Thanks to all the Christians on here!

Thanks for telling us which wars are just!

Did I mention Christ ANYWHERE? No, only Christians and Christianity, they are not one in the same in a relation with Christ.

As for family, you assume you know what my family relations have been concerning religion - key word: assume, as every damn one of you do of those whom refuse to be controlled any longer in the way you are. Hell, I am quite surprised I have not received the title of "God hater" from one of you yet.

Valid points all, I digress. But still, gotta accept your family for who they are, imperfect as they are, no?

Psalm 137:8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

Its talking about BABYLON who had just taken the Jews captive. EDOM was who was happy. The Jews must have wanted revenge, but there is no command for them to act on it, even though their children were being killed by the Babylonians for 70 years. Context is lost on you (the poster who quoted 20 different versions of that).

No, I most certainly do not. I will no longer tolerate being told on a daily basis that I need to live as THEM or I am going to hell. Fuck that retarded mentality. I told my family for too long, years, that if they continued to inundate every conversation with their indoctrination that I am evil because I don't believe as they do, when all I do is call to say hello, that I will eventually not contact them again. I was chastised for the last time.

Dude, just have to accept love and give it back. Maybe what you believe is true, maybe what they believe is true, but just have to try to love and understand. And accept their love. Nothing good can come from turning your back on your family.

You are not reading what I am saying. If you were my adult child, and for years (we're talking 20-30 years) you called me or stopped in to say hello, but the ONLY conversation to transpire is me ragging on you, telling you how screwed you are without religion, telling you that you BETTER get to church, telling you that you are evil because you don't believe as I do, ad-naseum ....... would you REALLY continue to call me? No, you would not, and if you say you would you are a damn liar or a glutton of being berated.

The emphasis on "family" is WAY over-rated. Because they are blood, does not mean I am obligated to be verbally punished year after year.

Sure, guess family if its a slogan can be overrated. But keep in mind your family are the the only ones who love you unconditionally, or maybe not that, but as close too it as possible or moreso than anyone else in this world will, ever.

Again, have to keep in mind, your family members are not perfect, they're trying to love you in their own limited and possibly flawed ways, but just have to be the bigger man and understand and accept that, in all their imperfection. Maybe even a bit of forgiveness and forbearance of them is in order?

Whatever

Because you have been hurt and your faith has been bruised does not make you a God hater. You are human. When my mom died a horrible death due to murderous cancer, I was very angry with God. How could HE let such a kind, gentle and Christian woman suffer such a horrible death? Decided then and there that there was NO God for if there was HE was a cruel God. Period.

A void inside me formed that was left empty by the death of my best friend. Those who knew me were shocked by my anger and how pissed off I was! Prayed and prayed for her first to be healed, then later to be spared the pain and humility that this kind of death was bringing to her. I nursed her 24/7. To top it off, I was going through menopause during this horrible, nightmare filled time.

This time lasted for two years. Two years of hell.

Then it was over, there was NO solace in God, how could there be when I was mad at him for not helping my beloved momma? For six months, it was hard. Even when I accepted that I knew there was a God, my soul was empty, when I prayed I felt NOTHING.

In time I knew that my anger was part of the grieving process. In time, I learned a few things.

One, she chose the kind of death she experienced as a lesson to others. She held her faith no matter what, no matter how horrible it got, her faith only grew stronger and stronger. Her love for Father God was unbending. Even when her brain was infected and some of that faith was "out there" it was still there.

If not for this horrible death, I am not sure I would have been able to accept her death and remain sane. We were so very close, that I am not sure I would have been okay after, if it had been a quick death. My children were only 7 & 9, they needed me. My husband was trying to be Mom and Dad during this time but needed me back to being the Mom. I don't think mentally I would have been there for those three if she had of died suddenly. For many years before she got sick, many people worried about how I would deal with her death when the time came, because we were so close. She lived with me all my life, my husband moved in with us when we married. They had a good relationship - not the typical mother-in-law crap. More of a mother/son relationship.

Now, looking back after 6 years next month, life has changed. My walk with God is much different than it was before. It took over a year for me to once again feel the Spirit when I prayed, something that is very scary when it is missing. I walked on pure faith that God was there for a long time, never feeling him. My soul was so hurt that I couldn't feel HIM, even though I know HE was there always.

HE understood my grief...after all HE made humans to feel grief!!! HE understood my anger. HE understood my loss. HE knew what I was going through.

HE knows what you have gone through also. There are some very damaging, soul killing religious out there and yes HE knows this also. You don't need a so called religion to have a relationship with HIM. You don't need to go to a church to have a relationship with HIM. You only need the prayer in your heart. Your family hurt you. Step away from it all for awhile, think about it when you are alone, when you don't need to prove anything to anyone and think about all that has happened, what you have learned. Try to leave the bitterness in a corner and think without it for awhile. During this time, it is just you and God, no one else. I would go outside and look up at a full moon to focus on while dealing with this. It helped me focus just on HIM.

Also remember, just because it has Christian attached to the name, doesn't mean it is. If it isn't filled with LOVE, kindness and with GOD #1, then it isn't of GOD.

Blessings and love

Last Edited by WhiteAngel on 03/21/2013 06:32 AM

I have rediscovered religion thanks to the threads and responses from some of the users on here too, so I second that OP.