Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

Bendy's Thoughts

  • entries
    31
  • comments
    135
  • views
    21,391

No belief is practically a crime?


Bendy Demon

1,432 views

You know, I was casually musing to myself about what it is, exactly, that believers (for this example I will use Christianity) have against those of us that don't believe on command.

After all millions and millions of us human beings go about our daily lives trying to be the best we can. We work, we support our families, many of us try to donate to food shelves, we give help to our neighbors and many of us have never been arrested for law infractions or even had perking tickets.

Most of us never were in gangs, did or dealt drugs, skipped school, cheated on tests, beat up other students and so on. We all try to do good NOT because a book said so but because that is what we should be doing; it is just how we live regardless of whether or not we believe in a god or not.

But then it suddenly hit me, that is precisely what many believers have against us non-believers; we have the audacity to NOT believe. It doesn't matter that our character is good and sound, it doesn't matter that we think kindness and compassion should be the theme of our lives, it doesn't even matter whether or not we are basically good or bad; it is all about our free choice on what to believe. Nothing else.

Many "believers" can meet a person, get along great and all that jazz but when they find out their new friend is a non-believer then they run away acting like they just contracted a disease or met some sort of evil alien.

For example, I try hard to be decent; I never skipped, school, cheated on tests, did or sold drugs, I did not go around boinking anything that moved or had kids out of wedlock. I have no criminal history, never hurt others or wrote bad checks. I work, pay my taxes, try to donate to the food shelf and the humane society and look after my neighbors house and kitties is need be. I try to be kind and compassionate and not let myself sink into the morass of hate and bigotry.

While I do not necessarily subscribe to the idea of souls or reincarnation I still, nonetheless, feel that life is not some cheap commodity to be bought, sold, exploited then discarded whenever it is no longer of use to us. I abhor the idea of abortion yet equally abhor the idea of denying other the freedom to obtain birth control. The idea of hurting children and animals makes me sick to my stomach.

I am by no means perfect because no one is. Not because of some "original sin" but because perfection is a impossibility; it is subjective and arbitrary. I try to do good every day because that is who I am YET I am looked down on because of one thing, I refuse to believe on command. I refuse to believe in a god.

So basically the message is that I can be as good as I can be but I will go to hell for refusing to believe but on the other hand I could be a abuser, murderer, thief and all that bad stuff but as long as I believe in god then it is all good.

Basically it is a thought crime by many believers to choose to NOT believe and that is the single reason us non-believers are hated and looked down on.

In the end, if your belief system can compel you to look down on others, including your own family, simply for not believing on command or as demanded then I wonder what else you can be compelled to do.

13 Comments


Recommended Comments

I always keep an open mind, though some things are so silly that it's out of the question. I look at what's presented, the evidence and and apply some logic and say it's either plausible or it isn't based on my understanding but I try not to take sides and form a belief one way or the other. I reason that disregarding beliefs or being a believer in something leads to a bias which can lead to ignorance. Usually in discussions of religion, I ask a lot of hard questions and often, in my experience only of course, that the answers are quite a bit silly if not borderline out there which tells me they were programmed with information that has no basis other than to be an answer for answers sake.

For example, I have been told that our ancient ancestors the Neanderthals don't go to heaven, but our dogs and cats do however a shark does not. I should have asked if sharks go to hell instead for just being themselves?. I've also heard I'm supposed to love thy neighbor....unless they are homosexual? So in those examples, I try not to make sense of it and become biased against it because I don't know everything so perhaps in some other form of existence, gay people will be chased by sharks while my most ancient ancestors will be SOL as I am being attacked and bitten again by my old neighbors mean ass mutt ...why not? 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Kismit

Posted (edited)

People who have hard edged beliefs get cut when they discover they are wrong.

Keep walking softly Ryu but don't forget your big stick.

ETA: Oops i see you have that stick already.

Edited by Kismit
Link to comment
3 minutes ago, Kismit said:

People who have hard edged beliefs get cut when they discover they are wrong.

Keep walking softly Ryu but don't forget your big stick.

I know but it is kinda hard sometimes when one of the people who speak against non-belief is one of your own parents.

Link to comment

the single reason us non-believers are hated and looked down on. "

 

which goes against everything the believers like to say their religion is about - not to hate or look down on others.

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
On 12/14/2016 at 5:35 PM, Ryu said:

I know but it is kinda hard sometimes when one of the people who speak against non-belief is one of your own parents.

I keep my mouth shut because of this reason. If my parents and the extended family knew I was a non-believer I'd constantly catch hell. But there will come a time when I can burn bridges if need be. Just be you, because you seem like the right kind of person this world needs.:tu:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
18 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

I keep my mouth shut because of this reason. If my parents and the extended family knew I was a non-believer I'd constantly catch hell. But there will come a time when I can burn bridges if need be. Just be you, because you seem like the right kind of person this world needs.:tu:

May I ask why you keep this a "secret" from your parents ? Seems like they have some power over you.

