Christian Discussion Thread VII: The Christ Awakens.

[Tarsonis Survivors]

Western* Culture

Even in the East, a little bit. Like India!

INDIA'S HAD CHRISTIANS SINCE THE FIRST CENTURY!

But it hasn't pierced the veil of culture like it has in the West

[Luminesa]

Even in the East, a little bit. Like India!

INDIA'S HAD CHRISTIANS SINCE THE FIRST CENTURY!

But it hasn't pierced the veil of culture like it has in the West

True.

[Constantinopolis]

The influence of Christianity on Western culture is vastly overrated. Is there any evidence that, on average, people from societies in Western culture behave in a more Christian manner than people from other cultures? Do they help their neighbors more, do they give more money to the poor (relative to their wealth), do they take better care of the sick and dying, do they fight fewer wars, are they less inclined to conquest and plunder and exploitation, are they more faithful to their husbands and wives, do they have fewer instances of sexual immorality?

No, no, not at all. In fact, in many of these respects, Western culture is demonstrably worse than any others. From the 16th to the 20th century Western culture was the #1 purveyor of war, conquest and genocide across the planet, and since the 20th century is has become the #1 purveyor of sexual immorality.

Maybe things were different before the 16th century (although I doubt it), but that was so long ago that present-day Western culture cannot claim any credit for it.

[Constantinopolis]

I strongly believe that Christians must abandon any romantic attachment to Western culture (especially in its modern form) and stand resolutely against it.

Christianity has no homeland on Earth.

[Luminesa]

The influence of Christianity on Western culture is vastly overrated. Is there any evidence that, on average, people from societies in Western culture behave in a more Christian manner than people from other cultures? Do they help their neighbors more, do they give more money to the poor (relative to their wealth), do they take better care of the sick and dying, do they fight fewer wars, are they less inclined to conquest and plunder and exploitation, are they more faithful to their husbands and wives, do they have fewer instances of sexual immorality?

No, no, not at all. In fact, in many of these respects, Western culture is demonstrably worse than any others. From the 16th to the 20th century Western culture was the #1 purveyor of war, conquest and genocide across the planet, and since the 20th century is has become the #1 purveyor of sexual immorality.

Maybe things were different before the 16th century (although I doubt it), but that was so long ago that present-day Western culture cannot claim any credit for it.

...I smell fire...a large burn...

And now I feel bad...

...LET'S MAKE AMERICA CHRISTIAN AGAIN!!!

Because that's the only way it'll ever be great.

*Eyes Trump, who tries to shout, "I RAN FOUR BUSINESSES!"*

*Trump gets a stern talking-to from Nia Teppelin from Gurren Lagann. Because Nia.*

*Trump cries and becomes Christian again.*

[Luminesa]

I strongly believe that Christians must abandon any romantic attachment to Western culture (especially in its modern form) and stand resolutely against it.

Christianity has no homeland on Earth.

I agree that lots of Western culture now is very unhealthy. An obsession with sex, money, and success is never a good thing. At the same time, I don't think it can't be fixed. It would just take a lot of work. A lot of coming together. A lot of talking and discussing and understanding and loving. Most of which does not seem to exist in a lot of American politics. T___T

But it can be put there! It would just take lots of work.

[Pope Joan]

But it hasn't pierced the veil of culture like it has in the West

True.

Most of the world's poorest people live in India. This is the place where a girl can get gang raped on a bus, with the driver being complicit, and the public is indifferent. http://time.com/2999550/india-home-to-most-poor-people/
Karma teaches that if you are poor, you must deserve to be; you must be paying for the sins of a past life.
"I believe the Hindu teaching that poverty is the cause of bad karma gained from someone’s previous life." http://www.123helpme.com/poverty-is-cau ... ?id=182337

[Constantinopolis]

...I smell fire...a large burn...

And now I feel bad...

...LET'S MAKE AMERICA CHRISTIAN AGAIN!!!

What do you mean, "again"? America was never Christian.

