This is great article, I am on same track just one thing, to solve this problem there has to be reform of debt. Why so many people are in existencional crisis is also becouse the support system of wallfare and economy is falling. They are unable to ever repay their debt and are desperate to turn to some miracle which was IT, Finance and Pharma.
I don’t think it’s any mistake that “vaccines” come from from the root “vaca” = cow. The sacred cow, the golden calf. The golden calf that the Israelites made when God and Moses went up the mountain for a few days to bring back the covenant of the Ten Commandments.
In their absence, Aaron created a golden calf that they wanted to worship.
I agree with Forest and you that humans will worship something. It is a flimsy and deadly god they have chosen in vaccines.
I don’t think we need any new, or re-tooled religion.
The Holy Scriptures make it abundantly clear that on our own, we cannot keep all the commandments or the law. And this is why Jesus came to live a sinless life, and pay in full the price for our sin. So that through faith in Him, we can be saved.
He came to redeem the world that Adam and Eve rescinded authority of in the Garden, back to Himself.
The Bible says He has told the end from the beginning. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Salvation must be received by faith, individually. He gives it to us by his grace when we believe.
Meanwhile, speaking the truth in every area is essential. Having discussions around all these topics, as people awaken to the lies that have been so pervasive. It is a challenging atmosphere in which to speak the truth. But, it must be done.
Toby, thank you for keeping this conversation open and going. Thank you for speaking the truth into what seems like an abyss of lies and darkness.
I like your thinking unfortunately I think it is ultimately doomed to failure. As a former hard atheist, I can tell you that the real problem with creating worship items out of thin air is that they come from humans, and they are simply not enough. I think your suggestions fall under that category.
To me, the real answer is worshipping the real thing: Jesus Christ. There is a very reasonable case in favor of his resurrection. If THAT happened and The Bible is reliable, then you got the real thing. I can say that there is a very good case for the reliability of The Bible. Thus, our efforts should go into exploring the possibility that the answer has been there all along. If we like the evidence, then jump in the waters. The rest will take care of itself.
For the people that read this and are interested, I would suggest the books The Case for Christ and The Case for God by Lee Strobel, and Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. I would also recommend C.S. Lewis' book Miracles.
I had a respectful conversation today with someone I know fairly well who holds a Master’s degree in public health. She was concerned I wasn’t wearing a mask. I asked her why she believed, with her education, that a mask could be effective in preventing the spread of Covid. She actually told me that Omicron is is not the same size as Alpha and Delta, and that the correct mask could stop the spread this time. She was quite serious, and she teaches college students, so they are hearing this kind of lunacy from her in class as well.
If I had heard about her second hand, I probably would’ve marveled at her “stupidity,” but standing there with her realizing how frightened and brainwashed she is, I could see how close she is to the existential terror you described. She is clinging to her foundational religious belief in Scientism by a thread because somewhere (buried in her subconscious for the time being) she knows that this is insanity. I had nothing but compassion for her in the moment.
I think we activists get so used to going into battle with crooked legislators, we get accustomed to attacking the problem at hand with aggression, sarcasm, etc. Our biggest battlefield right now, though, is the average Joe who believes he’s doing the right thing by following orders and is too scared to think independently or break rank. Now that there’s an obvious crack in the (faulty all along) foundation of Scientism, maybe we need to have more compassion? We’re literally asking people to leave a cult, so I found some generally accepted advice about helping someone do that:
* Be patient and respectful when asking questions. For all her strange beliefs about the relative size of Omicron vs Delta, I kept a straight face as I asked questions. I let her off the hook when it got too intense because I want her to think about it later, not go home mad and feeling belittled.
* Teach by sharing similar examples and experiences. I told her about my niece’s life-threatening reaction to the pentavalent, and she did care about my story. That opened the door to talk about how dirty big pharma plays and she agreed. I then told her about homeoprophylaxis, which shows her that we on the other side DO have other techniques, and that we care about our families and others. There needs to be something for them to grab onto when they leave the system.
* Learn about mind control techniques. I’m working on this.
* Work to establish a relationship and connect with your friend or family member, which will build trust. I think we all want to do this the quick and easy way by marching and holding up signs. These are good things to do, but unfortunately, I think we’re going to have to also do the hard work of investing in the lives of our friends, family, and neighbors in a personal way. They’re going to be reached at the metaphorical dinner table, not by yelling at them through a bullhorn.
