The only good god is a non-existent god

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis

More "In order to find out if Christianity is true, you must believe that Christianity is true" bullshit, which is no different than "In order to get the rewards of being in this pyramid scheme, you must give all your money to the pyramid scheme."

The promise of a personal god is one of the many lies Christianity tells its current and potential adherents. It's a really powerful marketing gimmick, too. People are always posting that stupid fucking Minions meme about how prayer is like a phone that always works. Except in reality, that phone never gets anything other than a dial tone. So many people swear that their god is talking to them, and instead of them giving any actual evidence that this occurs, we get fabricated stories about some kid's near-death experience which get turned into books and movies, random brain scans labeled as "GOD working in the human mind," and "historical accounts" of events like the Miracle at Fatima, which if it actually occurred would have obliterated all life on Earth.

The reason why this sort of thinking persists when there's close to negative evidence for it is that it kind of works. It's not honest about how or why it works, but it does. Prayer is, at best, a form of meditation, and slowing down and gathering your thoughts, even if you're centering on things that don't exist, is helpful to people. This is not how prayer is advertised, though. It's sold as a form of communication with an infinitely powerful being and as a way to get things from said being, although even the authors of the Bible realized that hyping up prayer that much was going to lead to a lot of disappointment, so they added four hundred billion stipulations to excuse the fact that it doesn't work as advertised, which include:

You need to ask for the right things.

You need to ask with the right motivation.

You can't expect your god, who exists outside of time, to do things quickly.

Sometimes it just doesn't work and you will never know the reason. Have faith and shut up.

Isn't it awfully greedy of you to ask for things? God has already done so much for you, and you want more? He sends people to Hell lets people decide to go to Hell for things like that.

So, no, White Jesus is not sitting at a coffee shop waiting for you, ready to start a conversation that will change your life. You're just doing an ancient coping mechanism, and the fact that you feel better after doing it isn't a miracle. Prayer is Christian-washed meditation. The fact that it does something doesn't mean it's not a scam because it promises so much more than that.

People should not die for being the "wrong religion" (As it is mostly other religious people or organizations who kill them.)

Makes you hallucinate a helpful-sounding voice that could be Jesus until you realize it's actually the voice of that one stoner friend-of-a-friend you haven't seen in three years. The voice does not impart any actual wisdom or anything even remotely resembling any language. Also completely destroys one of your kidneys.

Immediately trade bodies with a megapastor about to be arrested for fraud or a youth pastor/priest about to be arrested for sexual assault of a minor.

Things you're going to have to prove before you can use the Bible as a source:

That the god described in it exists.

That said god told someone directly (Not "inspired") to write that shit down.

What parts of the Bible are supposed to be historical and what parts aren't.

That the historical parts actually happened.

That the books of the Bible were intended to be collected in the way they are now from the beginning.

What the correct interpretation of everything is.

Chance the person who originally posted this is all in for the death penalty, cops/ICE killing people for no reason, and running over protesters: 100%. Conservatives see violence as the only legitimate form of power, and death as the greatest form of that power. They may try to act like it, but the pro-life movement is not separate from the rest of conservatism.

Chance this person is also against anything that will actually reduce the number of abortions, like universal basic income, free childcare, universal healthcare, openly available contraceptives, and sex education: Greater than 100%. How are they going to justify their fake abortion clinics where no one knows how to use the ultrasound if people don't get accidentally pregnant?

Look at that fucking monster. It's like a big pointy pimple. And there's fucking three of them in this shot. Imagine living somewhere with three megachurches in eyeshot. Literal fucking hell.

And when you do bulldoze them, you get a warning message (Which for some reason I can't find anywhere) but it seems to do nothing if you just click it away. They don't even mention it in the randomly generated newspaper stories.

What gave it away? Was it the fact that I keep talking about my experiences in the Catholic Church and how astoundingly disappointing they all were, and that I now believe all religion is a plague on humanity that should be eradicated for our own sake?

Initially, it was just the fact that I was promised so much in Catholic school. There would be so much joy and happiness, they said. That "walking with Jesus" would be wonderful and enlightening. That there was a big guy in the sky who was everyone's dad and that he loved everyone and wanted what was best for us.

