Losing my religion

  I was part of a church called the International Church of Christ [ICOC] for 11 years. On my you tube channel I talk about my experience in the ICOC. I also talk about spiritual abuse and cult abuse and recovery. The ICOC and it's sister church, the ICC [International Christian Church] is a church cult.  FYI: Cults are not churches, cults can be any kind of group. This concept of re-baptism and restoration is one of the cult aspects of the church.  First, let me say that if someone wants to be baptized again to symbolize their re-commitment to God, that is fine. The problem is that this decision does not come from the individual. It almost always comes from the church. Someone sits the person down and informs them that they MUST do the restoration studies and be re-baptized to be reinstated into the church.  Adding to this problem is the fact that the ICOC/ICC members withhold their affection from the person they deem to need being rebaptized until they agree to s...

This. video. Right, Here. This video speech was said to have "broken the internet". Years ago, I would have hit the thumbs up button, shared it, and cried listening to it. Probably got chills listening to it. Now... it makes me cringe. This isn't to mock anyone reading this if you found inspiration in this speech.  Whatever it is that helps you get through the day.... if you like it, I love it. Life is hard. I accept that people need to choose from their coping mechanism of choice to make it through and live the best quality of life we can. With that said, I have a few issues with this sermon, I mean speech: 1. It's annoying that the mainstream, "trendy" christian sector uses self-help inspirational talking points to pander to millions of hurting people. These same christians will poo-poo you for using "secular" ideology but have no issue throwing the same 'humanistic' concepts into a blender with bible verses, God and Jesus...

Existential crisis after leaving a cult There's alot that happens when you leave a cult. Depression, isolation, anxiety, suicidal ideations, and deep, uncontrollable emotional and psychological distress. It's excruciatingly hard to find your footing in a tumultuous whirlwind of upheaval. Every relationship you cherished is gone. They have rejected you for no longer being a member of the group. The pain of losing one's "family" is almost too much to bear. But that's not all you lose. On an even deeper level, you lose your grip on reality. Or more like what you once believed was reality. If you were an invested member, you bought into the dream of the group's mission. You meshed your IDENTITY with that group's mission. You got your sense of LIFE PURPOSE from that group's mission. You got your SELF ESTEEM and SELF WORTH from that group's acceptance and approval of you. The crisis is not just emotional. It's one of fundamental purp...

How do you know if a church is a Christian cult? Check out today's video discussion:

In general, Christians tend to be bad people: no integrity, morals,etc.At best, they're "good"people-just like any other "unsaved"  "good" human being. What makes them so special?

Same topic, different day. One thing I hear Christians profess publicly on a regular basis is their love for Jesus, how Jesus/God is their protection, how they've been blessed by God, etc. etc. etc. These people utter these words and I wait for the other shoe to drop. Because it isn't long before they do something that completely CONTRADICTS their so-called Christian sanctimoniousness. Usually that's how it works. Because regular people don't have to announce their religious beliefs-nor do they need to proclaim that God is blessing them or protecting them or calling them...or whatever it is that supposedly makes them "special" from the rest of us. Real people just ARE. Christians use their beliefs as some kind of "immunity" from being called on their stuff. I've recently listened to people talking about how God is working in their life, all while breaking Bible commandments (i.e. sex outside of marriage). God has sent this guy your way...

One mistake people make when dealing with the topic of religion is using emotion. They don't separate emotion from the actual facts. Religion is such a deeply rooted anchor in our subconscious minds and psyches that our perception is filtered through that emotional lens. This only happens when someone challenges the supremacy of that religious belief system. A typical knee jerk reaction predicated on emotion is when you critically analyze the church or Christianity as a whole and the person says,  "Not all. MY church is a loving family. My pastor (and his wife) are good people who look out for everyone". If you critically analyze the financial issue of most churches and how churches suck money out of a community without giving anything back in return, the person will not acknowledge it. Instead, they will say that their church does alot for the community. I don't know why this is, but why can't people admit the truth about something without thinking it me...