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[ChairmanPoo]

X-christians are clearly variable christians, though. X is a variable. Christ could equal X, but so could like goat-humper or somethin'. It's a versatile designation.

And what does the Y variable signify in this scenario?

[Grim Portent]

Thread for ex-Christians to talk in and for discussion of anything related to their experience of deconversion from Christianity, or life afterwards, or just doubts/questions, etc. Anything at all goes really that's related to ex-Christianity. Please be respectful and do not attack anyone.

Anyone is welcome of course; that's why it's "exchristians thread" and not "exchristians' thread."

I became an agnostic quite young, I think about 8 or 9, then an atheist soon after. I think the things that pushed me over the line of being christian to atheist was when I started paying more attention to some old testament stories, reading history books and learning about pagan mythologies and eastern religions like Buddhism.

I basically found myself going through a period where god as presented by scripture seemed gleefully evil, often more evil than the villainous deities of pagan faiths, Christians throughout older history appeared barbaric, small minded and superstitious and nothing I was learning about modern history inclined me to think any better of modern Christians as a group.

My transition to atheism proved a bit awkward, though not because of family or anything. My mother was vaguely Christian (now agnostic) at the time and my father was an atheist, but my social circle included the Boy Scouts of America, the Berlin branch run mostly for American embassy families. They of course had mandatory religious hoo hah as a part of the routine, though said religious hoo hah became more pronounced when I moved to the US for a year and encountered the original recipe boy scouts. Dropped out of them there because I frankly had no respect for people who would force me to listen to bible extracts when I professed neither appreciation nor belief in them, not to mention the cultish flag nonsense they felt the need to do all the time.

Then back here in Scotland for some reason my school used to get some local pastor to come make vaguely christian statements at us in assemblies. Always found it pretty damn pointless, and kind of insulting really.

Never really had any problems with people since becoming an atheist, just organisations I was in for lack of other options like the scouts and school that for some reason felt it necessary to make the religious activities mandatory.

[Teneb]

X-christians are clearly variable christians, though. X is a variable. Christ could equal X, but so could like goat-humper or somethin'. It's a versatile designation.

And what does the Y variable signify in this scenario?

It's the Holy Spirit. Maybe. Possibly.

[Eschar]

X-christians are clearly variable christians, though. X is a variable. Christ could equal X, but so could like goat-humper or somethin'. It's a versatile designation.

And what does the Y variable signify in this scenario?

It's the Holy Spirit. Maybe. Possibly.

The Holy Spyrit.

[Folly]

Most Christian churches expose their congregations to a very narrow interpretation of very select parts of their scripture. They deliberately avoid parts of their lore which don't mesh with other parts. They use extremely liberal interpretations so that they can take away messages which will be most easily digestible by the current social climate. They completely ignore the many horrific actions historically taken under the banner of Christianity.

For most Ex-Christians, all it takes is a little bit of education about the fallacy of their beliefs, and about the way the world actually works. Education which they have been sheltered from their entire lives. Education which they have been trained to reject, through the temptation of eternal life and fear of eternal torture, both of which are far more compelling than anything that truth and facts have to offer. And that is really the crux of Christianity's hold over people; in order to turn away from Christianity, first you have to give up all hope and become a hollow shell of who you once were, resigned to an utterly meaningless existence that will ultimately be forgotten by everyone and everything.

And of course Christians are far from being alone in their methods. Every major religion controls its population by ensuring their ignorance. Governments do the same. Psychology really is the most potent weapon humanity has ever conceived.

[wierd]

X-christians are clearly variable christians, though. X is a variable. Christ could equal X, but so could like goat-humper or somethin'. It's a versatile designation.

And what does the Y variable signify in this scenario?

The degree of fundementalism. Obviously.

X represents the degree of faithfulness, and Y represents the degree of orthodox fundementalism represented in their beliefs.  Now, ask me what the Z axis is in the 3D scatter.

[Tingle]

MAN!

[ChairmanPoo]

X-christians are clearly variable christians, though. X is a variable. Christ could equal X, but so could like goat-humper or somethin'. It's a versatile designation.

And what does the Y variable signify in this scenario?

It's the Holy Spirit. Maybe. Possibly.

The Holy Spyrit.

Or the Holy Goat

[wierd]

Don't profane the holy goat- that's how you go to the bad place!

[ChairmanPoo]

I'm pretty sure Dwarf Fortress players go to the bad place by default no matter what

[CABL]

I'm pretty sure Dwarf Fortress players go to the bad place by default no matter what

One can never dig too deep!

*ahem*

I used to be an unbaptized Orthodox Christian in my childhood, but I became an edgy atheist very soon, since the God didn't answer my prayers to smite the bullies (cringe, I know, but that's kids for you). Ultimately, though, I've actually quite warmed up to Jesus himself, even if Christianity is still probably my least favorite faith, but let's not stray away and get to the point: Jesus' ideas are extremely admirable to me, but his followers and the churches are not, for the most part. Especially the latter.

TL;DR: Jesus was a good dude, even if I don't believe in him, and I'm of mixed-to-negative opinion on his followers/organized religion.

[wierd]

That's about where I am.  The things Jesus preached are very admirable, and the world really would be better if people actually did those things.

Sadly, people DO NOT want to do those things, and instead, want to twist and pervert otherwise perfectly benevolent instructions into licenses to do harm to one another.

If Jesus really is some kind of divine, I feel great sympathy for him; It would really suck to have people proclaim to follow him, while doing what they do.

[Grim Portent]

Bear in mind Jesus sent a host of devils* out of a man into a herd of pigs which then promptly jumped off a cliff and drowned, this despite being supposedly almighty so he could have sent them basically anywhere rather than killing someone's livestock en masse. Kind of a dick move really.

*The collective Legion that possessed a madman in one of the more iconic Jesus stories. The pigs specifically are known as the Gadarene Swine.

[Teneb]

Bear in mind Jesus sent a host of devils* out of a man into a herd of pigs which then promptly jumped off a cliff and drowned, this despite being supposedly almighty so he could have sent them basically anywhere rather than killing someone's livestock en masse. Kind of a dick move really.

*The collective Legion that possessed a madman in one of the more iconic Jesus stories. The pigs specifically are known as the Gadarene Swine.

It makes sense if you dispense with the "almighty" angle. I wonder how demon-ham tastes though.

[ChairmanPoo]

Well given that the story is supposed to take place in ancient Galilea circa 1st century CE, how come they had pigs in the first place, if they were banned from eating bacon?