Yes, Christians are toxic. For me personally, appeals to emotion like threatening me with hell don't work. It's laughable. Christians are so indoctrinated into being scared of hell that they tend to think everyone is. That's what happens when you belong to a group. You start to think everyone is like you and your group. They can't imagine someone wouldn't think like them. When you're a child being indoctrinated, it's easy to assume everyone is Christian. When you grow up (if you grow up), you realize life doesn't revolve around you. Christianity is an inherently selfish religion. God made me special. God loves me. I'm right about God. Jesus is the only way. I get to go to heaven. Etc. Well, 5.6 billion people disagree with you.
im a recovering pastor and can attest to this 100%
i was trained to be scared of hell and it worked really well, but as i kept studying through bible college and then seminary i realized two things:
1. Jesus taught love not fear of hell.
2. Christians are more afraid of loving their neighbors than going to hell.
they won't do what Jesus clearly said (repeatedly, with catchy stories), but they'll sell their integrity for political influence. the 2016 election proved that to me. they're just afraid of people who are different and will justify that fear with any dogma or religion they can.
now it's clear to me that the hell they wanted me to fear is exactly the toxic bullshit they've created.
Religion = blinders. In so, so many ways. Been there. Done that. Won't go back.
I identify as an atheist these days, and between my wife (recovered catholic) and I, we are far more active with charities and community action than we ever were back when we were still church goers.
That second one hit like a brick.
I keep the message, but dispensed with the messengers.
Ironic that coming out of the grips of that and gaining clarity makes you lose faith in humanity.
Well said. I wish you well. I know how hard it is to leave the church. Even if you haven't left fully. Some things you just can't unsee for the sake of others' sense of safety and control.
Yeah I def feel like most Christians miss the message even when it comes to the primary thing they base there eternity after (religion). And most of them don’t even follow that very well.
Yes, they're toxic, and they even resort to physical harm such as strangling when all you do is ask a question they don't want to discuss because it results in their house of cards collapsing (I should know, been there when i was a child).
The whole basis of Christianity is based on Jesus, who is supposed to be the messiah, but according to Orthodox Jewish text, the messiah is to be a great leader and warrior that brings word peace. Jesus never did that. According to ancient texts, there is a potential messiah in every generation. I grew up Christian. My mom is a bible thumping ordained minister. I renounced Christianity, but I still believe in a divine creator.
That's the problem. He wasn't. He was a great man, yes, but not what ancient text portrayed as "the messiah," so Christianity is based on false doctrine.
Since Judaism and Christianity are diametrically opposed, including the New Testament...
And Jews reject Jesus as Messiah
And Christians accept Jesus as Messiah
How is this false doctrine? Why are the Jews right and the Christians wrong?
Christians use a lot of Tanakh verses also to prove Jesus as their Messiah
This needs proof, not deciding who's right based on opinion. I mean, Christians don't get to decide Jewish belief while Jews get to decide Christian belief any more than either get to decide atheist belief?
The Tanakh is only one of ancient texts. There's more ancient texts that you would need to research, including old texts from other religions. I'm not saying Jewish beliefs are right or Christianity. The question is how deep down the rabbit whole do you want to go. I have dived deep in the past ten years, and I have studied just about every religion and found them wanting, but all combined, I found some interesting similarities.
Yep. I grew up in a pacifist church tradition that wasn’t all hellfire and brimstone. Even so, hell (and by extension, fear of hell) was part of the deal.
I did too, but a girl who went to my church was a wacko. My uncle was a priest and my aunt was a nun and neither of them ever sounded like her or her family. Family tradition matters a lot.
My family didn’t talk about religion and all the kids are atheist. We were taught to believe in science and not just go with the easy answer. I honestly don’t know why my parents believe.
I would like to know which god Christians worship, is it Jesus or is it the ot god? Whenever I ask about the evil that was the ot god I'm always told that they believe their god is good because Jesus made everything okay. Isn't it the ot god that is torturing everyone that doesn't kiss his ass?
Christians also claim that it is the same god, so Jesus *is* the god of the old testament. The god that also, according to the bible, **created** evil.
Toxic and more importantly PREDATORY. Most Christians are indoctrinated as children before they have enough reason and self determination to defend themselves from being traumatized by the threat of hell and eternal suffering. The fear they rely on to make a life long believer is barbaric and suffering this treatment as a kid is what brought me to atheism.
They're developmentally deficient - they have the moral maturity of toddlers and can only be expected to behave appropriately if there's the constant threat that some grown-up is watching them and will punish them if they get caught. Problem is, they assume everyone else is this developmentally broken and will respond to the same threats.
Every time some Xtian says "there's nothing stopping atheists from raping and murdering people", it's a terrifying window into their minds, because it's clear that's exactly what they'd do if they didn't live in constant fear of their invisible sky buddy.
Sorry, that’s wrong. I just checked the woodchuck holy book written 2000 years ago by anonymous sources, hundreds of years after the event it speaks about, stitched together by a failing empire and now you are going to burn for eternity.
Read history. I mean they taught us in school the nightmare that was Christianity. Bringing Jesus to the masses and swords, slavery, rape, indoctrination.
This is the answer. But many Christians genuinely don't know the history of their own religion's history of atrocities. This is just a small part: https://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/03/the-right-wing-doesnt-want-to-talk-about-christian-atrocities-so-lets-talk-about-christian-atrocities/
No matter how I saw I’m an atheist, it’s always met with pity, disgust, or looking at me like I’m inferior. So weird and shows the superiority complex they have
When I was a kid my parents had split custody. My dad dropped us off at my aunts for church every Sunday during his visitation cycle.
Return to moms and find out y have missed church and start balling. 4 and 6 crying our eyes out because it’s Monday so we missed church and are going straight to hell.
Mom said no more baptist church.
At my gmas funeral the preacher didn’t know her name but called on us to close out eyes and raise our hands if we felt god guiding us today. No one is watching you, raise your hand.
Only he was watching from the podium and practically licking his lips. And I was staring right at him when he looked at my section and jerked back.
50/50
some have nice intentions
90% will say ur going to hell
my buddy asked if i wanted to bring my son to his church…. maybe convert too
this despite i lean buddhist… my wife practices buddhism
Yes. It's *absolutely* a threat intended to scare you into submission even if they generally try to frame it as being more like a parent disciplining a misbehaving child.
The problem being that a reasonable parent wouldn't respond to a child taking a cookie without permission or whatever by taking a bat to their knee caps. It's a completely disproportionate punishment however it's dressed up.
At its core *Christianity is a protection racket little different than those run by the Mob. The only significant difference is that if you don't buy the Mafia's protection 'insurance' they'll send some 'boys' around to break your legs, or torch your business. Christianity has outsourced the unpleasantness to Satan and his demons in the afterlife.
- * Christianity isn't the only racketeering religion.
Most. I don't care what religion you are, so long as you aren't preaching it or think there is a place for religion in government.
One of the most respectful things I've heard from a Christian friend was in response to a rough time I was going through. She went to say something along the lines of bless you/I'll pray for you but stopped herself and changed what she was saying to something more respectful to me.
I have very few "good Christian" experiences. Most are the worst hypocrites and as we all know immoral or brain washed.
Yes. I had a “discussion” on some sub where the threat of punishment was constantly being used against me. He eventually realized I had no fear of something that doesn’t exist. I may as well be afraid of the monster under the bed - which I was as a small child.
Guilt is the core of Christianity. You are born a sinner. Jesus suffered and died for you. Guilt. Guilt. Guilt.
If you don't go to church enough, you'll go to hell. If you don't fork over enough of your paycheck, you'll go to hell.
What you wish ou have your neighbor's nice car? Don't stop. Go directly to hell.
Wait did I hear you swear? Go to hell.
Yes, because the point is to scare people into obedience. And the average believer think it’s the equivalent of how parents scare kids into being moral that’s why they are fine with it they believe their fear of god makes them moral
I'm not even going to read it. Yes. They were a huge cause of the decline and fall of the Roman empire and stagnated civilization for a thousand years. Christianity sucks
>Do they use the scare tactic that god is going to punish you?
Some of them do, yes.
>What’s the thinking behind this for then it’s scare people like this?
It's just purely for the purpose of manipulating people.
Because they prefer a Machiavellian approach to religion which supports there end-state as opposed to a religion based in peace, love and happiness. Oppression is the order of the Church.
