www.youareNOTgoingtohell.com
Welcome to youarenotgoingtohell.com!
“For the Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU”
– Jesus the Christ
Notice how the Christ did NOT say The Kingdom, is at your church. Or The Kingdom is via your pastor. Or the Kingdom is in the Bible. He clearly stated “it is WITHIN YOU.” Hi there and welcome to my site. Please help me in my goal of getting this website to go literally around the world. Do one good thing today and pass this website on. This is a message I believe the world has not heard enough of, in fact people have been overwhelmed with the opposite message for millenia. This site is a refuge, and a safe place FOR YOU. I want to start out immediately by stating what the purpose of this website is NOT. It is NOT an anti-god or anti- spirituality site. I am a very spiritual guy. As far as what the website is, I’ll get straight to the point. The Bible and therefore almost all churches are lying to you. It is the greatest flim-flam ever perpetuated on humanity. As you spend time on this website you will see repeated examples of how the Bible is not only NOT THE 100%, INERRANT, INFALLIBLE WORD OF GOD, it is in multiple cases, unreliable, self-contradictory, archaic, ridiculously outdated and just plain wrong. The goal of this website is to shine a light on those facts and get people to realize that they cannot base what happens to us after we die on the Bible. Nobody, including myself, knows what happens to us after we die and I am not here to talk about that. I am here to dialogue with you about WHY YOU SHOULDN’T USE THE BIBLE AS LEGITIMATE REFERENCE with regard to what happens to us when we die. You shouldn’t base your decisions in life on what the Bible says, because it simply is not a reliable source of information. I have lived this Truth for my entire adult life. Most of us in the USA were raised in some form of religion that taught us at a young age about hell based on Biblical scripture. Our young, undeveloped, trusting, unquestioning, pure minds, simply accepted that hell was real, and was inevitable “for sinners” based on the Bible and what a church told us. The problem is that with human nature being what it is, most of what we feel, think, say or experience condemns us ALL to hell, based on the Bible/church teachings of our childhood. If you interpret the Bible as the 100% true, infallible, inerrant truth of God, then EVERYONE is going to hell. In my own experience, I tried to commit suicide at age 21 because I am gay, and at that time was completely brainwashed to believe that maybe if I killed myself, God would take mercy on me and allow me into heaven. I figured “If I just didn’t live my life as a gay man at all”, God would give me a get-out-of-hell-free card. Now, as I approach the age of 40, still alive and quite gay, I still run across people daily or weekly who believe they are going to hell. They make decisions in their here-and-now life, based on fear that they will go to hell. I know women who are treated horribly by their husbands, yet refuse to get a divorce because they are afraid they will go to hell. I know middle aged women who have confided in me that when they were young, they made a mistake, got pregnant and had an abortion, and they are afraid they are going to hell. I know men who are married and who know they are gay and are terrified they are going to hell, so they stay in sham marriages. There are people who live in a constant state of unconscious anxiety that they will go to hell. And all of those ridiculous, untrue, non-sensical childhood beliefs are based on the Bible. Most churches misuse and purposely selectively quote Bible scriptures . They cherry pick certain verses that are taken COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTEXT and they do this for one reason: control, power, and money. So many people deal unconsciously with anxiety about going to hell in a number of ways: over-eating, obsessive behavior, substance abuse, even child abuse. I have started this site, to start a RATIONAL AND INTELLECTUALLY BASED CONVERSATION: because very simply, there isn’t a sight out there devoted solely to this issue (at least I couldn’t find one). Humanity has been told ENOUGH over the centuries that “you will go to hell”, based on the Bible. So this website IS FOR YOU. I want it to be a forum where I hear from people like you. Are you someone who believes you are going to hell? If so,why? Unload your burden here. More importantly, are you someone like me? Are you someone who TRULY BELIEVED to your very soul that you were going to hell, and now you know different? You are who I need. I need you to share your story here on why you believed you were going to hell, and what changed to make you realize you are not going to hell. Your experience, hope, and strength needs to be shared so that others who are suffering under this misguided burden can have some relief. My goal is to get this website to go around the world. It is time for the world to know the Truth: you cannot base your beliefs about the afterlife on the Bible. Whatever beliefs you ultimately come to, it is my hope that you will come to a God OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING, and find a God that is kind, gentle, loving, forgiving, benevolent and nothing but pure love and goodness: because that’s what God is. God is ALL GOOD and all good things come from God. Negativity, pain, strife, war etc……none of that comes from God because ONLY GOOD comes from God.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