Sure, there was a time when the number of Christians in America was much greater, and they took their faith much more seriously. Yes. But "America", as a country or as a culture, was never in itself Christian. The dominant cultural values in America (individualism, commercialism, competitiveness) have always been opposed to Christian values. And then there was that whole thing with slavery and ethnic cleansing of Native Americans...

I strongly believe that Christians must abandon any romantic attachment to Western culture (especially in its modern form) and stand resolutely against it.

Christianity has no homeland on Earth.

I agree that lots of Western culture now is very unhealthy. An obsession with sex, money, and success is never a good thing. At the same time, I don't think it can't be fixed. It would just take a lot of work. A lot of coming together. A lot of talking and discussing and understanding and loving. Most of which does not seem to exist in a lot of American politics. T___T

But it can be put there! It would just take lots of work.

Well, I agree. But I would just say that what you described is equivalent to saying that we should oppose Western culture and work to replace it with a different culture.

True.

Most of the world's poorest people live in India. This is the place where a girl can get gang raped on a bus, with the driver being complicit, and the public is indifferent. http://time.com/2999550/india-home-to-most-poor-people/
Karma teaches that if you are poor, you must deserve to be; you must be paying for the sins of a past life.
"I believe the Hindu teaching that poverty is the cause of bad karma gained from someone’s previous life." http://www.123helpme.com/poverty-is-cau ... ?id=182337

Yeah... Hinduism is one of the very few religions whose teachings can be said to be inherently reactionary, in that suffering and oppression are justified as being a rightful punishment for your transgressions in a past life.

[Czechanada]

I strongly believe that Christians must abandon any romantic attachment to Western culture (especially in its modern form) and stand resolutely against it.

Christianity has no homeland on Earth.

I agree that lots of Western culture now is very unhealthy. An obsession with sex, money, and success is never a good thing. At the same time, I don't think it can't be fixed. It would just take a lot of work. A lot of coming together. A lot of talking and discussing and understanding and loving. Most of which does not seem to exist in a lot of American politics. T___T

But it can be put there! It would just take lots of work.

It would be even more beneficial to say that both Western culture and Christianity could stand to be revised.

Christianity is still quite epistemically embedded within Western culture. It's just implicit rather than explicit; in other words, it frames the way we view and how we do things rather than specifically what we do.

[Constantinopolis]

It would be even more beneficial to say that both Western culture and Christianity could stand to be revised.

Revisionism?

[Nordengrund]

I strongly believe that Christians must abandon any romantic attachment to Western culture (especially in its modern form) and stand resolutely against it.

Christianity has no homeland on Earth.

I agree that lots of Western culture now is very unhealthy. An obsession with sex, money, and success is never a good thing. At the same time, I don't think it can't be fixed. It would just take a lot of work. A lot of coming together. A lot of talking and discussing and understanding and loving. Most of which does not seem to exist in a lot of American politics. T___T

But it can be put there! It would just take lots of work.

Sex, money, and power are a problem everywhere in the world.

[Germanic Templars]

I strongly believe that Christians must abandon any romantic attachment to Western culture (especially in its modern form) and stand resolutely against it.

Christianity has no homeland on Earth.

I agree that lots of Western culture now is very unhealthy. An obsession with sex, money, and success is never a good thing. At the same time, I don't think it can't be fixed. It would just take a lot of work. A lot of coming together. A lot of talking and discussing and understanding and loving. Most of which does not seem to exist in a lot of American politics. T___T

But it can be put there! It would just take lots of work.

To put in quote from Machiavelli, "Politics have no relations to morals".

Even if it was possible the main thing would have to be (and what I say, I say for lack of a better term or phrase), indoctrinate( G_d, I loathe that word) the future generation into such an idea.

Regardless, ideologies shouldn't be forced onto people no matter how good it is. That is just me though.

[Novsvacro]

Have you guys read the Gospels of Christ's Infancy?

EDIT: Here's a link to it

http://www.gnosis.org/library/inftoma.htm

[Luminesa]

...I smell fire...a large burn...

And now I feel bad...

...LET'S MAKE AMERICA CHRISTIAN AGAIN!!!

What do you mean, "again"? America was never Christian.

