A “funny” Christian trend

[kedo1981]

A “funny” Christian trend

I’ve heard this a lot lately
"Before I was a born again Christian I was an Atheist (Satan worshiper, Pimp, Prostitute, criminal, etc ect) but I saw the light."
A guy in one the segments of Bill Marhr”s “Religilous” one of the big fat truck drivers, claimed he was a “High Priest of Satan”, and of course made all the ridicules BS claims that went along with it.
It’s never “I didn’t attend church very often” It’s “ I worshiped the devil” or never “I cheated on my wife once and felt really bad so I started going to church” It’s “ I had sex with rollerball honeys and snorted lines of crushed up diet pills off their ear lobes”.
Always some extreme, never just a normal kind of behavior.

Kirk Ca”moron” claims “I was an evolutionist”
well since your bio says your were saved as a teenager when was this.
Setting through a High school level “Bio 1” class and playing grab ass with the other child stars while a TV studio tutor reads a chapter on Darwin don’t make you an Evolutionist, the claim makes you a liar however.

It strikes me as a kind of prideful self aggrandizing (maybe anti aggrandizing)

[Magyar]

I've frequently said here and elsewhere that religious belief - not the social, I go to church because of social and family pressure etc but the fundy kind - is a sign of mental illness.

You rarely find more fervent believers than the converted and this conversion virtually always follows the "recovery" from another addictions - sex, drugs, alcohol etc.
It's a perfect more socially acceptable addictions/disorder than drugs and alcohol.

[kbm99]

I don't think it's a "trend" exactly, or not a recent trend at any rate. I can remember being subjected to Mike Warnke's blather about being a high priest of satan when I was in Sunday School as a teenager in the early 80s. He was eventually exposed for the charlatan and liar he is and yet continues to make his claims about satanism to this day. Subjected to the same level of scrutiny, I suspect nearly all making such claims would be shown to be lying as well, or at the very least to be deceiving themselves.

Pro tip: Visiting Salem, Mass on Halloween and buying a copy of the Necronomicon from a local bookstore does not make one a satanist.

[Freethinker]

I've frequently said here and elsewhere that religious belief - not the social, I go to church because of social and family pressure etc but the fundy kind - is a sign of mental illness.

I agree, although I'd qualify it a little to excuse the folks who aren't sure but kind of like the social contact. The "maybe there is a god but I haven't really thought about it too hard" people. I'd say many are just lazy thinkers rather than mentally ill.

I'd like to see some statistics comparing church attendance rates with the distance an individual lives from their nearest relative. I'd bet that once you get beyond whatever distance it is where church members no longer move in the same circles that you would see a significant drop.

[HansMustermann]

Well, IMHO:

1. There's probably a bit of the Spotlight Fallacy in there. Just because such people are showcased all over the place, probably doesn't make them a majority.

2. what you're seeing there goes also back to my favourite topic: cognitive dissonance.

There's a special case of it: the moment when one's old model does collapse and is replaced by an even more BS construct. Some call it enlightenment. Some call it brainwashing.

Either way, that's essentially what happened there. Suddenly the old dissonances are resolved (by BS, but they are nevertheless replaced by a self-consistent model), the discomfort and stress of a major unresolved dissonance has disappeared, the world seems brighter, happier, and everything suddenly makes sense. (No big surprise since it's judging one's model by itself and it just became self-consistent again.)

And a lot seem to go for BS big time in the process. If they're going to accept that they were previously wrong anyway, then they go for, basically "_everything_ I did/believed before was wrong, I was a deluded and depraved idiot, but _now_ I've seen the light." In effect, he's using a distorted carricature of his own former self as a contrast to make himself feel better and more justified in what he is _now_.

[Monketey Ghost]

People wanna be stridently for some things and against others, and couple that with a need to be right and more righteous than the next person, there ya go.

People who describe/style themselves as "outlaws", same deal... it's mostly posing and being painfully image-conscious.

[bobcarp]

A guy in one the segments of Bill Marhr”s “Religilous” one of the big fat truck drivers, claimed he was a “High Priest of Satan”, and of course made all the ridicules BS claims that went along with it.

Similarly, speaking of Religilous, the guy that played Jesus at the Christian theme park made the remark, (paraphrasing) “You can fill you life drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, or gambling.... or you can fill your life with God…”

I don’t believe in god, but I don’t do that other stuff either. They seem to believe that if someone doesn’t have god in their life they are by default doing those other things. Why can’t I just fill my life with friends, family, travel, music, good restaurants, literature, etc.

[westprog]

Similarly, speaking of Religilous, the guy that played Jesus at the Christian theme park made the remark, (paraphrasing) “You can fill you life drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, or gambling.... or you can fill your life with God…”

I don’t believe in god, but I don’t do that other stuff either. They seem to believe that if someone doesn’t have god in their life they are by default doing those other things. Why can’t I just fill my life with friends, family, travel, music, good restaurants, literature, etc.

Or conversely, fill your life with God and sex and alcohol.

