fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4022 ]

[ SECRET POST #4022 ]

⌈ Secret Post #4022 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 45 secrets from Secret Submission Post #576.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

have you never subscribed to one at all, anon, not even forced in childhood?

having formerly been ye olde born again and now atheist, I can definitely see some trends in my own personality that made me susceptible. For one, like a vast majority of Americans, I was indoctrinated as a child. Being dragged to church weekly and catechism almost weekly, for many years, puts it into your head the same as going to school daily - someone is trying to teach you the thing and a lot of people absorb the thing. Not all of them, but a great many, and it becomes rote even if they don't actually believe the things they're being taught. I'd venture to say that a large portion of people in the US only identify as religious out of habit. Habitual behavior is extremely powerful.

The other reason I often see, and what was true for me, was addictive personality traits + being bullied in school. When your life is actual shit, someone offering a magic way to feel better (which, you don't find out until years of experience does not actually make you feel better) is very appealing. Then pile onto that an addictive personality, and things just sort of snowball from there. It takes pulling yourself out of the routine to start thinking about whether any of it makes sense or really is helping, and to realize that somebody just got you addicted to fuzzy Jesus feelings instead of caffeine or alcohol.

Family tried hard to get me to subscribe to one, but I never got it.

I don't know and can't quite comprehend what a fuzzy Jesus feeling is. There's nothing I've experienced that is similar to that, as far as I can tell.

I think maybe I wasn't clear enough: I understand why other people are attracted to religion or why other people are religious. But I don't "get" faith. I know why they have it and why they like it, but don't "get" how.

That is a lot tougher. And probably something fundamentally different in your brain. Nothing wrong with that, we're all wired a bit different.

one of the many reasons I am an atheist is I was bullied and treated like shit in school (think Carrie or Welcome to the Dollhouse) and religion DID NOT make me feel any better. And at that age, I did still sincerely believe.

DA

I'm "loosely" Catholic, myself. I believe in God. I believe He loves me and everyone else. I believe Christ died and rose again. I receive Communion. I pray the Rosary. I feel a sense of peace from it all. I take a lot of amusement from watching people pick apart the Bible.

A great Doctor Who quote: "Stories are where memories go when they've been forgotten."

I don't look at the individual words in the Bible. I look at the stories being told. *Something* powerful happened thousands of years ago. Maybe it was nothing like it's written in the Bible. The point is *something* happened if the stories are still being repeated and believed in thousands of years later.

That's how I see it, anyhow. I accept that there are aspects of God no one can describe. The faith comes from a feeling of "I don't know what to expect next, but I trust that it'll be awesome."

I believe in God. I believe He loves me and everyone else. I believe Christ died and rose again. [...] I feel a sense of peace from it all.

Barring the very Catholic Church rituals (I am from a Protestant denomination), this sounds like me. Believing in God, Jesus, and finding comfort and assurance in the idea of a loving Divine Being watching over me and helping me cope with my life.

People could think of that as a psychological coping mechanism, but I want to believe in God because the idea of no God existing feels very empty.

the idea of no God existing feels very empty.

Why? I'm honestly curious as someone who doesn't believe in or "get" religion at all.

Do you have an organisation that you like and the existence of it reassures you that there is something good in the world, even if you don't directly engage with them? Something like the RSPCA helping animals, or medical charities. Try and think about it like that - you may never need their help but you are glad they exist.

Now yes, I acknowledge God has far less proof of His existence, but believing He is somewhere out there is a similar feeling of reassurance.

Not particularly? I mean, I'm glad those things exist, but there would be people doing the same thing (helping others) even if those organizations themselves didn't exist. I've seen enough spontaneous fundraisers and the like to know that there is good in the world whether or not it exists within a larger framework. I believe that most people are good and will do good things if given the chance and that's enough to make me happy, I guess?

Then think of that belief as the reassuring thing somewhat equivalent to my belief on God. When I even have problems believing in people being good, believing in another good thing helps keep me from totally losing hope.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #4022 ]

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.

Re: Things you straight up do not get.