canuckzap - 05 May 2012 12:30 AM

I had to reply to this:

I think of stories about personal experience of what life is like when one is freed from the bondage of religion

from a senior poster.

I left atheism in my late 20’s after making the mistake of accepting a challenge to simply apply Christ’s teachings to my life.  I did so thinking “no worries”.  Fail.  My life and the lives of those around me improved in a very measurable way.

I understand that some or many of you may have left a fundamentalist/literalist faith, but be very clear:  There is no bondage unless YOU create it.

Dave

If the basis for your belief is that the application of those teachings improved your life, then that would validate many other religions outside of Christianity too. Now what?

And I could just as easily say that the lack of happiness/fulfillment that you had prior to becoming a Christian didn’t really exist. YOU created it. See what I just did there?

canuckzap - 05 May 2012 12:30 AM

I had to reply to this:

I think of stories about personal experience of what life is like when one is freed from the bondage of religion

from a senior poster.

I left atheism in my late 20’s after making the mistake of accepting a challenge to simply apply Christ’s teachings to my life.  I did so thinking “no worries”.  Fail.  My life and the lives of those around me improved in a very measurable way.

I understand that some or many of you may have left a fundamentalist/literalist faith, but be very clear:  There is no bondage unless YOU create it.

Good for you. When I was involved in christianity, I saw a lot of people like you come to the church. It was one of the things that helped to keep the illusion going for me: “changed lives.” I saw drunks, drug addicts, spouse abusers, and all manner of bad people “come to christ” and turn their lives around. Sadly, many of them soon returned to their former lives. Others stuck around. A few of them are still leading productive lives, although some have left the church.

You know what’s funny about all that? I can point out just as many people who made similar changes in their lives without religion. Although I admit that the group dynamics of church, with the support network and peer pressure certainly helps. But in four decades, I never saw anything in church that could not be easily explained by the power of the sufficiently motivated human mind to effect change.

As for the bondage, it is there and it is real, whether you want to admit it or not. I define bondage as any restraint on freedom that is not necessary for the well-being of living things. Some are better or worse than others, but I have yet to find a christian church that does not employ some degree of bondage.