I am operating this site from my home in Florida. This is MY site. If any “christian,” “catholic,” reverend, pastor, priest or just in general conservative freak posts ANYTHING REMOTELY negative or shame, guilt or fear inducing, it will be deleted in short order. Anything resembling condemnation will be immediately deleted as this is not a debate site. This is a site of recovery, of safety, of love, of security and trust. It’s a sight to educate you on how the Bible in its current existence came to be and why you positively CANNOT RELY ON IT if you are looking for answers to what happens when our Earthly life ends. So if you know you are one of those sad, pathetic souls, who wants to cherry pick scriptures out of context, in order to convince people that they will go to hell, save your time posting anything here, it won’t be up for long. For me and for many of you the jury is in: we are not going to hell. Therefore people who post bible verses and religious dogma to the contrary will be deleted from the site in very short order. Now for the rest of us who are prepared to have an intellectual, enlightened, mature conversation, please share your story, unload your burden, your guilt, your shame as well as your success in overcoming this belief. God did not put you here to carry that load. And if you are someone who can share a meaningful story about believing you would go to hell and you now realize it is not true, you, above all are needed here. Think of the butterfly effect . Your posting could bring change to someone thousands of miles away from you. And so………
Let us begin, to begin……………….
WHAT IS THE BIBLE, REALLY???
To begin with, little debate exists among educated, enlightened people about the how the bible as it exists today came into being. The contents you see in today’s bible spans a time of about 2000 years before Christ until about 200 years after Christ. For those of you counting, yes you are right: The bible came together over about a 2200 hundred year period. Mathematically speaking, what are the odds that a collection of writings which took form over 2200 years has no mistakes and is 100% truth? Early in their history, the Jewish people began to collect writings that were important to their history and faith which included stuff like the ten commandments. For literally HUNDREDS OF YEARS the bible stories were passed down from one generation, to the next generation, to the next generation ORALLY. Anybody with even an ounce of reason in their being would have to admit that there is no way these stories didn’t get changed, embellished, mistranslated, purposefully rewritten to fulfill someone’s agenda, etc….It simply is not possible that the bible is the literal, inerrant, 100% correct, infallible, fundamental word of God. Around 500 BC (that’s 500 years before the birth of the Christ), all 39 books of the old testament of the bible were physically written down in Hebrew (after having been passed down orally for HUNDREDS OF YEARS). And that’s just the old testament. To make a long story short, the bible is a hodge-podge collection of writings that has some beautiful words of wisdom to live by. Unfortunately those beautiful words are interspersed among 100% lies, hogwash and nonsense. I try to live by many of the writings in the Bible as well as many other spiritual books. Because the Bible evolved over millennia, through multiple generations of oral traditions, through multiple language translations which were overseen by powerful, HETEROSEXUAL MEN with agenda’s, because of these reasons, you CANNOT call the bible the literal, inerrant, 100% true word of God and therefore you cannot base your decisions about the afterlife on the Bible or a church’s teachings.
SO LET’S TALK
And let us start with some basic historical facts beginning with modern science. The Bible spans a period of about 2000 years before Christ, to about 200 years after Christ, or 200AD. Beginning around the 16th century, around the time of the beginning of The Enlightenment, human beings began to realize that we have a unique and truly Divine gift: intellect. In other words we realized we had the ability to question things that didn’t make sense. Suddenly the Earth was not flat, and although persecuted by the catholic church, Copernicus discovered that Earth is not the center of the universe. Bloodletting was discovered to be a really bad idea to treat illness. Mankind learned its own Divinely given creativity and intelligence, and an infinite number of works of art were created. Humanity began to grapple with the idea of discernment between superstition and reality. These and many more scientific concepts became real, and intellect, which is something the Divine gives us, grabbed hold of mankind. But when you read the bible, which is written nearly 2000 years BEFORE the enlightenment, there is no intellect involved whatsoever. It is all superstitious, traditional made up stories copied from previous made up stories which people accepted as fact. It’s only been in recent times that the Catholic Church, under Pope John Paul the Second acknowledged that evolution is real. So people have a choice: live in shame and fear based on hogwash, unscientific, and utterly ridiculous stories that are millennia old, or indulge yourself in your own Divinely given intellect and find out what is true for you. It is okay to trust yourself, for you have the DNA of the Divine in you. It is true. If you take time daily to get UTTERLY QUIET WITHIN YOURSELF, YOU CAN HEAR AND FEEL THE DIVINE IN YOU. PERHAPS MAYBE NOT THE FIRST, SECOND OR THIRD TIME YOU GET UTTERLY QUIET, BUT IF YOU DO IT ENOUGH, YOU WILL REALIZE THAT THE DIVINE IS IN CONSTANT CONTACT WITH YOU PERSONALLY, ALWAYS.