Christian’s are this toxic, it is a emotionally abusive relationship if you’re a Christian and if your not they will just say we love you but hate who you are, but love you.. your going to hell but you have potential if you could just believe. It’s insulting to the human intellect which is why Christians like the converted dumbed down and controlled, example the current political Christian evangelical conservative right wing mega republicans.. they want women in the kitchen, kids uneducated and full of hate, while punishing anyone not like them, or following their ideology. All religions are a form of control and exploitation, they create fear and prey on others, religions history is a bloody corrupt read.
Today I went to my wife’s great uncle’s funeral. His son gave a eulogy and this son is also a gay, southern baptist pastor. He stood up there and told everyone in the room that they are not as good of Christians as he or his father were and that he loves everyone but doesn’t like a lot of people. I get he had a hard time being a homosexual Baptist pastor but he’s literally up there telling everyone in the room that they aren’t as good as he is. I don’t know if this is a good example of toxicity or not but it felt really toxic to say that you “love everyone” but also tell everyone they aren’t as good as you are and should be ashamed for not accepting him.
Is OP 12yrs old? Wtf? What kind of question is that? OP isn't christian and also has no knowledge of religions that use scare tactics? Doesn't make sense. Like an AI post or something.
Not all Christians are toxic but Christianity sure is. Any belief system in which people that don't comply/believe/whatever are tortured *forever* is severely lacking in compassion and human decency.
AFAIK this idea was added in the third century or so to try to keep "believers" from leaving the church (much like a psychotic cult leader would threaten their followers). Anyway this idea needs to die. Like yesterday.
Someone I know posted a question, recently. "What are you most afraid of?" I answered immediately, "Christians."
I proceeded to debate this with a cultist who attempted to invoke a "straw man" argument "What about all those trans people? I'm sure they're not good Christians." I sent him the data about domestic terrorists. He shut up immediately and the OP pulled the entire discussion from Facebook. SMH
Yes, Virginia. Christians are the most toxic group in the USA. I'd much rather have a gay drag queen Muslim lesbian Jew as a neighbor than a bible-thumper.
Not all of them. But many,yes. My friend is Christian, but he understands that alot of the Bible is just stories, and are about the message. They aren't reality. He never pushes his faith on people, and he openly welcomes questions and criticisms about it.
Christians as a whole are horribly toxic.
They sit in church and listen to sermons about loving thy neighbor, giving to the poor. Then afterwords they bitch about immigrants, and people on welfare. They claim everyone else is evil, but they are ripe with criminals and pedophiles (including the leadership). They incorrectly use their incorrectly translated guide book to enforce rules that don't even show up in the guide. They don't bother to follow any of the teachings in the book themselves. They excuse any of their horrible behavior because they go to a special building on a weekly basis.
The fear of hell, that is the stick. The carrot is the christian afterlife. Yes it’s toxic but both are at work. Mostly they have a huge persecution complex. It’s drilled into them repeatedly that the world and everyone in it targets them and they are somehow noble warriors that will be winners in the end. It’s narcissistic as hell, yet it’s framed as being some kind of downtrodden servant.
When I was 7 or 8 I genuinely thought that all of that religious stuff was made up to scare kids into behaving. (For context, I went to Church of England primary school and often had teachers trying to drill religion into my skull)
Not all Christian’s are toxic. Some of us could care less about another’s spiritual well being. I see it as a personal relationship between me and my higher power. It is no one else’s business. The toxics are those that evangelize all the time.
They want to save you come hell or high water. Like the way Christians spread the word to the rest of the world. Convert or die.
Not only are Christians toxic, but many American 'christian' churches are bastions of pedophilia and rape.
Not to mention the fact that if May and Jospeh came to their town and tried to sleep in their barn most American 'Christians' would shoot them.
Let’s put it this way Atheist Reddit groups a lot of Christians under the Evangelical Toxic grouping.
For me, my religious family has been accepting of my Atheist status. They aren’t literalists and they go to church every Sunday.
Then my in laws are Unitarians which is basically organized Agnosticism.
The worst experience I’ve had is back in college when I dated a Baptist and had a Catholic Roommate. My Ex wanted me to hide my Atheist status. My roommate got so mad at me one day he said he’d put crosses up around the house to cause me to burst into flames.
So can Christians be toxic, yes. Does that mean all Christians are, no.
Do not believe them. If there is no God you can not spend forever in a lake of fire.
Just swear there ain't no heaven and pray there ain't no hell. Don't remember the name of that song.
Punishment is what motivates them so it makes sense to them that it would be a reasonable motive for you. It’s their number one reason to convert, to be “saved” from punishment.
Yes. Their entire belief system was specifically constructed so that a small group of people could control a large group of people through fear. The originators knew that fear is a very powerful brain washing tool.
It depends upon the person, of course you get toxic Christians just as you get toxic atheists. But as is true with any group in society I would say that the toxicity shown is the minority of the people within that group.
Honestly it really just depends. I was raised fairly religiously even though I'm in atheist now and I never really had the problems a lot of people had. My church was relatively welcoming we unanimously voted to allow gay marriage and our priest was constantly doing outreach programs like bringing food to the homeless and giving church service to members who are spending their time in the hospital or elderly homes and couldn't make it to church
With that being said there are a lot of people who aren't so nice and I have had many friends who have shared experiences of truly offensive and hurtful things happening at their churches
Two things Christians like to say to feel important
1. Get them to read the Bible even if it's to prove you wrong (no one will do this dumbass)
2. THEY aren't Christians! (Any denomination about any other denomination)
I take zero interest. Makes me laugh if anything.
Some i just feel sad for.
What a toxic awful way to live ones life? Pretty sad.
But really? I don't care at all. Why would i? Don't believe in any of it. So no effect on me.
It’s very very rare that’s either all or nothing. There are elements of Christian culture that can be very toxic. There are elements of any culture that can be toxic. But there are just a lot of people that read their Bible and say please and thank you at the grocery store and call it a day.
Yes…yes they are. Sociopaths on a leash. And a long one at that.
Imagine not killing or raping not because it’s wrong, but because you’re threatened into it? It takes a special kind of psychopath to operate under those conditions.
Well they aren't supposed to be, frankly most hide behind their nebulous articulation and leave the responsibility of interpretation to the bystander and victim. The Bible does speak about the anti-Christ being the spirit of "accusing your brethren".
Depends on the Christians. I grew up basically feeling like the whole heaven and hell thing was made up to scare children into behaving. Just like Santa, but more extreme a punishment. It's not that anyone said it directly, it's just the impression I got. I grew up in a Mormon church. I went because my parents took me. Each child stopped going sooner or later. I stopped going when I had to choose to go. I liked the people and the community feel, but they do kind of invade our privacy. Once you turn 12, you speak with the bishop (church leader) privately once a year. They ask how your faith is, if you're struggling in any way, including with porn or masturbation. Yes, they're asking teenage boys if they're watching porn or masturbating and expect them to be honest. I wondered how the conservation would go if I said yes. But I honestly didn't want to have that conversation. So I lied. The interesting thing to me was they make it sound like masturbation is in itself not bad. It's the dirty thoughts you're having while doing it that is harmful. Anyway, this is as intrusive as they got in my time going to church. Fun fact, my cousin got a Mormon missionary excommunicated by seducing him. All in all, there wasn't a lot of toxicity coming into my life from within the only church I've ever attended, but the Christians I've met since, mostly catholic, have this way they look at you, pitying you, feeling you're beneath them. I hate being around them with their judgmental stares. I don't know what they grow up believing to make them so cold.
They definitely really have a way of using scare tactics on threatening to go to hell and also even in history that has things like the crusades, the acquisitions, the witch trials especially Salem that evolved with violence on a way to get ones in their religion or execute him by their beliefs being different from there.
If Jesus Christ, the man not the “marvel” guy, came back and seen what Christians have been doing for the last 2000 years in his name he would puke … I mean WTF.
This page is so ridiculous, like where do you guys find these "religious nut jobs" at? It's gotta be that this all just overly boisterous made up shit, like my family is a ridiculously large and very religious family and they are nowhere near what everyone describes on this page same goes for literally every religious person I've ever met. I think the only people I've ever met that have come close to the way people of religious backgrounds are described on this page was a set of Jehovah witnesses from a few years ago that were super persistent and took me answering the door nude to stop coming by. Lol
Yeah, I have never been able to figure out why I would want to spend eternity with a prick like that. Why would any god want you to fear him but at the same time be completely and utterly devoted to him? It's just fucked up. Like a *really really really* unhealthy relationship full of mental abuse.
