Why so sad?

[colodeck]

A nice person asked ...

... why does it make you sad to not be able to call yourself a member of the Christian community, and of course I am also wondering why you have determined yourself excluded. From what I have seen, usually those who exclude themselves from the identity as Christian are actually quite relieved by it. So this is an interesting case to observe. Thanks!

It's a long story ... the usual ex-Christian method is to rant and rave which is not particularly helpful for anybody. Any rational person should admit there are many things which are good about the other tradition and some bad in their own tradition ... by which I meant Buddhism is no exception.

I'll try to elucidate when I can ...

 

[kit]

How does one live in this culture and feel excluded from Christianity? I am not sure the ex-Christians standard method is to rant and rave. I think those who do rant and rave get inordinate attention.

 

[ViaCrucis]

How does one live in this culture and feel excluded from Christianity? I am not sure the ex-Christians standard method is to rant and rave. I think those who do rant and rave get inordinate attention.

For what it's worth nobody has a monopoly on it. I've seen other_religion-turned-Christian be able to rant and rave all the day. I've also seen it when we are talking of intra-Christian conversion, e.g. Catholic-to-Baptist or Baptist-to-Catholic.

I think it is just a psychological condition that often can exist as part of New Convert Syndrome. It's part of the disassociation process, deconstructing a previously held worldview and constructing of the new. Not everyone becomes hostile toward their former associations; but it does have a tendency to be present. In some cases it can be heightened by experiences and environment; bad experiences of one's former associations can result in hostility, environmental pressures from the new associations can also result in hostility; wherein it is encouraged to vilify the former. And then both can work in conjunction. For example: someone raised in a repressive Fundamentalist tradition that stifled independent thinking, questioning, etc eschewing Christianity in toto and becoming an atheist and finding camaraderie among other atheists with similar and shared experiences can foster more intense feelings against the former association.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[colodeck]

Anyway for now let's just

How does one live in this culture and feel excluded from Christianity? I am not sure the ex-Christians standard method is to rant and rave. I think those who do rant and rave get inordinate attention.

Hello friend. Of course. But this is the internet.

 

[oi_antz]

A nice person asked ...

It's a long story ... the usual ex-Christian method is to rant and rave which is not particularly helpful for anybody. Any rational person should admit there are many things which are good about the other tradition and some bad in their own tradition ... by which I meant Buddhism is no exception.

I'll try to elucidate when I can ...

Hi, thanks, it sort of doesn't really answer my query though. Can you please describe what specifically it is about not being a member of the Christian community that makes you sad?

The other question was more about why do you feel that you are not a member of the Christian community any more. I remember looking at another post you made somewhere that you struggled to accept Penal Substitutionary Atonement doctrine. I remember that I told you it is not a doctrine of truth. I understand that it deters people, and I am immensely disgusted by it too. I wonder whether there are other reasons, or whether you might find you are a lost sheep who has been led off the path leading to life by a wolf in sheep's clothing. I imagine there would be more than a few people who would feel sad about that!