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| 27 Oct 2015 04:34 PM |
Don't make a fool of yourself: Please read the whole thing or don't even comment.
I was born into a Pentecostal church. They have churches everywhere around the globe. They're a special kind of crazy and do things like speak in tongues, preach sure hell-fire.
I know there's "non-crazy" kinds of religions but that doesn't change the fact that this church ruined my life.
Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am 21 and emotionally stunted. I never had the chance to develop socially because I was kept in a little bubble my whole early life. Until I was about 16 did I truly break free of the emotional and psychological chains and crutches this church put on me.
Pentecostalism is a kind of social virus. Memes are to genes what religion is to biological viruses/disease.
Memes:Genes :: Religion:Biological Disease
I'm not just some angsty person. Yes I know there are people in similar situations who had it much worse than I did. I believed everything they preached whole-heartedly. What else could I have done? I was never allowed exposure to different ideas. Go home, no tv, no books that weren't religious. No comics, no toys. No pokemon, that's satanic. No yu-gi-oh. Go to school and not talk to anyone because you're not allowed to talk to sinners unless you are going to preach to them. True story.
"Boo-hoo" you might say. That's not my point though. I was fortunate enough to be caught in a mild case. Other children are out there being stunted worse than I. Being brainwashed.
Yes I know I had 3 meals and a roof. Is that living though? I never grew as a person and I struggle to be a working member of society. I am moving ahead and trying to prevent this from happening to other kids by spreading the word.
Knowledge and the scientific method are the bane of these vile organizations. The people in charge aren't always acting on malice. Most of them do that because that's what they were taught, too. We need to go after the memes that are the underlying cause of malignant religious organizations. |
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Axyi
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| Joined: 16 Feb 2012 |
| Total Posts: 8541 |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:36 PM |
Ouch. Glad I'm an Atheist.
And from my lips, you drew the Hallelujah |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:37 PM |
| yes we must go after dank memes like doge. |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:39 PM |
I'm an athiest too but it was a long road.
Full of disillusion, night terrors being consumed by hell-fire. The psychological chain they put on you is a very real phenomenon. It's taken years to rationalize my way into the real world.
I thank the stranger who gave me some scientific books that I eagerly read at the age of 9. I doubt I would have been able to break free if I had not been exposed to literature like that.
Thank you stranger, you freed my mind. |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:39 PM |
coming from a Presbyterian, Pentecostals are stark raving mad
i mean...wow
few religious groups can compete with the general insanity of Pentecostals |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:43 PM |
I grew up in it and am familiar with many of the internal mechanisms.
People picture these kinds of things as some group of old men rubbing their hands together grinning maniacally but really it's just a group of people brought together by their fears, blindly lashing out at anything.
They create imaginary evils in the world and put up harmful barriers that only end up hurting themselves and their families, ultimately harming society at large.
It is self-perpetuating like any viable social-meme. |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:46 PM |
One of the effects I still suffer from is severe cognitive-dissonance.
It is a mental disorder and I will probably have it for the rest of my life unless we develop new ways to treat mental diseases and disorders. |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:46 PM |
| did they believe in generational sin (where sins from your immediate ancestors were passed down to you) or no? i once read a book talking about it, but i'm not sure if the author himself was a Pentacostal or his own special brand of crazy |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:48 PM |
| how did they make sure you werent talking to anyone |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:50 PM |
@sangyourrefrain
Most all sects I encountered believed everyone was born a sinner. They believed in generational curses though. These supposedly could be passed down to the next generation if you committed a heinous enough sin.
I still have a few books from one of the church leaders. It goes into great detail on kinds of curses, breaking curses, freeing someone from a demons bind. It also has a list of which ailments are caused by certain sins.
Things as minor as being an overly-anxious person, worrisome, can give your children asthma. |
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Penible
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| Joined: 24 Apr 2010 |
| Total Posts: 1285 |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:53 PM |
sorry man that's gotta suck
OP thinks he's so smart when his stupidity is so stupid it actually borders intelligence |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:53 PM |
"how did they make sure you werent talking to anyone"
A child's mind is without form. It's easily mouldable. I was brainwashed into believing that casual conversation with sinners was a sin itself. If you tell a young child from the day they are born that they'll suffer in eternal torment if they sin, they will most likely believe it.
