Faith-based decision making is damaging and harmful. What decision did you make (as former believers) that harmed you and your family in some way?
I live in a state where it's legal to carry a concealed weapon with a permit. My much younger sister - who lived with me at the time - had some unsavory types as friends or, I guess you could say, ex-friends. She had recently had a life-altering close call with those people and decided to sever ties with the group which was hard, considering we all lived in a few block's proximity.
One day, I came home from work early because I wasn't feeling well. As soon as I pulled in the driveway, I knew something wasn't right; the gate to our backyard was open. I went in the house, prepared for the possibility of a confrontation. I heard someone making a crazy amount of noise in the master bedroom and the dining room, both of which were in the rear of the house. I could see the back door was kicked in. I saw a guy run through dining room and go out the back door, but he was just a silhouette because of the sun. I could still hear the other person, so I stood in the hall by the front door with my weapon drawn, trying to decide what to do next.
That's when my sister's ex-friend came out of the master bedroom holding my dad's old pump pellet gun that was pretty much useless because it wouldn't hold any air, and a whole bunch of costume jewelry the drugged up fool probably thought was real. "What are you going to do? Shoot me?" he laughed. There were 3 things I was thinking: 1) nobody in this state would convict me if I did, despite the fact that my life was most likely not in danger, but simply because he was in our house, 2) my sister might get mad at me for killing him and 3) my grandfather believed deeply that murder was wrong, as per the Bible's teaching, and that if any of us ever did something that atrocious, it would be a black mark on the family name and we would all be punished for it. Because I loved my grandfather, I just screamed at him to get the eff out of my house and never come back, or I WOULD actually shoot him, and he knew me well enough to know that I don't shoot to wound, if you know what I mean.
*We do own a lot of guns but, like normal, sane people should do, they stay locked up in a gun safe that's the size of a fridge, along with our other valuables and important papers. I do not believe in arming criminals and have never condoned leaving a firearm of any kind lying around the house if I'm not there.
Fast forward to the end of the school day, when my sister SHOULD be getting home. But she didn't come. After a few hours, I really didn't have anyone to call but I tried the one number to the mother of one of her new ex-friends. The mother hadn't seen my sister, nor had she seen her son. The police said they would have to wait (because my sis was 16 at the time) before they could do anything about it.
I went ahead and called my boss at 9ishPM and told him I wasn't coming to work until we found my sister, so if I didn't make it the next day, he'd know why. I stayed up all night, and enlisted the help of my best friend, who drove around to my sis's favorite places while I stayed home. I got a call from my sister at about 3am. She was in police custody in a town 5 hours away, not too far from the Mexican border. The fool I'd threatened in our house, and the other guy who ran (incidentally, it was HIS mom I talked to), had stolen a car and kidnapped my sister and were going to take her to Mexico. Being teens, they didn't have all the details ironed out and I guess they figured it would go like it does in the movies. But they got pulled over in a town north of the border crossing when one of the guys was taking a piss on the side of the road. The police rescued my poor baby sister. You know what she said to me as we were driving home the next day? "I can't believe you didn't kill him. I don't know why you think I would have been mad."
Letting that criminal go was a big mistake ...when people shoot intruders dead the word will get out to others to stop break ins and less perps will do stupid shit for a dope lifestyle....can't get high with a bullet in heart or brain
I was taught to prEy bedtime prEyer and it scared me every night until I was 5 yrs old when I concluded xmas Dec 24th 1957 that Santa lies=Easter boy bunnies laying candy eggs on dogshit lawns and alleged vaginal virgins birthing alleged baby gawds in dirty donkey stables ALL LIES TO BRIBE AND SCARE little kids....ever since then I have sought out my Atheist heroes like Einstein Disney & Susan B Anthony
I was taught prayer before sleep warded off demons that might come sit on your bed at night. Great stuff for kids to hear!
@ElusiveMoby NOT ! AFTER REFUSING TO attend Sunday school insisting upon paying for Saturday Science classes I deepened my love for Walt Disney science nature Atheist films
Carl Sagan Cosmos change my life I'm thinking about doing a post trying to get people to discuss Cosmos the series and how it affected them
@m16566 include Dr Tyson updated COSMOS SERIES advancing Atheism and SCIENCE
Faith is defined as belief without knowledge how is that different than ignorance?
faith is generated the greatest evils , for example the Nazis had faith in their Eugenics. the 9/11 hijackers had faith in Allah, I Has former believers I have had faith in relationships that should have been ended earlier.