Sure, there was a time when the number of Christians in America was much greater, and they took their faith much more seriously. Yes. But "America", as a country or as a culture, was never in itself Christian. The dominant cultural values in America (individualism, commercialism, competitiveness) have always been opposed to Christian values. And then there was that whole thing with slavery and ethnic cleansing of Native Americans...

I agree that lots of Western culture now is very unhealthy. An obsession with sex, money, and success is never a good thing. At the same time, I don't think it can't be fixed. It would just take a lot of work. A lot of coming together. A lot of talking and discussing and understanding and loving. Most of which does not seem to exist in a lot of American politics. T___T

But it can be put there! It would just take lots of work.

Well, I agree. But I would just say that what you described is equivalent to saying that we should oppose Western culture and work to replace it with a different culture.

Most of the world's poorest people live in India. This is the place where a girl can get gang raped on a bus, with the driver being complicit, and the public is indifferent. http://time.com/2999550/india-home-to-most-poor-people/
Karma teaches that if you are poor, you must deserve to be; you must be paying for the sins of a past life.
"I believe the Hindu teaching that poverty is the cause of bad karma gained from someone’s previous life." http://www.123helpme.com/poverty-is-cau ... ?id=182337

Yeah... Hinduism is one of the very few religions whose teachings can be said to be inherently reactionary, in that suffering and oppression are justified as being a rightful punishment for your transgressions in a past life.

And that's awful. And that should be stopped. It's an insane and horrible way to think, that someone else should be held responsible for stuff they possibly did in a "past life".

[The United Neptumousian Empire]

Yes, that's what I mean

Ah, Iconoclasm, right?

Yes, and not only that. The 8th century featured:

- Iconoclasm in (what was left of) the Roman Empire, with sometimes brutal oppression of Orthodox Christians by heretical Emperors
- Muslim rule over the majority of Christians in the world (with, ironically, significantly milder oppression than under the iconoclasts)
- Arianism on its last legs but still a presence among the Germanic tribes that ruled most of Western Europe
- Langobards conquering most of Italy

what would you say was the highest point for Orthodoxy?

[Tutukerala]

Have you guys read the Gospels of Christ's Infancy?

EDIT: Here's a link to it

http://www.gnosis.org/library/inftoma.htm

Yes it's weird

[Tutukerala]

Lemme tell you a story about how I was immersed in Christianity. It's 2010 in a country with a rather moderate Christian populace. At the time even conservatives here could turn the other way and say "you know what, let them marry" or "if she needs it, then give her an abortion". Most of them are even for humanitarian immigration. We have a state church, which is separate from the state in all but the funds it receives from the state. I'm also at my confirmation camp.

It was one of the happiest times of my life, seeing how I've been bullied from secondary school to junior high. I got friends from all around the country, from the capital to the smallest towns up north. They had different interests: some had chosen to study the Bible or become a missionary alongside their earthly hobbies, such as anime, music, magic tricks and sports. I maintained good friendships with them over the years afterward, when I participated in other camps and events, such as Christian music festivals. All was well.

However, that wasn't meant to last. Once the discussion went into politics, the liberal me at the time was shocked at a lot of their authoritarian values regarding gay marriage, lgbt rights, abortion, euthanasia and drug use. The camps themselves were arranged by a neo-pietist organization, which was very spiritual and very strict with morals and politics. Of course I tried to ignore that to keep my friendships intact. However, the more I dove into politics, the more I noticed the outright regressive views around me. Blocking them off wasn't working and soon I came to these camps only to be social, without paying attention to their message. Eventually I told my friend I had become an atheist a year after I had broken myself away from the church I was put in through my baptism.

Major influences to me becoming an atheist were primarily YouTubers The Amazing Atheist and MrRepzion. I had watched a lot of their videos and they informed me a lot of not only religion, but science and social issues in general. I was introduced to ranters on YouTube through them. I used to debate my Christian friends, of course, but looking back it was a wasted effort. Once reality is a matter of taste, it's better to just stop arguing. After all, you can't argue taste.

