PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE CAUSED BY CHRISTIANITY
Guilt and Regret
Guilt and regret are probably the two most debilitating emotions a human being can experience. Since guilt and regret are so powerful, they are at the core of the efforts to ensnare and control the Christian. Since these two emotions are used as a brainwashing and conversion tools and could easily be discussed in the brainwashing techniques chapter of the manifesto, but it is more suitable to discuss them now because of the long-term psychological damage both can create.
Guilt and regret are feelings that everyone has experienced at least at one point in their life. Usually individuals who are diagnosed with or are going through a period of depression experience feelings of guilt or regret, and in many cases, periods of extreme depression are caused by these two emotions. Since guilt, regret and depression coincide with each other so often, many people consciously or unconsciously link them together. It is not uncommon for one to reflect on a horrible period in their life and remember strong feelings of guilt and/or being regretful about something.
Christian leaders know the powerful, negative impact guilt and regret can have on an individual and have become very tactical in the use of these emotions. Christian leaders use a cycle of reminding believers of the things or events in their life that they should feel guilty about and then afterwards reminding them that only Jesus can save them from their guilt (sins) and regrets. It is a cruel game they play with your emotions.
They way Christian leaders toy with your motions can be compared to a doctor who purposely makes you ill and then later on gives you the medicine needed to cure your illness, and then repeats the process over again and again and again. Disturbing analogy, but that is exactly the psychological method that used to keep you coming back to and dependent on church.
What the Christian leader uses to make you feel guilty is the brainiest part of the psychological war he wages on the believer.
The Christian leader makes you feel guilty about fulfilling your natural human desires, the desires that all human beings possess and have little control over. You are made to feel guilty about having sex, thinking about sex, masturbating, putting your needs above others and God, desiring or thinking about something more than you desire or think about God, enjoying music that is not focused on God, dancing, drinking alcohol and socializing with nonbelievers.
By labeling natural desires as sins, there is no escape from continuingly sinning and perpetually being in a state of guilt, which is the goal. This is the goal because if you are always sinning or feeling guilty, you will always need to go to church and repent.
To make matters worse, the Christian leader will try to convince you that it is possible to change your "sinning" nature by getting closer to God. So logically, if getting closer to God and prevent one from sinning, the individual who can't seem to get him or herself to stop sinning will think they are not close enough to God. Once you develop this train of thought they really have got you!
A Christian who wants to get closer to God will search for ways to do so. He or she will pray more often and for longer periods of time, read the bible more often, attend and volunteer in church more frequently, evangelize more, and search for other ways to please God. They will continue to try to get closer to God until their whole life is consumed.
When a Christian's life becomes consumed trying to get closer to God with the hope of escaping from the guilt and sin, the real psychological damage begins because they will always find themselves sinning and therefore never feel close enough. At this point either one of two things generally happens.
The first thing that can happen is that the believer realizes that he or she is doing everything they can to live for God but they still can't stop sinning. This realization causes extreme guilt and depression to take hold of the Christian. The person begins to think something is seriously wrong with them. That individual will see the leaders of the church and other Christians acting as if they have somehow escaped their human nature, and it makes the guilty Christian's self esteem hit rock bottom. This individual my even begin to hate and not trust him or herself because they can't seem to get it together like everyone else in church. The psychological damage caused by the game Christian leaders play may take years of therapy to heal.
The second thing that can happen to a guilt ridden Christian is far worse than the first. Some Christians will be able to suppress their emotions and desires to sin to the point that they become people devoid of emotion and desires. They become walking zombies robbed of the feelings that make them human. This is an incredibly unnatural and dangerous condition for any human being to exist in and can cause extreme psychological damage. It is almost impossible for human being suppresses desires, especially sexual desires, in this manner for any length of time without needed some type of release to avoid insanity. This release can take the form of binging on sex, food, drugs or some other object, or the individual might explode in anger, rage or violence. It is no coincidence that quite a number of serial killers and rapist were raised in very religious or strict homes. The suppression of the natural desires caused a psychological imbalance that caused them to release their emotions in the form of anger.
Inability to Make Decisions
Christian leaders often encourage Christians to "wait on God" before making any major decisions. "Waiting on God," means to pray to God for help in making an important decision and then to wait for His answer. The result of this practice is the development of a stagnant human being that is incapable of or has great difficulty making decisions on his or her own. The practice of waiting for God for help in making decisions has long term implications for the Christian, even if he or she decides later on not to follow the religion.
One problem that arises when someone relies on God to help them is that that person has no way of knowing when or if God has given them an answer. Does the answer come in the form of a warm feeling inside one's heart? Does it come from some type of sign? Does God actually speak to the individual in search of an answer?
