I used to hate religion, then I accepted it, now I envy it. I don't think it's possible for me to ever un-see the materialist view of humanity, and I don't think I'll ever be able to convince myself that there is a sentient God or a spirit that lives on in an afterlife, but recently my father (Christian) and I were talking about some incident where Bernie Sanders went on a rant against Christianity, and he told me that Earth is the real Kingdom of God, and going to heaven and all that is just the icing on the cake, and it's had me thinking a lot.
I was raised a Methodist but honestly it feels like that's just shitty Diet Christianity and one tier away from the ultra-progressive Episcopal church. I'm starved for spiritual purpose. It's just that, I'm only able to connect and understand Christianity from a theological/philosophical perspective, not the "let's go to Church and interpret random Bible verses/stories every week" stuff, which comes off as really vapid and shallow to me. I want to understand Christian morality and tradition and live my life that way, but I don't know where to begin. I was hoping some christcuck anons could give me some new perspectives. Not really TRYING to start a "which Christianity is best Christianity" flamewar, but I wouldn't mind some debate either. Anyway, if you ever wanted to turn an Atheist into a Christian, now's you're chance, I'm practically begging you to.
Sage for the obvious reason. You already have our material and you know that you have no refutation to it. Here’s a taste of some more to shit all over your worldview, though.
Connor Thomas
Not calling people that believe "christcucks" would help to start. But ignoring that, get a copy of the King James Bible and start reading. Most people will recommend starting in the New Testament which is probably solid advice.
Owen Edwards
Don't despair, jewish demoralization has a cure. >>>/christian/
I personally started by journey in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, its not a coincidence that many pocket bibles include them with the new testament.
Aiden Butler
You can't force being a Christian. I won't get into it, you're obviously very young. You give off a lot of haughty preconceptions that I'm not interested in bothering with
but my suggestion;
Julian Hill
Eastern Orthodox Holla Forums has been falling ass backwards into it for a long time. It's something that survived multiple generations of active communist purges, and even Mohammedmen jihads. It's a peasant's sort of faith, in that it focuses on works and faith rather than scripture. It's a gentleman's faith, aesthetics are a pillar rather than afterthought. It's an aristocrat's faith, where one can vet the blessing of the church to go to war against the deserving.
It might be a far cry from the West, but when the West is in ruins that is probably for the best. And one last thing, this materialist age has a silver lining. After two decades of parsing through the bullshit I can't believe god exists. I know god is.
Noah Howard
Thanks for at least not saying that Hebrew was the original language of the New Testament.
Justin Reed
So Christians are vapid and shallow for going to church every week and hearing the Gospel, but you're a true intellectual gentleman by considering the "theological/philosophical perspective"? tbh it sounds exactly like you want one of those watered down diet Christian branches. One of those ones that lets you do whatever you want while still feeling smug about how you know you're "saved".
seems I was in your position a few years ago. I was an atheist who became interested in theology and converted. It's no easy work. If you're legitimate and want to convert, you need to humble yourself. Then once you can do that, ask around on /christian/ about further things
Nathaniel Cook
Opening up to Ecclesiastes after years of lapsing is what opened me up to rejoining the faith, it's probably the most relevant for those who swallowed the bitter red pill
I've been leaning towards it for a few years now. It seems more wholesome and respectful than protestantism. I never could quite breach the whole "eat the bread, it's not actually bread it's a ~mystery~" and "pray with dead people" parts
Robert Edwards
There's a good argument that several NT books or their sources were originally written in Aramaic judging from the weird allusive languages, descriptions, and writing styles for even Koine.
If anyone or OP has particular questions about reading orders, choices, etc. I'll probably be able to answer
Gabriel Perez
Orthodoxy is fine but if you're in the west just join the Catholic church. It's pretty much the same (both even consider each other valid churches) and you'll meet many more people and have a stronger faith.
