3/4/2012
I was born in 1976 to a family who were members of the WGC or Worldwide Church of God, now known as Grace Communion International. When I say my "family", I mean my entire family. Grandparents on both my mom's and dad's side of the family on down through the generations went to this church even in different states. I linked to the Wikipedia page so that you can read about it if you'd like. They were in the middle of a scandal when I was born...something about malfeasance. My memories of the "rules" of the church are similar to that of Jehovah's Witnesses. I didn't celebrate my first Christmas until I was about 6 or 7, I think.
I was a curious child and remember wondering about lots of things. Thankfully, my parents did everything they could to encourage that from buying science kits to sending us to weekend science classes of our choice called Super Saturday School where we learned about all kinds of sciencey things. One I remember in particular was on geology, which I enjoyed immensely.
I was a curious child and remember wondering about lots of things. Thankfully, my parents did everything they could to encourage that from buying science kits to sending us to weekend science classes of our choice called Super Saturday School where we learned about all kinds of sciencey things. One I remember in particular was on geology, which I enjoyed immensely.
I remember most of the people from the church being very nice. I remember living in a community where a lot of our neighbors went to the same church, so those were the people we spent social time with as well. One of the members was my sister's and my babysitter for a very long time. I remember my mom and dad leaving the church for good, but I don't remember why. (I think I'll ask them about that.) After leaving the church, I remember my mom having problems with her mom because she left. It wasn't pretty. My dad's side just seemed to ignore us for a while, which wasn't too nice either.
I remember finally getting back together with the family several years later and we started having monthly picnics and getting back to normal, as it were. My parents just kinda left religion on the back burner and still don't attend any church. I did most of my growing up believing in a higher power, but I was reluctant to put a Christian "God" label on it for a very long time.
At 15, my dad came out as a gay man. Again, there was a ruckus in the family coupled with a few family friends who ended up being less than accepting. Dad was forbidden from eating on their plates or swimming in their pool for fear of AIDS, because, you know, all gay men have AIDS. This was the early 90s and the information was there, but, as we see everyday, people ignored it or didn't believe it. It was a poor rendition of the "Better Safe Than Sorry" attitude. This, believe it or not, is what has had our extended family separated to this day. I wish I'd known then what I know now...
At 15, my dad came out as a gay man. Again, there was a ruckus in the family coupled with a few family friends who ended up being less than accepting. Dad was forbidden from eating on their plates or swimming in their pool for fear of AIDS, because, you know, all gay men have AIDS. This was the early 90s and the information was there, but, as we see everyday, people ignored it or didn't believe it. It was a poor rendition of the "Better Safe Than Sorry" attitude. This, believe it or not, is what has had our extended family separated to this day. I wish I'd known then what I know now...
When I was about 20 I became a born-again Christian. I went to church in bare feet because I felt it brought me closer to Jesus. I read the Bible, though, I must admit, not very much. Maybe that's why it took me so long to put all of it aside. I prayed. I sang in church with my hands up, crying and feeling the holy spirit. I went to group meetings set up within the church. I went to Bible study groups. I was, without a doubt, a Christian.
I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but I started doubting. However, I think most of my doubts started when I started watching LOTS of documentaries about the natural world, most of which were presented by the fabulous Sir David Attenborough. Who better to teach me about the facts of the world? He is the most well-traveled and one of the most knowledgeable men in the field of natural history. I watched the programs lots of times over several years and absorbed as much of the information as I could...then I started thinking. It was like taking off the "rose colored glasses" and seeing the world for the first time. There wasn't really an "ah-ha" moment until about 3 months ago, but it took me a long time to get there.
I had been so ingrained with the fear of hell that I couldn't bring myself to actually say "There is no god." It took me a year to convince myself that it was okay. For most of that year, it made me physically ill to think about it. The fear welled up inside me every time I tried. Thankfully, I live with an atheist and that has been a way for me to connect in a small way and talk about the things that were scaring me. He was, in no way, pushy on the subject. He just helped me make it okay inside myself so I could let it out and actually say "I'm an atheist." and be thoroughly convinced of it. It still scared me, but I was able to "play through it" and get passed it. It still makes me feel nervous talking about it.
That's when I realized how bad religion really is. Not only was I holding on to anger I felt toward god for a particular tragedy that occurred in my life when I was 26, I was also more scared than I had ever been in my life! There was nothing left for me to be angry about. The entity to whom I delivered my anger was gone and now I could be okay with saying, essentially, "Shit happens." That's just the way the world works and the only way to do anything about something you don't like is to learn about it so maybe you can fix it and it won't happen again. As I said before, I still get butterflies when I think about the whole thing because I can still feel that fear, but my knowledge tells me that it's a psychological problem and nothing more. Because I know that, I can work on getting past it.