Now………..
Go make yourself a cup of decaf coffee or decaf tea and then come back and read the rest of this. (For people who have labored under a lifetime of believing they are going to hell, caffeine is not good. Nice way to increase your anxiety levels which we really don’t need you feeling right now). And we are just going to pick a place in religious history at random and begin, because, since most religion has NOTHING TO DO WITH GOD AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH POWER AND CONTROL, it really doesn’t matter where we begin. What matters is that we begin. Soooo………lets start with say, ummmmmmmmm…… Krishna: Some Hindu traditions state that the mere syllables of the name “Krishna” have the power to destroy sin with regard to material things, ourselves and spiritual matters. Sounds an awful lot like the Bible giving Jesus the power to forgive sins of the same nature. Similar to Jesus, Krishna was worshipped as God while just a small child. Keep in mind it is believed that the birth of Krishna, if Krishna ever even really existed, is believed to be about 3,000 years BEFORE the birth of the Christ. Does it not make sense that some of these stories are mere copies of previous stories with embellishments and pertinent parts added or taken away to fulfill a human agenda? It is also believed that Krishna was born of a virgin, just like Jesus. Again, the virgin birth of Krishna takes place 3,000 years before the birth of the Christ. In fact if you do a little digging, history is FULL of supposed saviors who were born of virgins. The Christian Community cannot claim that they were first to come up with this idea of virgin birth. Actually they were pretty late in coming to this idea. Krishna, like Jesus, is said to have slayed and cast out demons. One in particular, was the demon Kaliya which Krishna defeated. Like Jesus, Krishna performed super human feats. It is said that Krishna literally lifted the entire hill of Govardhana to protect the native people of Vrindavana. More Jesus-like stories, only they occurred 3000 years before Jesus’ birth. At the very least, a rational thinking person has to believe in the possibility that the stories of Jesus were simply copies of stories of previous Gods. Like Jesus, Krishna was believed to be the embodiment of God on earth: both God and man. Sound familiar? Things that make you go hmmmm………………Read on. Jesus was known to go and spend time alone: 40 days and nights in the desert, going alone to Gethsamane to pray, etc….. Similarly Krishna is said to have gone into a forest to rest and meditate alone under some trees where he then ascended into heaven. Where have we heard this before? Also in the Bible we are told that the path to the kingdom of god is “narrow”. And once again we see Krishna referred to as “He of the straight and narrow path of maryada” (rules and regulations). It becomes increasingly obvious that what we have here is years of oral tradition passed down from generation to generation with little regard for what the truth really was. Much easier to just copy bits and pieces of stories of other heavenly saviors and ascribe them to another savior of a different name-to fulfill an agenda. That agenda was and is rooted in heterosexual, white, rich, MEN. Even if you take out the “white and rich” part, the agendas are rooted in heterosexual MEN. Why? Obviously to control the power, the people (especially women and children) and of course the money.
GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND THE BIBLE
In both the Christian creation story of Genesis, and in many accounts of the ancient Greek creation story, the earth began with darkness and nothingness: a void, or Chaos, as known to the Greeks. There is similarity in the separation of mans relationships with the Christian God and mans separation from the Greek God Zeus, who was the major god of the ancient Greeks. Both falls of man were the products of trickery, deceit, and temptation. In both cases, the temptation came from food. Probably the most important similarity in the two falls from the respective Gods (and this is VERY SAD AND UNFAIR TO EVERY FEMALE WHOEVER EXISTED OR WILL EXIST), is the negative role that women have in each fall. Women are blamed for both falls from the Greek God Zeus and the Christian God. In the Bible, woman actually leads man to the fall from God and as the punishment for that fall, life in general will just suck for everyone forever. Greek mythology also says that Woman was responsible for the fall from Greek God Zeus. In both Christian and Greek tradition, women take the full brunt for mans misery. And here we are in the new millennium and let’s face it, women the world over are still getting blamed. In both the Ancient Greek and Christian accounts of the early world, there exist stories of great floods that destroyed most of humankind. In the Bible’s version of the flood, God becomes vengeful due to the wickedness of human beings and decides to destroy the earth with a flood: a flood which supposedly covered the highest mountains on earth. Many scientists agree if a flood of that magnitude were to occur, the earth would have spun completely out of its orbit and never recovered. In other words none of us would be here to have this conversation. However, God found Noah to be a nice man, and he asked Noah (who supposedly lived to be like 900 years old) to build an ark. On the ark, Noah was to take his wife, three sons, their wives, and two of every living creature in the entire world. (How did he get to other continents to round up those animals too??? Frequent flier miles maybe???) In destroying the world God could be sure that the world would then repopulate with “nicer folks”. (God is God: Did God really need man’s help in repopulating anything)? In the Greek flood story, The Greek God Zeus becomes very angry with men and decides to destroy them as revenge for their sins. Both of these versions have awfully angry, hateful Gods. I am so glad my God is loving, benevolent, gentle, patient and kind. However, Prometheus tells his son, Deucalion, to build an ark so Deucalion and his wife could escape Zeus’ wrath. So Deucalion builds the ark and outsmarts GOD. There may be some differences in the two accounts, (and both accounts are ridiculous if you believe either one of them), but the parallels show that both the Ancient Greeks and followers of the Christian faith both had great floods that covered the Earth in the early world. And both accounts have human beings surviving the flood on an ark to repopulate the Earth. Getting rid of kings and authority figures are common, both in Greek Mythology and in Bible stories. The Greek god Cronus was told that one of his children would overthrow him. To prevent this, Cronus swallowed each of his children at birth. Unlucky for Cronus, his wife managed to save one of the babies and hide him and that turned out to be the main Greek God Zeus. Zeus overthrows his father and becomes God of the Greeks. In the Bible it’s a similar story only the authority figure is King Herod, who was King when Jesus was born (and by the way he was NOT BORN on DECEMBER 25TH). When Herod hears that the King of the Jews has just been born, he demands that all newborn boys in Bethlehem be killed. However, Jesus escapes to Egypt until Herod died. So both the Bible and Greek mythology regard these stories as significant to their respective belief system, yet they are remarkably similar. If you aren’t questioning the Bible yet, lets chat about Mithra.
MITHRA
Mithra was the sun god of ancient Persia and stories about Mithra and worshipping Mithra predate the story of Jesus by, at the very least, 1000 years BEFORE Christ. The stories of Mithra and Jesus are ridiculously similar. Both are said to have been born on December 25th, and both came into the world outside of sexual intercourse, so obviously even back then there was shame attached to sex: no one wanted to believe their god had a mommy and daddy that “did IT”. Get this: Mithras was said to be “spiritual lightness” fighting “spiritual darkness”. Mithra was said to be the God that would bring lightness into the darkness with the light of Heaven. Mithra was believed to be the only way for the sinful to be redeemed and acceptable to God. Mithra was considered to be a “spiritual middle-man” between God and humans, kinda’ like Jesus. Mithra was referred to in many Jesus-like terms. Some of Mithra’s names were: Good, Love, Eternal Source of Grace, Life-giver, The Good Shepherd, The Way, The Truth and the Light, The Redeemer, The Savior, Messiah, etc….. But wait! There’s more! Much more! Mithra was a poor, traveling Teacher/Healer who had, you guessed it, 12 disciples with him. Mithra traveled the country with his 12 disciples and he was said to have performed many miracles. And I SWEAR I’m not makin’ this up! There is no dispute among educated historians, theologians, and professors that these stories of Mithra absolutely exist. Followers of Mithra believed he was the giver of life who could save souls from the darkness and lead them to a better realm after a baptismal/communion-like ceremony which included the use of sacred bread, water, and anointing into a higher way of being. Now I ask you: “Is it remotely logical to believe that the Bible is the 100% true, infallible, authentic, inerrant, word of God? Are you sure you want to base the decisions you make in your daily life on the Bible, which is so clearly full of self-contradictions, a little plagiarism from the Greeks, and outright incorrect information? Are you sure you want to form your feelings about what happens after death on the Bible now that you are beginning to see that the church as a whole has grossly manipulated the writings in the Bible? Consider this: In 325 AD the Roman Emporer Constantine the Great, had all references to reincarnation deleted from the books which constituted the New Testament at that time. In 553 AD The 2nd Council of Constantinople affirmed this action and declared the concept of human reincarnation to be heresy, something reserved only for “The One.” In addition, many references to God as being female had ALL been eliminated. And saddest of all, passages that declared any idea, concept or notion that “The Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU”, were deleted. The Church certainly did not want anyone turning to their own Divinely given intellect, and it sure as hell didn’t want God being referred to as a female. But the fact is that the early church ACCEPTED the idea of human reincarnation and regularly referred to God as female. The early Gnostics like Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Saint Jerome, St. Thomas and many,many,many others all accepted the idea that we live many lives, many times, with the ultimate goal being to reach higher levels of consciousness and Christ-like knowledge with each life: a spiritual ascension, life after life. And ultimately the goal was to end up at the right hand of God, who was often referred to as “She”.