Not only did I become an atheist, but a vehement anti-Christian even going so far as to telling all Christians to "go back to Israel from whence they came with their Jew faith" and advocating church burnings. I told the same thing to Muslims and used both religions' bloody history of imperialism and mass murder and their doctrines as a basis for my rage. The rage led me to cut ties to most of my Christian friends and was a major factor to me leaving Facebook and not going back.

Here I am now: an egoist anarchist who is largely indifferent about religions themselves, but wastes no time pointing out why they're wrong. At least I stopped being utterly mad. Nowadays me being for or against Christians is largely dependent on my mood: on a rainy day I'll try hard not to, but I'll probably still end up hating them for being Christian. At least this forum has shown there to be a massive amount of left-wing Christians, which is a fresh change for me.

If I happen to go against you with bare teeth and claws, I'm probably just having a bad day and not really being a christophobe anymore. To me, Christianity is just like any idea: some of its adherents are stupid loudmouths spewing idiocy with the smarter ones facepalming at the amount of fail. It's the same with Christianity as it is with Islam, Hinduism, communism, feminism or any other idea.

Moral-wise, truth-wise and reality-wise I don't think Christianity provides us with good answers. Its hypotheses are holey and its morals are, if not backwards, found in most other religions. I think Christianity had its time in the spotlight, but all fun is bound to come to an end some time. I don't like Christianity, but I've had my beefs with numerous other ideas and still do. No reason to blindly hate them anymore. In Varg Vikernes' words: "Yes, but I hate no one. Hatred is irrational. I consider myself a rational person."

You became an atheist due to idiots like TAA and Mrrepzion, oh Lord.

If you want to hear real atheist arguement a listen to TMM or realatheology. And listen to Christian thinkers like Vassalofgod, Inspringphilsophy, and Craig

[Tarsonis Survivors]

Have you guys read the Gospels of Christ's Infancy?

EDIT: Here's a link to it

http://www.gnosis.org/library/inftoma.htm

Yes. they wrote fraudulent books then too.

[Muinordgrad]

Lemme tell you a story about how I was immersed in Christianity. It's 2010 in a country with a rather moderate Christian populace. At the time even conservatives here could turn the other way and say "you know what, let them marry" or "if she needs it, then give her an abortion". Most of them are even for humanitarian immigration. We have a state church, which is separate from the state in all but the funds it receives from the state. I'm also at my confirmation camp.

It was one of the happiest times of my life, seeing how I've been bullied from secondary school to junior high. I got friends from all around the country, from the capital to the smallest towns up north. They had different interests: some had chosen to study the Bible or become a missionary alongside their earthly hobbies, such as anime, music, magic tricks and sports. I maintained good friendships with them over the years afterward, when I participated in other camps and events, such as Christian music festivals. All was well.

However, that wasn't meant to last. Once the discussion went into politics, the liberal me at the time was shocked at a lot of their authoritarian values regarding gay marriage, lgbt rights, abortion, euthanasia and drug use. The camps themselves were arranged by a neo-pietist organization, which was very spiritual and very strict with morals and politics. Of course I tried to ignore that to keep my friendships intact. However, the more I dove into politics, the more I noticed the outright regressive views around me. Blocking them off wasn't working and soon I came to these camps only to be social, without paying attention to their message. Eventually I told my friend I had become an atheist a year after I had broken myself away from the church I was put in through my baptism.

Major influences to me becoming an atheist were primarily YouTubers The Amazing Atheist and MrRepzion. I had watched a lot of their videos and they informed me a lot of not only religion, but science and social issues in general. I was introduced to ranters on YouTube through them. I used to debate my Christian friends, of course, but looking back it was a wasted effort. Once reality is a matter of taste, it's better to just stop arguing. After all, you can't argue taste.

Not only did I become an atheist, but a vehement anti-Christian even going so far as to telling all Christians to "go back to Israel from whence they came with their Jew faith" and advocating church burnings. I told the same thing to Muslims and used both religions' bloody history of imperialism and mass murder and their doctrines as a basis for my rage. The rage led me to cut ties to most of my Christian friends and was a major factor to me leaving Facebook and not going back.

