"But the Church is so wholesome!"
"But the Church is so wholesome!"
"How can you hate the Church if its teachings are so wholesome?
"It only teaches that you are an enemy to God, worth less than the dust of the earth, and that you cannot escape eternal punishment unless you accept that a blood sacrifice was made on your behalf and you spend the rest of your life doing exactly as we say. Oh don't worry, it will all be worth it after you finally die."
It blows my mind that I used to actually agree with this.
The greatest grift. You promise your whole life/time/talents and tons of money, to the church itself. The reward is only given after death, but not by the church (which you gave everything to). The church gets it all, and gives you nothing. You just have to hope that lies are true and that God really will reward you.
It justifies absolute misery here on earth. Earthly suffering doesn't matter, since the afterlife is all that matters.
For real. Teaching people to devalue what is likely the only life they'll get for the sake of some dubious afterlife is the most sinister perversion of delayed gratification that I've ever seen. The years of my life I lost to that madness will haunt me forever.
I started my journey out when I realized I was unhappy and that the church doesn’t teach how to be happy. They only teach that suffering will bring rewards in the afterlife. But if you’re enjoying yourself, it’s probably a sin.
Instead of actually being happy, I remember this distinct culture of everyone pretending to be happier than they really were. After all, living the gospel is the greatest happiness you can have, right? You must be doing something sinful if you're not happy!
Those wholesome teachings are driving LGBT children to suicide, breaking up families in mixed faith relationships, and sucking away much needed income for their stock portfolio while the leaders cover up child abuse. So wholesome.
Modern Christianity is a plague on humanity (historical christianity wasn’t much better but at least they pretended to help poor people)
I lean the other way, in that I think religions have gradually gotten better over the years due to societal pressures. Not great, mind you, just less terrible.
Either way, I totally agree that Christianity (and religion in general) is a plague on humanity. I know not everyone will agree with such a harsh statement, but I struggle to see the good in convincing people to live a lie.