There is a seemingly endless list of stories of gods who existed hundreds or thousand years of years before the story of Jesus, yet the stories are almost carbon copies of each other. By now you are probably getting the idea but we are going to cover just one more, in the event you have any remaining doubt. After that, we will go into the myriad of biblical self-contradictions, and the litany of rules in the Bible that only an insane person would follow.
HORUS
There are multiple accounts of a story about an Egyptian God named Horus, who existed long, long, long before the birth of Christ. And once again, here is a list of striking similarities between the two stories. Again, I believe as you read this, you will see it impossible to overlook the similarities, without seriously questioning the Bible. Horus was said to be taken by his enemy to the top of a mountain buy “Sut”. The word “Sut” eventually came to mean “Satan”. Recall that in the Bible, the Christ followed Satan up to the top of a mountain where Satan tempted Christ. Both Gods were tempted by their enemy and both overcame the temptation. There are some murky indications that Horus had 12 disciples, and of course the Christ had 12 disciples. Horus was said to walk on water, heal the sick and blind and “still the sea by his own power”. Jesus? Ditto. Horus raised his father Osirus from the dead, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Another name for Osirus at that time was “Asar”, and when translated into Hebrew, “Asar” translates to “Lazarus”. Both delivered profound sermons via a “sermon on the mount”. Both were said to be executed: Horus was either crucified or stung to death by scorpions intentionally (depending on the account you read) and the Christ was crucified. During their executions they both had two criminals present with them being executed at the same time. Both Horus and Christ went to hell and came back 3 days later after being buried in tombs. The resurrection of both Gods were proclaimed first by women. Both are considered to the embodiment of God in form of man on Earth, both were said to be “The Anointed One”, and both had other nicknames in common: The Good Shepherd, The Lamb of God, The Bread of Life, The Son of Man, The Word, The Fisher, the Winnower. Both of them used the term “I Am” in referring to themselves.
Now if you continue to dig, you will find stories of other religious Gods whose stories almost creepily mirror the stories of the life of Christ. If you aren’t seriously questioning the Bible at this point, I suggest you stop reading here and go back to church because sadly, you are past the point of being able to think for yourself.
May you find The Peace That Passes All Understanding through the God OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING.
RWJ
Marc said,
May 13, 2010 at 4:28 am
The site looks great Rj! This is really going to help a lot of folks.
mrawlinj said,
May 13, 2010 at 4:33 am
Thanks Marc. I have lived this story and it is one of the things I believe I was called to do. If you have anyone in your life who might find it interesting, please forward it along. Maybe Aunt Bev…………
mrawlinj said,
May 29, 2010 at 5:23 am
Nicole you are so funny, I loved your comments! I honestly think that because we were brainwashed at such a young age, we will forever have to be on the look out for what we are feeling. I can go into guilt and shame in one second-flat. But I’m getting better about catching myself. At the moment I’m involved in a major feud with a few of my siblings: the thing is, is that I have done absolutely nothing wrong. My logical brain knows I’ve done nothing wrong but my right brain automatically says “it’s your fault, you are bad”. But I’m learning how to talk back. PLEASE, if there is anyone you know that could benefit from this site, pass it on. You never know how your actions might save anothers life. I have to get this message out to the world, I’ve become almost obsessed with it; because I see the church abusing it’s people and it’s power and I’ve had enough.
