Were you raised in a sheltered religious household and did the "real world" shock you?

[Wolfnox]

I was brought up as a garden-variety Catholic.
I discovered life was not perfect in my early twenties.
I attribute this late enlightenment to religious hocus pocus and having had a dissociative disorder that insulated me from reality.

As you can imagine, I am VERY serious about embracing "The Truth" now as a result and dedicated myself to being objective and analytical.
Some ppl have attacked me for openly saying this.

Ever read Sherlock Holmes? His methods may interest you.

 

[Wolfnox]

unaware of the sickness of society.

Hard to do that now.

 

[Twilight]

Just to say. They do make Bible picture books for kids.

That's not something I was ever interested in because I'm not religious and believe that the Bible was written and inspired solely by humans. (I grew up with a Bible storybook for children that was deeply problematic, but that's a bit off-topic, I suppose.) There are many holy books out there for other faiths that we haven't explored in any capacity, either, such as the Quran. We never ran out of good books to read. In fact, we didn't get to all of the books we wanted to. There are so many wonderful children's books out there.

He's 12 now. He self-identifies as an atheist. We have slightly different political leanings, so he's not like me in every respect, but he certainly takes after me in a lot of ways. He's a skeptic who likes to question things, including established rules and supposed authority. Sometimes he likes to watch political debates to try and spot logical fallacies. I struggled with religion from a young age because it went against my natural skepticism. I started questioning the existence of God when I was 5, and as I got older, I had significant problems with the Bible itself. I think it would've been similar for my son.

He is free to explore religion if he wants to, but so far, he's expressed no interest in doing so. I doubt he will due to his critical approach to things.

 

[Jonn]

So went in thinking everyone would be friendly.

Epic fail!!!


It is a "dog eat dog world" out there, as we all now know.

Lies and cruelty were very common. I was bullied from that point until graduation.
Hated for no real reason.

You can thank the blind, morally vacant evolutionary process for that.
No one told me this when I volunteered to be conceived.

 

[Jonn]

What I can honestly consider to be only "morbid curiosity" at an early age drew me towards learning about the real world, and just how ugly it actually is or can be.

Testify! <hi 5>

In religious terms:
The Garden of Eden is a metaphor for childhood naivety.
And once one "eats of the fruit of knowledge", reality becomes apparent, and we are cast out into the harsh new existence of "life, the universe, and everything..."

 

[Jonn]

I loved it because I'm a colossal history buff and language nerd but didn't realize basically it was a bunch of looneys.

Don't hold back. Tell us what you REALLY think."

I am asexual so that's basically gay but I do not like men either. So I was always conflicted about the whole thing because men were expected to be chronic masturbators in need of repentance, and presumably washing their hands, but that didn't appeal to me because I thought it was gross...

Yes, masturbating while thinking of women was deemed a sin.
As a result, I tried to think about anything else while doing the deed.
Needless to say, it didn't work, and I made a compromise with god and agreed I wouldn't do it on a Sunday.

Yes, I have always been a rationalist.

 

[Jonn]

Ever read Sherlock Holmes? His methods may interest you.

I enjoyed the Movie with Robert Downey Jr.
Didn't read the books.
Heard a lot over the 6 decades.

I am dyslexic and have always found reading tiring.
I even tend to skip large posts in the forums.

Not to say I don't engage in extensive research.

 

[Gerontius]

Don't hold back. Tell us what you REALLY think."

Yes, masturbating while thinking of women was deemed a sin.
As a result, I tried to think about anything else while doing the deed.
Needless to say, it didn't work, and I made a compromise with god and agreed I wouldn't do it on a Sunday.

Yes, I have always been a rationalist.

This is why I don't shake hands with people generally.