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That is interesting, that he claims to be addressing an imaginary group of people that he assumes exist.
You mean those imaginary people the admins have told us actually read posts anonymously? But why bother asking for evidence when you can invent your own facts.
Again, that is a distant secondary goal, nor is that group imaginary or assumed. Here is an opinion piece discussing the 90-9-1 rule if you care to actually know the facts of the matter:
I'm sure you can follow from there to more detailed analysis on the origins of this rule of thumb. If you want to put in the effort. On the other hand maybe you would rather just take easy pot-shots from the peanut gallery, as others here like to do.
I deconverted in the pre-Internet era. If I had done so in the Internet era, you can bet that my go-to would be to lurk in places like this and consider the arguments, but I would have a hard time admitting to myself at first that my interest was more than merely academic. I would know full well that my authoritarian handlers would consider me guilty of the ultimate sin, the sin of doubt and of listening to unapproved thoughts in the service of those doubts. I try to write the kinds of things that hypothetical "me" would appreciate and find helpful. I probably don't always succeed, but I try. But again ... it is not my primary motivation, either.
Does the bolded explain your primary audience?
I have no need to read your linked article. I have no control over how many people actually take the time to read and consider any given post. So why would I assume any given number.
That is interesting, that he claims to be addressing an imaginary group of people that he assumes exist. And that he isn't writing for the people here, who we know do respond and exist, talking past the people here to his assumed much larger audience and following. All in the name of trying to prove something is a myth.
I have always felt that the graph of the number of people reading your posts is kind of a manipulating thing, because the forum cannot possibly calculate who has taken a moment to actually read any given post. I even know of a user who says he just scrolls right on past mine.
I like the thought of a parent who shares wisdom with a young child, and the child doesn't get it till many years later, sometimes even after the parent is gone. And life experiences bring him to the place of remembering what was shared and maybe even discounted at the time, and the child then gets it. And the word and lesson didn't die with the parent but now lives in the child, in a respectful way.
I remember in the movie "blast from the past" the dad patiently trying to explain baseball to his son in the confines of the bomb shelter. And he couldn't connect all the dots. Then when he gets out and watches a baseball game being played, he shouts out; Now I get it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Diogenes
You mean those imaginary people the admins have told us actually read posts anonymously? But why bother asking for evidence when you can invent your own facts.
Well, I figure you didn't bother reading the bolded paragraph in my post or the rest of my first paragraph for that matter. Which added context. I don't deny lurkers, I just don't place assumptions on how many actually read any given post.
Do you assume that you have millions and millions of people reading your every post, down to every word. Or is that an invention of your own mind and personal importance.
Last edited by chief scum; 11-16-2022 at 10:21 AM..
Being retired I have a lot of time to reflect. Lately I have been reflecting on the decision I made 10 years ago to leave Jesus and Christianity. It happened circa 2012 when someone in here challenged me to research Jesus and see if I could find any historical evidence for him outside the Bible. So I spent about 6 months researching Jesus and found that indeed there was no historical evidence for Jesus. That was when the foundations of my faith cracked.
Actually they had cracked earlier back circa 2000 or so. I had gotten ill and requested the church elders to come over and pray over me per James 5:14-16
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
They did and we followed all the instructions in James. Still the illness persisted. It wasn't until I saw a doctor and took some medicine he prescribed that I was healed. God didn't heal me, the doctor and the medicine he prescribed did. Actually that was when the first cracks in the foundation of my faith started. But I put it away and didn't think about it.
It was around 2012 or so that I began noticing that my prayers NEVER got answered, not just in that instance in 2000 but I mean anytime I prayed there never was a noticeable change in my life. Things always stayed the same. I put two and two together and realized that everything about Christianity was pure hogwash. The only thing Christianity ever did was put a dent in my wallet because of tithing. So I stopped tithing. From there I lost the desire to pray. Previously I was on my knees twice a day in the morning and before going to bed arms lifted up to God to give thanks and to pray for sin to cease in my life--you know, all the things the churchmen tell you to pray about if you want to please God.
I slowly began to come to a realization. I was losing my faith despite praying to God to save me from losing my faith. I still had no desire to continue with him. I slowly came to another realization. God and Jesus simply didn't care if I left them. Nothing changed in my life. There were no visits from the Holy Spirit to save me. There were no extraordinary happenings to give me a sign. It was a complete blank. The only thing extraordinary that did happen was that I came into a lot of money via inheritance a few years ago when a wealthy relative passed away. I now have more money than I can spend in my remaining years.
Gradually I realized that all the balderdash I had been fed by other Christians was completely false. No evidence for Jesus; no prayers getting answered; no manifestations of anything supernatural in my life. I found what millions of other Christians are finding every day: God and Jesus simply do not exist.
It's been ten years since I left Jesus. I have a temper in my old age, not against other people but against myself when I do stupid things like spilling coffee on the floor. I swear up a storm using the names Jesus and God in every conceivable blasphemous combination you can imagine. Nothing happens to me. A bolt of lightning doesn't come down and strike me.
