Enlightenment, spirituality, faith — there’s nothing wrong with these things.

Organized Christianity is a social climbing scheme for people who desperately want to get away with never needing to truly outgrow their dysfunction. That’s why organized Christianity is popular with bigots, abusers, and people who hate the mirror.

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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    1 hour ago

    It isn’t ok to make blatant statements about an entire religion with lots of variations and beliefs. This is less of a shower thought and more just hate speech.

    Edit: This persons account is still pretty fresh and they posted a little on lemmyml. They might also be a tankie with yet another alt.

  • Sunsofold@lemmings.world
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    3 hours ago

    This is simultaneously too shallow and vague to be seen as concrete claims to be discussed, and too complex to be a simple shower thought.

  • josefo@leminal.space
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    4 hours ago

    The whole idea of christianity is that somebody else pays the bill, as there is nothing you can do to clean your own mess. Part of the core thing is that jew law is too hard, impossible to follow, and exposes how bad humanity stands at yahweh judgement. It’s an spin off from the jews, gets your facts right on why the sequel happened. Dude, you are doing a disservice to atheism with this unreasonable arguments your are spouting in the comments. It’s ok to be atheist and also ignorant, you don’t need to pretend to be intellectual. Leave it to the big boys, at least read from them first. Atheism is a genuinely strong philosophical position, as the criticism is rooted on reality. You are not making sense and you are being rightfully downvoted because of that. What even “anarchic social climbing” means? You have encyclopedic knowledge of multiple forms of Christianity? Dunning Kruger much? Take the L, touch some grass.

  • Mr Fish@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    they’d be lining up to pay for their sins

    The whole point of Christianity is we don’t have to do that. Sure, we need to repent and do what we can to avoid sin, but the actual paying for it has been done by Jesus.

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      10 hours ago

      Untrue. The point of Christianity is to deify the right parietal lobe as godly communication and answer to no one’s definition of right and wrong besides the one the “Christian” accepts. It’s anarchic social climbing disguised as spiritualism. The rest is a lie you tell yourself multiple times a day, every day, until it destroys your sense of self.

      • Mr Fish@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        The best I can do to make sense of what you’re saying is that you’re looking at some of the worst of church leaders (eg. MAGA pastors in America, historical popes, etc), and seeing Christianity as that. If I’ve got that wrong, please correct me.

        If that’s what you’re saying, that’s a massive over generalization, to the point where it’s willful. I do agree that there are church leaders out there who see leading a congregation purely as a way to gain some authority, but that is far from all of Christianity.

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          9 hours ago

          It substitutes decisions made from best judgement to decisions made from a myth based on ancient mysticism and a canonization process decided upon by a bunch of people born hundreds of years after materials were written. No one who is a supposed Christian is making moral judgements or bashing their life and lifestyle on anything besides a group consensus and a charismatic, designated thinker.

          It erases a person, especially in first world white churches. POC Churches function as a local government in many ways, which shifts the brutality of social climbing based on popularity and conformity to principles that are ultimately based in hate. It subjugates the person until they want their enemies to die in eternal hellfire. It’s sick.

  • smegger@aussie.zone
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    21 hours ago

    This might have been better in unpopular opinions.

    But I don’t entirely disagree with you. There certainly are some true believers out there, some are better people than others.

    But there are also a lot of people who use their status as Christians to essentially cover up their true personalities, there’s a lot of people who believe that just because someone goes to church that they are a good person.

    I was raised Christian, but left because I just saw too many people preaching one thing but then doing the opposite in practice. There’s a lot of hate attached to a lot of Christians and I personally believe that’s against the true intended spirit of the religion.

    There’s also the general history of how the church was used to control and such. But that’s a discussion I really don’t want to get into.

    I mean not to offend, but arguing with a strong believer is a waste of time. The basis of religious belief is to trust without evidence, but that goes against my personal belief that nothing can be proven to be true without at least some evidence.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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      2 hours ago

      What pisses me off is when people use Christianity to justify there own beliefs. There are many conservative Christians who are totally fine with mass deportations and attacks on LGBTQ.

      People like to use the the term “don’t use gods name in vain” to argue against swearing but I think it is more tied to not using gods name to promote hate or political beliefs.

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      21 hours ago

      Let me add this, if religion provides comfort or makes someone want to be a better person? That carries value still.

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        2 hours ago

        There are plenty of churches to choose from. If you don’t like one you can go to one that’s more excepting. The ones that do the most aggressive recruiting tend to be the least accepting.

        Anyone who’s had bad experiences with evangelicals but is still interested in faith should look into churches with more welcoming doors.

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        19 hours ago

        A less problematic person in some social situations usually results in bottled up emotions that become oppression when let out. Spirituality and faith aren’t bad things (I consider them essential to the human experience), but not the social climbing pyramid that is the white Christian church of the first world.

  • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe
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    1 day ago

    Er, wut?

    Have you read anything about Christianity? Not just criticism, but actual dispassionate, objective learning, like a 300 level Religions of the World course?

    I have (I’m not Christian, not religious at all), and what you’re espousing is completely antithetical to Christian thinking, and sounds more like projection of your own ethics.

    Ifnyoure a Christian, you don’t have a choice about Judgement - it’s a fact for them. What you’re espousing has even been addressed (by the Catholic Church anyway), and even part of why Martin Luther protested, and why Protestant religions even exist.