mrawlinj said,
May 30, 2010 at 1:07 am
It sounds like you and I were raised in a very similar church upbringing. I however, left all organized religion 20 years ago. It took me til this year to put this website up and I’m so glad I did. My only hope in life is to get the website into the hands of as many people around the world as I can. If you have e-mails of people who need to see this information and you dont want to pass the sight on yourself, pass the e-mails onto me in a comment. I will copy the e-mails, send the website out to them myself and delete your comments so you are in no way implicated. I know you don’t know me but trust me, I’m not doing this for money or fame, I’m doing this to help as many people as I can get this information. You can trust that I will immediately delete your comment. Or you can send e-mails to my personal account: Mrawlinj@yahoo.com. I will make sure to delete any comments on here from you as you don’t need more bullshit from the church.
Gerry said,
June 22, 2011 at 3:58 am
Thankyou for starting up this site my friend sent me this and I am so greatfull I have always struggled with a punishing god it causese great anxiety although I have given up on church a long time ago I still suffer from the guilt that maybe my anxiety is a punishment from god etc my wife has also as good as given up On church also but dosent suffer from the anxiety that I do that sex is a sin and dirty etc that we were taught in church it seems that if you enjoy anything itust be a sin I would like to get involved in sprituality but not sure where to start I was wondering it you could help me thank you souch for your website Gerry
mrawlinj said,
June 22, 2011 at 4:24 am
My goodness, what pain the church has caused people. The irony is that it is supposed to be a place of comfort, and instead it inflicts infinite pain. It nearly killed me at age 21. You don’t know me and have no reason to trust me, but I know you because I was you. I swear to you, what CONSENTING adults do sexually, God doesn’t give a rats ass. We are here to “take care of the least among you”, “Love one another”, and follow the adage “Blessed are meek……….”. I would strongly suggest you pray to your God and ask for help in letting go of this lifelong belief. Also, you may not know it, but you have been religiously abused and there are counselors that deal with that. My personal e mail is Mrawlinj@yahoo.com and you’re free to email me as much as you want. Please pass this website onto anyone you may benefit, it is time to put an end to this nonsense. Blessings and Peace, Rawlin
mrawlinj said,
May 30, 2010 at 3:44 am
6 years ago I got into meditation. I still believe in God, but it’s the God of MY understanding, not any churches and not any preachers: MY understanding.
Again if you have any e-mails of people who this site could help, please forward them along.
mrawlinj said,
May 31, 2010 at 1:00 am
Thanks, I hope so too. I just sent it out to a bunch of blogs that deal with recovering from guilt and shame (which is pretty much always rooted in the church and/or Bible).
buffettphan said,
June 6, 2010 at 2:49 pm
I followed your link from ex-christian dot net.
Providing information on Greek mythology, Mithra, and Horus should help people see the similarities between the “gods” and “jesus” and thus realize they are following yet another myth.
With over 30,000 christian denominations poisoning peoples lives, we need more websites de-bunking the myths. Good luck with yours.
BP
mrawlinj said,
June 11, 2010 at 11:39 am
Thank you BP. Please do pass the website on those whom you feel may benefit.
RWJ
Tony said,
June 24, 2010 at 6:23 am
I am a young gay man who was raised catholic and when I came across this site I almost wept because I had the same understanding of the notion of the kingdom of God and I am going through a somewhat redefinition of my religious upbringing. I am very spiritual myself and I have come to the realization that being gay has helped me a lot because in my journey to self acceptance, I have been able to examine other aspects of my life especially dealing with being completely honest about my interaction with people. I figured if I can gather up the courage to face my ultimate true self then why not face other aspects of my life. This site rocks; GOOD LUCK to you.