I watched a movie called The God Who Wasn't There and I have to say that the ending scene where the filmmaker, Brian Flemming, denies the holy spirit in the middle of the church where he became born-again was one of the most powerful moments I've ever seen on film. It almost made me cry because I was that guy. To someone who has never been a christian, it may just seems like a cool or funny ending. For me, that moment was what Passion of the Christ was for me as a christian. Yes, I totally fell for Mel's crap.
Once I finally made that monumental leap and denied the holy spirit, I got unbelievably angry. That anger didn't really have an outlet mostly because I didn't understand it, making it impossible for me to process. I struggled with it for a little while and while on one of my YouTube surfing trips (query - atheism), I ran into Greta Christina! That was truly and "Ah-ha!" moment. I could finally put a label on what made me feel so angry. This woman put it so beautifully that I couldn't really add anything to it. She was speaking for me.
I found that video about a month ago and since then, I've been looking for an outlet and to connect with others like me. I met a wonderful person living in India via my father. We connected through a Flat Stanley project for my daughter for school. We became Facebook friends and, through that, I found he was also and atheist. It's cool to connect with strangers on a FB page who are in the same camp, so to say, but it feels much more like a connection when it's someone you have a deeper interaction with, even if it's just through friendly emails that have nothing to do with atheism. Just knowing that someone who grew up in a completely different way would believe the same things I do gives me comfort. I just think that's really cool.
Thanks for listening to me. It felt good to get that all out to the world. "CLIMB OUT OF YOUR HOLES, PEOPLE!!"
I had been so ingrained with the fear of hell that I couldn't bring myself to actually say "There is no god." It took me a year to convince myself that it was okay. For most of that year, it made me physically ill to think about it. The fear welled up inside me every time I tried. Thankfully, I live with an atheist and that has been a way for me to connect in a small way and talk about the things that were scaring me. He was, in no way, pushy on the subject. He just helped me make it okay inside myself so I could let it out and actually say "I'm an atheist." and be thoroughly convinced of it. It still scared me, but I was able to "play through it" and get passed it. It still makes me feel nervous talking about it.
That's when I realized how bad religion really is. Not only was I holding on to anger I felt toward god for a particular tragedy that occurred in my life when I was 26, I was also more scared than I had ever been in my life! There was nothing left for me to be angry about. The entity to whom I delivered my anger was gone and now I could be okay with saying, essentially, "Shit happens." That's just the way the world works and the only way to do anything about something you don't like is to learn about it so maybe you can fix it and it won't happen again. As I said before, I still get butterflies when I think about the whole thing because I can still feel that fear, but my knowledge tells me that it's a psychological problem and nothing more. Because I know that, I can work on getting past it.
I watched a movie called The God Who Wasn't There and I have to say that the ending scene where the filmmaker, Brian Flemming, denies the holy spirit in the middle of the church where he became born-again was one of the most powerful moments I've ever seen on film. It almost made me cry because I was that guy. To someone who has never been a christian, it may just seems like a cool or funny ending. For me, that moment was what Passion of the Christ was for me as a christian. Yes, I totally fell for Mel's crap.
Once I finally made that monumental leap and denied the holy spirit, I got unbelievably angry. That anger didn't really have an outlet mostly because I didn't understand it, making it impossible for me to process. I struggled with it for a little while and while on one of my YouTube surfing trips (query - atheism), I ran into Greta Christina! That was truly and "Ah-ha!" moment. I could finally put a label on what made me feel so angry. This woman put it so beautifully that I couldn't really add anything to it. She was speaking for me.
I found that video about a month ago and since then, I've been looking for an outlet and to connect with others like me. I met a wonderful person living in India via my father. We connected through a Flat Stanley project for my daughter for school. We became Facebook friends and, through that, I found he was also and atheist. It's cool to connect with strangers on a FB page who are in the same camp, so to say, but it feels much more like a connection when it's someone you have a deeper interaction with, even if it's just through friendly emails that have nothing to do with atheism. Just knowing that someone who grew up in a completely different way would believe the same things I do gives me comfort. I just think that's really cool.
Thanks for listening to me. It felt good to get that all out to the world. "CLIMB OUT OF YOUR HOLES, PEOPLE!!"
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