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Being blocked

I have now been blocked by three Christians on this site.

The reason given by the third is that I have been "abusive", this 26 times! I suppose our perception of exactly what constitutes abuse is very subjective.

I have simply suggested, in reasonably polite language, that said Christian does not in fact represent the only "true" knowledge of Christ, does not in fact walk the "only" way. That in fact there is a Universal Christ beyond anyone's personal experience and understanding.

This appears too hot to handle which I find regrettable.

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canusernamebemyusername · M

That sounds like one person in particular. Don't worry if it is the same person I'm thinking of she will unblock you again to try and save your soul. Until god gets his feelings hurt again and she blocks you to protect him. When it's actually all just her getting her feelings hurt but she projects it onto her "god" and says it's him.

Tbh I think she may be a sociopath. She seems to have some empathy but it's not the same amount as other people. Like her conscience is blunted somehow. Cause she has literally said she would be okay with God killing her children because everything God does is good and they would die and get to be with him who murdered them. When she said that I knew I wasn't dealing with a normal person. The fact that evil can be good as long as that evil is done by God is really telling about how broken her moral compass is. Like you said her theology has corrupted her.

But she at the very least has scrupulosity. Which is feelings of extreme guilt and fear over religious matters. It is a kind of OCD subtype. Like she either has done something really bad, thinks she has done something really bad or been abused and brainwashed into believing she has (probably this one since many preachers will try to break their congregation mentally in order to rebuild them into the cult mindset). So she fears that the devil is always around every corner but that God will hurt her as well to the point that there is no difference between their behaviors. She is literally mentally trapped.

I actually feel bad about it because while I don't believe in the supernatural this is what I would call possession. Brainwashed. A broken soul. I don't know if she was born with this or if she was abused or what. And she at least has the drive to want to be a good person but her morality is literally outsource beyond her control. She allows this "God" to tell her what is right and wrong. And that is dangerous as any con-man can and apparently has come along and led her astray.

Tariki

@canusernamebemyusername Hi, long ago I came to the conclusion that often we are "saved" [i]in spite[/i] of our beliefs rather than because of them. I knew a "born again" guy who was genuinely likeable, a genuine smile. You could see it in his eyes. This until the subject of religion came up, then the shutters came down. It is tragic that what is intended to "set us free" so often encloses our minds in a cave.

Nietzsche called our priests and philosophers "sick cobweb weavers" and William Blake touched the very same chord in his Song of Experience, "The Garden of Love":-

[i]I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be:
And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars, my joys & desires.[/i]

Back to Nietzsche, who has often been labelled the Anti-christ by religionists because of his "God is dead" cry. But to my mind I would relate this to the words of the great Christian mystic Meister Eckhart who prayed to God "to rid me of God."

(Another quote concerning Nietzsche I have always liked is from Ernst Krieck, a prominent Nazi ideologue, who sarcastically remarked that "apart from the fact that Nietzsche was not a socialist, not a nationalist and opposed to racial thinking, he could have been a leading National Socialist thinker")

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

Jesus said that we must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God. Religion has nothing to do with it.

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Tariki

@GodSpeed63 Yes, I understand exactly where you are coming from.

Irrespective of your declaration and claim, you have a "source" and a lineage, traceable. Protestant Reform theology driven, via Luther et al. This forms your self-understanding. Whether or not you wish to call it "religion", or what you want to call religion, is irrelevant in a certain sense.

This in itself avoids confusion.

Thank you.

Tariki

@GodSpeed63 I would just add that your theology revolves around "acceptance of" and a "decision". Thus your refrain on various posts of others having "no excuse".

Recognising that [i]we are chosen[/i] is to avoid all confusion.

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

@Tariki [quote]Yes, I understand exactly where you are coming from.

Irrespective of your declaration and claim, you have a "source" and a lineage, traceable. Protestant Reform theology driven, via Luther et al. This forms your self-understanding. Whether or not you wish to call it "religion", or what you want to call religion, is irrelevant in a certain sense.

This in itself avoids confusion. [/quote]

If I may, I really believe that you don't understand exactly where I am coming from.

Jesus also said that we need to be born of water and of the Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God. We've already had a physical birth, now we need a Spiritual birth in order to know God on a personal basis and to enter His kingdom when we die. This is what God terms as being born again. I hope this helps you to understand where I am coming from.

DocSavage · M

Congratulations. I’m working on another one myself. After a couple of days debating, I implied he was a narcissistic nazi. I not quite sure if he considered it an insult or a compliment.

SW-User

A mature Christian would want to talk it through and help save you. So there's a silver lining.

Tariki

@SW-User In the Pure Land there is [i]always[/i] a silver lining.

😀

SW-User

@Tariki Beautiful 👌

Diotrephes · 70-79, M

As HL Mencken said: "...in the United States, alone among the great nations of history, there is a right way to think and a wrong way to think in everything...in the most trivial matters of everyday life."

&

"The American people, I am convinced, really detest free speech. At the slightest alarm they are ready and eager to put it down. Looking back, I sometimes marvel that I managed, despite this implacable hostility, to launch some of my notions. War, in this country, wipes out all rules of fair play, even those prevailing among wild animals. .... I have not written a single line in this war, and I wrote none in the last, that I am not prepared to ratify today. There has been no acquiescence in my enforced silence. .... The government I live under has been my enemy all of my active life. When it has not been engaged in silencing me, it has been engaged in robbing me. So far as I can recall I have never had any contact with it that was not an outrage on my dignity and an attack upon my security."