Jaxson Flores
No
Levi Parker
Christian Gnosticism or Hermetics is what you're looking for. tldr Humans can tap into universal energy by meditating and mentally/physically/spiritually training themselves. Read Initiation Into Hermetics or do some digging and find some gnostic books
It is not US who you should be talking with, OP. Pray to Jesus Christ for understanding, and then listen.
Christopher Perez
the truth is your denomination wont save you and wont be the reason you go to heaven or even feel "Christian", you have to ask The Holy Spirit of God to guide you in your journey, you absolutley must read the Bible. if you start in the new testament a lot of things wont make sense untill you read the old testament however it basically has TLDR of how to live your life as a Christian. Prayer is like the other wing of faith beside scripture you absolutly must pray daily, at first its awkward and you wont know how to pray but once you grow your connection to God it becomes a joy to pray
if you seek God with an honest heart and truly desire to follow him whole heartedly he will 100% show you everything
James 4 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Parker Nguyen
Amen, brother. Peace be with you!
Ryan Rivera
...
Justin Taylor
Interesting, what exactly is mourned in this context? I understand that translation is a sensitive topic, but if mourn is the most accurate word, why it and 'lament'? I understand gloom and weeping and how it relates to becoming humbled. But mourning and lamenting sounds like you lose something important.
Jace Adams
I can never become a theist or a religous person. It's not in my nature. Agnostic atheism isn't a pill that can be untaken. But, you can take the Jordan Peterson approach to meaning.
Christians can take it on faith that existence is meaningful and that there is an ultimate good, an ultimate evil, and an ultimate reality. After a loss of faith, atheists must use philosophy to make ourselves Nietschean Ubermenschen and reason our way to ultimate values, morals, and meaning.
It's a series where Peterson psychoanalyses the Bible. VERY enlightening. VERY powerful. Most devout Christians don't even begin to fathom the full depth and significance of the Bible.
I will never take religion lightly or dismiss it as superstition or its followers as "cucks". People who do so are either simple-minded or they've never thought deeply about morality, values, meaning, or religion — opting instead to spout spaghetti monster memes.
tl;dr lrn2 ubermensch
Colton Reyes
...
Easton Brown
wasted trips tbh
Brandon Lee
user, the details of theology are a god damn miniscule part of what we're talking about. The day to day, justifications, understanding of relation to god, responsibility, adaptability to change, resistance to corruption. After Vatican II Catholicism has ceased to be Christian at its core by the Holla Forumsemic perspective. It's as much the 'true church' as Anabaptists or Jehovah's Witness. The authority becomes irrelevant, the message deliberately distorted, the Logos lost. Fuck your opinion. I'm brought to rage over such a notion. A church that openly states not to tell jews to stop be satanic assholes is a friend to such vipers.
Cameron Nelson
you must read the full chapter and beyond that all of James to get the full idea. James is a very good book to read
Ian Perez
Pure lie. You've already taken the first step to breaking the conditioning. Right now your next step is simple. Go into your room by yourself and pray to God for faith. Here's a little one that I used when I stopped being an atheist: "God, if you exist, you must know I am not a believer. So please, God, give me the gift of faith, in your time and in your way. I want to believe whatever is true. Amen" Just make sure you actually do it. There's no half measures here. Also pick up a bible and find someone who isn't a faggot that knows ancient history to guide you through reading it. Remember that it is the best historical record we have and think about how it was developed and carried for so many thousands of years. >>>/christian/ has a shit tonne of trolls and masterbaiters but it's a decent resource when you sift through it.
Isaac Roberts
I think you're the waste
Levi Young
see
Elijah Morales
long time no see mate
Jonathan Morris
Going to Church is part of that process, dummy.
If you truly want to become a Christian, then stop with this arrogant faggotry.
Ryan Wright
You could start with the days of week but to be honest if they havn't sought you then that's not your fate. Nobody but a woman gains anything from begging lad and only inimical powers continue you doing it.
