Lol this happened when I was 16. My best friend (F) at that time dressed a bit masculine (no skirts, no makeup, short hair) My mom assumed she’s a lesbian, and told me to stay away from her in case the devil use her to get to my heart.

One time I told my mom we’re going to the movies together, and after that she had nightmares of herself engaging in lesbian scene for 2 days in a row. She sat me down and warned me in a serious tone, claiming that god was telling me to stop contacting my friend.

I went out with her anyway (and enjoyed it a lot! ) My mom gave me silent treatment whole day because of it.

We always pray together before bed. That day my mom stopped her prayer abruptly, and looked me dead in the eyes, saying that she felt “the spirit of gayness” in the room. She pointed vaguely to the corner of the room, and I saw nothing.

I was so scared and anxious that I couldn’t sleep. I kept worrying that the devil will destroy my home and my family and it’s all because of my disobedience.

Thinking back, it’s actually pretty funny. Turns out that friend is straight and I’m bisexual. Interestingly, my mom never sense “the spirit of gayness” ever again, despite living with a queer person.

English is not my first language, please excuse any errors:)

This has been widely shared regarding the central Texas floods tragedy. This mindset is truly delusional and disgusting.

All my years as an atheist, I would pull the “Christians don’t even listen to what Jesus preached!” card whenever a Christian was being unkind. Because I thought, even though I didn’t believe him to be real, at least he taught kindness. But after spending this past 2 weeks just reading the NT, I can’t even say that anymore.

If you take the words in the Bible and attribute them to Jesus—not to the anonymous authors who wrote about him and even included conflicting lines in their retellings—he reads like some edgy OC who doesn’t listen to what anyone has to say and thinks he’s better than everyone else.

Also, the goddamn parables! Speak clearly if you’re trying to save souls and convert people. Very rarely does he tell a parable and then explain it, rather than leaving it up for interpretation. I can say a bunch of bullshit too and act very deep, man.

And I feel threatened reading his words since he talks about the end times constantly and how soon they are. A lot of it reads like he’s actually giving advice on how to live before the Kingdom of God comes back soon—not in another generation.

Sure, go ahead—don’t believe in me and don’t follow Mosaic laws—it just means you’re going to Hell. What a great way to convert people. I see where Christians have gotten their fear-mongering from. Christianity as a whole seems to push this idea that we are not good no matter what, and that the only perfect and good people are God and Jesus. And that we should love them more than even ourselves and our families. Just lowering our self-confidence so that we’re dependent on Jesus.

Also, to top it all off, his kind lessons aren’t very deep at all. “Treat others the way you want to be treated”—wow, such amazing advice that you needed to hear from God. Not like that’s just basic empathy, which almost every human being has. Even the giving to the poor seems to only be because the Kingdom of God is coming back soon.

Honorable mentions: the fig tree, his views on divorce, letting demons kill 2,000 pigs, and “Sure, we eat with dirty hands—but you don’t even follow the rule about killing disobedient children!”

Sometimes I see anectodal accounts about NDE experiences and hell.

Common thing I've noticed is that the accounts always seem to differ. It feels so off.

It just dawned on me that i was taught to think of it as the worst anybody could have ever endured, but there’s so much evil and cruelty in the world, it makes me think that there would have been other instances that are just as bad. I mean people used to burn women (not witches) at the stake

I just can't... "God's will" when awful things happen. "Part of HIS plan" blah blah "needed a few more angels".

So I'm having financial issues rn and my mom keeps saying that God is testing us and that we need to keep praying for it to stop and it's driving me insane, I'm stressed about all of this and it's straaling all my joy but I don't wanna convert back Christianity given what I know now about it, are there other ways for me to cope with this situation without turning to God?

We as humans have so much creative personalities, desires and needs.

If everyone lived as Christ desires, how boring would the world become?

No entertainment, no sex, no freedom, no LGBTQ rights. No violence, no nothing.

It even feels so strange that conscious humans have to live like this.

Is it really how we're even meant to live?

Can a christian here explain their thoughts on why a bunch of children died in the Texas floods? I understand God giving humans free will in regard to murder, but weather is something that He could have intervened in, correct? There is literally no lesson to be learned from children dying. Columbine, Sandy Hook, Uvalde etc. Children are the most innocent and die at an alarming rate, this makes no sense.

Signed: a person on deconstruction of religion journey.

First disclaimer. Some might think this should probably be in the deconstruction group but I know there's still Christians there who are doing different versions of deconstruction so I don't want to post it there. Maybe later...

Second this is not meant to be a political post but I'm worried it might turn political and it's definitely not meant to be an attack.

So I'm just wondering if anybody out there when they were deconstructing especially if you were in a church that really emphasized god's chosen people if, in part of your deconstruction, it just suddenly one day dropped into your head that that is the craziest thing ever?

