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I was raised Christian until I was about 7 years old. Then when I was 7, my parents had a talk with me and my brother, and basically told us that we are not going to church anymore, and we can each believe in anything we want and follow any religion we want as individuals.
I was thinking back to when I was 5 or 6 years old, being fully indoctrinated in Christianity. And the main thing I remember is the FEAR they instilled into me.
It's such a fear driven religion. With threats of eternal hell for even questioning for one minute that Jesus is not the savior. Threats of hell for breaking all the commandments. I remember when I was a kid, I was terrified to think twice about whether or not Christianity was the truth because I was told i'd burn in hell for doing so.
It was such a powerful brainwashing to tell this stuff to a 4 or 5 year old kid. Such a powerful way to control people's behavior and thoughts. So twisted and bizarre to tell little kids these terrible things.
Anyway, it would be an understatement for me to say that i'm glad my parents allowed me to find my own path. Instead of bringing me to Church any longer, for them to push fear and ridiculous dogma onto me.
I think it's very WRONG to brainwash kids into this world of fear and terror. It's very cruel and unusual. It's child abuse basically. I still remember at 5 years old. Staying up in bed. Terrified that i'd burn in HELL.
Terrible thing to do to a kid. Absolutely shameful.
Thank you. Christian apologists generally object to the term 'brainwashing' applied to this process, but those who have been through it and have become deprogrammed know that this is just what it feels like, never mind the side -by-side comparison of definitions.
The Christian experience being so diverse this obviously does not say something in general, but in specific to you it's clearly meaningful and maybe your parents even realized how upsetting it was for you so backed off.
I was raised Christian until I was about 7 years old. Then when I was 7, my parents had a talk with me and my brother, and basically told us that we are not going to church anymore, and we can each believe in anything we want and follow any religion we want as individuals.
I was thinking back to when I was 5 or 6 years old, being fully indoctrinated in Christianity. And the main thing I remember is the FEAR they instilled into me.
It's such a fear driven religion. With threats of eternal hell for even questioning for one minute that Jesus is not the savior. Threats of hell for breaking all the commandments. I remember when I was a kid, I was terrified to think twice about whether or not Christianity was the truth because I was told i'd burn in hell for doing so.
It was such a powerful brainwashing to tell this stuff to a 4 or 5 year old kid. Such a powerful way to control people's behavior and thoughts. So twisted and bizarre to tell little kids these terrible things.
Anyway, it would be an understatement for me to say that i'm glad my parents allowed me to find my own path. Instead of bringing me to Church any longer, for them to push fear and ridiculous dogma onto me.
I think it's very WRONG to brainwash kids into this world of fear and terror. It's very cruel and unusual. It's child abuse basically. I still remember at 5 years old. Staying up in bed. Terrified that i'd burn in HELL.
Terrible thing to do to a kid. Absolutely shameful.
i was a christian since i was ten and 17 when i chalenged the whole thing,it is a hard conditioning to break out of since the fear is powerfull,it took me a while to convince myself that it was nothing but a lie and i was 17,id say it was even harder as a 7 year old......what gets me is that there is still so many people cought up in this thinking,there a thread on the christian forum goin on at the moment about this subject,check it out!!!
I was raised Christian until I was about 7 years old. Then when I was 7, my parents had a talk with me and my brother, and basically told us that we are not going to church anymore, and we can each believe in anything we want and follow any religion we want as individuals.
I was thinking back to when I was 5 or 6 years old, being fully indoctrinated in Christianity. And the main thing I remember is the FEAR they instilled into me.
It's such a fear driven religion. With threats of eternal hell for even questioning for one minute that Jesus is not the savior. Threats of hell for breaking all the commandments. I remember when I was a kid, I was terrified to think twice about whether or not Christianity was the truth because I was told i'd burn in hell for doing so.
It was such a powerful brainwashing to tell this stuff to a 4 or 5 year old kid. Such a powerful way to control people's behavior and thoughts. So twisted and bizarre to tell little kids these terrible things.
Anyway, it would be an understatement for me to say that i'm glad my parents allowed me to find my own path. Instead of bringing me to Church any longer, for them to push fear and ridiculous dogma onto me.
I think it's very WRONG to brainwash kids into this world of fear and terror. It's very cruel and unusual. It's child abuse basically. I still remember at 5 years old. Staying up in bed. Terrified that i'd burn in HELL.
Terrible thing to do to a kid. Absolutely shameful.
I was raised that way (no religion and allowed to make up my own mind). I have a question for you. Did they continue to be Christian or did they stop altogether? Did you continue to wonder about different religions? How did you get the programming out of your head? Its powerful stuff and scary. I was never told such stuff but even I heard it from other sources and yes it is scary for a child.