Here I am now: an egoist anarchist who is largely indifferent about religions themselves, but wastes no time pointing out why they're wrong. At least I stopped being utterly mad. Nowadays me being for or against Christians is largely dependent on my mood: on a rainy day I'll try hard not to, but I'll probably still end up hating them for being Christian. At least this forum has shown there to be a massive amount of left-wing Christians, which is a fresh change for me.

If I happen to go against you with bare teeth and claws, I'm probably just having a bad day and not really being a christophobe anymore. To me, Christianity is just like any idea: some of its adherents are stupid loudmouths spewing idiocy with the smarter ones facepalming at the amount of fail. It's the same with Christianity as it is with Islam, Hinduism, communism, feminism or any other idea.

Moral-wise, truth-wise and reality-wise I don't think Christianity provides us with good answers. Its hypotheses are holey and its morals are, if not backwards, found in most other religions. I think Christianity had its time in the spotlight, but all fun is bound to come to an end some time. I don't like Christianity, but I've had my beefs with numerous other ideas and still do. No reason to blindly hate them anymore. In Varg Vikernes' words: "Yes, but I hate no one. Hatred is irrational. I consider myself a rational person."

Heh, what's funny is that I actually have an almost mirror of your story. (there is a TL;DR at the bottom)

When I was younger I disliked all things having to do with church. I didn't believe in God, and thought even if he did exist, he was either some vague deistic personality, or a tyrant that fried us ants and made a game out of it.

But then, one day, I had a friend drag me to my local church, and, well, I was never the same. I walked into the room and this was playing. I had also had very serious bullying issues when I was younger, I was quite heavyset and had a lisp for a while so people used to attack me about that. But at this church, people treated me kindly and I was not alone. After the sermon, I was thinking, and something inside me broke. Something about this God... it is hard to explain even now. But, well, I became a Christian.

I mean, I stayed really good Christian for a while. Like, everything was fine, I was happy, I was in my church, everything was good. And then, everything went to hell. I reenroled in Public School in the seventh grade and the bullying I got was horrifying, then my parents nearly split, which had a huge impact on me. But God... never seemed to leave. I had completely stopped doing all of the Christian stuff, and yet, even when everything went wrong, I was not alone. And things did get better for a while.

And then it got worse than I ever thought it would. I became severely depressed (I won't splurge details but I assume you can tell where this is going). I felt like I was nothing. My parents freaked out because... well, this is another fill in the blank. When I felt a bit better, I ended up in the company with people with the same affliction as I did, and in fact, I had a good friend kill herself in my presence. And I never had felt so alone. Thus, when I went to Church Camp that year, I absolutely broke down. I had almost gone back to atheism. I was hopeless. But God didn't seem to be finished with me yet. When everyone was sharing their stuff, I cracked, and started bawling. I'm 6'2" and was in football at this time, so I was embarrassed as hell to be crying. I thought that the rest of my group were gonna leave because they didn't wanna deal with the weird crying kid.

Now is when the story takes an odd turn. Suddenly, the wind blew a bit. The fireflies went absolutely crazy. And then, one by one, each of the people in my group all laid hands on me and prayed for me. It was something that I never expected to happen. It was like a blanket suddenly came over everything. The last time I had experienced something like this before had been all those years ago, sitting on the back row of the Church, praying for God to come into my life. (BTW, this is also why I am so reluctant to join either the Catholic or Orthodox churches; I don't want to ever loose this connection)

I got better. I've been a solid year clean. I am trying to find a missionary service so that I can teach science (astronomy or astrophysics preferably) and Evangelize in the Xinjiang Uighur District after I graduate from college. I'm graduating high school in two months at 16! And while I know that you can write off everything as emotional pangs, or odd coincidences, or even just sheer chance... let's just say I don't believe in any imaginary friends


TL;DR: Atheist->Christian->Rough Times->God never left.

[The Princes of the Universe]

Heh, what's funny is that I actually have an almost mirror of your story. (there is a TL;DR at the bottom)

When I was younger I disliked all things having to do with church. I didn't believe in God, and thought even if he did exist, he was either some vague deistic personality, or a tyrant that fried us ants and made a game out of it.