Bri89 · 31-35, M

There is no use debating with someone that wishes to stay in their own bubble. I would not worry about them.

Tariki

@Bri89 I agree, there is little point in debate.

The tragedy is that I do not question their "blessings" but simply suggest that others, of varied beliefs, can also receive equal blessings.

They just [i]will not have it[/i]. Their way or no way.

As Meister Eckhart said:- They do Him wrong who take God in just one particular way - they end with the way rather than God.

LeopoldBloom · M

They are among the most easily offended people.

Tariki

@LeopoldBloom Yes. To be honest, I have mental health issues. I can be vulnerable at times. Said Christians have on other forums called me liar, hypocrite and even once, the Antichrist himself! The suggestion/implication that I am damned has often lurked in the background.

Yet, I have found with Nietzsche that what does not destroy us makes us stronger.

LeopoldBloom · M

@Tariki Nietzsche had a few choice words about Christianity, too. But my favorite after being married for over 30 years is that marriage is a long conversation.

Tariki

@LeopoldBloom 43 years here!...Early on I was often chastised (gently) as not talking enough, so perhaps my "conversation" hasn't yet been as long as your own...😀

Sue Prideaux on Nietzsche (from her biography of him "I Am Dynamite"):-

[i]One must be fleet of foot; one must dance. Life was not simple. If, one day, man would dare construct an architecture corresponding to the nature of the soul, that architect would have to take the labyrinth as the model. To give birth to a dancing star, one must first have chaos within. Inconsistency, changes of mind and urges to wander were a duty. A fixed opinion was a dead opinion, a made-up mind was a dead mind, worth less than an insect; it should be crushed underfoot and utterly destroyed.
[/i]

Whatever Nietzsche said of Christians, as I see it many simply stop "dancing" and replace a [i]Living Word[/i] with a dead text. They judge our world, themselves and others, by a "formulae" - one of "justice" and "consistency", leaving no room for mercy, for the unexpected, the true gifts of God.

onrealityofdreams

I would suggest you were blocked by three people who [i]claim[/i] to be Christians. The only regrettable thing is they are steadfast in their narrow ways of beliefs and thoughts.

Paperhearts · 61-69, F

@onrealityofdreams if they were christian, truly, they would be tolerant and inclusive.

onrealityofdreams

@Paperhearts I quite agree.

Tariki

@Paperhearts I would agree, yet there ARE passages in the Bible that a strong literalist reading and understanding of can result in the bigotries that are all to common in the realm of our Faith Traditions.

I quoted this elsewhere, but will repeat it, this not to "push" Buddhism at anyone, but simply as a good example of how ANY text of our world can evolve in our hearts:-

[i]The dharma, can be discovered through the Buddhist tradition, but Buddhism is by no means the only source of dharma. I would define dharma as anything that awakens the enlightened mind and brings on the direct experience of selflessness. The teachings of Christ are prefumed with dharma. There is dharma in jazz, in beautiful gardens, in literature, in Sufi dance, in Quaker silence, in shaman healing, in projects to care for the homeless and clean up the inner cities, in Catholic ritual, in meaningful and competent work. There is dharma in anything that causes us to respect the innate softness and intelligence of ourselves and others. When the Buddhist system is applied properly, it does not turn us inward toward our own organizations, practices, and ideas. The system has succeeded when the Buddhist can recognize the true dharma at the core of all other religions and disciplines that are based on respect for the human image, and has no need to reject them.
[/i]
(Steve Butterfield, from "The Double Mirror")

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LordShadowfire · M

Been there. The first Corvus account I made got a shit ton of reports because Christians couldn't prove he was not a raven.

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

@LordShadowfire [quote]Christians couldn't prove he was not a raven.[/quote]

Who?

CorvusBlackthorne · M

@GodSpeed63 Good evening.

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

@CorvusBlackthorne [quote]Good evening.[/quote]

Good morning.

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Tariki

@Jill1990 I guess I'm just a bit of an a**hole. I enjoy dialogue. Yes, we all have feelings. I suppose when someone posts on a public forum that anyone who doesn't subscribe to their own dogma's and creed will be tormented for all eternity we can just smile and go on our way. My own "feelings" are affected. Maybe I'm wrong to seek to engage with them. Who knows?

I ran an Inter-faith dialogue thread. No interest. One "born again" Christian (or whatever) waded in and demonstrated that they simply did not understand the concept of Inter-faith dialogue, another simply "witnessed" to their own Faith. Pointless. But I remain an a**hole.

I could waffle on. Each to their own I suppose.

Jill1990 · 31-35, F

@Tariki I have never found anyone on here or anywhere else for that matter, that would even consider that their beliefs could be anything but right. Whether they be christian, muslim, or atheist - doesn’t matter. They come here to preach, which is dumb and annoying, but I don’t read them, and generally block or mute them as soon as I figure out what they’re about. I don’t come here for confrontation. Logic is useless.

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