Link to comment
preacherman76

Posted

I'm a believer Ryu, and I don't hate or judge you at all. And I don't mean the, 'I'm telling you I'm not judging you, but really am anyway', even lying to myself. The head games that go on in the church can be horrible at times. Especially with new believers. They tend to have the most energy and passion, with the least amount of wisdom. I cringe when I think about my first couple years as a new believer. I know it can be hard to not let it effect you. Especially if its from people you care about, especially parents. If lets say your Mom is a fire and brimstone eternal damnation believer, how else could she possibly proceed with your relationship? We are talking about a person who thinks you are going to spend eternity screaming in agony, burning in a lake of fire. Obviously she is going to do anything she can to try and make you see things her way. Just goes to show how those in power have used hell as tool for control.

Now I cant say for sure whether or not hell is an actual place, but the more years go by the more absurd the idea gets to me. Especially when I see the idea of it divide and even destroy relationships.

All I can say Ryu is to thy self be true.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
preacherman76

Posted

Oh BTW I wrote that in hopes that you can see not all believers are in the same boat as far as casting out the unbelievers. Heck I don't even have a desire to try and make you, or anyone else believe. Not even through non judgmental love.

I've listened to probably a couple hundred (at least) near death experiences. One common thing I see, no matter what they believed in this life, is that all are welcome. All are loved. You might not believe in God the Father Ryu, but he believes in you.

Link to comment
Gunn

Posted (edited)

On Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 4:35 PM, Ryu said:

I know but it is kinda hard sometimes when one of the people who speak against non-belief is one of your own parents.

This might be against your way of thinking on how to handle these type of things, but I'll tell you what I do with my parents when they speak against things I believe in. I agree with them out in the opening and disagree with them in secret unknown to them. Why? Because the most important thing to me right now is that when they pass on, which could be soon in their case of old age, I don't want them and I to part ways with resentment towards each other in the end. I want them to be happy in knowing they have their perceived influence upon me when they both part from this world or in case something happens to me first instead.

I just don't want that conflict and unresolve to be left lingering around after we depart from each other. It's not good for peace of mind afterwards when that happens, because after they're gone I know I'll wish I had gotten along with them better and had just let them have their way.

It's not easy and it sucks to try and tolerate it to be honest, but I know it will be better for our relationship before they pass on. But also remember they really can't change your way of thinking unless you really want to change your thinking, no matter what they say or do or have you do. So I just be true to my own self in secret.

 

Edited by Purifier
Link to comment
3 hours ago, Purifier said:

This might be against your way of thinking on how to handle these type of things, but I'll tell you what I do with my parents when they speak against things I believe in. I agree with them out in the opening and disagree with them in secret unknown to them.

 

Well..when my father goes on about how the worlds problems are all because of non-believers, like myself, I really cannot bring myself to agree with such a narrow-minded statement.  However my father has always been somewhat easily influenced by what other people say especially if that person fancies themselves some sort of expert.

He has gone through many belief systems, believing all sorts of nonsense just because a musty old yogi, for example, said so. He grew up in an environment where people who wrote books were elevated to a near exalted status no matter how erroneous their claims were. So in a sense I understand why he is the way he is however what irks  me is how he, on the one hand, laments being "ostracized" by his own family for being a so-called "black sheep yet at the same time makes comments to me (his daughter) that serves to do the same thing.

Maybe I should bring that to his attention seeing how he is not one to observe his own actions unless someone puts it in front of him and calls his attention to it.

Link to comment
Gunn

Posted (edited)

1 hour ago, Ryu said:

Well..when my father goes on about how the worlds problems are all because of non-believers, like myself, I really cannot bring myself to agree with such a narrow-minded statement.  However my father has always been somewhat easily influenced by what other people say especially if that person fancies themselves some sort of expert.

He has gone through many belief systems, believing all sorts of nonsense just because a musty old yogi, for example, said so. He grew up in an environment where people who wrote books were elevated to a near exalted status no matter how erroneous their claims were. So in a sense I understand why he is the way he is however what irks  me is how he, on the one hand, laments being "ostracized" by his own family for being a so-called "black sheep yet at the same time makes comments to me (his daughter) that serves to do the same thing.

Maybe I should bring that to his attention seeing how he is not one to observe his own actions unless someone puts it in front of him and calls his attention to it.

Yeah I don't know what you're overall situation is in your family, Ryu. For instance, I don't know if you see your father everyday or ever other day. But something I forgot to mention before and probably a big part of the reason why what I do works for me is, is that I don't see my parents everyday.  I don't see my parents but twice a week most of the time. That can make a lot of difference in the way of handling relatives who we have conflicts with. You may not have that option.

Now in my case, my father likes to lecture, not just with me when I'm around, but with anybody that's around him that has ears, especially when it comes to politics. He can drive a person crazy with his know-it-all encyclopedia attitude and does so. He's a attention whore basically and wants to be liked by everybody, so he rambles on at times. So when I don't see him but maybe twice a week or sometimes even more than that, it doesn't bother me so much what he sayz about this\that or anything including me. I just nod and say "yeah" and tune them out the rest of the time.

But also I think over the years I just got tired of arguing with them and let them be since they're both getting so old and senile at times; which is probably another reason why I just nod and let it go. I tend to look at them both that way and what they say about anything these days, just doesn't seem to bother me so much anymore. Anyway, that's part of my life and how I handle my relationship with them, but you on the other hand may not be so fortunate. But I hope things get better for you in that situation as time goes on.

 

Edited by Purifier
Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now