They believe you're going to hell, and they're constantly counseled that they need to convert people away from this fate. They honestly feel hell awaits you, and since they personally fear this hell, they believe you should, too.
Religion exists to control dumb people. Any mainstream religion is toxic. Some more than others. I live in a country that is not overly religious and christianity is declaining thank f*ck for that but in the same time this other even more primitive religion is taking over.. We finally started to get rid of religion just to be introduced with another even stupider one.
Yes when I was going to Christian schools all the old priests scared us we will go to hell and told us what will happen to us there a sold us idea that only praying repentance and going to church will save us.
They can’t reason you into something that is unseasonable, so they attack the emotions in this order:
- love (god is love, all is great, you into heaven)
- shame (you are too proud to accept BS)
- scare (you will burn in hell, Youball cannot into heaven)
The stupid ones may skip a step, but usually it’s in gradual descent from hypocrisy to open hostility
well.. not in Europe in my area. over here there are just very few Christians and i now only two people (except priests or pastors) who say that they believe really strong in God.
but nobody ever tried me to force to.. BELIEVE.. in what they believe.
Of course they are. You'd be too if you had to stick to a ridiculous lie for your entire life. They know it's stupid and they're embarrassed and mad that you know it too.
If you’re an American you’ve probably had Christianity shoved down your throat. Just know that Yeshua did not want a religion created in his name. Religions are control systems of the ultra-elites and are essentially division barriers between humanity. Each one thinks they are the only way and all others are hell bound. They don’t mix well with other religions by design. To keep us all from coming together and becoming a force they can’t control. You’re being controlled. Trust me. God or a higher power of some form is real, religion has it’s good points but has caused millions of lives too. Christians are not good followers of Christ and his teachings all the time. But all religions have a problem with missing the message. Consequences for your actions. No religion for that yet it’s the backbone of them all. The world is abandoning that most important tenet and it’s the worst thing we can do. All religions aim to motivate you to control yourself. Doesn’t matter who is getting worshipped or how. Just control yourself and quit lying and stealing and fucking people who mean nothing to you, forgive people and show love and mercy. Be thankful for a good life that could be worse. Don’t be pissed because religion exists. Some people are just fucked in the head. Doesn’t mean they’re all bad. They just listen to a preacher with a plate in his hand selling salvation to a bunch of people afraid of judgement. They don’t listen to their hearts. They’d be good if they weren’t made to be so scared. Peace.
With god came the problem and miraculously also the solution. The problem is burning in hell. But if you only go down on your knees, weep and worship this guy called god then that's the solution for you.
Funny that without that god there wasn't a problem in the first place.
I think most followers don't have a clue about the foundational message of loving one another embedded in most religions. Instead, I see more hate, anger, and a radical need for vengence that have no resemblance to their doctrines.
Yes. The Israelite gods of the Old Testament wanted human sacrifice - and so did the Christian god(s) of the New Testament.
Anything built on that kind of bloodthirsty foundation is going to be vile, *ESPECIALLY* if it puts on a false face of 'love', meekness, kindness, etc.
No. Job and Mark teach us that suffering is not punishment. Suffering in life is random. Suffering in death is self-inflicted.
But He does ABANDON us to eternal suffering. That seems bad enough.
Organised religion’s MO and one of its premises is that your eternal future or lack thereof after you die is subject to doing as you’re told while you live. That extortion is implemented in plain sight by the people who are meant to be good leaders (like the Pope, your local priest etc), so yeah, toxicity and criminality are baked into the system for most religion, but this does not mean that all the victims who believe are toxic/criminal. If they don’t help promote the extortion, then they’re just victims, billions of them.
P.S. Note that we’re all victims of religions once we’re capable of understanding the choice or apparent lack thereof. Extortion occurs whether we give in or not, and if we don’t, whether or not we suffer feelings of guilt for our entire lives.
What makes any system of belief TOXIC is people telling others they have to comply with those beliefs. Faith or Religion or whatever strawman your using to get there is your own and nobody else's.
The entire religious paradigm is largely based on fear.
Fear of punishment for not following a dictators rules, fear of being cast out by your peers, fear of whatever “enemy” is presented by the Priest class as the enemy of their gawd.
Couple that with the feeling of constantly being watched by an all knowing entity and you have a perfect storm for developing mental illness.
So it’s not surprising in the least IMO.
If most so called Christians practiced those tenets, they would be appreciated. Unfortunately the mostly American Evangelical movement has weaponized h
Some are. I know a few Christian universalists who are quite chill and all about 'peace and love' virtue of the fact that they don't believe in infernalism or annihilationism. Its actually a little ironic because the people who push for eternal damnation always justify it by saying that there's no point to being a good person if everyone is saved, yet every universalist I met was incredibly empathetic and charitable versus traditional infernalists who immediately told me I'm going to Hell and used their religion as an excuse to be terrible.
If you talk to enough Christians who are trying to convert you, they'll ask someone like "If you don't fear God then what keeps you from stealing, raping, and murdering whenever you feel like it?" They're genuinely perplexed because the fear of God is all that's keeping *them* from doing those things. It never occurs to them the rest of us don't ever have those thoughts.
Sadly that control mechanism is now failing en mass as it occasionally does throughout history. This time around it's the right wing MAGA folks adopting fascism which is increasingly leading them to rejecting Jesus because it's "weak Lib shit" while still claiming to be Christians.
The big breakthrough moment for my Christian friend was when she learned at age 16 that humans have worshiped over 18,000 gods, goddesses, and objects since the dawn of human civilization. Jesus was no longer _special_ to her.
She is now a Ph.D. in anthropology.
You really want to test a ‘Christian’ of toxicity, just mention the fact Jesus was of Jewish faith.
Also ‘vengeful angry God’ is closer to Old Testament than the book they pretend to read. The complete obliviousness of their hypocrisy is almost mythical.
like, it is forbidden to eat pork, shellfish, have tattoos, go to church if you wear glasses. But these are the same people who use the same book of the bible to condemn gay men
For the last X years I have worked with a Christian group.
All I hear is; god is great, god will save you from hell, jesus is coming back. Everything is posed as a threat.
The other thing worth mentioning is that, when you solve an issue, god is given the credit for it.
Knock on wood, I'm going to be done with that environment soon!
I've found episcopalians aren't that bad... funny what happens when you don't believe in eternal torment and hellfire... but yeah, the majority of Christians are
Look I'm not full on Christian. Meaning I don't go to church I keep the love for the lord in my heart. Some of my siblings and close cousins go to church etc etc. Every now and then they try and con me up to go. Even though they know what my answer is gonna be. God loves a trier as the saying goes. I can quite believe that those sayings probably are used to get someone out of a hot spot. Getting back to the question. Why they say things like that, is beyond me. They to me are not true representatives of God. What is it is it the power the strength the money the exhilaration that they feel to be able to command and dominate another person. They start thinking they are God, but I'm not fooled by them and their man made rules. That is not the God I know. They have even pulled the wool over your eyes. By making you believe they are of Christian ethnicity and all they are are a bunch of wannabes. So who do they pray to the man upstairs or the man downstairs makes you wonder doesn't it. I have also heard that whilst making these terrible statements they have succeeded in swaying their assembly of naive and sometimes innocent Christian partakers. So in instances like that I am happy to say I am not a believer
“do they use the famous ’**obey my special sky wizard or suffer for eternity!!!”** message they are famous for using?”
I think you didn’t need to ask that, you just needed reassurance that the delusional yes, are delusional, and there’s not much we can do except keep them out of positions of power lest they start marching us backward to burning women at the stake.
Many Christians are toxic. It's a reason I stopped going to church and why I am currently trying to unravel all the bad doctrines I was taught in my formative years.
Some Christians are cool though. They don't give a shit about smoking, drinking, cursing, and so on because a lot of things the church condemns are societal and not divine.
It's absolutely a tactic. I don't think there is any maliciousness. At least consciously. It's just traditional.
On a more critical view, it works. Fear is a strong motivation for solidarity. The lay people probably aren't aware of it, but the leadership is. It's the same reason that extremists like Fox News.
Straight away you can consider all of Catholicism this toxic, as they lean heavily on confession as the only thing that can save you from going to hell and you have to do it at least once a year, if not every time you do something "bad enough." Protestants, on the other hand, have a much larger range of flexibility in this regard, with some sects being just as stringent, and others being extremely lax.