I was never indoctrinated. My parents were Christian but I was not taught anything about religion.
The Christian experience being so diverse this obviously does not say something in general, but in specific to you it's clearly meaningful and maybe your parents even realized how upsetting it was for you so backed off.
Actually I talked to them about this just a few months ago. I asked them why they dropped going to church back then. The reason why they backed off is because they grew to not believe in many aspects of the religion themselves.
They were going to Church and trying to get into Christianity, and also be active in the community and make friends through church. But after a while they just kind of realized the religion was not for them and there were too many things about it that were illogical and had to be believed purely on faith. Too many things about it that were obviously not true.
We had a really long talk about it. And the idea that sinners go to hell is one major thing they felt was BS. As well as the notion that Jesus Christ was the embodiement of God and he died for our sins and all that.... it's a little far-fetched to just be believed on faith.
Actually I talked to them about this just a few months ago. I asked them why they dropped going to church back then. The reason why they backed off is because they grew to not believe in many aspects of the religion themselves.
They were going to Church and trying to get into Christianity, and also be active in the community and make friends through church. But after a while they just kind of realized the religion was not for them and there were too many things about it that were illogical and had to be believed purely on faith. Too many things about it that were obviously not true.
We had a really long talk about it. And the idea that sinners go to hell is one major thing they felt was BS. As well as the notion that Jesus Christ was the embodiement of God and he died for our sins and all that.... it's a little far-fetched to just be believed on faith.
If they were not sure they believed it why did they pick a church that was like this? There are many mainstream Christian churches that don't teach the fire and brimstone type of belief.
If they were not sure they believed it why did they pick a church that was like this? There are many mainstream Christian churches that don't teach the fire and brimstone type of belief.
It was actually a fairly liberal and laid back church.
But still, the basic aspects of Christianity are the same everywhere.
The idea that sinners go to hell, and must seek salvation in Christ is one of the most basic concepts that you must believe in order to be a Christian.
And the story of Christ as our savior is the backbone of what Christianity is all about.
There is not a Christian church on this Earth that does not teach and promote these two aspects of the religion. These are some of the basic building blocks of the religion.
And these are two of the aspects of it that I find have no logic behind them and no reason to accept. Just ideas you must take on pure faith.
It was actually a fairly liberal and laid back church.
But still, the basic aspects of Christianity are the same everywhere.
The idea that sinners go to hell, and must seek salvation in Christ is one of the most basic concepts that you must believe in order to be a Christian.
And the story of Christ as our savior is the backbone of what Christianity is all about.
There is not a Christian church on this Earth that does not teach and promote these two aspects of the religion. These are some of the basic building blocks of the religion.
And these are two of the aspects of it that I find have no logic behind them and no reason to accept. Just ideas you must take on pure faith.
My parents believe in a very universal Christianity and that all will be included. They also believe that works and faith go together. They believe Muslims and Jews worship the same G-d.
My father is a theologian ( Went to Union Theological seminary) and has a PhD in early church history.
It was actually a fairly liberal and laid back church.
But still, the basic aspects of Christianity are the same everywhere.
The idea that sinners go to hell, and must seek salvation in Christ is one of the most basic concepts that you must believe in order to be a Christian.
And the story of Christ as our savior is the backbone of what Christianity is all about.
There is not a Christian church on this Earth that does not teach and promote these two aspects of the religion. These are some of the basic building blocks of the religion.
And these are two of the aspects of it that I find have no logic behind them and no reason to accept. Just ideas you must take on pure faith.
They really are not the same everywhere, Nomad. It sounds like religion turned you and parents off and that makes sense because "religions" do not follow God's word. but they "think" that they do...
I would like to address something in your post! The Bible really teaches that sinners do NOT go to Hell. RELIGIONS teach it, but the Bible doesn't!
When a person dies, he is gone... like a candle flame, life goes out and it's just gone... it doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't become something else. It's just gone. And the Bible teaches that a person's sins die with them!
So there is no need to fear Hell as it does not exist. It is not something that God would even devise as it would not come up into his heart.
As far as needing forgiveness and the reason for Christ's sacrifice, I would like to take the time to tell you about it if you are interested. It will be an interesting subject for you I think- what the Bible really teaches is not what RELIGIONS teach- for that reason I think you may be intrigued and pleasantly surprised with the info- it is reasonable and makes sense. And, as I said, the Bible does NOT teach what RELIGIONS teach- they have it all twisted up... Would you like to know the truth??
Have a great day!
D
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