I was just reading some headlines on an alternative news site and saw one that read "Celebrities Flashing Satanic Hand Symbols" or something like that. I had an epiphany.

Before telling about my epiphany let me give some background info first. When I was in the morg I studied voraciously. I studied everything I could find and basically my study is what led me out of the church. My study not only led me out of the church, it led me on a direct course in the opposite direction of all organized religion. I believe that, and please I do not intend to offend anyone, Jesus Christ was a mythical being invented by the early Catholic church. I do not buy into the bible or any Christian belief in any way.

OK so now let me get to why I started this. When I see headlines like this I just laugh to myself because you have to believe in the bible and all that other religious dogma to even believe that there is a being named Satan. Since leaving religious beliefs behind I realized that I no longer believe in an evil being whose sole intent is to drag as many souls into hell as possible before the world ends. As I look at our society I see that people in this country just assume that everyone is Christian like them. I see headlines all the time talking about Satanic this or that and I just chuckle every time I see something like this.

So, have you experienced this?

You know what makes me laugh now? That I ever believed God lived on a planet closest to the sun, called Kolob!

I've had a similar epiphany in the last several years when I absolutely rejected the idea of Christ (up until then I was sort of ambivalent, maybe holding out hope).

Now christian references seem sort of odd, as goofy as the idea of Thor, or any other mythological god. I imagine most christians would scoff at the idea of praying to the goddess Venus, but don't see anything humorous or odd about praying to the christian god.

When your frame of reference changes completely, it's a whole new world out there.

Over the past few months I've been reading about the evolution of societies, including the different religions practiced throughout human history. I've also been studying the Bible, the way it has changed since its early days as separate books that later came together in a collection known as the NT. And yeah, it's hard not to see Christianity as just another mythology. Not to mention, even if you maintain your Christian faith, Satan was not present in the OT, nor taught by Christ, rather added later and developed as a concept as time went on.

I've also been reading some Robert Ingersoll and he wrote about the Christian concept of God and how messed up it is. Christians believe in an essentially loving God, but this same God requires you to worship him, has left nothing but confusion on earth as to how to worship him, has left a majority of the world (past and present) in the dark as to his instructions, and if you don't follow him you will be punished forever. Now, if you consider that this life is a speck, microscopic in the eternities, and that your soul continues on forever after this life, Christians believe that someone who doesn't follow Christ will be punished forever and ever, billions, trillions of years and beyond, with no end whatsoever for their mistakes in this tiny life. And that is a loving God.

"Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"
"The better to see you with my dear."

"Grandmother, what big ears you have!"
"The better to hear you with my dear."

"Grandmother, what horrible villains you have!"
"The better to scare you into submission with, my dear."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2013 01:14PM by ck.

I've been thinking the same thing recently. Another poster here had mentioned Lucifer in the temple movie..."if thou cursest me for doing that which has been done in other worlds...", implying that Lucifer knew his fate perfectly before rebelling, and/or the same thing had been done in other worlds without any cursings.

My TBM wife believes that every temptation, every bad thought, etc... comes from Satan. Every good thing is from God. I argued that Satan is far more powerful than God if he can get in everyone's head and cause all these bad thoughts, but God can't get in to testify that JS was a prophet or the BoM is true. She didn't understand my point...of course.

Even if you believe in God, I would argue that the idea of satan would be a personification of the "natural man" and not a literal being.

The underwear is ridiculous and hilarious!

In the ER, even at the LDS Hospital, where a Mormon can be in mortal peril, the first thing they do is cut off all the clothes, including the garments. Shucks, just when you need protection the most....

The sacred garments are not supposed to show, but many Mormons deliberately wear tight or see-through clothes to show that they are wearing them. Mormons feel each other up, to check each other's underwear. There are few behaviors creepier than that!

Maybe garments protect Mormons from having illicit sex with non-Mormons. What a turn-off--even when you stop laughing.

I used to do medical transcription for many Utah hospitals. Now I do all out of state hospitals.

Even as a still TBM, I was shocked by the doctors in the ER always talking about "his bishop has been called" or some such thing referring to mormonism. I thought that was absolutely ridiculous. Only in Utah.

what has made me laugh, and it's not just a mormon thing, is that EVERYTHING that looks foreign or "pagan" instantly gets branded as SATANIC! Symbols from religions more ancient than Christianity = satanic. symbols from a faith not Christianity = satanic. rituals that aren't christian = satanic.

Satan must be exhausted. No wonder he's so cranky.

What makes me laugh are all the weirdos who get up and bawl in F&T meeting every month. Made me laugh as a mo too...