(Original Post Removed By Admin)
Hey man, we love you and you’re welcome here and we’re here to help, but blanket statements about hating people or groups doesn’t do the community any good.
However, you can include aspects of how say, a Christian or a woman hurt you in the past that’s now leading to the anxiety you feel today.
-Danjo
I’m sorry you had terrible experiences with other Christians. I do feel ashame that my people caused so much chaos for centuries, and not taking ownership of their actions. This is a fallen world. Everyone failed to live up their moral code. Including me. That’s why we need God to help us to become better people. We can’t do it on our own. It’s awesome you listen to Demon Hunter and P.O.D. They are one of my favorite bands. They inspired me to trust God, have a genuine relationship with Him, Love Him, love others, and love myself. I only saw DH once, and they done a brutal set! I saw P.O.D. performed live seven times, and they get better every time I go to their concerts. I hope you are hanging on. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
I was raised semi-evangelical. I got incredibly lucky with my parents, they’re very accepting and open to people and raise 3 lgbt+ kids. Notoriously Christians through out time have committed murder, genocide, and have been the oppressors. I consider myself an atheist christian. What I mean by that is I value the imagery, poetry, and (some) of the teachings within the bible but I don’t worship that God. I don’t deny the existence of a God but I deny wanting God to be a part of my everyday life. With there being so much hatred done in the name of God I refuse.
Christianity is such a vast umbrella term of a religion that it is almost restricting. You put a lot of what I feel into words, I’ve been burned by churches for my stance. There are many good Christians, and what I’ve been learning over the last year or two is that it all comes down to political standings which in this today and age comes down to morals.
This is written by someone I know, you’ll probably appreciate this. As a fair warning it is quite political. https://jeffsdeepthoughts.wordpress.com/2018/05/17/an-open-letter-to-the-american-evangelical-church/
Don’t be discouraged brother. I am one of the people who didn’t fit anywhere in terms of christian congregarion. Things have changed when I stopped myself from forcing to fit. There are so many doctrines watering down the faith and so many christians living in their comfort zone. I rather Keep serving people with love and take care of personal relationship with God.
I deny judgemnts on people becouse of their sexual orientation or their belief. I don’t care about man made religion and man made rules. I am not trying to be perfect. I look for outcasted and show them love and compassion. I follow Christ and create bridges between denominations which are debating too much and doing less. For me actions speak louder than words. For me the way to God is found in love, not in fear. Beliving in the offering of Christ and His resurrection means undconditional love of God for me. We are all equally loved by Him.
Some people may say that we can’t do it on our own. I agree. But for me- I don’t want to close myself in walls of some building around people who preach hate and judgements. I rather serve people outside of walls. I work with unwanted kids. They often have been judged by priest and think that God hates them. My goal is to show them that things look totally opposite and no man can deny the love of the Lord.
Ps. I also love metal bands with christians in their lineup. Especially Living Sacrifice, Advent, Saving Grace, Extol and Demon Hunter.
As a Christian I’ll be the first to say that Christians as a whole do not do a good job reflecting Christ’s love to others inside the church or out of it. I know for me personally I often don’t feel in place in the church community since I’m a democrat, more liberal thinking, person who can’t stand to listen to Klove.
It is a concern of mine given today’s current political and social climates, that those within my faith are doing more to alienate others then show love to others.
I love Saving Grace, Extol, and Advent too. I only saw SG four times at Facedown Fest. I only saw Advent once at The Sleeping Giant Farewell Show. Metal and Hardcore for Christ!
I am so jealous dude 
This must have been great experience to see them live. I wish I would too but I live on the other side of Earth.
Yes it was it was back in 2010 when Demon Hunter released their album The World Is A Thorn. They performed live at The Roxy in West Hollywood. I wasn’t able to get pictures with them because the batteries of my camera died but I was able to to do a meet and greet with them and they signed my CD and concert ticket. Ryan was a very humble and down to earth person. It was a wonderful experience. War of Ages was the opening act.
The fact that 95% of Evangelicals support Trump and Trump is the opposite of what a decent human being is suppose to be has turn off people to Christianity even more.
There is the same situation in my country (Poland). Christianity is highly involved in right winged politics. Population is 90%+ catholic. If you deny their religion you are being ostracized by society. Other denominations are considered as sects. One of my catholic friends told me I may need help from exorcist, while I told we should encourage lgbt people to look on Christ. I have been rised in roman-catholic family and one what this religon had taught me was that way to God is through fear. I quit their religion during my youth days.
My reborn was while I started to build personal relationship with God and focus myself to stay in sight of His love.
Poland has adopted many of the tactics of American Evangelicals by being involved in politics and using religion to have influence over the people and the government allows it so they can stay in power. Poland is an ally of the United States so the Polish government is doing the same thing. I am very sorry for what’s happening in your country.
Yeah it breaks my heart to know those within my faith support him and the administrations who uses practices such as family separation etc☹️
Hey Ranma1983!
I wanted to jump in as I’m a theology nerd and don’t get to talk about the mix between religion and politics as much as I want to. Also, it’s really difficult to talk about with anyone, as the anxieties in our country right now are just sky-high on all sides. But you’ve come here to vent, and I want to honor that!
It sounds like growing up that you were instilled with some great beliefs, and that you had some idea of what Christian people were supposed to be. Then, you began to meet them and see what they’re like and now you’re very confused, as they seem like some of the most hate-filled hypocritical people you could imagine! Religious circles seem to have a real special brand of crazy. Add to that your experience with Judaism, and you feel as if there almost isn’t anywhere you could justify their actions.
You feel disgusted by “religious” “evangelical” people, does that describe where you’re at?
One of the reasons I keep away from Red States is because the majority of those states are full of right wing Christian Nuts and I had very traumatic experiences with them and I cannot deal with it anymore. That’s why I moved back to California because those people are a minority. To me sincere Christians are counted and I know there are good Christians that are sincere honest decent people but the bad ones give the good ones a bad name.
Well I’ll agree with you quickly there! I live in Texas, and you can imagine what growing up here is like. I get particularly annoyed when I go to try to buy beer for a football game on a Sunday, and forget that it’s illegal to buy beer in Texas before noon on any Sunday because some old white dudes got together and decided that other people should believe what they do. It’s more frustrating because I’m forgetful and get mad at myself, and the register person can tell, and they feel bad, and I say “it’s not your fault” as I shake my fists at our kindergarten society.
Anyway, rant over. So, you ditched out of environments that were messing with your mental health on a deeper level. You’re frustrated because the hypocrisy that you see all around you (whether in your life, or on the news) doesn’t make any sense. You feel that moving back to California will be a good way to deal with your traumatic experiences- you’ve been pushed away, and you’re going with the flow!
I know that the bible belt states have very primitive and outdated laws on the books especially with Sunday Law and Sodomy Laws. The best decision I ever made was moving back to my home state ad believe me I am in a better place. Mentally I was not in a good place and even though it was hard I had to do what was best for me at the time and I thank god for it. There are a lot of people I see moving out of Texas and moving to California because the laws are so corrupt and the people are just so racist to the core. I really feel bad for the people that have deal with the Draconian System over there.
My apologies I tried to delete the post wasn’t able to.
Cool! I saw War of Ages 8 times total. Great band. They’re humble men too. I am going to see Demon Hunter the 2nd time this August. Can’t wait. I hope you are having a great weekend. Thank you for sharing what you think. God bless. Stay strong.