The indecisive Christian who is in search of some supernatural guidance will often wait and wait for some sign that will help them make a good decision. Since the human mind is very good at tricking itself into believing things are there when they actually aren't, especially if we want them badly enough, usually the Christian will get the sign he or she was looking for. For those who don't have a great ability to trick their own mind, they may spend a very long time waiting for an answer and may never make a decision at all.
Whether or not the Christian receives an answer to his or her prayer for guidance or not, the message to the Christian is very clear, "YOU CAN NOT MAKE A DECISION ON YOUR OWN!" Making a decision without praying to God first and assuring it's a decision He wants for your life is dangerous!
For the individual who does not rely on a higher power to make decisions, it is accepted that some decisions that one makes will end up with good results and others won't. This is an accepted risk and part of any decision making process that most mature human beings learn to cope with. Many people who can't come to terms with this reality, or have suffered from the results of a poor decision they made in the past, may want to live a life where God makes decisions for them instead of relying on their own judgments.
For the Christian who relies on God to guide their decisions, the decisions that end up with negative results can be disturbing and confusing. They may wonder, "how could a decision guided by God end with a negative result?" The Christian who had his divine guidance go wrong will typically come up with one of the following explanations for what went wrong: He made a mistake by thinking that God answered his prayer or he may think he was guided by God but more prayer and devotion was needed afterward.
The devout Christian who trusts in God's wisdom will not blame God for the negative consequences of a decision. Instead, the blame goes wholly on the Christian who is faced with the task of figuring out what went wrong. Since it is the Christian's fault, he or she will conclude that they have to do something differently the next time they have a decision to make. That Christian may decide to pray more, attempt to get closer to God, wait longer for an answer or live a life where the individual makes no decisions at all and just lets God to lead them throughout life like the wind leads a leaf through the air. The last approach leads to complete stagnation and lifelessness, which is sadly a state many Christian are in today.
By encouraging Christians to wait on God to make decisions, Christians become exactly what those in power want them to be, individuals who are afraid and incapable of making decisions independently.
Guilt and Regret
Guilt and regret are probably the two most debilitating emotions a human being can experience. Since guilt and regret are so powerful, they are at the core of the efforts to ensnare and control the Christian. Since these two emotions are used as a brainwashing and conversion tools and could easily be discussed in the brainwashing techniques chapter of the manifesto, but it is more suitable to discuss them now because of the long-term psychological damage both can create.
Guilt and regret are feelings that everyone has experienced at least at one point in their life. Usually individuals who are diagnosed with or are going through a period of depression experience feelings of guilt or regret, and in many cases, periods of extreme depression are caused by these two emotions. Since guilt, regret and depression coincide with each other so often, many people consciously or unconsciously link them together. It is not uncommon for one to reflect on a horrible period in their life and remember strong feelings of guilt and/or being regretful about something.
Christian leaders know the powerful, negative impact guilt and regret can have on an individual and have become very tactical in the use of these emotions. Christian leaders use a cycle of reminding believers of the things or events in their life that they should feel guilty about and then afterwards reminding them that only Jesus can save them from their guilt (sins) and regrets. It is a cruel game they play with your emotions.
They way Christian leaders toy with your motions can be compared to a doctor who purposely makes you ill and then later on gives you the medicine needed to cure your illness, and then repeats the process over again and again and again. Disturbing analogy, but that is exactly the psychological method that used to keep you coming back to and dependent on church.
What the Christian leader uses to make you feel guilty is the brainiest part of the psychological war he wages on the believer.
The Christian leader makes you feel guilty about fulfilling your natural human desires, the desires that all human beings possess and have little control over. You are made to feel guilty about having sex, thinking about sex, masturbating, putting your needs above others and God, desiring or thinking about something more than you desire or think about God, enjoying music that is not focused on God, dancing, drinking alcohol and socializing with nonbelievers.
By labeling natural desires as sins, there is no escape from continuingly sinning and perpetually being in a state of guilt, which is the goal. This is the goal because if you are always sinning or feeling guilty, you will always need to go to church and repent.
To make matters worse, the Christian leader will try to convince you that it is possible to change your "sinning" nature by getting closer to God. So logically, if getting closer to God and prevent one from sinning, the individual who can't seem to get him or herself to stop sinning will think they are not close enough to God. Once you develop this train of thought they really have got you!
A Christian who wants to get closer to God will search for ways to do so. He or she will pray more often and for longer periods of time, read the bible more often, attend and volunteer in church more frequently, evangelize more, and search for other ways to please God. They will continue to try to get closer to God until their whole life is consumed.
When a Christian's life becomes consumed trying to get closer to God with the hope of escaping from the guilt and sin, the real psychological damage begins because they will always find themselves sinning and therefore never feel close enough. At this point either one of two things generally happens.
