this exactly describes my childhood view of religion
I tried so hard to hear God. When I finally talked to my pastor about my doubts he said that reading the Bible would help. Reading the Bible made me doubt even more.
Did you attempt to analyse the Bible in a logical way though? I don’t believe in it personally, but someone I know is very adamant about being a Christian and thinks that the Bible essentially proves itself to be true.
The Bible is generally quite boring to read from cover to cover. A big part of the reason for this is that large sections of the Bible just tell you long family trees. The old testament also includes a lot of prophecies about Jesus and essentially what is supposed to happen in the new testament (if Jesus was really the messiah). Sections of the Bible like this aren’t necessarily supposed to excite you that much, but if you think of the Bible as one compiled historical document, you can check its internal consistencies and think about where information might be missing.
As an example, Jesus’ betrayer (who it wasn’t said in the old testament would specifically be Judas), was predicted to get 30 silver pieces for betraying him. This was a quite specific prediction, especially if you knew he would be dealing with Roman currency. It’s a bit like if we made up a new religion now and said that our messiah would appear in America and the betrayer would get $500. If that actually happened, it would be some evidence for our religion (or Christianity).
Of course we could say that 30 pieces of actual silver would have similar values across most (silver-backed) currency, which is unlike basically every world currency today. That might have been a reasonable prediction for what you would get for sending a criminal to be executed anyway. Also, we don’t really know if Judas actually got 30 silver pieces if we’re not gonna totally trust the Bible.
If you haven’t checked out any of the “cross-referencing” of the Bible and just think it’s an airy fairy thing about there being a God who performed miracles, then you’re denying the Bible from a lot less logical of a position than the Christian I know who is always banging on about this stuff to me to try and convert me.
As a side note, I believe there are a limited number of other historical sources relating to the time period of the Bible, although most of these would either be quite irrelevant or they would be deemed Satanic by Christians.
If I was writing a fanfic sequel to the old testament I would call it the new testament and say that Judas was paid 30 silver.
I could write whatever I want. Most people back then couldn’t read, and these stories had been passed down for generations by word of mouth.
All the animals of the earth can’t fit on a wooden boat. There isn’t enough water to flood the planet. Mankind isn’t descended from two people. You can discredit the bible from early on, unless you just “because magic” it.
regarding the bible, an interesting presentation from a biblical scholar and former believer https://youtu.be/pfheSAcCsrE
Wasn’t raised Christian, but had a similar experience. But I definitely believed in God, heaven, etc, because they seemed like facts of life. I just thought there must be more to it.
Anyway, precisely because I took these metaphysics seriously and at face value, and because I wanted to know more, I kept digging. And as any seeker of truth knows: if you keep digging at a lie, you will reach the bottom in short order.
I only had to wait long enough for my youthful incredulousness to fall away. What a waste of time… I couldn’t been studying music theory or something…
I clearly remember the moment when I realized that other people (other than weird fundies) were taking it seriously. I’m not sure what I had thought was going on, my best guess is that I thought praying and going to church was just a weird thing we were all supposed to do out of politeness, like not putting our elbows on the table.
I had the same thing when I was younger! In my head, it was like a thing people do just for tradition(or something?) that everyone knows isn’t real, but we play along for fun. Like when you knock on wood or wish on a star. Or when adults talk about what “Santa” brought them (and I don’t mean the people that genuinely believe in that shit). I dunno I had the concept well developed in my head like it was all some sort of metaphor and then my mind was blown when I learnt people actually think jesus was a real life wizard
I remember being confused about how I was supposed to distinguish between my own thoughts and god 🙃
I thought imaginary friends were just something in the movies. Kids actually have them?
When we were kids, my sister (4 years old at the time) had a friend named Jennifer who “lived down the street” none of us had ever met. She went to play with Jennifer every day for hours on end. We moved to a new town and my sister again disappeared for several hours. When she came home she said she had been playing with Jennifer because Jennifer had moved too. Sister later confirms that Jennifer was an imaginary friend, but has no idea where she was going every day or what she was doing. Now my parents are so much more worried about where the grandkids are when they visit. My sisters and I tease them about where the concern was when we were growing up.
This convinces me further that imaginary friends are only supernatural if real at all
I don’t remember having imaginary friends but my aunt and grandma have always told me the story of how I was sitting upset one and time and they asked me what happened and I told them there was an older lady scolding me. From what I described to them they were convinced it was my deceased great grandma that had been giving me shit for something or other. Apparently she was a bit of a grouch and had died in that house. House was also super haunted in other ways from what they say.
I blame the aphantasia, a lotta y’all’s weirdness made a lot more sense once I learned you can just make up pictures in your head
Its kind of like considering blindness as someone who can see. It feels like removing a vital part of the human experience to someone who has come to rely on the ability.
Welcome to being autistic. Except it has nothing to do with imaginary friends and everything to do with culture.
As a French, it’s not in our culture these “imaginary friends”. Kids don’t have them (at least I don’t know anyone that used to have one), we don’t speak about it, we don’t have stories and fairy tales about them…
I think it’s an American thing. The new movie “IF” is uncanny for me - It’s like the girl is batshit insane and I was waiting for a twist with here being in a psychiatric hospital or something.
Not French but francophone so maybe it is an English thing, because I heard so many anecdotes from Anglophone relations about their imaginary friends growing up, and mon doux jesus I tried to have an imaginary friend, but sadly found myself impotent in that regard.
It seems to be a swedish thing, but sweden is loving US/UK culture so maybe we hear about it but doesn’t have them.
For what it’s worth, I grew up there and never met/heard of anyone having an imaginary friend, but I do remember it from TV. Hmm, maybe a german film? What’s about you, germans?