How different would you be without religion?

Well said.

 

well, the good people in Sweden are living fine without believing in fairy tales

 

i truly feel sorry for anybody that needs an imaginary figure and an old *** book to teach them how to be a good person.

 

trill man

 

I used to be a Christian until I was 14. I would read scriptures after school, bible club and all. Would get on my brother and cousins cases when then didn't pay attention or disregarded "the word"

Then one day in the eighth grade, I woke up and didn't believe in God at all.

I had a pretty rough child hood; sexual/ physical abuse, no father, crackhead mother (had cancer 3x before she died when I was 12), gangsta crip family, poor, over the top family beef/violence, multiple deaths of loved ones...if u name it, I've most likely witnessed or experienced it first hand....but I always managed to be kind hearted, intelligent and out of trouble (on my own behalf)....and through most of my hardships as a child, I believed in the holy trinity.

I noticed my mind opening once I moved with my aunt and became a member of her church. I then started to see the hypocrisy, loopholes and illogical beliefs in the church and its members. The stories in the bible became fairytales to me, the practices made no sense anymore and I came to the conclusion that religion was man made and a means of control via brainwashing and fear mongering.

The more I was in church, the more I saw straight thru it. The hypocrisy left a sour taste in my mouth. The way the pastor pimped them during tithes and offering was a God damn shame. This came from every elder in there, including my aunt and fam. But I still attended, due to being forced by my strict aunt.

Being the dude I am, Ive always had something special that adults saw in me; they respected and treated me like I was an adult for the most part. Not knowing I lost my religion, they saw "God" in me. Even had me leading the deacons and teaching Sunday school.
It wasn't God they saw in me, what they saw was a troubled kid with a good heart who was intelligent, articulate, talented and friendly.

It was funny to me to give testimonies and all that stuff making these grown people cry by what I said God had done for me....knowing damn well I hadn't believed in any of it for years.

I attended that church for 6+ years before I mustered up the courage to tell my aunt and pastor I didn't believe in it anymore and didn't want to be part of the church, yet alone religion....only for her to tell me, "there's a church for people like you"

Once I got older, many of my speculations and theories about religion and god were answered via common sense or science.

I realized I didn't need church, god, Jesus, Pastor Dillard, auntie or anyone to guide me to do right. It was all in my own will and I did the right things based on the fact that I understand negative consequences are what happen when u doing wrong....and beyond that sometimes u don't even have to do anything for bad things to happen to u...my childhood is the prime example...I was good kid surrounded by hardships and heartache...good and bad things happen to any and everyone...sometimes u you experience more/less good or bad...it's called life. God is you. God is the supreme image u make of yourself and mankind.

 

Aren't you the one who kept making ignorant, uneducated comments about homosexuality?

 

REPPED....

 

wouldn't be rape, would betoo fly n arrogant for that......But yea, call it what you will. I call it holding true to thee ultimate authority. Each his own......

 

Damn didn't mean to go off like that. But I feel "awakened" without religion, OP.

 

you basically reworded what i said..... a belief system...fear of the reprocussions, and the admiration of wanting to appease a supposed supreme being based on said belief system is the reason you are a decent person. Not the fact you are genuinely a good/decent person naturally.

 

that's what i tell people all the time, too bad they look at me like i'm some kind of maniac.

 

yo, warrior..

what exactly did your aunt mean when she said there's a church for people like you?

 

She meant there's a church for people who don't believe in god hahaha. Dude, I was lost, too.



Thanks for the reps, brodies.

 

oh okay, i guess she was trying to be slick with you.

that's what i figured.

 

She was LRG dead serious, tho, Trill.

 

For the past two years I struggled with religion.. I finally broke away from my Christianity... I feel a lot better without it, I feel more empowered... I can see the reality of our life more clearer...

If I wasn't born with religion, I really cant answer that, because it could go either way... people experience things and it changes their nature sometimes, so it depends on what situations happened to me while developing my perceptional reality.. But I'd like to think morally I'd be righteous, and understand that we are all one in the same walking around trying to better our existence as a culture...

I truly think if I was born without religion I'd be tremendously smarter than I am currently, religion occupies to much space in your mental, and I've spent way to much time focusing on things I now feel don't even matter in my dream life... But its like wanting to grow up with Albert Einstein as your father, you get what you get, and you go from there...