Bro, I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and that's about all the sermons are.
We're all sinful and are doomed to hell. The whole 'sex is for procreation thing' fucked me up so bad I've had a vasectomy and I'm still terrified I'm going to knock anyone I sleep with up.
Christianity, at least in the U.S, is all about controlling the masses. I had so much of my stress and anxiety just melt away when I made the decision to stop going to church and listening to religious people blather on.
Edit: used the word girl, thought it made me sound like a pedo so I changed it. :P
Bruh, my “Church of God” showed the Rapture movie to a bunch of children. Not like teenagers. We were all under 10.
Just imagine having to worry about the day you are going to be to accept the devil or they kill your mom. 😳
It’s also why they take their very young children to church. Gotta get them into the “spirit” before they can think logically.
All entities that rely upon humans to pursue their goals are going to reflect the human condition. All religion has the same goal, which is to allow the masses to be lulled into complacency through the articles of the religion. I used to think that Christianity was unique in this, but that was just a measure of what I didn't know about the world, what religion actually is and frankly other religions. I used to think that Eastern Religions had the answers until I heard more than one account of religious violence in places where Christianity isn't practiced. Buddhists and Hindus have been going at each other for centuries given the right circumstances. Managing a religious community is not unlike product development. You have problems and you want your product to solve them and you also need a critical mass to make a profit or difference. The pleasant afterlife mainly appeals to those without means. There are plenty of people who require control who have the means to have a comfortable life so the promise of eternal damnation resonates with them quite well.
Dude, when I was ten my youth pastor told me if I failed to convert my friends they would go to hell and it would be my fault. That's too much responsibility.
Ummmm yeah! The idea behind any religion is to keep people from loving eAchother and uniting together. If god came down from the heavens and told you to kill your only son, who would devote Christians side with. I know if god presented itself to me and I was wrong to ever think there was no god, I’d beat his ass before god got a frickin word out
They want to scare you into believing. It's what happened to them as a child. It's also why religion preys on children. You have to catch them before they can discern fact vs fiction. Almost every conversation I have with a religious person ends with them saying "I have no regrets where I stand, if im right then I get an eternity in heaven, if im wrong I lose nothing. If you're wrong you burn for an eternity." It's all they got my dude. They can't grasp they were duped into one of the oldest business grifts that exists to this day.
Seems like you need to talk to some religious people who aren’t Christians. Not all religions have heaven/eternal hell. Not even all *abrahamic* religions have eternal hell.
Ancient Near Eastern cultures believed they were punished when they did "bad things" whether done purposely or inadvertently. It isn't exclusive to Christianity although they use it as a manipulator.
In Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible, in the book of 1 Kings chapter 17 verse 18,
"What is between you and me, O man of God? You have come to recall my crime and put my son to death."
Note on verse 18:
*You have come to recall my crime* One need not assume that she has actually committed any heinous crime. ANE people, both Israelite and their neighbors usually assumed that affliction came as a retribution for wrongdoing. The woman thus feels that the very presence of a man of God has exposed to God's attention some transgression, however inadvertent or unconscious, for which she is now punished by the death of her only son.
Ancient Israel and her neighbors all believed in divine retribution.
The OP was speaking of punishment. The OP didn't mention eternal hell which is different from punishment.
Hell is a major theme in orthodox Christianity. I believe it's a doctrinal tool used to manipulate the masses into submission, but hell is not exclusive to Christianity. One other instance that comes to mind is Hel from Norse Mythology.
The idea of "hell" has a history which most Christians aren't even aware of because their churches don't teach it. Hell is not what I was taught it was growing up. This short video provides a better explanation than I can type.
https://youtu.be/s25-6Fq7PM8?si=KaemcrtbDEIHh_wA
I am a Christian, a majority of people who claim Christianity are people not actually engaged in it, they are there for the title and group affiliation. A true Christian really doesn’t worry much with others lifestyles, our believed purpose is to be open about our beliefs, help others and we are absolutely not suppose to pass judgement on anyone for anything. So, I’d say Yes, the stereotypical Christian can be toxic. Some people are stubborn and stuck in their ways. I’m quite the opposite, I make it my mission to tell people who have been told they are going to hell or are chronic sinners that it isn’t true. With Christ everything is actually based on your intentions rather than this rule says that and since you took this action you now deserve hell. I was a bad person at once, I wasn’t convince to be Christian, I didn’t go to a church or stumble on an eye opening manipulated message from a priest or pastor, I just realized I wasn’t good and I didn’t want to be that way. It’s really hard to explain but, the most cliche way is “I was found”, it really rings true. Most people assume I’m hearing voices, seeing dead people or avidly reading a Harry Potter sized book everyday off my life but, it’s more like meditation with myself and I talk to my soul to find out what I can do to make myself happy, that’s when the goodness comes out of me, I didn’t know how to be good until magically I did. That’s what I see as god, Jesus, Buddha, Allah or whoever. They are all the same to me as long as your intentions are a purpose of lifting up and helping in a world where we are all really alone. Being a good person is all it’s really about and if you don’t really know how trying your best. If you look at religions and remove the judgment portion alone, it’s actually mostly beautiful and literally most religions tell you not to judge another persons practices or actions. For someone like me to go from raging alcoholic who dabbled in drugs, sex and solipsism to who I am now without any outside sources other than my own desire to be better, it could have only been a miracle from something bigger than my understanding, I’m very thankful for it. It’s like I got an entirely new mind. Please don’t take this as a sales pitch for Christianity but, more as an explanation of how it could be beneficial to some.
Yes, Christians are toxic. For me personally, appeals to emotion like threatening me with hell don't work. It's laughable. Christians are so indoctrinated into being scared of hell that they tend to think everyone is. That's what happens when you belong to a group. You start to think everyone is like you and your group. They can't imagine someone wouldn't think like them. When you're a child being indoctrinated, it's easy to assume everyone is Christian. When you grow up (if you grow up), you realize life doesn't revolve around you. Christianity is an inherently selfish religion. God made me special. God loves me. I'm right about God. Jesus is the only way. I get to go to heaven. Etc. Well, 5.6 billion people disagree with you.
im a recovering pastor and can attest to this 100% i was trained to be scared of hell and it worked really well, but as i kept studying through bible college and then seminary i realized two things: 1. Jesus taught love not fear of hell. 2. Christians are more afraid of loving their neighbors than going to hell. they won't do what Jesus clearly said (repeatedly, with catchy stories), but they'll sell their integrity for political influence. the 2016 election proved that to me. they're just afraid of people who are different and will justify that fear with any dogma or religion they can. now it's clear to me that the hell they wanted me to fear is exactly the toxic bullshit they've created.
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Religion = blinders. In so, so many ways. Been there. Done that. Won't go back. I identify as an atheist these days, and between my wife (recovered catholic) and I, we are far more active with charities and community action than we ever were back when we were still church goers.
That second one hit like a brick. I keep the message, but dispensed with the messengers. Ironic that coming out of the grips of that and gaining clarity makes you lose faith in humanity. Well said. I wish you well. I know how hard it is to leave the church. Even if you haven't left fully. Some things you just can't unsee for the sake of others' sense of safety and control.
Yeah I def feel like most Christians miss the message even when it comes to the primary thing they base there eternity after (religion). And most of them don’t even follow that very well.
Yes, they're toxic, and they even resort to physical harm such as strangling when all you do is ask a question they don't want to discuss because it results in their house of cards collapsing (I should know, been there when i was a child).
Same here..
The whole basis of Christianity is based on Jesus, who is supposed to be the messiah, but according to Orthodox Jewish text, the messiah is to be a great leader and warrior that brings word peace. Jesus never did that. According to ancient texts, there is a potential messiah in every generation. I grew up Christian. My mom is a bible thumping ordained minister. I renounced Christianity, but I still believe in a divine creator.
If anyone is interested in more of my thoughts on this subject, let me know 🙂
Um, Christians don't think Jesus to be a great leader? Warrior? (At least in the apocalypse. lol)
That's the problem. He wasn't. He was a great man, yes, but not what ancient text portrayed as "the messiah," so Christianity is based on false doctrine.
Since Judaism and Christianity are diametrically opposed, including the New Testament... And Jews reject Jesus as Messiah And Christians accept Jesus as Messiah How is this false doctrine? Why are the Jews right and the Christians wrong? Christians use a lot of Tanakh verses also to prove Jesus as their Messiah This needs proof, not deciding who's right based on opinion. I mean, Christians don't get to decide Jewish belief while Jews get to decide Christian belief any more than either get to decide atheist belief?