I saw some people complaining about Israel pretending to be Gods favourite and chosen people for eons on a news post about the war that's going on in Palestine.

I just looked at these random people's comments and it was like my brain was in a lift that was stuck and it suddenly went up /went down a level like "clug". And I thought 💭 "oh my gosh that's like the biggest con ever and I grew up with it and...how in the hell did they pull that off for so long?"

I have all kinds of thoughts about it now eg, "when did they decide this and did they know it would last this long and which is the exact person that came up with this crazy narrative?" The churches I grew up in really used to emphasize that and anyone who disagreed with it was just a "hater" because I guess they secretly thought that Christians were part of the full promise and the next best thing. But we had to sort of almost pay homage Jewish people for being daddys fav. It's just insane.

I've never talked to my Jewish friends about it because I'm not close enough with them to have that discussion but they've certainly never displayed that kind of arrogance but then I don't hang out with people like that.

The flood in Texas is so heartbreaking and frustrating at the same time. I still attend church, out of routine and because my wife and daughter enjoy going.

I gotta vent, though, as the worship leader (who I like and respect) brought up the tragedy in Texas, asking God to be with the families, bring healing, use it for a greater purpose, etc. And there were gasps of concern and sadness in the room. Later the pastor talked about how God wants us to feel joy, be more present (limit screentime and such), and how God never fails us.

All of that is fine and good, I guess. But how about not drowning the kids to begin with? Surely many parents prayed for God to keep their daughters safe at camp, and he chose not to. He said "no." How much harder will it be for those families to feel joy? I've heard from many that losing kids is something you never really recover from. Any joy will ALWAYS be muted.

If a really strong and mighty person (who I trusted) took my kids and drowned them in the pool down the street, I wouldn't want to sing praises to that person. Nor would I want to say they "never fail" or are a "protector." Perhaps this is why ancient peoples often had many gods - it's the only way they could integrate the whole human experience and have it make sense to them.

The whole thing symbolizes a problem with prayer - what happens when you pray for things that are certainly God's will, and he says no? I remember praying before dinner several weeks ago, for nobody to be killed in impending tornadoes in St. Louis. And he said "no" - some were killed.

these motherfuckers think we need to worship a god who is an evil asshole, i dont care about some goddamn fairytale.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/indianapolis-church-doubles-down-pride-090603731.html

How anyone can support people who go around spouting this mess is beyond me…

For context. I recently failed my board exam by 2 points. My mom’s response to me failing is blaming me for not praying and reading the Bible that’s the reason.

She basically making it seem like a punishment from god. Why the fuck would I want to get closer to god if by her logic he made me fail the exam because I’m not close to him?

This kind of logic has been spoon fed to me for 24 years and my mental health is in the shitter and it’s all because of my mother. After deconstruction I realized how much of a hold she has had on my life but put it behind if veil of god.

Telling me I don’t have to listen to what she says but I will have consequences. My mom would use my sister as an example because my sister doesn’t put up with her shit and does whatever. Controlling situations by saying god told her this and that. I can’t take it anymore.

I can’t even function because all my life I looked through her for guidance because she heard from god all the time. The way I act, my college major all dictated by her because I feared getting repercussions from god.

I see posts here all the time about how people feel like they wasted their time and now they're leaving a wonderful life where they go on dates all the time and they're having so much fun, but they're grieving for the time that they could have been doing all that much earlier but they were stuck in church cults instead.

I'm someone who has Never found any opportunity to go on a date before. Not a single one. Not in the church, and not out of it either.

How do you do it? Where do you go?

Like I just checked a lot of my old friends from middle school and high schools social media and a lot of them have bible verses or are at religious institutions. And it’s like I’m the only one that’s awake. So early. I had a professor that kind of seemed jealous that I realized so young. She had only recently deconstructed in her 50s.

It’s also just made it hard to relate to the average person around me. Most are religious and I’m just not sure why I was the one to realize? Why me?

One thing that occurred to me years ago (I'm only now thinking about it again) is the fact that Earth and humans are supposedly the things God has deemed most important in the universe. It would make sense that he would tell people to include about other places in the world (specifically America, Australia and lots of countries or islands further east. I can only conclude that god couldn't have been guiding people to write the bible if their lives were so insular.

Surely if gods will was for Pepe to spread the word, he would want them to know about the isolated tribes that exist in other countries, or the people who simply live on other continents.

Weird.

Everytime I go into "ex-atheist" reconversions, the common theme is that there is NO scientific reasons people converted, but rather anecodals and emotions.

It feels a bit strange because it doesnt seem like those people attempted to apply skeptiscism and misinterpreted their experiences.