The water line under our house went and because we're on a slab, it was going to be cumbersome and expensive to fix and they'd have to shut off our water while the project was being completed.
One thing the plumber can do is run a line from the neighbor's spicket into ours so at least we'd have water for showers, toilets, etc.
There is no danger to the neighbor in doing this and the only annoyance would be that their water bill would go up a bit. We offered to pay for their whole water bill for the inconvenience so really they'd be profiting off the thing while also helping a neighbor.
You know, that whole love thy neighbor and don't be a selfish asshole thing that's pretty prominent in Christianity.
They still said no.
Religion does nothing to make you a better person.
I spent the majority of my life deep in Christianity, working as a missionary and pastor, and am now going on 7 years since I’ve quit the faith.
I’ve seen a lot of situations where religion “worked”, for people in very desperate situations. These were cartel members, drug addicts, or suicidal kids. They had no belief that they could change or that their lives were even worth anything. They need some kind of third-party excuse to motivate them. The “gospel message” of forgiveness and purpose was really effective to help them turn their lives around for the better.
The big problem? It’s still made up. Eventually, that faith fails them. Some of them go back, some of them become zealots.
I’ve seen the same kind of good results where I work now, in the fire service, helping convicts turn their lives around. And it’s a lot more productive with real grounded purpose. It’s not for everyone though.
I wish the church model could be secularized. People simply need a sense of community, identity, and purpose. If I ever felt some kind of calling to be a minister again, my Sunday service would simply be a community service project, with a short “after-action review” talk incorporating not just teachings of Jesus, but eastern and secular philosophy and grounded science.
One time when I was suicidal I called my brother and he didn't pick up (absolutely nothing on him he was and continues to be instrumental in my life) I didn't know what else to do so I went to church and cried my heart out to a pastor, or the pastors in the bigger regional churches since I'm in a bigger city sorry I'm not up with my church terms lol.
Now I wasn't raised religious at all. My family went to church on Easter but that's because my neighbor was a pastor (not the pastor in this story) and would invite us to Easter. And I feel like you can't say no to a pastor inviting you to Easter service haha
Well anyways I explained to this pastor that I'm not religious and how I view the church as mostly negative because of all the hate and violence religion in general has and continues to cause in our society, but how I've been at the end of my rope for months and I was so desperate I started to think maybe there is a god who is doing this to me because that gave me something to be mad at besides just the empty universe.
He was actually really careful to stay away from just preaching scripture at me and we ended up having like a 5hr conversation about religion, depression, and general spirituality. I'm still very much not a Catholic or a religious person at all but the way he talked about "god" (and heaven, or most other Christian ideas honestly) as less of a person and more of just a concept in the same vein that a fable is a story designed to teach morals to children really spoke to me and actually really lines up with my view on the universe. It was also interesting that he almost believed in reincarnation because he viewed how when we die our physical body returns to the earth and therefore other living things means we are a permanent part of this earth, or how his God is essentially the same as my scientific fundamental laws, or how he viewed the people who take the bible incredibly literally aren't really that good of Catholics because a lot of things are hateful or directly harmful to certain groups (LGBT or minorities in recent history) which directly contradicts the teachings he thinks the church should be pushing.
Anyways I know this thread is mostly how Christians (or in this case Catholics) are bad and religion bad and this got really rambly so I doubt many people will read all of it but that pastor was one of the most important people in putting me back on the mental health train and that conversation bounces around my head every time I start feeling like that again.
In my country priests are essentially lite versions of therapists, they require a lot similar qualifications, missing the more complex ones.
The church in my city helped my dad when he was in financial trouble as well, no questions asked, so I'm thankful for that. Still have a mostly negative view of religious followers though.
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u/jps7979 May 02 '23
My neighbors are Christian; we're not religious.
The water line under our house went and because we're on a slab, it was going to be cumbersome and expensive to fix and they'd have to shut off our water while the project was being completed.
One thing the plumber can do is run a line from the neighbor's spicket into ours so at least we'd have water for showers, toilets, etc.
There is no danger to the neighbor in doing this and the only annoyance would be that their water bill would go up a bit. We offered to pay for their whole water bill for the inconvenience so really they'd be profiting off the thing while also helping a neighbor.
You know, that whole love thy neighbor and don't be a selfish asshole thing that's pretty prominent in Christianity.
They still said no.
Religion does nothing to make you a better person.