Asher Rogers
Heild
As someone in a somewhat similar position, let me say this: The basis of Christianity is held to be faith, commonly interpreted to be 'belief'. Of that I am utterly incapable. I can't choose what I believe any more than I choose what I perceive. In a cyclic infinite universe where every star is a sun in itself and the Earth is not the center of creation, I think Christianity has filled us monkeys with way too much self importance.
That being said, man is religious by nature. As you thread demonstrates.And I've yet to see anything arise that can fill the voids left by Christianity's death. So far.
So try and keep it going. There is another meaning to the word 'faith' , and that is trust. Trust can be in "God" but I see it more practically in a community, a tradition, a way of life.
Stop taking belief at face-value, and look at it operationally. What it is is what it does. Whether or not there is a God, fasting will make you healthier.
So try and join a community. Or at first go to church alone. Ask in prayer for meaning, or at least contemplate meaning, if you're tired of hearing your whining inner-voice. I know I am.
As for what denominations to join, I'd say look for those that are both non-Iconoclastic, and red pilled. (protestantism's rejection of beauty in Churches reeks of semitism) That kind of narrows it down to , as far as I know. Or perhaps some un-cucked denominations of Catholics. Anyway, there are the two factors you have to look for (uncucked, non-iconoclast) . Good luck.
Easton Baker
actually, "teen" and "teaching" bibles are the best. theyre usually twice as big because the left page will be all bible. the right page will be all context.
the one i have really gets into shit. original translations. reasons for revisions, explinations of things and context.
just reading the bible is confusing and can be easily taken dangerously out of context.
Sebastian Hall
Been there, done that. Start from the basics, user.
Julian Bell
OP the real problem isn't that you need the religious delusion in your life, it's that you are suffering from the existential horror of reality. I'm using the word delusion in the most generous way possible because that is truly what it is. Christianity is accepting a jewish version of a soothing but inherently flawed sense of comfort. It is a crutch, a white flag of surrender because you decided to stop looking for answers and can't accept the reality of life. You are in search of comfort and are weary from hard truths. Why delude yourself?
Christianity in its basic essence is putting your search for the truth in the scope of what that "religion" offers on hold. You're envious of the people who accept it both blindly and willfully because they themselves have put that anxiety to rest. But it won't end there. Even Christians struggle to cope with the lack of real answers and an honest approach to life. Look at how diffused and spread out the breadth of it is. There's so many cookie-cutter variations of it, tangentially related versions of it, and personalized forms of it because it cannot satisfy the many people in search of real answers. The many generations of white people who saw problems, tried to fix it in the best way they knew how, and the process has repeated so many times until today where people are starting to realize that maybe it's not a good idea to go to the jew for spiritual needs.
Do not jew yourself spiritually. Keep searching and learn to accept reality and the hard truths that follow. You don't need the pain just as much as you don't need the lies that pretend to make that pain go away. If you think Christians are truly happy, you yourself need to truly remember why you stopped depending on it. As someone who came from a long line of catholics, saw good men and women in my family deprive themselves of the potential they had by starting their own family, I decided to give both catholicism and christianity a good hard look and I decided it wasn't the end-all be-all limit for what both life and truth offers. Christianity is not just christcuckoldry, it is a subversion of the spiritual side to humanity. You will not go any further in life as far as spirituality goes by letting what is in essence jewish dictate that for you.
Last thing. If you truly care for spiritual purpose, you will do everything you can to find fulfillment and not a soothing lie. If you think you understand Christianity from a theological/philosophical perspective, you don't understand it enough because those aspects were added to it and are not truly part of it. It is the part of the lie that is meant to trap you into thinking there is something substantial to it. Do not cheat yourself out of a good journey by falling back on things you know are false. You have the capacity and the potential to find something truly substantial. Your real journey starts here.
The position of prayer can be used both for meditation and for the internalized whining to God we commonly refer to as prayer today. A good church can provide provide both the architecture and the quietness than help make contemplative states possible. You hardly get any quiet spaces it today's world. Everything's utilitarian, designed either to overwhelm or distract you. Fuck that.