[frankvan]

It's probably not easy to boast about ourselves without being a bit devious. Rather than say, "I am a wonderful person!" it is more acceptable to say something like, "I was once a terrible scoundrel, BUT I suddenly found the secret to saintliness and brilliant wisdom." My listener can succumb to my modest appraisal of my own worth. In truth I became an atheist by default at the age of 12, because the alternative was being gullible and able to swallow ridiculous superstition imposed by grown-ups.

[alfalfafour]

Of course the theory of evolution is all about this. I was a gulible child before I was an athiest before I was a christian before I grew a brain.

When I was a gullible child, my mommy asked me to pray to God, and I did. Then she would kiss me goodnight, and send me to Sunday School.

When I grew older, I didn't want to go to Sunday School, we left the church. I went to public school and they taught me the Golden Rule and they taught me evolution. Science fascinated me, and I could not see any God. I later rejected God, and became what we called "agnostic" in high school, but is now termed "Atheist." I didn't like theism because it rejected "common sense" and science.

I studied the bible, to look for what others called "God." I figured that just because I couldn't see it, it didn't mean that it didn't exist. Then I finally found something, but I wasn't ready to call it God. I was sure I had found a single unit, so I could not believe in any theism of multiple gods. There was only one.

Since I had been brought up Christian, and had learned that social structures are much less stressful when we care for each other, I went into Christian Theology.

I ended up rejecting Christian Theology because they claim the trinity. I have seen doublemint commercials, and I liked the twins. I just can't fathom the commercial that says:

"It's three. THREE! Three God's in One!

They will have to show some sexy triplets to convince me. That is kind of funny, because when I went to sunday school, there were triplets, and they were girls.

Of course, since I have found the Supreme Unit Structure, there is the possibility that I might find the other two and become Christian again.

[Third Eye Open]

If you take out all the bits about magic spells and summoning demons, Satanism seems pretty cool.

[Lanzy]

It is a long standing tradition in the S. Baptist church I grew up in. During the summer when we had big tent revival meetings it seemed like a version of "world's biggest liar" as each new preacher went into great details of the sin and depravity Jesus raised them up from. I think it was supposed to let all us normal sinners feel like we could be saved even easier. I always thought I might like to be a preacher but just couldn't seem to get up the energy to put in all the sinning it required.

[fuelair]

I don't think it's a "trend" exactly, or not a recent trend at any rate. I can remember being subjected to Mike Warnke's blather about being a high priest of satan when I was in Sunday School as a teenager in the early 80s. He was eventually exposed for the charlatan and liar he is and yet continues to make his claims about satanism to this day. Subjected to the same level of scrutiny, I suspect nearly all making such claims would be shown to be lying as well, or at the very least to be deceiving themselves.

Pro tip: Visiting Salem, Mass on Halloween and buying a copy of the Necronomicon from a local bookstore does not make one a satanist.
Nor does using spells therefrom. They are for much older, more powerful things than a simpleton devil with minor fire use skills.
:jaw-dropp:jaw-dropp:jaw-dropp:jaw-dropp:jaw-dropp

[Lord Emsworth]

Paul?

[Skeptic Ginger]

A “funny” Christian trend

I’ve heard this a lot lately
"Before I was a born again Christian I was an Atheist (Satan worshiper, Pimp, Prostitute, criminal, etc ect) but I saw the light."
A guy in one the segments of Bill Marhr”s “Religilous” one of the big fat truck drivers, claimed he was a “High Priest of Satan”, and of course made all the ridicules BS claims that went along with it.
It’s never “I didn’t attend church very often” It’s “ I worshiped the devil” or never “I cheated on my wife once and felt really bad so I started going to church” It’s “ I had sex with rollerball honeys and snorted lines of crushed up diet pills off their ear lobes”.
Always some extreme, never just a normal kind of behavior.

Kirk Ca”moron” claims “I was an evolutionist”
well since your bio says your were saved as a teenager when was this.
Setting through a High school level “Bio 1” class and playing grab ass with the other child stars while a TV studio tutor reads a chapter on Darwin don’t make you an Evolutionist, the claim makes you a liar however.

It strikes me as a kind of prideful self aggrandizing (maybe anti aggrandizing)

It's part of "witnessing".

Christian Witnessing (http://www.allaboutgod.com/christian-witnessing.htm)

How to Witness (http://net-burst.net/hot/witness.htm)


There's a psychological gratification from adoption of the observed pattern (when the others in the group found God) of the group of evangelicals one joins. That leads the next evangelical to go around describing to others their personal experience when they found God too.

[godless dave]

I don't know if it's a trend, but it sure is funny.

[chefpeon]

Ditto what Magyar said!
I work for a "born again-er". He's always telling me how the holy spirit compels him to "speak in tongues", and that he and his wife do it all the time.
I'm compelled to "bite my tongue" since he IS my boss, but geez!

After I saw Maher's "Religulous" and witnessed that wacko speaking in tongues, I imagined my boss doing that and just fell over laughing.