Rawlin Julius said,
June 27, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Tony,
You are exactly who this site is for and it is so gratifying to read your comments. There are a couple bits of info I thought I’d pass on to you. The book that literally saved my life at age 21 is called “Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism” by Bishop Shelby Spong. It’s an easy read and it will change you FOREVER. It’s like having tons of weight lifted off of you. Also if you have not seen “Religulous” with Bill Maher, I highly advise you watch that. Bill is an Athiest, which I am not, I still have God in my life. But Bill does a WONDERFUL job of highlighting how utterly and completely ridiculous organized religion is. If you have any family or friends that may benefit from this site please do pass it on. It is time for people to be given back to their own understanding of God.
ashp said,
August 2, 2010 at 8:34 am
Hi I stumbled upon this site on google. I am 15 and my New Year’s resolution is to come out to everyone. I’ve already come out to some close friends and i have been comfortable with my sexuality for quite a while now. I go to church. I go to a United Methodist Church and i am in a reconciling congregation, what that means is we believe that God and all parts of God (for us that includes Jesus) are loving and accepting of all. (please keep reading). Some things you should know are that I have two biological gay uncles who are an important part of my family, my mom has at the very least three main gay couples who are close family friends and i have been raised in an extremely liberal accepting family. But i am still scared. Not of going to hell, because frankly i dont believe that a god who can create life and love can also burn people forever, i just think people learn lessons as they go in life. Any way im scared, scared to come out, WHY? I’ll tell you, because it would change my life. I know its not like people dont already know, i sing i dance im in musicals i paint i act I’M GAY! but i already get yelled at FAG FAGGOT FAIRY i cant even imagine what it will be like when it happens. I guess i figure itll go away after a couple weeks or so. AND WE COME TO THE POINT! During those couple weeks i know ill have people supporting me but im not that level headed sometimes, i have hereditary depression, and i will count on my faith and connection with God to pull me through to the bright other side. I know the bible is hogwash. I know its archaic and hyperbolic but im no literalist. To me the bibles is stories of hope and mistakes and redemption its the feeling of the bible that really comforts me. To say that because its not literally accurate is an understatement. But to act likes it has no value for anyone is bullshit. I know there are some stupid people out there who do take the bible too literally but you cant feel like every bible thumper is out to get you, because they turned to the bible for their own salvation of their own bullshit problems. and now even you are using the bible to solve your problems, you turn to dissecting it so you can be happy with your life. GOOD FOR YOU, THAT’S WHAT ITS REALLY FOR! please dont delete this if you feel it is persecutory in any way you are wrong this is just another angle on love, love for everyone no matter who they are or what they believe isn’t that what we want from others as outcasts anyway? Thank you and if you do decide to delete this which i know is a possibility please remember these words of mine which ive written on a rant sitting in my bed at 4:30 in the morning. I hope you find everything you want out of life and i hope you can help some people with this method. Thank you.
Rawlin Julius said,
August 2, 2010 at 4:34 pm
First off I’m very happy you have found a church that is so inclusive. That is so rare and I would not let go of that support group unless you begin to feel any sense of shame or guilt: then run like the wind. I am personally very proud of you to be so young, and making this coming out decision. You have courage and bravery that most of us didn’t have at 15. That being said, I am worried about you and you are free to personally email me at mrawlinj@yahoo.com. I remember all the terror of being 15 and 12 and 7, knowing I was gay and knowing that gay people go to hell and burn for all eternity according to the church I belonged to growing up. Even without the factor of the church, telling family and friends is terrifying. If you need support, or help finding the right words at a time when you can’t seem to find the right words, absolutely e-mail me.
Rawlin Julius
SSG said,
August 15, 2010 at 6:15 pm
I feel being raised Catholic, in an all-girls Catholic school, has stunted my whole life. I spend everyday searching for atonement, helping everyone even if it is detrimental to me, terrified of being “selfish” and failing God.
Rawlin Julius said,
August 16, 2010 at 6:33 pm
SSG:
Please read and re-read the facts of this blog. Then watch the movie “Religulous” by Bill Maher. You, like me and most people, have been religiously brainwashed. Who should be doing atonement stuff? You, who are a Divine being created in the image of God? Or perhaps maybe the Catholic Church that has allowed the raping of helpless children for centuries, knew about it and continues to cover it up to this day. Feel free to e-mail me at my private e-mail of Mrawlinj@yahoo.com anytime you need to chat. I’m always available to help.