But then, one day, I had a friend drag me to my local church, and, well, I was never the same. I walked into the room and this was playing. I had also had very serious bullying issues when I was younger, I was quite heavyset and had a lisp for a while so people used to attack me about that. But at this church, people treated me kindly and I was not alone. After the sermon, I was thinking, and something inside me broke. Something about this God... it is hard to explain even now. But, well, I became a Christian.

I mean, I stayed really good Christian for a while. Like, everything was fine, I was happy, I was in my church, everything was good. And then, everything went to hell. I reenroled in Public School in the seventh grade and the bullying I got was horrifying, then my parents nearly split, which had a huge impact on me. But God... never seemed to leave. I had completely stopped doing all of the Christian stuff, and yet, even when everything went wrong, I was not alone. And things did get better for a while.

And then it got worse than I ever thought it would. I became severely depressed (I won't splurge details but I assume you can tell where this is going). I felt like I was nothing. My parents freaked out because... well, this is another fill in the blank. When I felt a bit better, I ended up in the company with people with the same affliction as I did, and in fact, I had a good friend kill herself in my presence. And I never had felt so alone. Thus, when I went to Church Camp that year, I absolutely broke down. I had almost gone back to atheism. I was hopeless. But God didn't seem to be finished with me yet. When everyone was sharing their stuff, I cracked, and started bawling. I'm 6'2" and was in football at this time, so I was embarrassed as hell to be crying. I thought that the rest of my group were gonna leave because they didn't wanna deal with the weird crying kid.

Now is when the story takes an odd turn. Suddenly, the wind blew a bit. The fireflies went absolutely crazy. And then, one by one, each of the people in my group all laid hands on me and prayed for me. It was something that I never expected to happen. It was like a blanket suddenly came over everything. The last time I had experienced something like this before had been all those years ago, sitting on the back row of the Church, praying for God to come into my life. (BTW, this is also why I am so reluctant to join either the Catholic or Orthodox churches; I don't want to ever loose this connection)

I got better. I've been a solid year clean. I am trying to find a missionary service so that I can teach science (astronomy or astrophysics preferably) and Evangelize in the Xinjiang Uighur District after I graduate from college. I'm graduating high school in two months at 16! And while I know that you can write off everything as emotional pangs, or odd coincidences, or even just sheer chance... let's just say I don't believe in any imaginary friends
TL;DR: Atheist->Christian->Rough Times->God never left.

I pray with the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe that you keep for the rest of your life the strength to stay clean.

[Muinordgrad]

Heh, what's funny is that I actually have an almost mirror of your story. (there is a TL;DR at the bottom)

When I was younger I disliked all things having to do with church. I didn't believe in God, and thought even if he did exist, he was either some vague deistic personality, or a tyrant that fried us ants and made a game out of it.

But then, one day, I had a friend drag me to my local church, and, well, I was never the same. I walked into the room and this was playing. I had also had very serious bullying issues when I was younger, I was quite heavyset and had a lisp for a while so people used to attack me about that. But at this church, people treated me kindly and I was not alone. After the sermon, I was thinking, and something inside me broke. Something about this God... it is hard to explain even now. But, well, I became a Christian.

I mean, I stayed really good Christian for a while. Like, everything was fine, I was happy, I was in my church, everything was good. And then, everything went to hell. I reenroled in Public School in the seventh grade and the bullying I got was horrifying, then my parents nearly split, which had a huge impact on me. But God... never seemed to leave. I had completely stopped doing all of the Christian stuff, and yet, even when everything went wrong, I was not alone. And things did get better for a while.

And then it got worse than I ever thought it would. I became severely depressed (I won't splurge details but I assume you can tell where this is going). I felt like I was nothing. My parents freaked out because... well, this is another fill in the blank. When I felt a bit better, I ended up in the company with people with the same affliction as I did, and in fact, I had a good friend kill herself in my presence. And I never had felt so alone. Thus, when I went to Church Camp that year, I absolutely broke down. I had almost gone back to atheism. I was hopeless. But God didn't seem to be finished with me yet. When everyone was sharing their stuff, I cracked, and started bawling. I'm 6'2" and was in football at this time, so I was embarrassed as hell to be crying. I thought that the rest of my group were gonna leave because they didn't wanna deal with the weird crying kid.