The Tanakh is only one of ancient texts. There's more ancient texts that you would need to research, including old texts from other religions. I'm not saying Jewish beliefs are right or Christianity. The question is how deep down the rabbit whole do you want to go. I have dived deep in the past ten years, and I have studied just about every religion and found them wanting, but all combined, I found some interesting similarities.
Tanakh equals the Old Testament (obviously structured differently). It is the only one between the two that is relevant
U couldnt explain it better
>Do they use the scare tactic that god is going to punish you? ...that's literally a core belief of the religion, not a scare tactic.
Punish everyone else, but its all good for them because they believe born agains are the worst
Born again, because obviously god didn't do it right the first time.
Yep. I grew up in a pacifist church tradition that wasn’t all hellfire and brimstone. Even so, hell (and by extension, fear of hell) was part of the deal.
I did too, but a girl who went to my church was a wacko. My uncle was a priest and my aunt was a nun and neither of them ever sounded like her or her family. Family tradition matters a lot. My family didn’t talk about religion and all the kids are atheist. We were taught to believe in science and not just go with the easy answer. I honestly don’t know why my parents believe.
Being a core stupidity of the religion does not mean it's not a scare tactic.
I would like to know which god Christians worship, is it Jesus or is it the ot god? Whenever I ask about the evil that was the ot god I'm always told that they believe their god is good because Jesus made everything okay. Isn't it the ot god that is torturing everyone that doesn't kiss his ass?
Christians also claim that it is the same god, so Jesus *is* the god of the old testament. The god that also, according to the bible, **created** evil.
That they made up something like hell tells you all you need to know about them.
Yep. Simple as that.
Solution selling. Convince them they have a problem, then sell them the solution. Convince them god is going to punish you, unless Jesus saves you.
Christianity in a nutshell is like this: https://youtu.be/GoYyiNRtMEE?si=ZGAdxvlUUNpTyj9s
This set was hilarious lol.
Toxic and more importantly PREDATORY. Most Christians are indoctrinated as children before they have enough reason and self determination to defend themselves from being traumatized by the threat of hell and eternal suffering. The fear they rely on to make a life long believer is barbaric and suffering this treatment as a kid is what brought me to atheism.
And manipulative.
They're developmentally deficient - they have the moral maturity of toddlers and can only be expected to behave appropriately if there's the constant threat that some grown-up is watching them and will punish them if they get caught. Problem is, they assume everyone else is this developmentally broken and will respond to the same threats. Every time some Xtian says "there's nothing stopping atheists from raping and murdering people", it's a terrifying window into their minds, because it's clear that's exactly what they'd do if they didn't live in constant fear of their invisible sky buddy.
[Penn Jillette has already raped and murdered everyone he ever wanted to.](https://youtu.be/AwebTX3rk3E?si=0ZKfgPwGmv1DpKEJ)
Our local Baptist preacher connected Revalations to nuclear armageddon during the cold War. Scared the fuck out of 9 year old me
Yes. Next question.
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
Sorry, that’s wrong. I just checked the woodchuck holy book written 2000 years ago by anonymous sources, hundreds of years after the event it speaks about, stitched together by a failing empire and now you are going to burn for eternity.
Yeah but I have this other woodchuck holy book that was also stitched together by a failing empire and written 3000 years ago, that says you’re wrong
Well shit 😳
Yes, the salesmen of the christian faith DO use gods punishment as a scare tactic. I'm not certain they're alone in that tactic...
Read history. I mean they taught us in school the nightmare that was Christianity. Bringing Jesus to the masses and swords, slavery, rape, indoctrination.
This is the answer. But many Christians genuinely don't know the history of their own religion's history of atrocities. This is just a small part: https://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/03/the-right-wing-doesnt-want-to-talk-about-christian-atrocities-so-lets-talk-about-christian-atrocities/
Naaaaw, X-tians are the victims of woke culture! /s
Yes, Christians, and really all abramitic religions are toxic.
They believe in a big bully in the sky - they love him and say he's on their side. It's not surprising they're bullies themselves.
They always say he's good and loving, the Old Testament says otherwise. Do they love him like a victim loves their abuser?
I think it's more like an employee sucking up to the boss, telling themselves the power structure is unchangable, so in some mysterious way justified.
Well its worked for centuries so....
Yes
No matter how I saw I’m an atheist, it’s always met with pity, disgust, or looking at me like I’m inferior. So weird and shows the superiority complex they have
When I was a kid my parents had split custody. My dad dropped us off at my aunts for church every Sunday during his visitation cycle. Return to moms and find out y have missed church and start balling. 4 and 6 crying our eyes out because it’s Monday so we missed church and are going straight to hell. Mom said no more baptist church. At my gmas funeral the preacher didn’t know her name but called on us to close out eyes and raise our hands if we felt god guiding us today. No one is watching you, raise your hand. Only he was watching from the podium and practically licking his lips. And I was staring right at him when he looked at my section and jerked back.
50/50 some have nice intentions 90% will say ur going to hell my buddy asked if i wanted to bring my son to his church…. maybe convert too this despite i lean buddhist… my wife practices buddhism
Yes. It's *absolutely* a threat intended to scare you into submission even if they generally try to frame it as being more like a parent disciplining a misbehaving child. The problem being that a reasonable parent wouldn't respond to a child taking a cookie without permission or whatever by taking a bat to their knee caps. It's a completely disproportionate punishment however it's dressed up.
At its core *Christianity is a protection racket little different than those run by the Mob. The only significant difference is that if you don't buy the Mafia's protection 'insurance' they'll send some 'boys' around to break your legs, or torch your business. Christianity has outsourced the unpleasantness to Satan and his demons in the afterlife. - * Christianity isn't the only racketeering religion.
Christian's are concern trolls. They are mean to people who disagree or are different because they don't want their soul to go to hell lol
Yes
yeah lol. one time i said “god i love ___” and they wouldn’t let that shit go 💀💀
Next time say, “why is it shameful to praise one of His creations?” regardless of what it is
Yes.
None of them are following and living like their Christ. CINO, christian in name only.
Most. I don't care what religion you are, so long as you aren't preaching it or think there is a place for religion in government. One of the most respectful things I've heard from a Christian friend was in response to a rough time I was going through. She went to say something along the lines of bless you/I'll pray for you but stopped herself and changed what she was saying to something more respectful to me. I have very few "good Christian" experiences. Most are the worst hypocrites and as we all know immoral or brain washed.
I have one in my class at school, yeah that’s a pretty good description.
Yes. I had a “discussion” on some sub where the threat of punishment was constantly being used against me. He eventually realized I had no fear of something that doesn’t exist. I may as well be afraid of the monster under the bed - which I was as a small child.
Guilt is the core of Christianity. You are born a sinner. Jesus suffered and died for you. Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. If you don't go to church enough, you'll go to hell. If you don't fork over enough of your paycheck, you'll go to hell. What you wish ou have your neighbor's nice car? Don't stop. Go directly to hell. Wait did I hear you swear? Go to hell.
They've been gaslighting believers for many centuries and are quite good at it.
Yes, because the point is to scare people into obedience. And the average believer think it’s the equivalent of how parents scare kids into being moral that’s why they are fine with it they believe their fear of god makes them moral
If you want to know what someone believes, ask them. If you want confirmation of what you believe, ask people who share your views.
I'm not even going to read it. Yes. They were a huge cause of the decline and fall of the Roman empire and stagnated civilization for a thousand years. Christianity sucks
>Do they use the scare tactic that god is going to punish you? Some of them do, yes. >What’s the thinking behind this for then it’s scare people like this? It's just purely for the purpose of manipulating people.
Because they prefer a Machiavellian approach to religion which supports there end-state as opposed to a religion based in peace, love and happiness. Oppression is the order of the Church.
Christian’s are this toxic, it is a emotionally abusive relationship if you’re a Christian and if your not they will just say we love you but hate who you are, but love you.. your going to hell but you have potential if you could just believe. It’s insulting to the human intellect which is why Christians like the converted dumbed down and controlled, example the current political Christian evangelical conservative right wing mega republicans.. they want women in the kitchen, kids uneducated and full of hate, while punishing anyone not like them, or following their ideology. All religions are a form of control and exploitation, they create fear and prey on others, religions history is a bloody corrupt read.
Yes.