If my boss tells me that speaking in tongues story one more time, I don't know what I'll do to keep from laughing.:D

Ba-boo-dah-dah-dee-dah-boo-boo?
The holy spirit wants you to act like a retard?

[Elizabeth I]

Or conversely, fill your life with God and sex and alcohol.

c.f. Jim Bakker (at least the God and sex part - not sure about the alcohol...)

[alfalfafour]

If you take out all the bits about magic spells and summoning demons, Satanism seems pretty cool.

If you take that part out of Christianity, it sounds dull.

[Ron_Tomkins]

This Christian trend turned out not to be as funny as I expected

I'm dissapointed

[alfalfafour]

This Christian trend turned out not to be as funny as I expected

Was maher's movie funny?

A one poster noted, the trend isn't even new. Paul pulled this many years ago, and witnessed his conversion.

[Oliver]

It would be interesting to read a survey about people who started to believe after "seeing the light" in contrast to people who stopped to believe because of "seeing the light".

I suspect the ratio would really be an "enlightening" one. :crowded:

[Eddie Dane]

Ted Haggard seems to have experienced something of a relapse.

He did speed too. What a prole! Get some cocaine already.

This guy needs a crash course in discerning sinning: younger prostitutes and better drugs.

These people should hire me as a consultant so they can do some quality sinning and they'll have something worthwhile to yap about when they get back on the straight and narrow.

[Achán hiNidráne]

It’s “ I worshiped the devil” or never “I cheated on my wife once and felt really bad so I started going to church” It’s “ I had sex with rollerball honeys and snorted lines of crushed up diet pills off their ear lobes”.
Always some extreme, never just a normal kind of behavior.


It's not surprising. Fundamentalists believe that anything that does not specifically glorify the Sky Tyrant is "Satanic." My fundie uncle claims he got involved in Satanism in the 70s when he tried to go to one of those evil "secular" colleges. What sort of Satanic activity was he involved in? Black Masses? Virgin sacrifice?

Hardly. From what I've been able to piece together, his Satanic worship consisted of smoking marijuana and playing Dungeons & Dragons. :rolleyes:

[ImaginalDisc]

It's not surprising. Fundamentalists believe that anything that does not specifically glorify the Sky Tyrant is "Satanic." My fundie uncle claims he got involved in Satanism in the 70s when he tried to go to one of those evil "secular" colleges. What sort of Satanic activity was he involved in? Black Masses? Virgin sacrifice?

Hardly. From what I've been able to piece together, his Satanic worship consisted of smoking marijuana and playing Dungeons & Dragons. :rolleyes:

I abjure thee, darkness!

*Pew Pew*



Um, Joe, Magic Missile's not an abjuration.

[Roadtoad]

Kedo, let me explain it to you in simple terms. What you are seeing is a Freak Show.

Some of us are so desperate for any kind of positive attention, we'll say anything. Hey, Jesus at least loves us, so we have to be good for something. It's too bad, of course, that later on down the road, this kind of slop gets used against you by the FoPs, but you pays your dollar, you takes your chances.

[ponderingturtle]

I don't think it's a "trend" exactly, or not a recent trend at any rate. I can remember being subjected to Mike Warnke's blather about being a high priest of satan when I was in Sunday School as a teenager in the early 80s. He was eventually exposed for the charlatan and liar he is and yet continues to make his claims about satanism to this day. Subjected to the same level of scrutiny, I suspect nearly all making such claims would be shown to be lying as well, or at the very least to be deceiving themselves.

Pro tip: Visiting Salem, Mass on Halloween and buying a copy of the Necronomicon from a local bookstore does not make one a satanist.

What if it was anthropodermicialy bound?

[ponderingturtle]

Similarly, speaking of Religilous, the guy that played Jesus at the Christian theme park made the remark, (paraphrasing) “You can fill you life drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, or gambling.... or you can fill your life with God…”

I don’t believe in god, but I don’t do that other stuff either. They seem to believe that if someone doesn’t have god in their life they are by default doing those other things. Why can’t I just fill my life with friends, family, travel, music, good restaurants, literature, etc.

I do have to recommend at least including a fair amount of sex in your life.

[Roadtoad]

I do have to recommend at least including a fair amount of sex in your life.

A "fair" amount?

Geez, wouldn't twice a day about do it?

[kmortis]

Hardly. From what I've been able to piece together, his Satanic worship consisted of smoking marijuana and playing Dungeons & Dragons. :rolleyes:

Ahh...the two unholy sacarments.

[Skeptic Ginger]

Was maher's movie funny?....I thought it was.

[Roadtoad]

I thought it was.

News to me. I don't think Maher is funny at all. I simply think he's rude, even on those occasions when he's right.

[JoeTheJuggler]

There was also an example in Huckleberry Finn--the Dauphin (I think) scammed a revival meeting by confessing to be a horrible depraved sinner who has just seen the light.

I think it's like the felix lapsus doctrine. The deeper the depravity the more miraculous and merciful the salvation.