Now is when the story takes an odd turn. Suddenly, the wind blew a bit. The fireflies went absolutely crazy. And then, one by one, each of the people in my group all laid hands on me and prayed for me. It was something that I never expected to happen. It was like a blanket suddenly came over everything. The last time I had experienced something like this before had been all those years ago, sitting on the back row of the Church, praying for God to come into my life. (BTW, this is also why I am so reluctant to join either the Catholic or Orthodox churches; I don't want to ever loose this connection)

I got better. I've been a solid year clean. I am trying to find a missionary service so that I can teach science (astronomy or astrophysics preferably) and Evangelize in the Xinjiang Uighur District after I graduate from college. I'm graduating high school in two months at 16! And while I know that you can write off everything as emotional pangs, or odd coincidences, or even just sheer chance... let's just say I don't believe in any imaginary friends
TL;DR: Atheist->Christian->Rough Times->God never left.

I pray with the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe that you keep for the rest of your life the strength to stay clean.

Thank you
But yeah, that is also why I am so *paranoid* about joining the Catholics or Orthodox. I feel like I have done so much even just so far that it is only the strength of Jesus Christ Our Saviour Himself that has brought me victory and through his death and Resurrection I have a future to look forward to. And anything I've heard is that being with God is a difficult thing to do that needs to be gruelingly worked towards and begged for before it is even hinted at when it comes to y'all, though I am probably wrong. (Though I am not trying to diss anyone. Also, I hope I don't look like I am trying to attention whore, I absolutely HATE talking about this because I feel like people will accuse me of being an attention whore which is NOT at all what I am doing)

[Living Stones]

The influence of Christianity on Western culture is vastly overrated. Is there any evidence that, on average, people from societies in Western culture behave in a more Christian manner than people from other cultures? Do they help their neighbors more, do they give more money to the poor (relative to their wealth), do they take better care of the sick and dying, do they fight fewer wars, are they less inclined to conquest and plunder and exploitation, are they more faithful to their husbands and wives, do they have fewer instances of sexual immorality?

No, no, not at all. In fact, in many of these respects, Western culture is demonstrably worse than any others. From the 16th to the 20th century Western culture was the #1 purveyor of war, conquest and genocide across the planet, and since the 20th century is has become the #1 purveyor of sexual immorality.

Maybe things were different before the 16th century (although I doubt it), but that was so long ago that present-day Western culture cannot claim any credit for it.

"Go you in through the strait gate, because wide the gate, and broad the way that is leading to the destruction, and many are those going in through it; how strait the gate, and compressed the way that is leading to the life, and few are those finding it!" - Mat. 7:13&14

[The Princes of the Universe]

I pray with the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe that you keep for the rest of your life the strength to stay clean.

Thank you
But yeah, that is also why I am so *paranoid* about joining the Catholics or Orthodox. I feel like I have done so much even just so far that it is only the strength of Jesus Christ Our Saviour Himself that has brought me victory and through his death and Resurrection I have a future to look forward to. And anything I've heard is that being with God is a difficult thing to do that needs to be gruelingly worked towards and begged for before it is even hinted at when it comes to y'all, though I am probably wrong. (Though I am not trying to diss anyone. Also, I hope I don't look like I am trying to attention whore, I absolutely HATE talking about this because I feel like people will accuse me of being an attention whore which is NOT at all what I am doing)

I don't know as it's that difficult (though it's certainly not a cakewalk) to be with God, but I do know that some people are such stubborn asses that He has to break them down pretty much completely before they're even willing to listen a little. Guilty as charged of that here.
There are things in my own life that, in my opinion, are best left unmentioned for much the same reason. Your thing though? I don't see attention whoring, but instead a story that could prove useful in helping someone else break from those awful things.

[Sanctissima]

I pray with the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe that you keep for the rest of your life the strength to stay clean.

