How xian brainwashing can work...

[the_ignored]

As seen in this site (http://www.jcnot4me.com/Items/Misc%20Topics/brainwashing.htm).

I'll just let you people read the site for yourselves and form your own opinions:

[Torment]

Wow, great article.

I don't think I'll be quite so hateful of theists who completely disregard logic and evidence any longer.

[Finella]

A very illuminating article, and the author does paint a sad picture of Christianity.

I can understand why people would be angry with their elders/authority figures coming out of such brainwashing. And it's brainwashing, I don't deny that. My mother for years told me of the revivals and the pressure to conform to such an authortiarian structure, and how it to this day makes her physically ill to think of it.

What makes me more angry is that because of these power-tripping people, ALL of Christianity has a bad name. When I come in here and say, "I am a Christian," the image of the Bible-thumping, prejudiced, ignorant, red-necked, closed-minded clod comes to the mind of a great number of people. This is not the case.

Please, be proper skeptics and don't assume anything about all Christians when you read this kind of site. As in any belief system, there is a spectrum of how people express and apply their faith.

---,---'--{@

[the_ignored]

True, and point well taken! I should've mentioned that, and maybe I should see if I can change the name of the damned thread!

But there's a problem when even the best thinkers of a religion admit that reason and evidence are secondary:

Take William Lane Craig (http://www.jcnot4me.com/Items/contra_craig/contra_craig.htm), for example, both below and in the "fundys commit intellectual suicide" (http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19032) (something like that) thread:

"Should a conflict arise between the witness of the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and evidence, then it is the former [i.e. "Holy Spirit"] which must take precedence over the latter [i.e. "argument & evidence"], not vice versa."2

"The ministerial use of reason occurs when reason SUBMITS TO and SERVES the gospel. ONLY the ministerial use of reason can be allowed… Reason is a tool to help us better understand and defend our faith."2__

2) p. 36___

[Roadtoad]

When I got into fundamentalism, one of the things I was promised was the acceptance of others that I was routinely denied from my parents, as well as the open conduit to a loving and holy God.

That was a huge incentive for me to toss aside what I knew to be so, even as I could spot the inconsistencies and lies going in. To finally be welcomed as a member of a real family, instead of viewed as something of a pariah for the penny-ante mistakes of my earlier life.

What I found out, several years later, is that this was NOT the case, and that, in fact, your past would be brought up to you repeatedly in order to bludgeon you back into submission to the patriarchy of the deacons and elders of the church. It is, in fact, a brutal, hateful, and hellish chimera of what Christianity is supposed to be.

More later.

[Roadtoad]

(Okay, I'm back at this. It's Mother's Day, and my bride deserves a day without having to cook, clean, etc...)

To get back to my original point, (yes, I have one):

Christianity is supposed to be a reasoned and reasoning faith. That's why Isaiah says to "Come, let us reason..." regarding the matters of what we believe, and why. At NO POINT does Jesus EVER claim that believing will make your life easier, nor does He ever claim that belief will make you acceptable to other people. He does, in fact, state emphatically that you will endure misery, and hardship, and sorrow. (So much for Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Peter Popoff, and crew.) Further, Paul goes on to state that if you're suffering because of something you said or did, YOU HAVE IT COMING! (Eric Rudolf, take note: You're not being hunted because you oppose abortion. You're being hunted because you are a thug, a murderer, a coward, and a loser.)

Fundamentalism is nothing more than another form of Phariseeism, dressed up in a Brooks Brothers suit, and with its lies polished to match the sheen on the Cadillac's fender. The kidnappers of Elizabeth Smart were Mormon extremists, believing that young Elizabeth was to become another wife for this loon. But, the brainwashing technique was quite similar. The beautiful hymn "Just As I Am" has become an instrument of abuse, and I can well remember sitting in Church, sometimes for nearly 45 minutes as a pastor decried that there was no one coming forward at the invitation, even though he knew there were those deep in sin, and needing the hand of the Lord upon their lives.

That may have been the case, but the truth of the matter remains that when you're dealing with someone else's sin, you have an obligation to let them deal with it, and not try to drag someone kicking and screaming to the front of a church, demanding that they bare themselves before others, so to speak. More often than not, most people would rather deal with their private sins privately, but that's not the way the current Protestant Church wants to handle it. It lacks flash, and doesn't convince those wavering on the edge.

In fact, I would suspect, as has been said elsewhere, that Jesus probably would need a couple of cases of barf bags as he watched what was done in his name. This is something I would include in this. (Just to make a note of this: Jesus said that if your brother/sister is in sin, you're to go to them privately, and if that doesn't work, you're to take one or two bretheren so that "every word may be established." If that doesn't work, you tell the Church. However, on that last step, bear in mind that "telling the Church" does not mean what it's come to mean: you don't blab from the pulpit that someone is an adulterer, drunk, cheat, liar, etc. It simply means you advise the Pastor, and the sacraments are denied. That's all folks.)

What has been devised as a place of comfort has become a haven of abuse. Not all abuse is necessarily physically violent; believe me, some of the worst abuse leaves no physical scar at all.

I finally found a church that tries to get it right. These are good people. But, I've been subjected to so much garbage, when I'm hit with one or two faults, (as you will with any group of people), I find myself picking up and running as fast as I can the other way.

I remember well the misery inflicted by "brothers" who wanted to see my spirit "humbled before the Lord." So much for "Going boldly before the throne of Grace."

[Ruby]

Originally posted by the_ignored
As seen in this site (http://www.jcnot4me.com/Items/Misc%20Topics/brainwashing.htm).

I'll just let you people read the site for yourselves and form your own opinions:

I know I was under a form of brainwashing when I was in a 1st Unired Pentecostal church. I think I even experienced some some in a non-denominational church. I'm too much of a skeptic and a rebell to be sucked into things that are forms of brainwashing....although, I do still remain believer.

My hubby grew up in an isolated religious cult that degenerated into a cult. It has taken him years .....as wel as one of one of his brothers... to get over that and heal.