I didn't feel any of those things. When I was lonely and sad and full of undiagnosed mental disorders, I didn't feel the promised "God's hand" on my shoulder. The counselor just told me to "open up" which is a hard thing to do when you're socially anxious. So I just sort of stopped believing in the god I was told about. He clearly wasn't present in my life.

Then, one of my high school religion teachers (In Catholic school, "religion class" just means "Catholicism class") said that the Eucharist, the bread and wine they give out at mass, is literally the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, their savior. This was somehow kept from me for nearly ten years. When I heard that, I decided to just not be Catholic anymore.

Well, no, not really. Christianity, in the US at least, is interwoven with capitalism, but if you look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church, you will see references to "Those with more giving to those with less". And the Bible says "the poor will always be with us." So Christianity sees wealth disparity as natural, and in no place is this more clear than in Christianity's eternal war with socialism and communism. They do not want the system to improve or change because by their own admission, if things get too good, people will not turn to them for help.

So they tiptoe around the issue. They'll never say "God will help you because your greedy boss fired you so he could buy another yacht." Instead, they'll make it seem like poverty is just "bad luck." Like no one's at fault. Like it's perfectly natural that a minor accident can bankrupt you. When you excuse the actions of a system or act like there's no other way things can be, you support that system. When you treat an artificial system as "natural", you are attempting to negate any criticism of it.

I've come up with a term, "charity target." It means something that a person sees only as a means to improve their own moral standing. Those in poverty are charity targets in Christianity. They're nothing more than an infinite source of good karma points, because Christian morality isn't any more advanced that Fallout 3's. Helping people get out of poverty would cut off that stream of validation, so Christians can't ever talk about even the mildest structural reforms. The goal of Christianity is getting to Heaven, after all. The world is evil and bad and going to be destroyed anyway, so what's the point of making anything better? Might as well milk everything and everyone for the points needed to buy that ticket to hang out with the sick fuck who designed all this shit for eternity.

250. How are the sacraments of the Church divided?

"The sacraments are divided into: the sacraments of Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist); the sacraments of healing (Penance and Anointing of the Sick); and the sacraments at the service of communion and mission (Holy Orders and Matrimony). The sacraments touch all the important moments of Christian life. All of the sacraments are ordered to the Holy Eucharist "as to their end" (Saint Thomas Aquinas)."

I love how they quote shit in these. It's like "this" (Moby Dick). See how much more important that sentence becomes? No? Because that's stupid? How dare you. Those four words from a dead guy who hates women are the best four words ever written.

And here we have Magical Rituals That Don't Work, Magical Rituals That Do Nothing, and Fake Magic Rituals. Very important distinctions. They're all part of the circle of Things Christianity Does To Control You.

251. How is Christian initiation brought about? "Christian initiation is accomplished by means of the sacraments which establish the foundations of Christian life. The faithful born anew by Baptism are strengthened by Confirmation and are then nourished by the Eucharist."

The Jesus wafer is literally made of styrofoam. That's about as non-nutritious as possible. They say the wafer has to have gluten in it because they hate people with celiac disease, but there's no fucking way that thing has anything in it other than air and some petroleum by-products. Jesus is strangely unsubstantial. You'd think the one miracle that supposedly happens in front of people would have a flashier result, but nope. Crappy fake bread. And it has the worst texture. It's somehow fucking sharp until your spit turns it into a flavorless sludge.

Confirmation is the biggest nothing ever to happen in my life. All that happens is some guy slathers some weird-smelling oil on your forehead (Which they call "chrism" because it sounds like something he'd prefer to smear on you) and he mumbles some words at you. Then you sit back down and wonder what the fuck you're doing with your life. You were promised a lot of "God's presence" and that he would be talking to you and you'd feel "joy" and shit but it's all just so empty. It feels emptier than the church you go to's vaulted ceilings.

In come the excuses. "Oh, he doesn't work on your timetable" and "God is faithful!" and "God works in mysterious ways." Still nothing comes. Then it turns into "Pray harder" or "You're asking with the wrong motivation." It's your fault this scam isn't working for you. Those at the top are laughing at you, still counting the money they stole from you.

See that flag, @staff? That's the Christian Nationalist Flag. One specifically designed to replace the US flag once they control everything. It is flown solely by bigots and dominionists. There's zero nuance in using it. It's practically the same as the "An Appeal to Heaven" flag. Why is this sign of planned domination allowed?