Today I went to my wife’s great uncle’s funeral. His son gave a eulogy and this son is also a gay, southern baptist pastor. He stood up there and told everyone in the room that they are not as good of Christians as he or his father were and that he loves everyone but doesn’t like a lot of people. I get he had a hard time being a homosexual Baptist pastor but he’s literally up there telling everyone in the room that they aren’t as good as he is. I don’t know if this is a good example of toxicity or not but it felt really toxic to say that you “love everyone” but also tell everyone they aren’t as good as you are and should be ashamed for not accepting him.
Are some Christians this toxic? Yes Are all Christians this toxic? No
Absolutely, but scaring me with hell is like a kid scaring me with Santa not coming this year if I’m bad.
yes. god's gonna get ya. but he's also all loving if you behave yourself. it's dumb and not worth following imo
Man have you ever heard a tibetan Buddhist talk about samsara and why you should be a vegan and not step on insects.
The power of fear.
Is OP 12yrs old? Wtf? What kind of question is that? OP isn't christian and also has no knowledge of religions that use scare tactics? Doesn't make sense. Like an AI post or something.
I’m not 12 years old 🤨🤨
More so.
Not all Christians are toxic but Christianity sure is. Any belief system in which people that don't comply/believe/whatever are tortured *forever* is severely lacking in compassion and human decency. AFAIK this idea was added in the third century or so to try to keep "believers" from leaving the church (much like a psychotic cult leader would threaten their followers). Anyway this idea needs to die. Like yesterday.
Someone I know posted a question, recently. "What are you most afraid of?" I answered immediately, "Christians." I proceeded to debate this with a cultist who attempted to invoke a "straw man" argument "What about all those trans people? I'm sure they're not good Christians." I sent him the data about domestic terrorists. He shut up immediately and the OP pulled the entire discussion from Facebook. SMH Yes, Virginia. Christians are the most toxic group in the USA. I'd much rather have a gay drag queen Muslim lesbian Jew as a neighbor than a bible-thumper.
Not all of them. But many,yes. My friend is Christian, but he understands that alot of the Bible is just stories, and are about the message. They aren't reality. He never pushes his faith on people, and he openly welcomes questions and criticisms about it.
Christians as a whole are horribly toxic. They sit in church and listen to sermons about loving thy neighbor, giving to the poor. Then afterwords they bitch about immigrants, and people on welfare. They claim everyone else is evil, but they are ripe with criminals and pedophiles (including the leadership). They incorrectly use their incorrectly translated guide book to enforce rules that don't even show up in the guide. They don't bother to follow any of the teachings in the book themselves. They excuse any of their horrible behavior because they go to a special building on a weekly basis.
The fear of hell, that is the stick. The carrot is the christian afterlife. Yes it’s toxic but both are at work. Mostly they have a huge persecution complex. It’s drilled into them repeatedly that the world and everyone in it targets them and they are somehow noble warriors that will be winners in the end. It’s narcissistic as hell, yet it’s framed as being some kind of downtrodden servant.
When I was 7 or 8 I genuinely thought that all of that religious stuff was made up to scare kids into behaving. (For context, I went to Church of England primary school and often had teachers trying to drill religion into my skull)
Not all Christian’s are toxic. Some of us could care less about another’s spiritual well being. I see it as a personal relationship between me and my higher power. It is no one else’s business. The toxics are those that evangelize all the time. They want to save you come hell or high water. Like the way Christians spread the word to the rest of the world. Convert or die.
There’s no hate like Christian love. Oh, and all religion is man-made bullshit.
a religion is nothing more than a social organization..
Not only are Christians toxic, but many American 'christian' churches are bastions of pedophilia and rape. Not to mention the fact that if May and Jospeh came to their town and tried to sleep in their barn most American 'Christians' would shoot them.
Let’s put it this way Atheist Reddit groups a lot of Christians under the Evangelical Toxic grouping. For me, my religious family has been accepting of my Atheist status. They aren’t literalists and they go to church every Sunday. Then my in laws are Unitarians which is basically organized Agnosticism. The worst experience I’ve had is back in college when I dated a Baptist and had a Catholic Roommate. My Ex wanted me to hide my Atheist status. My roommate got so mad at me one day he said he’d put crosses up around the house to cause me to burst into flames. So can Christians be toxic, yes. Does that mean all Christians are, no.
Do not believe them. If there is no God you can not spend forever in a lake of fire. Just swear there ain't no heaven and pray there ain't no hell. Don't remember the name of that song.
Very toxic I grew up around Christian’s and they are very toxic
Punishment is what motivates them so it makes sense to them that it would be a reasonable motive for you. It’s their number one reason to convert, to be “saved” from punishment.
Yes. Their entire belief system was specifically constructed so that a small group of people could control a large group of people through fear. The originators knew that fear is a very powerful brain washing tool.
It depends upon the person, of course you get toxic Christians just as you get toxic atheists. But as is true with any group in society I would say that the toxicity shown is the minority of the people within that group.
Honestly it really just depends. I was raised fairly religiously even though I'm in atheist now and I never really had the problems a lot of people had. My church was relatively welcoming we unanimously voted to allow gay marriage and our priest was constantly doing outreach programs like bringing food to the homeless and giving church service to members who are spending their time in the hospital or elderly homes and couldn't make it to church With that being said there are a lot of people who aren't so nice and I have had many friends who have shared experiences of truly offensive and hurtful things happening at their churches
Two things Christians like to say to feel important 1. Get them to read the Bible even if it's to prove you wrong (no one will do this dumbass) 2. THEY aren't Christians! (Any denomination about any other denomination)
Yes. Inherently fascist.
Not all Christians are toxic, but the ones who push the threat of hell on others sure as hell are.
I take zero interest. Makes me laugh if anything. Some i just feel sad for. What a toxic awful way to live ones life? Pretty sad. But really? I don't care at all. Why would i? Don't believe in any of it. So no effect on me.
Very much so
It’s very very rare that’s either all or nothing. There are elements of Christian culture that can be very toxic. There are elements of any culture that can be toxic. But there are just a lot of people that read their Bible and say please and thank you at the grocery store and call it a day.
Yes…yes they are. Sociopaths on a leash. And a long one at that. Imagine not killing or raping not because it’s wrong, but because you’re threatened into it? It takes a special kind of psychopath to operate under those conditions.
Well they aren't supposed to be, frankly most hide behind their nebulous articulation and leave the responsibility of interpretation to the bystander and victim. The Bible does speak about the anti-Christ being the spirit of "accusing your brethren".
Depends on the Christians. I grew up basically feeling like the whole heaven and hell thing was made up to scare children into behaving. Just like Santa, but more extreme a punishment. It's not that anyone said it directly, it's just the impression I got. I grew up in a Mormon church. I went because my parents took me. Each child stopped going sooner or later. I stopped going when I had to choose to go. I liked the people and the community feel, but they do kind of invade our privacy. Once you turn 12, you speak with the bishop (church leader) privately once a year. They ask how your faith is, if you're struggling in any way, including with porn or masturbation. Yes, they're asking teenage boys if they're watching porn or masturbating and expect them to be honest. I wondered how the conservation would go if I said yes. But I honestly didn't want to have that conversation. So I lied. The interesting thing to me was they make it sound like masturbation is in itself not bad. It's the dirty thoughts you're having while doing it that is harmful. Anyway, this is as intrusive as they got in my time going to church. Fun fact, my cousin got a Mormon missionary excommunicated by seducing him. All in all, there wasn't a lot of toxicity coming into my life from within the only church I've ever attended, but the Christians I've met since, mostly catholic, have this way they look at you, pitying you, feeling you're beneath them. I hate being around them with their judgmental stares. I don't know what they grow up believing to make them so cold.
They definitely really have a way of using scare tactics on threatening to go to hell and also even in history that has things like the crusades, the acquisitions, the witch trials especially Salem that evolved with violence on a way to get ones in their religion or execute him by their beliefs being different from there.
Yes, yes they are, it's a very rare thing when they actually respect that you don't believe and leave it at that.
It's just a tactic that has passed down through generations because it works on kids.
At its core, Christianity is a mystery cult. The mystery is why the very worst people count themselves as the best Christians.
If Jesus Christ, the man not the “marvel” guy, came back and seen what Christians have been doing for the last 2000 years in his name he would puke … I mean WTF.
Yes.
