A close relative shared some thread on FB that described horrible deaths of people who either questioned the existence of a god, or made derogatory statements towards a god.

I lost my shit. A few days ago, I opened up to my wife and relived an experience that contributed to my PTSD. She was so supportive and listened. The experience brought a lot to the surface.

It was a healing and bonding experience, but has left quite a bit near the surface.

The FB post sent me over the edge. I shared the post with this as the intro:

"This is so disgusting, and was posted on a friend's page. If a parent committed any of these acts towards their child, they would be in prison. I saw a 13 month old child after he was covered in boiling water as a punishment from his mother's boyfriend. He screamed for hours while medical staff attempted to find a vein. He was mush. All of his skin had sluffed off. He died later. The god depicted in this story follows the same principle. I would be a legally mandated reporter if this scenario was for humans. If you believe this shit, examine what type of god you are worshiping. If you think the god's actions are sound, I ask you to reconsider. If any of my children question me, I don't kill them."

My wife is angry with me for "calling out" a loving relative. I don't give a shit. I love the relative, but I can't stand to read this type of thing.

Hang in there buddy! I'll hold on if you do.

I'll hold on until the end. I'm here for you too.

I just want a mind erase so I don't have to live with certain experiences. I need the therapy from "Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind."

My shit pales in comparison. I'm thinking about you..

The biggest threat to religion, is, IMO, the discovery that it isn't true.
Religion therefore evolved resistance to this, in the form of vilification of unbelievers.
Part of the dogma is that unbelief is the death of the soul, and that spreading unbelief is murdering souls.
An unbeliever doesn't just not believe. He/she actively "denies Christ", and may be referred to as an "anti-Christ".
This represents a base prejudice in the Mormon mind. The Jews and the Lamanites suffered that wrath of god for being anti-Christs. A Mormon believes in the existence of "anti-Christs", and that they might be a person they know...you and me.

Mormons should know what it's like to be called "of the devil" since that was a staple of Christian criticism. We atheists, quite unlike Korihor, have conscientiously arrived at a conclusion that all the "gods" we've observed so far are untenable manmade fables. At least SOME of what we suffer is at the hands of BELIEVERS who f*cking INFLICT it on us.

Ragingphoenix, I feel for you.

Having memories which replay, having memories that you can't get rid of can make a person feel hopeless.

I have some of those myself. I want to share with you some things I have learned from Buddhist tapes which I listen to on the radio.

www.audiodharma.org

I have learned that thoughts can be detached from emotion by learning to observe them and practice that observation in meditation. You realize that there is a "you" that thinks a monkey-mind stream of random throughts and never shuts up. There is also a "you" that judges those thoughts--says things like, "Where did that thought come from? You must be nuts!"

One of them is not real. It's the monkey mind. That is just a ticker tape of random firings apropos of nothing. The real you is the being who observes.

Thoughts and memories can appear with or without the attendant emotions. What dictates whether or not we feel the emotion is whether or not we identify or choose to re-experience the event as though it were in the present. In other words, we control whether or not the event is pulled into the present. It is only by pulling it into the present that we feel the emotions.

This is the underlying reason that grief from a death lessons over time. It gets easier and easier to leave the loss emotions in the past and eventually, one can even think of poignant memories without tears.

And yet, when I am experiencing a new loss, that old loss is pulled into the present and I will feel the loss of my son as if it were yesterday.

It has been a beacon of hope for me to learn that by practicing through meditation, I could control the unpleasant emotions and become healthier.

I am sending light your way and feel for you that you have had to so personally suffer the terrible injustice of pain and suffering that is wrought upon the innocent every single day all over the world. We would all be insane with grief if we knew about it.

BTW, you gave those people a dose of reality. The god of the Old Testament is not only not admirable, he would be a criminal were he a member of modern society.

Anagrammy

Thank you as always Ana.

I will look up your link when I'm calmer.

You'll calm down given time.

I know it's draining though.

Ugh, I'm so sorry RP. I hate people like that. I don't blame you for going off.

began posting photos that were over the top for me.

I just about came unglued dealing with one person's threads on my FB page.

I know what you are going through.

I know it is easier said than done, but try to calm down. Go for a walk if possible. You will get through this. It's just a matter of time.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2013 08:09AM by fidget.

I think you should delete your fb page, like I did.

I couldn`t stand all the Mormon stuff on fb too.

I saw that on FB and I read the post and I couldn't even believe what I was reading.

Internet hugs to you. As always, if you want/need to talk, hit me up.

After all, doesn't the church always teach "hate the sin, love the sinner". You were simply showing your hate for this particular sin of vitriol.

What about all those people who do believe in God and still suffer horrible deaths? In science it's called a control group. In life it's called tragic.