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Were you raised in a religious home, and if so, what was your experience like?

I was raised in the Mormon church and for the longest time had a very trusting and naïve outlook on life. I simply believed my parents who were generally good people, and I made an effort to be a good faithful member who fulfilled all the duties expected of me. But I loved to study. Loved to learn. Loved to go digging for the "deep" material. When this led to tough questions, I started seeing behaviors that didn't make sense if this were all really true. People would either brush my questions off as unimportant "mysteries" that God would reveal after this life, or they would become very defensive and insist that I was subjecting myself to temptations that would lead me astray. I couldn't understand why the pursuit of knowledge would be considered a temptation. Why studying church history, literature, and doctrine in depth and seeking to align it with modern science would be seen as problematic. Wasn't it good to learn all we could in this life so that we'd be that much more prepared for the next? Of course, as I continued studying and questioning, the reason for these reactions became obvious. The church was full of shit.

Falcopex 4 Dec 17
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It was awful. I had to serve the males of the house first in anyway they needed. Home was literal hell.

clea Level 4 Dec 31, 2017
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It was only religous on Sunday morning when my selfesh dad would scream at us to get up and go to Sunday school. Oh yeah! Us kids had to say a blessing every night before supper. He watched us.

Ugh, those are the worst kind! Pushy and inconsiderate towards anybody else. I’ve probably made loads of post about this subject cause I still live in an area around these kinds of people and I can’t waiy to finally move away.

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No. That allowed us to take in nature, to follow the logic of life unencumbered by human distortions. But we, siblings and self were dumbfounded at school, listening to our classmates who supposedly ‘believed.’ Truely a WTF moment for us! I’ve thanked my parents for allowing us freedom from religion … and so pity those having suffered the ‘hell’ of it…

Society in general herds us into conformity while stifling the questioners, but religion jams their followers down funnels. We had a recent question on ‘our favorite podcasts,’ and though this one’s fairly new, I forgot to mention it: [parcast.com] Their most recent is on the ‘FLDS’ - I recommend it to everyone...

As I listened to the podcast today, as I have their others, it makes obvious how every religion is a cult, using the same tactics of manipulation, they only vary in size… As I listen, the heroes and sheroe’s to me are those with what it takes to escape.. You, are extraordinary ~

Varn Level 8 Dec 18, 2017

I envy your non-religious upbringing and often wonder how different my life would have been had I been similarly raised without the brainwashing and manipulation. And it was definitely interesting how, as a Mormon, I was taught so little about the FLDS and RLDS and Community of Christ. Just that they were "wrong" and lacked spiritual guidance and priesthood keys. I had to go digging on my own to learn more and found that the very characteristivs that defined them as a cult were apparent in my own religion.

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A little bit of both. My mom was somewhat religious, but my dad, not really. He did even really care to go to Church.

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In a word, horrible. My mother is was and always will be a "more pious than thou" self deluding religious nutter, my father lived and died a selfish self centered violent alcoholic. My mother made excuses for everything that usually boiled down to God must want it this way for a reason.

I hate those "it was meant to be" platitudes. Drives me crazy when people use them as a way to excuse tragedies or claim that God puts people through atrocities on purpose in order to mold them.

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