God doesn't touch me. I have no fear of retribution from God anymore because I know Jesus isn't real and never was so he has no power over me. My life continues as it always has. No repercussions from God. No nothing from God.
Those of you who want to leave Christianity but are fearful you'll get smitten by God, don't worry. I assure 10000% nothing will happen to you. Your life will continue uninterrupted and in many ways it will actually get better. Mine did.
Try saying this prayer: "God I want to leave you and Jesus behind but I don't know if I should. Please give me some sort of sign I should stay with Jesus and I will. In Jesus name I ask. Amen"
I can assure you absolutely nothing will happen that is a clear sign you should stay with God. He doesn't care what you do, stay or leave. He simply doesn't care. You'll slowly come to the realization you've been talking to empty air all these years. I did.
That's my story. Any other ex-Christians have a story to tell?
Thank you for sharing your story, Thrill. Sometimes it's not easy to put hard reality in writing. One of the most difficult things I ever did was work through my deconversion from a lifetime of Christianity. In the end, we believe what we believe or not, and no amount of wishing or will power will change what it is.
Thank you for sharing your story, Thrill. Sometimes it's not easy to put hard reality in writing. One of the most difficult things I ever did was work through my deconversion from a lifetime of Christianity. In the end, we believe what we believe or not, and no amount of wishing or will power will change what it is.
I only spent a brief time in commercialized religion. And long enough to see what they were all about. So, I didn't have to go through a deconversion. I did tell the big shot preacher what I thought of him face to face before I left.
I had to go through, I guess you could call it deconversion of many years of doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted from a very young age, and surrounded by kids quite a bit older than me. Do you want to know how much abuse I endured just to fit in, do you want to know the first time I took acid I was 10 years old, started smoking pot at 8 years old, staying out to the wee hours of the morning drinking beer when I was 9 years old. Plus all the other drugs I abused. And all the bad stuff I had done to others. And near the end of those times, an acquaintance tried to get me hooked on smoking crack cocaine, he took me to the inner city and left me alone in a crack house from midnight till 4 am, and I was the only white guy there and didn't even know my way home from there. He did come back and got me and we walked a couple of blocks to where the car was parked as the sun was starting to rise.
So, I lived a life of being answerable to no one and having no structure in my life. A wild child. Then God got my attention and opened my eyes, gave me direction and having someone to be answerable too, and straightening me out. I do hate what I put my parents through, and I also know that in all those experiences I learned so many hard lessons in life for me to draw upon. I have no poor, poor pitiful me attitude. I am thankful to know the One True God and the Life He shares.
I have no need to read your linked article. I have no control over how many people actually take the time to read and consider any given post. So why would I assume any given number.
You don't need to assume a given number. You only need to understand the general rule of thumb. The exact number isn't important to my point. Simply put there are on average about 10 lurkers for every actual participant, and 1% of the total visitors generate most of the content. This is widely recognized in the field. It's not rocket science. If on this site at this time it's 5 to 1 or 20 to 1 the point is the same.
As you highlighted, this audience is something I'm aware of but it's a secondary consideration.
I only spent a brief time in commercialized religion. And long enough to see what they were all about. So, I didn't have to go through a deconversion. I did tell the big shot preacher what I thought of him face to face before I left.
I had to go through, I guess you could call it deconversion of many years of doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted from a very young age, and surrounded by kids quite a bit older than me. Do you want to know how much abuse I endured just to fit in, do you want to know the first time I took acid I was 10 years old, started smoking pot at 8 years old, staying out to the wee hours of the morning drinking beer when I was 9 years old. Plus all the other drugs I abused. And all the bad stuff I had done to others. And near the end of those times, an acquaintance tried to get me hooked on smoking crack cocaine, he took me to the inner city and left me alone in a crack house from midnight till 4 am, and I was the only white guy there and didn't even know my way home from there. He did come back and got me and we walked a couple of blocks to where the car was parked as the sun was starting to rise.
So, I lived a life of being answerable to no one and having no structure in my life. A wild child. Then God got my attention and opened my eyes, gave me direction and having someone to be answerable too, and straightening me out. I do hate what I put my parents through, and I also know that in all those experiences I learned so many hard lessons in life for me to draw upon. I have no poor, poor pitiful me attitude. I am thankful to know the One True God and the Life He shares.
Thank you for sharing. I'm glad you found your path.
Thank you for sharing. I'm glad you found your path.
....I figure my parents let me go because of the accidental death of the neighbor's son at my house 4 years before I was born. The doctors wanted to cut the nerves in the back of my mom's neck because of her pain, but my dad wouldn't let them. My mom told me she was healed on my 3rd birthday. And I get why I was let go.
Because there is no credible evidence NDEs are legitimate, plenty of evidence some of the claims are invented for money, and no mechanism to explain how spirits see and hear when eyes and ears are physical.
Whereas the many contradictory different religious beliefs is evidence that most of them are inventions, which improves the odds that all of them are.
Exactly right, Harry.
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