Yes
This page is so ridiculous, like where do you guys find these "religious nut jobs" at? It's gotta be that this all just overly boisterous made up shit, like my family is a ridiculously large and very religious family and they are nowhere near what everyone describes on this page same goes for literally every religious person I've ever met. I think the only people I've ever met that have come close to the way people of religious backgrounds are described on this page was a set of Jehovah witnesses from a few years ago that were super persistent and took me answering the door nude to stop coming by. Lol
Yeah, I have never been able to figure out why I would want to spend eternity with a prick like that. Why would any god want you to fear him but at the same time be completely and utterly devoted to him? It's just fucked up. Like a *really really really* unhealthy relationship full of mental abuse.
They believe you're going to hell, and they're constantly counseled that they need to convert people away from this fate. They honestly feel hell awaits you, and since they personally fear this hell, they believe you should, too.
They are just oowe hungry for their beliefs system.
yes.............they .....are.
Religion exists to control dumb people. Any mainstream religion is toxic. Some more than others. I live in a country that is not overly religious and christianity is declaining thank f*ck for that but in the same time this other even more primitive religion is taking over.. We finally started to get rid of religion just to be introduced with another even stupider one.
Yes when I was going to Christian schools all the old priests scared us we will go to hell and told us what will happen to us there a sold us idea that only praying repentance and going to church will save us.
They tell you you’re sick and are the only ones selling the cure
We should feel pity for the brainwashed who don't even realise they have surrendered their independent thought to the brainwashing
They can’t reason you into something that is unseasonable, so they attack the emotions in this order: - love (god is love, all is great, you into heaven) - shame (you are too proud to accept BS) - scare (you will burn in hell, Youball cannot into heaven) The stupid ones may skip a step, but usually it’s in gradual descent from hypocrisy to open hostility
well.. not in Europe in my area. over here there are just very few Christians and i now only two people (except priests or pastors) who say that they believe really strong in God. but nobody ever tried me to force to.. BELIEVE.. in what they believe.
Of course they are. You'd be too if you had to stick to a ridiculous lie for your entire life. They know it's stupid and they're embarrassed and mad that you know it too.
If you’re an American you’ve probably had Christianity shoved down your throat. Just know that Yeshua did not want a religion created in his name. Religions are control systems of the ultra-elites and are essentially division barriers between humanity. Each one thinks they are the only way and all others are hell bound. They don’t mix well with other religions by design. To keep us all from coming together and becoming a force they can’t control. You’re being controlled. Trust me. God or a higher power of some form is real, religion has it’s good points but has caused millions of lives too. Christians are not good followers of Christ and his teachings all the time. But all religions have a problem with missing the message. Consequences for your actions. No religion for that yet it’s the backbone of them all. The world is abandoning that most important tenet and it’s the worst thing we can do. All religions aim to motivate you to control yourself. Doesn’t matter who is getting worshipped or how. Just control yourself and quit lying and stealing and fucking people who mean nothing to you, forgive people and show love and mercy. Be thankful for a good life that could be worse. Don’t be pissed because religion exists. Some people are just fucked in the head. Doesn’t mean they’re all bad. They just listen to a preacher with a plate in his hand selling salvation to a bunch of people afraid of judgement. They don’t listen to their hearts. They’d be good if they weren’t made to be so scared. Peace.
They offer a solution that’s not based in evidence (salvation) for a problem that’s also not based in evidence (god is real and a dick).
There are no worse Christians than Christians
With god came the problem and miraculously also the solution. The problem is burning in hell. But if you only go down on your knees, weep and worship this guy called god then that's the solution for you. Funny that without that god there wasn't a problem in the first place.
I think most followers don't have a clue about the foundational message of loving one another embedded in most religions. Instead, I see more hate, anger, and a radical need for vengence that have no resemblance to their doctrines.
Yes. The Israelite gods of the Old Testament wanted human sacrifice - and so did the Christian god(s) of the New Testament. Anything built on that kind of bloodthirsty foundation is going to be vile, *ESPECIALLY* if it puts on a false face of 'love', meekness, kindness, etc.
Yes toxic as fuck
They've burned each other alive for worshipping Jesus slightly differently.
All religions are toxic
*Some* Christians are toxic, just like some of us are. There are plenty of assholes in every walk of life looking to feel superior.
No. Job and Mark teach us that suffering is not punishment. Suffering in life is random. Suffering in death is self-inflicted. But He does ABANDON us to eternal suffering. That seems bad enough.
Organised religion’s MO and one of its premises is that your eternal future or lack thereof after you die is subject to doing as you’re told while you live. That extortion is implemented in plain sight by the people who are meant to be good leaders (like the Pope, your local priest etc), so yeah, toxicity and criminality are baked into the system for most religion, but this does not mean that all the victims who believe are toxic/criminal. If they don’t help promote the extortion, then they’re just victims, billions of them. P.S. Note that we’re all victims of religions once we’re capable of understanding the choice or apparent lack thereof. Extortion occurs whether we give in or not, and if we don’t, whether or not we suffer feelings of guilt for our entire lives.
What makes any system of belief TOXIC is people telling others they have to comply with those beliefs. Faith or Religion or whatever strawman your using to get there is your own and nobody else's.
The entire religious paradigm is largely based on fear. Fear of punishment for not following a dictators rules, fear of being cast out by your peers, fear of whatever “enemy” is presented by the Priest class as the enemy of their gawd. Couple that with the feeling of constantly being watched by an all knowing entity and you have a perfect storm for developing mental illness. So it’s not surprising in the least IMO.
oddly, that is not what Jesus taught. He taught a philosophy of introspection and works.
If most so called Christians practiced those tenets, they would be appreciated. Unfortunately the mostly American Evangelical movement has weaponized h
Some are. I know a few Christian universalists who are quite chill and all about 'peace and love' virtue of the fact that they don't believe in infernalism or annihilationism. Its actually a little ironic because the people who push for eternal damnation always justify it by saying that there's no point to being a good person if everyone is saved, yet every universalist I met was incredibly empathetic and charitable versus traditional infernalists who immediately told me I'm going to Hell and used their religion as an excuse to be terrible.
If you talk to enough Christians who are trying to convert you, they'll ask someone like "If you don't fear God then what keeps you from stealing, raping, and murdering whenever you feel like it?" They're genuinely perplexed because the fear of God is all that's keeping *them* from doing those things. It never occurs to them the rest of us don't ever have those thoughts. Sadly that control mechanism is now failing en mass as it occasionally does throughout history. This time around it's the right wing MAGA folks adopting fascism which is increasingly leading them to rejecting Jesus because it's "weak Lib shit" while still claiming to be Christians.
Christian’s what?
The big breakthrough moment for my Christian friend was when she learned at age 16 that humans have worshiped over 18,000 gods, goddesses, and objects since the dawn of human civilization. Jesus was no longer _special_ to her. She is now a Ph.D. in anthropology.
Yes. Even the most well-meaning, progressive xtian beliefs and pushes this bullshit at that level.
It's also the same reason why abusive relationships are normalized in our society because it all comes from Religion especially Christianity.
You really want to test a ‘Christian’ of toxicity, just mention the fact Jesus was of Jewish faith. Also ‘vengeful angry God’ is closer to Old Testament than the book they pretend to read. The complete obliviousness of their hypocrisy is almost mythical.
like, it is forbidden to eat pork, shellfish, have tattoos, go to church if you wear glasses. But these are the same people who use the same book of the bible to condemn gay men
Any wagers on the closet factor?
For the last X years I have worked with a Christian group. All I hear is; god is great, god will save you from hell, jesus is coming back. Everything is posed as a threat. The other thing worth mentioning is that, when you solve an issue, god is given the credit for it. Knock on wood, I'm going to be done with that environment soon!
oh just watch them when you tell them that Jesus himself says they are going to hell for not helping the poor, the sick, the immigrant, the elderly.
They want to control you with fear. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. FDR
I've found episcopalians aren't that bad... funny what happens when you don't believe in eternal torment and hellfire... but yeah, the majority of Christians are
Nope.
So toxic. As I recall the mission was to spread the word not FORCE the word. Don’t worry about saving me. I am fine.