Thank you
But yeah, that is also why I am so *paranoid* about joining the Catholics or Orthodox. I feel like I have done so much even just so far that it is only the strength of Jesus Christ Our Saviour Himself that has brought me victory and through his death and Resurrection I have a future to look forward to. And anything I've heard is that being with God is a difficult thing to do that needs to be gruelingly worked towards and begged for before it is even hinted at when it comes to y'all, though I am probably wrong. (Though I am not trying to diss anyone. Also, I hope I don't look like I am trying to attention whore, I absolutely HATE talking about this because I feel like people will accuse me of being an attention whore which is NOT at all what I am doing)

Don't be so hard on yourself, it's good to talk about these kind of things. Better to let it out than to bottle it in.

I'm glad that you've been able to find something in life to give you meaning or at least hope. In terms of the Catholics and Orthodox, as a former Roman Catholic, I can assure you, we aren't all that bad. There's some outdated Church liturgy and beliefs, but really, if there is a Jesus and he can commune with people, then I doubt you joining either Church will affect your communion with him. Do what you feel is right, and that which makes you happy. If that means joining either the Catholics or Orthodox, then do so. You deserve finding happiness in this life.

[Muinordgrad]

Thank you
But yeah, that is also why I am so *paranoid* about joining the Catholics or Orthodox. I feel like I have done so much even just so far that it is only the strength of Jesus Christ Our Saviour Himself that has brought me victory and through his death and Resurrection I have a future to look forward to. And anything I've heard is that being with God is a difficult thing to do that needs to be gruelingly worked towards and begged for before it is even hinted at when it comes to y'all, though I am probably wrong. (Though I am not trying to diss anyone. Also, I hope I don't look like I am trying to attention whore, I absolutely HATE talking about this because I feel like people will accuse me of being an attention whore which is NOT at all what I am doing)

I don't know as it's that difficult (though it's certainly not a cakewalk) to be with God, but I do know that some people are such stubborn asses that He has to break them down pretty much completely before they're even willing to listen a little. Guilty as charged of that here.
There are things in my own life that, in my opinion, are best left unmentioned for much the same reason. Your thing though? I don't see attention whoring, but instead a story that could prove useful in helping someone else break from those awful things.

I know, it is just that I feel like if I were to become a Catholic or Orthodox, there would always be this worry in the back of me mind: "Maybe He is about to leave me here," though I dont know if that is how it works. But I definitely agree; it took God literally two years to hammer the fact that I am really called to the ministry into my head XD
I'm sorry you've had these struggles, I am here if you ever need anything, and I will be praying for you ^^ And thank you, I hope it does help someone.

Thank you
But yeah, that is also why I am so *paranoid* about joining the Catholics or Orthodox. I feel like I have done so much even just so far that it is only the strength of Jesus Christ Our Saviour Himself that has brought me victory and through his death and Resurrection I have a future to look forward to. And anything I've heard is that being with God is a difficult thing to do that needs to be gruelingly worked towards and begged for before it is even hinted at when it comes to y'all, though I am probably wrong. (Though I am not trying to diss anyone. Also, I hope I don't look like I am trying to attention whore, I absolutely HATE talking about this because I feel like people will accuse me of being an attention whore which is NOT at all what I am doing)

Don't be so hard on yourself, it's good to talk about these kind of things. Better to let it out than to bottle it in.

I'm glad that you've been able to find something in life to give you meaning or at least hope. In terms of the Catholics and Orthodox, as a former Roman Catholic, I can assure you, we aren't all that bad. There's some outdated Church liturgy and beliefs, but really, if there is a Jesus and he can commune with people, then I doubt you joining either Church will affect your communion with him. Do what you feel is right, and that which makes you happy. If that means joining either the Catholics or Orthodox, then do so. You deserve finding happiness in this life.

I know, but at least according to a lot of people, becoming a Christian means "poof! your problems are gone!" and if they don't go away, you *obviously* aren't a Christian, which is what I was afraid of happening.

Thank you, though I wouln't say I gave my life meaning. I'd say God straight up crammed meaning into my life.

Thank you, I will continue praying for His guidance.

(Just curious, what denomination are you now?)