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Why is it that so many people of religious faith have a testimony about being a "worse" person in their past?
For example, they cheated, lied, stole, committed crimes, etc.
Some of them share their "testimony".
Many fundamentalist Muslims are converting to fundamentalist Christianity overnight.
Personally, I never did anything like the "prior bad" people describe. And also, I never really felt as strong of a "faith" during the years that I would have considered myself a person of faith.
Yet, they would consider me to be a "bad" person because of my lack of their particular faith. Even though I believe in God, since I don't accept their particular faith I am lost forever and I am worthy of their contempt.
Yet, I never desired to do any of the bad things that they profess to have done in their pasts. I also never felt like people lacking in the faith (I used to have) deserved to be tormented for not sharing my faith. Why does this make me such a bad person? Are people of faith just projecting their own "issues" onto others who don't have them?
I don't believe most of those changed life testimonies. It seems to me that Christians who claim to hav been thieves, liars and drug abusers were actually teenagers who stole a bottle of liquor from their parents pantry, stayed out past curfew and claimed to have run out of gas, and smoked port a few times.
In the strict sense, yes, a thief, liar and drug user, but nowhere near the extent that they want you to think. In reality, no better or worse than most people, they are simply comparing their lives to a zero tolerance, any sin without being born again will doom you to hell standard.
I had a friend whose mother was very, very devout. Her goal was to memorize the entire bible, went to church many times/week, etc. She said that she was a recovering alcoholic. I eventually found out that she had never even tried alcohol, but she was convinced that she had an 'addictive personality' and would instantly become an alcoholic.
I don't believe most of those changed life testimonies. It seems to me that Christians who claim to hav been thieves, liars and drug abusers were actually teenagers who stole a bottle of liquor from their parents pantry, stayed out past curfew and claimed to have run out of gas, and smoked port a few times.
In the strict sense, yes, a thief, liar and drug user, but nowhere near the extent that they want you to think. In reality, no better or worse than most people, they are simply comparing their lives to a zero tolerance, any sin without being born again will doom you to hell standard.
I had a friend whose mother was very, very devout. Her goal was to memorize the entire bible, went to church many times/week, etc. She said that she was a recovering alcoholic. I eventually found out that she had never even tried alcohol, but she was convinced that she had an 'addictive personality' and would instantly become an alcoholic.
In my days of being exposed to religious fundamentalism/pentacostal "testimonies".................
If your past hadn't included being a long haired, drug addled, sex crazed Satanist rock star you pretty much weren't worth listening to.
Mike Warnke is the best example of what you described in your post. HIs story is outrageous, but not in the way he wanted you to believe.
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Only recently, I decided to get my act together and focus more on Jesus. Nothing too bad. Quit smoking & drinking heavily. The Bible explains we can't serve 2 masters. Meeting a handsome man who is a devout Christian never committed a crime, touched a drop of alcohol or smoked helps kepp me on the narrow path
Not all Christian testimonies are like that. My personal testimony is quite boring, but I can't help but wonder what my life would've been like without Christ, and I'm thankful I didn't go through anything related to poor choices.
Not all Christian testimonies are like that. My personal testimony is quite boring, but I can't help but wonder what my life would've been like without Christ, and I'm thankful I didn't go through anything related to poor choices.
Maybe you didn't have their same experiences but do you not have the same *beliefs"*? Do you not believe that anyone who doesn't have faith in Christ deserves to be sent to Hell?
As far as I'm concerned that kind of insane belief is evidence that people are dealing with issues inside themselves, projecting that junk onto others. That kind of faith is no different from fundamentalist Islam which also has their version of Hell.
I feel bad for some of the things I have done. I wasn't real bad either and most of the people dissevered what they got. If I was religious I might say religion helped me. But since I am not, my belief that that all we have is each other has helped me. That and, like I said, most people that I hurt were turned loose on us again by lady liberal.
There is a certain percentage of converts to any authoritarian religion who seize upon the ideology as a life preserver because they never had within themselves the impulse control and discipline that they intuit they are lacking in. Authoritarian ideology can provide this.
Several writers, such as M. Scott Peck, have promoted a "stages of spiritual development" where they observe a progression in self awareness. To my recollection, Peck's particular hierarchical description of spiritual progression begins with "chaotic" which describes the undisciplined, often lawless sort of criminal mentality, followed by "magical thinking" which is what fundamentalist religion provides and can serve as a path our of the "chaotic" mindset. From there he saw an abreactionary response to magical thinking where you overcompensate and become hyper-skeptical, and then, flattering his own journey as normative, he sees the highest level of development as a return to religion, but in its liberal incarnations.
I don't agree 100% with his thinking and even Peck (or Wilbur, who had a similar conceptual model) would admit that not everyone follows the same sequence or fails to get "stuck" in one of the "stages". But I'm just saying I'm not the first to be unsurprised that an authoritarian belief-system would be very helpful to people who, whether by nature or nurture, lack the self-control to be basically functional members of society. An imaginary carrot-and-stick system would be a terrific aid for those folks.
Assuming the effect is real as claimed, and is not oe that collapses under scrutiny like 'prayer works', it is something of a gap for God argument. Religious faith gives a person motivation and confidence to turn their lives around.
Assuming this isn't just a 'we need religion, true or not' ploy, why and how does it give the person the motivation and confidence? Popping a god in there is simply to say 'we don't know how it works, but it does'.
The crazy thing is the extremist you must be 'saved' Christians believe only they will go to heaven, however bad they have been in the past. What sort of psycho would god be if it surrounded itself with the so called 'saved', however wicked, yet condemned good non believers to hell?
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