Sincerity Post Alert - Sorry in advance for the cringe.
This honestly hurts my heart.
I’m an atheist now, but I grew up in church, I attended a tiny, private Christian school from 8th grade through 11th (and only left because they weren’t chartered to give diplomas), I literally had formal Bible class 6 days a week and happily attended evening services - because I was a naive kid who truly believed that “love everyone” and “do unto others” stuff was as important to everyone else as it was to me.
I was always a weird kid without many friends my age, and the kindness and friendliness of the adults at church was a big deal for me. Coming to terms with the hypocrisy in the adults around me - realizing how judgemental and shitty most of them actually were - made my late teens extra lonely.
Nobody’s perfect, but - Jesus Fucking Christ, I don’t know why, but I still get surprised at the depths of awful behavior done in his name, and the ways his message of empathy and compassion gets twisted to justify it.
His message of empathy. That is the core of his message. Mark, Chapter 12:
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[f] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Versus
Enticing Empathy: How Satan Corrupts Through Compassion
This is truly evil. The antidote for the prosperity gospel brainworms is empathy and compassion. Honestly, I truly, deeply believe in my stupid little naive heart that the antidote for most societal ills is empathy and compassion.* How do you actually, really solve the diseases of greed and selfishness without them?
This demonization of caring is just evil. How do I talk my evangelical boomer parents out of their brainworms if they’re getting this kind of messaging in church? Idfk. I guess I just keep reacting with the appropriate level of disgust to this sort of thing and ask questions and hope they’re not too lead-poisoned to someday see the contradiction between the message of Christ and the message of church.
This is a real bummer, but I guess it’s better to know than not. yuck.
/* - I understand there are also problems that require math and/or guillotines.
American Christianity is a truly baffling thing. I had a pretty similar upbringing to you, and after recognizing the hypocrisy I just couldn’t bring myself to engage. Like, there’s no way to make someone see what they refused to acknowledge, so why bother? Matt Christman likes to say protestantism has replaced a socially constructed understanding of God with the crass glorifying/worshiping of a person’s own ego (ie a personal relationship with God). And… as much as that smacks of an “edgy middle-school atheist rant”… yeah, that unfortunately seems to be the most accurate description.
Sincerity Post Alert - Sorry in advance for the cringe.
This honestly hurts my heart.
I’m an atheist now, but I grew up in church, I attended a tiny, private Christian school from 8th grade through 11th (and only left because they weren’t chartered to give diplomas), I literally had formal Bible class 6 days a week and happily attended evening services - because I was a naive kid who truly believed that “love everyone” and “do unto others” stuff was as important to everyone else as it was to me.
I was always a weird kid without many friends my age, and the kindness and friendliness of the adults at church was a big deal for me. Coming to terms with the hypocrisy in the adults around me - realizing how judgemental and shitty most of them actually were - made my late teens extra lonely.
Nobody’s perfect, but - Jesus Fucking Christ, I don’t know why, but I still get surprised at the depths of awful behavior done in his name, and the ways his message of empathy and compassion gets twisted to justify it.
His message of empathy. That is the core of his message. Mark, Chapter 12:
Versus
This is truly evil. The antidote for the prosperity gospel brainworms is empathy and compassion. Honestly, I truly, deeply believe in my stupid little naive heart that the antidote for most societal ills is empathy and compassion.* How do you actually, really solve the diseases of greed and selfishness without them?
This demonization of caring is just evil. How do I talk my evangelical boomer parents out of their brainworms if they’re getting this kind of messaging in church? Idfk. I guess I just keep reacting with the appropriate level of disgust to this sort of thing and ask questions and hope they’re not too lead-poisoned to someday see the contradiction between the message of Christ and the message of church.
This is a real bummer, but I guess it’s better to know than not. yuck.
/* - I understand there are also problems that require math and/or guillotines.
American Christianity is a truly baffling thing. I had a pretty similar upbringing to you, and after recognizing the hypocrisy I just couldn’t bring myself to engage. Like, there’s no way to make someone see what they refused to acknowledge, so why bother? Matt Christman likes to say protestantism has replaced a socially constructed understanding of God with the crass glorifying/worshiping of a person’s own ego (ie a personal relationship with God). And… as much as that smacks of an “edgy middle-school atheist rant”… yeah, that unfortunately seems to be the most accurate description.