The first thing that can happen is that the believer realizes that he or she is doing everything they can to live for God but they still can't stop sinning. This realization causes extreme guilt and depression to take hold of the Christian. The person begins to think something is seriously wrong with them. That individual will see the leaders of the church and other Christians acting as if they have somehow escaped their human nature, and it makes the guilty Christian's self esteem hit rock bottom. This individual my even begin to hate and not trust him or herself because they can't seem to get it together like everyone else in church. The psychological damage caused by the game Christian leaders play may take years of therapy to heal.
The second thing that can happen to a guilt ridden Christian is far worse than the first. Some Christians will be able to suppress their emotions and desires to sin to the point that they become people devoid of emotion and desires. They become walking zombies robbed of the feelings that make them human. This is an incredibly unnatural and dangerous condition for any human being to exist in and can cause extreme psychological damage. It is almost impossible for human being suppresses desires, especially sexual desires, in this manner for any length of time without needed some type of release to avoid insanity. This release can take the form of binging on sex, food, drugs or some other object, or the individual might explode in anger, rage or violence. It is no coincidence that quite a number of serial killers and rapist were raised in very religious or strict homes. The suppression of the natural desires caused a psychological imbalance that caused them to release their emotions in the form of anger.
Inability to Make Decisions
Christian leaders often encourage Christians to "wait on God" before making any major decisions. "Waiting on God," means to pray to God for help in making an important decision and then to wait for His answer. The result of this practice is the development of a stagnant human being that is incapable of or has great difficulty making decisions on his or her own. The practice of waiting for God for help in making decisions has long term implications for the Christian, even if he or she decides later on not to follow the religion.
One problem that arises when someone relies on God to help them is that that person has no way of knowing when or if God has given them an answer. Does the answer come in the form of a warm feeling inside one's heart? Does it come from some type of sign? Does God actually speak to the individual in search of an answer?
The indecisive Christian who is in search of some supernatural guidance will often wait and wait for some sign that will help them make a good decision. Since the human mind is very good at tricking itself into believing things are there when they actually aren't, especially if we want them badly enough, usually the Christian will get the sign he or she was looking for. For those who don't have a great ability to trick their own mind, they may spend a very long time waiting for an answer and may never make a decision at all.
Whether or not the Christian receives an answer to his or her prayer for guidance or not, the message to the Christian is very clear, "YOU CAN NOT MAKE A DECISION ON YOUR OWN!" Making a decision without praying to God first and assuring it's a decision He wants for your life is dangerous!
For the individual who does not rely on a higher power to make decisions, it is accepted that some decisions that one makes will end up with good results and others won't. This is an accepted risk and part of any decision making process that most mature human beings learn to cope with. Many people who can't come to terms with this reality, or have suffered from the results of a poor decision they made in the past, may want to live a life where God makes decisions for them instead of relying on their own judgments.
For the Christian who relies on God to guide their decisions, the decisions that end up with negative results can be disturbing and confusing. They may wonder, "how could a decision guided by God end with a negative result?" The Christian who had his divine guidance go wrong will typically come up with one of the following explanations for what went wrong: He made a mistake by thinking that God answered his prayer or he may think he was guided by God but more prayer and devotion was needed afterward.
The devout Christian who trusts in God's wisdom will not blame God for the negative consequences of a decision. Instead, the blame goes wholly on the Christian who is faced with the task of figuring out what went wrong. Since it is the Christian's fault, he or she will conclude that they have to do something differently the next time they have a decision to make. That Christian may decide to pray more, attempt to get closer to God, wait longer for an answer or live a life where the individual makes no decisions at all and just lets God to lead them throughout life like the wind leads a leaf through the air. The last approach leads to complete stagnation and lifelessness, which is sadly a state many Christian are in today.
By encouraging Christians to wait on God to make decisions, Christians become exactly what those in power want them to be, individuals who are afraid and incapable of making decisions independently.
Here's my response.
The writer of the post showed a complete ignorance of Christian doctrine.
- All believers are relieved of guilt because all their sins (past, present, and future) are forgiven.
- Because the believer knows that his/her future sin are forgiven, he/she is freed from the anguish of making a bad decision because any bad decision would be forgiven.
- Christians will face trials irregardless of whether he/she makes good or bad decision
- Listening for the guidance of the Lord does not mean abandoning our responsibility to make decisions. When the President of the United States commissions a working group to study an issue and waits for their report, is he discarding his responsibility to make the final decision. Of course not, he is merely soliciting for advice.
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
So a true Christian would not be paralyzed by a decision due to the fear of the bad stuff of life that can result from the decision; bad stuff will come irregardless of whether the decision is a good or bad one.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment