions. i grew up. where we came from doesn't matter. it's where we're sending ourselves.Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

i didn't. god and science are the assumed odds here. or rather god and not god. but not god depends on science, so there you go. yes. i suppose. but right doesn't depend on the origins of the universe or the presence or absence of the divine, so it's really not part of this discussion.and i wasn't discussing religion. religion is crap. we have texts and we potentially have entity(ies). the way other people respond to it can help me understand how i respond to it, but it does not determine my relationship to it.

not really. everyone's knowledge is equally biased by their language, perception, and experience. there's really no reason to trust anyone else on something without solid, clear evidence more than you trust yourself.of course, one would assume that this particular question would involve such evidence, but i don't count on it.

i'm not convinced.but when there's no evidence, it doesn't really matter.

i think you should read the posts mikey made.mtw tends to be pretty obtuse, but i've never experienced him to be anything that would force me away from god. others here, yes. but not him.

i might be confusing you with someone else. anything is possible.

it is an argument i've made and heard before.it requires a release of this judgemental, angry father idea, but i don't think it's too much of a stretch. Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

i disagree. i think there are three groups of people. one of the first you describe and one of the latter and then a third who is almost always right but not forgiving at all.

stop saying that. you have no idea what wahhabism means. it is not the arabic word for fundamentalism. just stop. please. you're making a fool of yourself and it hurts my eyeballs.Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

absolutely. but i'd argue that it's also possible to be an ex-atheist and an ex-unbeliever and that the fact that you are not those things now doesn't invalidate the fact that you were those things, back then.the problem is that your argument here is to decry those who say that your experience isn't valuable because you can't understand them and that you are intellectually or spiritually inferior because you fail to be what they are, and at the same time you scream at them because their experience isn't valuable because they can't understand you and that they are intellectually or spiritually inferior because they fail to be what you are.it's an untenable and wretched position, this "i'm right and you suck because you don't agree with me" position, no matter what side it's fought from.i'm really just concerned because i understand what your goal is here. it's to release people from the prison you feel they've created for themselves. but it really doesn't help you to say the same argument back. if everyone sucks for not agreeing with everyone else, i want nothing to do with any of it, and i'm sure i'm not the only one. saying i suck and i should stop sucking isn't going to make me agree with you. it's going to drive me further away. this is what faith never got and what you seem inable to hear. but that doesn't surprise me. it's a common failing of humanity and our self-righteousness.Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

piss off. i've had enough of you people and your stupid omg i can't read that cause it's not capitalized!!!!11omgwtfbbq.grow up you fucking cripple.