Bad Theology Traumatizes Children

I follow this pastor. He deconstructs the toxic paganism that has infiltrated Christianity.

Those dealing with toxic Fundies may want to look into him.

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The rapture is a NEW Chriatian teaching. It was around but not dogma until 1830. It was not a central teaching of the Christian faith. Currently, Christian scholars are attempting to show that ‘Christians always believed in the rapture,’ but the evidence is not there. Here is one such justification:
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The Rapture

A Popular but False Doctrine

Credit for its origin generally goes to John Nelson Darby, a 19th-century theologian. 1830

Scofield picks it up

“Darby’s pre-tribulational view of the rapture was then picked up by a man named C.I. Scofield, who taught the view in the footnotes of his Scofield Reference Bible, which was widely distributed in England and America. Many Protestants who read the Scofield Reference Bible uncritically accepted what its footnotes said and adopted the [rapture doctrine], even though no Christian had heard of it in the previous 1800 years of Church history” (“Catholic Answers,” http://www.catholic.com/library/Rapture.asp).

I could care less about any of this. I don’t debate it. I just know there is contention. It is a made up story and part of the evolution of the Chriatian faith.

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Rapture was pushed by crackpots like Jack Coe, an early American faith healer, who died of polio. Polio! A preventable disease eradicated in over 90% of the world. Claimed god could heal everything, but died at 38 after becoming a vegetable from brain swelling because he didn’t believe in doctors. It’s ALL traumatizing. Just the concept of living forever mortified me as a child.

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I must confess that I am surprised by the contents of this thread.

I was under the impression that the Rapture was an ancient belief that came from The Book of Revelations.

Wow… Couple of glaring items here that caught my attention. First of all, the thread title…

“Bad Theology Traumaizes Children”: Uh, hate to be the one to state the obvious, but you could have left out the word “Bad”. Speaking from personal experience, theology in general (good, bad, or otherwise) traumatizes children. Then many grow up to be traumatized adults. It is all straight-up brainwashing, plain and simple. And the adverse effects are considerably long-term, to say the least. Fear, doubt, indecision, and the mental conflict between the indoctrination and rational logic are just the tip of the iceberg. So, basically, saying, “Bad theology,” is rather redundant, in my opinion. Moving right along…

For starters, please define what you mean by “toxic paganism.” Beyond that, though, I find that statement truly hilarious, considering how many Pagan practices Christianity purposely adopted for its own use over the centuries of its development. And, I could be wrong here, but I venture a guess it was NOT the “toxic paganism” that led “good” God-fearing Christians to slaughter countless Pagans and witches “in the name of The Lord.” The irony here is off the charts. :joy:

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Well, 3in1 breath, you are not alone. Sorta like
“Violent assault or “negative side effects”…

Well of course they were just not “true Christians”…and the Pagans were not true Pagans…and I am not a true philatelist…
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Edit could you lick this for me?

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Nope, and trust me you’re not alone. Most Christians I have met have no idea of that either. Mennonite and Mennonite offshoots don’t all read or accept Revelation as even a part of the Bible. It isn’t studied in detail if at all. Yet in a lot of their churches they peddled rapture as an accepted fact.

I never knew this growing up, until I read revelation for myself. I couldn’t figure out where they came up with this shit. Wasn’t till decades later I figured out that was some Evangelical crossover bullshit.

Religions really are just mental viruses. Mutant strains of combined religions splintering into pockets of individualist bastardized festering of mental disease IMO.

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Heh, want to know something else that is weird (compared to Christian movies/etc)? The word anti-Christ does not appear in the Book of Revelations.

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I didn’t know this either . . . although I always believed that The Beast was supposed to be the anti-Christ.

I guess I had better things to do than make a detailed, schloarly study of The Bible.

I’m surprised at the interest.

I define “toxic paganism” as the belief that - I belong to the magic group that means I get to kill you.

The other pagans I don’t care what they believe.

Yes, I knew that all the Rapture stuff was a late 1800’s mostly American thing. I wasn’t aware that it had crossed the oceans that much. Or was that only Americans replying?

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Curious… Ummm… By your definition, exactly how does Christianity/Catholicism (along with Islam, of course) NOT fall into the “toxic” category? Hmmm… :thinking:

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Why do you think I left? I got tired of the continual death threats from the clergy.

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Which reminds me… :thinking:

It’s fascinating to me how those who claim to worship and believe in that particular all-powerful and all-knowing god always seem to think he needs help with punishing those who disobey. Along those same lines, it states fairly clearly in the bible (and it is definitely TAUGHT by many sects) that no man can ever know the mind if God. YET… I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard a faithful believer say, “I know God wants you to do blah-blah-blah…” But ask that same person why god would allow such horrible atrocities, and he/she will say, “Well, we just don’t know what God thinks. He works in mysterious ways.” The inconsistent cognitive disconnect is truly amazing sometimes.

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It’s the Texas sharpshooter fallacy to some degree, count the hits and dismiss it when it’s a swing and a miss.

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Utter nonsense. I went to a Catholic school, and whilst there were a few nuns around, theology wasnt mentioned much, nor were we indoctrinated or brainwashed. You are just making a sweeping generalisation.

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That statement seems a bit forced, sure you weren’t traumatized? You seem to be identifying with your captors to me. Again it’s ok paddington this is a safe space to share your traumas.

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I have no traumas with my Catholic schooling, it was a very happy time for me.
Thanks for asking.
Best wishes,
Padster

Hahahahahahah…holy crap, there were a few nuns around ? Just hanging around I suppose…No indoctrination or brainwashing?
Riiight probably just very occasionally referred to, who was it again……Nikola Tesla?
No wait…Albert Schweitzer?…Christiaan Huygens?…no, that other guy…his name escapes me right now…I’ll eventually think of it though…
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Edit what’s that old book over there??

I, too, was sent to Catholic schools even tho my parents were not theists. They figured I’d get a better education. In some respects, I did but it was tough being a secular Jew in a Catholic school in the 60’s.
Theology was a regular, daily class. Church attendance during the school year was frequent. Both those things are indoctrination and indoctrination is brainwashing.
By saying you weren’t indoctrination, are you saying that the Catholic school you attended did not have catechism class?

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Hmmmm… :thinking:… For some odd reason, the term “Stockholm Syndrome” comes to mind.

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