Bee said,
October 14, 2011 at 12:26 am
Hi. Thank you for creating this site. I really hope people can find the ability to come here with an open mind…because in the church, we all know that is a rare quality. My story is one like yours. I was raised in a super conservative, religious family- a little more than crazy, to be honest. I’m also bisexual, and pretty damn lesbian (in my own words). It’s just, what makes up my mind for relationships, is love…not neccessarily what’s inside that persons pants. Anyways, my parents suddenly cut me off when I was freshly 19 and in another state studying. Why? Because they requested a transcript of my text messages and found out I had a girlfriend. My mother flew out to confront me in a restaurant with pictures she found online (I didn’t even know they knew) and revealed to me that I am a disgrace and my family wants nothing to do with me. So, we didn’t talk for about 8 months. I would have been homeless if it weren’t for the amazing friends I had made during that time. In a moment of weakness after my breakup, I phoned them and decided to try the straight life. I had convinced myself I was straight and my parents were right. Still, they weren’t willing to help me out financially because I had “slapped them in the face.” Months later, my mother flew out to visit and I tried to drop the bomb on her ALL OVER AGAIN that I am in fact bi and she convinced me she was right ALL OVER AGAIN. I moved back in with them because I really didn’t have enough money to eat and after talking to her I was sure that if I kept being myself, I would go to hell. A couple months later…I’m right back to square one knowing for a fact that I am bisexual and that is okay. I came out to my mom for the THIRD time last week, and she made me feel so awful that I tried to kill myself. Now I’m typing this with 20 stitches in my hand. Yesterday my father informed me that if I try again, I better succeed and be dead because he’ll throw me out. I know this is probably a little TMI and I’m rambling as if the internet world really cares, but somehow my voice needs to be heard. I’m currently working and saving money to move back to the place I need to be, so I can get on with my life and never look behind me. If the God of this universe sends people to hell for loving a person of the same sex, I don’t want to be on this planet anymore. Fortunately, in my soul I don’t believe such an incredulous thing and instead of throwing up the duces, I intend to remain on this planet and do everything in my power to open people’s hearts. I think God would much rather my story go in that way. The main obstacle right now is getting over my depression and making it these next few months in this house. Again, thank you for informing people of the Truth.
mrawlinj said,
October 14, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Sweetie there are people who care, I assure you. Think of the friends who helped you out: they cared. My name is Rawlin and I am the creator of this site. My private e mail is mrawlinj@yahoo.com. If you would like to chat privately, e mail me there and I will give you my cell number in case you need to talk. I tried to kill myself when I was 21 over this. You are not alone! I am 40 y.o. now and completely comfortable in everyway with my sexual orientation. Also PLEASE send this site to anyone you know who is gay, as many people’s lives may depend on just simply knowing that they are not freaks of nature. Peace and blessings to you and don’t be afraid to contact me.
Corky Duke said,
May 21, 2012 at 3:03 am
I do believe that religion is detrimental to mankind, I was raised Lutheran but slowly but surely chose to throw away any belief in God! Needless to say my family is in an uproar and is consistently trying to convert me back! I see an arrogant, vain and self-centered reason fer their actions, that of course they don’t see! I have experienced a state of serenity I have never found with religion without the arrogance that comes with it! corkyduke101@yahoo.com is my email I look forward to someone that feels the same way I do!! Corky Duke
mrawlinj said,
May 21, 2012 at 11:56 am
Corky thanks for commenting. Find your own spiritual path, whatever it is, or whatever it isn’t. My goal is get this website conversation to go around the world, so please pass the website along to anyone you feel has been mis-treated in the name of religion, and if you feel they would benefit from it. Peace.
Mike said,
August 29, 2012 at 8:57 pm
I have only one request for the author of the website: historical documentation and citations from notable historians (and not only those on the extreme left) to support your claims. They sound impressive, but there’s not really anything here to sway to me accept 1% of it (especially when there are people like Anthony Flew, a formerly world-renowned philosophcal atheist who insisted the New Testament is the best historical text in existence) because I know I could just make up a bunch of stuff and sound equally convincing. If you’re writing to inform and persuade, be credible in your efforts.
Rawlin said,
August 29, 2012 at 9:30 pm
I am the maker of this website. If you thoroughly read the website, you will note it is not a website to persuade: I have made that very clear. This website is merely a safe-haven and outlet for those who have been abused in the name of religion. I cannot try to persuade anyone to believe or say or do anything, nor is that my intention. I have also no intention of making this a debate website, again, it is for people who have been abused in the name of religion to leave a comment, start a dialogue, blow off stress, or even completely ignore. Peace.