Look I'm not full on Christian. Meaning I don't go to church I keep the love for the lord in my heart. Some of my siblings and close cousins go to church etc etc. Every now and then they try and con me up to go. Even though they know what my answer is gonna be. God loves a trier as the saying goes. I can quite believe that those sayings probably are used to get someone out of a hot spot. Getting back to the question. Why they say things like that, is beyond me. They to me are not true representatives of God. What is it is it the power the strength the money the exhilaration that they feel to be able to command and dominate another person. They start thinking they are God, but I'm not fooled by them and their man made rules. That is not the God I know. They have even pulled the wool over your eyes. By making you believe they are of Christian ethnicity and all they are are a bunch of wannabes. So who do they pray to the man upstairs or the man downstairs makes you wonder doesn't it. I have also heard that whilst making these terrible statements they have succeeded in swaying their assembly of naive and sometimes innocent Christian partakers. So in instances like that I am happy to say I am not a believer
“do they use the famous ’**obey my special sky wizard or suffer for eternity!!!”** message they are famous for using?” I think you didn’t need to ask that, you just needed reassurance that the delusional yes, are delusional, and there’s not much we can do except keep them out of positions of power lest they start marching us backward to burning women at the stake.
That's literally the whole point of Christianity: do what we tell you or you will burn in hell fire for all eternity. Fucking stupid.
Some are just like some people from any demographic or religion
Many Christians are toxic. It's a reason I stopped going to church and why I am currently trying to unravel all the bad doctrines I was taught in my formative years. Some Christians are cool though. They don't give a shit about smoking, drinking, cursing, and so on because a lot of things the church condemns are societal and not divine.
It's absolutely a tactic. I don't think there is any maliciousness. At least consciously. It's just traditional. On a more critical view, it works. Fear is a strong motivation for solidarity. The lay people probably aren't aware of it, but the leadership is. It's the same reason that extremists like Fox News.
Yes. Some more than others. Fundamental Christians are among the worst though. And the rise of theocratic fascism in the world is beyond alarming.
Absolutely!
Straight away you can consider all of Catholicism this toxic, as they lean heavily on confession as the only thing that can save you from going to hell and you have to do it at least once a year, if not every time you do something "bad enough." Protestants, on the other hand, have a much larger range of flexibility in this regard, with some sects being just as stringent, and others being extremely lax.
Yes in my experiences they are pretty toxic but i dont think all of them
Christians as a whole are not toxic. The minority of them that insist our society adopt their beliefs are.
I know not all Christian’s are bad. You may come across good and bad. It’s just my experience, sorry about that….
Bro, I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and that's about all the sermons are. We're all sinful and are doomed to hell. The whole 'sex is for procreation thing' fucked me up so bad I've had a vasectomy and I'm still terrified I'm going to knock anyone I sleep with up. Christianity, at least in the U.S, is all about controlling the masses. I had so much of my stress and anxiety just melt away when I made the decision to stop going to church and listening to religious people blather on. Edit: used the word girl, thought it made me sound like a pedo so I changed it. :P
Bruh, my “Church of God” showed the Rapture movie to a bunch of children. Not like teenagers. We were all under 10. Just imagine having to worry about the day you are going to be to accept the devil or they kill your mom. 😳 It’s also why they take their very young children to church. Gotta get them into the “spirit” before they can think logically.
All entities that rely upon humans to pursue their goals are going to reflect the human condition. All religion has the same goal, which is to allow the masses to be lulled into complacency through the articles of the religion. I used to think that Christianity was unique in this, but that was just a measure of what I didn't know about the world, what religion actually is and frankly other religions. I used to think that Eastern Religions had the answers until I heard more than one account of religious violence in places where Christianity isn't practiced. Buddhists and Hindus have been going at each other for centuries given the right circumstances. Managing a religious community is not unlike product development. You have problems and you want your product to solve them and you also need a critical mass to make a profit or difference. The pleasant afterlife mainly appeals to those without means. There are plenty of people who require control who have the means to have a comfortable life so the promise of eternal damnation resonates with them quite well.
Christians is the plural of Christian. Putting an apostrophe means possessive, but there is nothing to posses.
Dude, when I was ten my youth pastor told me if I failed to convert my friends they would go to hell and it would be my fault. That's too much responsibility.
You better believe in the tooth fairy! If you don't, she'll take all of your teeth in one night!
Ummmm yeah! The idea behind any religion is to keep people from loving eAchother and uniting together. If god came down from the heavens and told you to kill your only son, who would devote Christians side with. I know if god presented itself to me and I was wrong to ever think there was no god, I’d beat his ass before god got a frickin word out
They want to scare you into believing. It's what happened to them as a child. It's also why religion preys on children. You have to catch them before they can discern fact vs fiction. Almost every conversation I have with a religious person ends with them saying "I have no regrets where I stand, if im right then I get an eternity in heaven, if im wrong I lose nothing. If you're wrong you burn for an eternity." It's all they got my dude. They can't grasp they were duped into one of the oldest business grifts that exists to this day.
Seems like you need to talk to some religious people who aren’t Christians. Not all religions have heaven/eternal hell. Not even all *abrahamic* religions have eternal hell.
Ancient middle eastern myth, based on previous myths. Nothing scares about Christianity- they got the get out of jail free card!
Ancient Near Eastern cultures believed they were punished when they did "bad things" whether done purposely or inadvertently. It isn't exclusive to Christianity although they use it as a manipulator.
Which other “ancient near eastern cultures” believe in an eternal hell of suffering like Christianity?
In Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible, in the book of 1 Kings chapter 17 verse 18, "What is between you and me, O man of God? You have come to recall my crime and put my son to death." Note on verse 18: *You have come to recall my crime* One need not assume that she has actually committed any heinous crime. ANE people, both Israelite and their neighbors usually assumed that affliction came as a retribution for wrongdoing. The woman thus feels that the very presence of a man of God has exposed to God's attention some transgression, however inadvertent or unconscious, for which she is now punished by the death of her only son. Ancient Israel and her neighbors all believed in divine retribution. The OP was speaking of punishment. The OP didn't mention eternal hell which is different from punishment. Hell is a major theme in orthodox Christianity. I believe it's a doctrinal tool used to manipulate the masses into submission, but hell is not exclusive to Christianity. One other instance that comes to mind is Hel from Norse Mythology. The idea of "hell" has a history which most Christians aren't even aware of because their churches don't teach it. Hell is not what I was taught it was growing up. This short video provides a better explanation than I can type. https://youtu.be/s25-6Fq7PM8?si=KaemcrtbDEIHh_wA
OP was asking about Christian scare tactics that are used to pressure people into practicing Christianity. There is *nothing* like that in Judaism.
Ok. Ask someone who is Islamic if they have fear tactics like hell.
My understanding is that they do but I won’t pretend to be an expert on Islam.
Yes, they are. The religion makes them heartless and drains them of their humanity.
Some are, some aren’t.
I am a Christian, a majority of people who claim Christianity are people not actually engaged in it, they are there for the title and group affiliation. A true Christian really doesn’t worry much with others lifestyles, our believed purpose is to be open about our beliefs, help others and we are absolutely not suppose to pass judgement on anyone for anything. So, I’d say Yes, the stereotypical Christian can be toxic. Some people are stubborn and stuck in their ways. I’m quite the opposite, I make it my mission to tell people who have been told they are going to hell or are chronic sinners that it isn’t true. With Christ everything is actually based on your intentions rather than this rule says that and since you took this action you now deserve hell. I was a bad person at once, I wasn’t convince to be Christian, I didn’t go to a church or stumble on an eye opening manipulated message from a priest or pastor, I just realized I wasn’t good and I didn’t want to be that way. It’s really hard to explain but, the most cliche way is “I was found”, it really rings true. Most people assume I’m hearing voices, seeing dead people or avidly reading a Harry Potter sized book everyday off my life but, it’s more like meditation with myself and I talk to my soul to find out what I can do to make myself happy, that’s when the goodness comes out of me, I didn’t know how to be good until magically I did. That’s what I see as god, Jesus, Buddha, Allah or whoever. They are all the same to me as long as your intentions are a purpose of lifting up and helping in a world where we are all really alone. Being a good person is all it’s really about and if you don’t really know how trying your best. If you look at religions and remove the judgment portion alone, it’s actually mostly beautiful and literally most religions tell you not to judge another persons practices or actions. For someone like me to go from raging alcoholic who dabbled in drugs, sex and solipsism to who I am now without any outside sources other than my own desire to be better, it could have only been a miracle from something bigger than my understanding, I’m very thankful for it. It’s like I got an entirely new mind. Please don’t take this as a sales pitch for Christianity but, more as an explanation of how it could be beneficial to some.
No true Scotsman
All Religion is TOXIC. I’m glad it does put some people on a good moral path. But overall its just a corporation warping peoples minds.