    You should educate yourself before condemning what you think other people believe. Because everything you’ve described is from your own head, not Christianity. And don’t tell me “Christian so-and-so said so”, then they’re wrong, and it’s very well documented and clear. Again, this specific idea is even part of the creation of Protestantism.

    I highly recommend any of the courses on religion from The Teaching Company, available in your public library. Each one is roughly 30 lectures, each 45 min to 1 hour. It’s a recording of the college-level courses presented at places like Harvard. I know for sure there are close to a dozen courses in religion from TTC, maybe more.

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      1 day ago

      I think that Biblical faith is a social construct that’s more about anarchic social climbing than actual faith. “Christians”, especially the ones who attend non-poc churches, are just parading their families around with the same energy (and for the same purpose) as Instagram.

      Yeah, there’s an enormous amount of self-induced gaslighting going on and maybe that qualifies as “belief”, but it’s a twisted and machiavellian bastard sibling of faith. Anyone who makes a religion out of having someone else pay for their wrongdoing just wants to get away with never maturing, and they have no real desire to grow as a person.

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    23 hours ago

    After they created confessions (meaning somehow the priest can ‘cleanse’ you of your sins, God won’t take you touching your niece into consideration for your judgment because you told some old dude about it and you recited 5 prayers to virgin Mary, lol) and purgatory (it used to be a binary destination, either Heaven and Hell, but the Church needed money lenders and usury to get coin for wars and whatnot and made it up to legitimise what had been seen as inmoral for ages) Christian dogma was fully cooked.

    The problem starts with Paul (well, actually, with Rome and the creation of a new religion, and then the Council of Nicea. People in the West would’ve been some kind of Jewish if not, like Jesus was) and his idea of “faith without works” and “belief that God exists and Jesus submitted to Him is enough to be saved!”, which was vehemently opposed by Jesus’ actual followers that understood that faith without works is dead at best, hypocritical if not, and that even “demons believe in God, and they shudder” (sure, God exists and is always watching, but do you act like it?!). But Rome preferred/established this as canon and you can see the repercussions everywhere today, particularly in the Godless, amoral West. How could they act right, when their ideological base is so flimsy and tolerant of sin?

    • PalimpsestNavigator@midwest.socialOP
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      17 hours ago

      It’s a human institution created over thousands of years, with roots in ancient mythology and Jewish mysticism. https://youtu.be/mdKst8zeh-U

      Humanity is at fault for creating classist access to resources and surrounding those resources with icons of faith. It’s just a social pyramid that forces people to hide who they are behind ritual. That’s why it’s so insidious.

  • WFloyd@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    At risk of taking some bait…

    I profess a faith as a Christian, but am not a theologian. Grain of salt and all that, but we do exist lol

    Unfortunately sorting “real” Christians from posers is difficult, and that’s how people can get away with using the “Christian” label, because who can judge but God?

    That being said, when you think about whether someone is a “real” Christian who’s just not doing a good job, vs a poser who’s just using the name, consider whether they exhibit some of the very clearly articulated attributes of being a Christian, such as the Seven Virtues. If someone consistently calls themselves Christian, but makes no effort to improve in these ways, that might be a good sign they’re not genuine.

    So to your point, using Christianity for social gain is antithetical to actually being a Christian.

    I’m terms of Organized Christianity, and cases in which it has shielded those who do evil, that’s a big, messy topic. Sufficient to say, the church is wholely responsible for not taking it seriously for so long. It breaks my heart that it happens at all, and brings great shame that there are people who supposedly profess the same faith and yet allow these things to happen. The church can and should do better to hold one another accountable and to protect the vulnerable.

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      You’re delusional, building up an ideology in your mind that reduces down to “hellfire for my enemies” and “my ego is my god”. It’s dangerous. It’s unhealthy. It’s not real.

      It IS a gateway to bigotry, though. That’s why it’s popular with undereducated people who never want to mature.

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        1 day ago

        I’m sorry if the church has hurt you before, truly, but I’m not seeing any reasoning behind your position. Care to elaborate?

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          This is my shower thought. I already brought you a complete and cogent set of thoughts to round out my ideas.

          stop sealioning, and maybe develop a burden of proof outside your own goosebumps and pride until you leave your playscape of borderline hateful faith

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            1 day ago

            I see. You’ve added more context to your comment - thanks for the insight, I’ll stop engaging for now, as it seems that wasn’t your intent in making this post. Thanks for your time, and I wish you well.

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    22 hours ago

    Yep. It became clear to me through difficult times and turmoil that my parents switch to Christianity during my childhood was their way to find excuses to never have to change or answer to others.

    It’s a convenient way to remain narcissist and pretend you’re improving as a person.

    My dad made it very clear he only needs to answer to “god” and nobody else.

    Cool. Drop dead, dad.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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      2 hours ago

      I think religion and faith can provide direction when you get lost in life. It is all about balance and keeping a clear focus.

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      19 hours ago

      Exactly. I’m sorry you went through that. Maybe we’ll get a better family in the next life? It could always be worse, but not much worse.

  • Mac@mander.xyz
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    1 day ago

    Yeah, fuck organized religion, i agree.
    But Christians do exist and do attempt to pay for their sins. Many of them are even good people.

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        1 day ago

        Bro, i don’t know what church(es) you’ve been going to, but… Damn. I’ve never (that I can recall, at any rate) heard any self-professed ‘Christian’ of any kind take apparent pleasure in groups of people being sentenced to eternal damnation… Not even the really shitty ones.

        That’s kind of where the whole ‘missionary’ thing comes in