This works on some adults as well however it's much easier to do with children.
It is child abuse.
Some children seem to be born skeptical of everything for those lucky ones I am glad. |
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Penible
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| Joined: 24 Apr 2010 |
| Total Posts: 1285 |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:54 PM |
"It is child abuse."
not legally
OP thinks he's so smart when his stupidity is so stupid it actually borders intelligence |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:56 PM |
| dump, dumb, and... wait what was i~ oh yeah! STUPID |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:56 PM |
I didn't say legally, it's still de facto child abuse, anyone who's seen it or experienced it can tell you that.
Some countries it's legal to torture boil dogs before you kill them doesn't mean it's not abuse. |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:56 PM |
| I grew up in a Pentecostal church, and I love it. |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:56 PM |
"Most all sects I encountered believed everyone was born a sinner. They believed in generational curses though. These supposedly could be passed down to the next generation if you committed a heinous enough sin.
I still have a few books from one of the church leaders. It goes into great detail on kinds of curses, breaking curses, freeing someone from a demons bind. It also has a list of which ailments are caused by certain sins.
Things as minor as being an overly-anxious person, worrisome, can give your children asthma."
believing that everyone is born a sinner (or predisposed to sin) is pretty much a universal belief among the vast majority of Christians. that's different from generational sin or curses, though, as our predisposition to sin comes from the Fall, not something stupid your parents did before you were born.
i'll never get their fascination with demons...it almost seems as if they don't like something, then it must be demons!
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:57 PM |
| But you're not allowed to post on the forums about religion . . . and you're gonna call us all jerks who don't care about anyone if we report this. |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:58 PM |
The complete opposite of our church.
We prepare the child for the road ahead, not prepare the road for the child. We are to be friendly with everyone, and many things that you said weren't banned.
We even challenge our kids to speak up and ask questions, lacking faith isn't an evil thing. Heck, that's why to go to church, to help with faith, not to expect you to have faith 100%.
I'm very sorry what your church did to you, it was wrong of them. Many of the things they did was out of useless tradition that wasn't even nessicary and nowhere in the bible.
Quoteth the kool-aid man "OOOH YEEAH".|Official Charlie Brown of OT.|
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:58 PM |
"I grew up in a Pentecostal church, and I love it."
I loved it too and sometimes I still catch myself drifting off into blissful ecstasy, humming a few hymns. Some of my best emotional experiences I had when in church.
The real world I stepped into was not as pleasant as the make-believe one I left. However it's the real world and I'd rather live here than in imagination land. |
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md524997
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| Joined: 20 Nov 2011 |
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| 27 Oct 2015 04:59 PM |
| When defending against a disease, there are two routes to take. One is you try to stop any disease entering the community, the alternative is to expose them to the disease and let their immune systems adapt. When one take the first route, one lives as an outsider to the real world, they learn nothing of the disease and will die the instant they touch it. Those who take the alternative route will come out as powerful people who are constantly adapting and growing stronger, they fought tooth and nail but their outcomes became greater than any who took the easy route. Your church was a bunch of idiots who chose the first route. |
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| 27 Oct 2015 05:00 PM |
@ANDREW
I'm glad your church is more focused on community. As I said, I'm aware not all religious organizations are like the one I attended.
@other
Report if you like I'm not going to call anyone a jerk I don't know what gave you that idea. |
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Rextoooo
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| Joined: 22 Oct 2011 |
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| 27 Oct 2015 05:01 PM |
your statement is as such: oh church is evil it didnt let me think so now im an atheist
just saying atheism doesn't provide oneself with assurance for the afterlife. i think of it as your on the Titanic and the boat is now stern up. whatcha gonna do, jump with nothing, or take something with buoyancy? it's how i view christianity and atheism. better to have some sort of assurance then none
also i've seen God do the miraculous in my life, so i trust God
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