I agree that it’s important to help people to distinguish between Scientism and actual science if that is their “preferred religion.” The church will have to actually evolve past boring Protestantism and fluffy evangelicalism. 🙃 Maybe we start our own house churches where it’s ok to marvel at the God of true science. I’m personally ok with many of the “old ways” that are re-emerging as new. Each person will have their own preferences, and I hope to be a simultaneously solid and soft landing space for people who desperately need it going forward. Keep the faith! Love wins! ❤️
Thanks for consistently great work. We have to find a way out of "us and them" thinking. They are not the enemy. As Rob Malone notes, once they come over to our side they do not go back - and it seems we never go over to their side. So what makes us stay us? We seem to be a mixed bag from religious zealots to conspiracy theorists - but something stops us from becoming vax devotees. When they come over we have to accept them with no strings attached - no "I told you so" type gloating. The dark fear that drives them must be ousted by the light of knowledge and understanding.
What you write Toby makes sense; it would be good if scientists afflicted with such existential crises could help with a solution. I don't know that the untormented, who have not had science as a religion, will be able to solve it.
Medical spooks went to Whistleblower UK Funeral Director John O'looney in hospital and tried to coerce him to try an "experimental cocktail" this week. Not wanting to be epsteined, he refused and is out of hospital now. LISTEN TO THIS!!
In my late 20's I realized I couldn't believe anything. It had been a nagging thought that had stuck in my mind since I was a teen. Always questioning and if people wouldn't answer I had my answer. They were wrong. After a while I decided just to base my life on understanding things to the best of my limited abilities but never to just believe something.
It is not atheism. That says there is no proof of god but I don't think that atheists have looked at the implications of the quantum mechanics "conscious observer" test results. One of the pioneers, Schrödinger, had said "You can base a lot of philosophical ideas in science but materialism isn't one of them". The idea that material came first in our universe is wrong. So what came first? Consciousness and everything comes from that. Sounds awful god like to me but it would mean that all earth religions are wrong. Impossible for any belief system to accept.
It is not agnosticism. That maintains that humans will never understand god. I disagree. Here again we have just scratched the surface but by understanding consciousness we may be able to understand god. A long way to go but it will be a fun trip I think.
So why not just pick a belief? Several problems with that for me. First you abdicate your ability to understand and accept on blind faith that things are the way you are told. No questions allowed. Religions all claim to be universal but yet over the last 5,000 years hundreds of millions of people have lived and died never having heard of their "universal" god.
So I base my life on trying to understand things knowing full well I'll never understand even a fraction of our world. Once I made the change it was very easy for me to change views. As I looked into stuff I'd sometimes go back and forth but settle on one point of view. If something later came up and disproved the previous view it is easy to change.
Unlike changing one's beliefs, which can be gut wrenching, changing one's understanding is easy. It is vastly easier for me to change my understanding than it is for someone else to change their beliefs.
So I'm not an atheist or an agnostic and I don't believe anything. What's left? The most fun path of all. Understanding.
Thank you. This explains my husband's dogma regarding the 'science'. Anything I would send to him to read - he would write off as someone who has a grudge or or or or. But, it could not ever be even a little bit true.
The Catholic Church has always had, and will always had sinners, even depraved sinners in Her hierarchy. She is a sure way to Heaven in Her teaching, including dogmas, and Her Liturgy ( the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass).
That is why the world and satan hate Her...
Rome, Francis and the Church he heads aren't Catholic... God allowed Her enemies to take over the Vatican and Appear to put a heretic on the Chair of Peter. Oct 1958
There is no Mar 2020 without Oct 1958...
Secret societies, commies, knew they could never have pulled off their evil unless they took out the pope
So, instead of 1. 2 billion Catholics, there really is far less than 1 million. The Great Apostasy. The Great Deception.
When you hear a man in white in Rome condemn Vatican II Robber Council, the false popes since 1958 Oct, and the Mass of Paul VI...
Relax. The Catholic Church is coming out of Her eclipse and thus, the world also.
As the church goes, so goes the world.
It is the beginning of the end of this covid
chastisement. A true Pope will fight NWO to the bitterest of ends. As will his subjects
Francis believes in forced mandates... he deserves hanging at NUREMBERG.
Turning your request into a question, what strategies [do we] think might work best to help these people manage the existential terror that resulted from their ill-advised decision to worship idolatrous junk science?
Well, you asked for what we think. I’m not a philosopher, theologian, or scientific researcher, or anybody who should know anything special. I'm more into applied computer science (having a BSCS and 50+ years experience), where things either work or they don't, although it is not a way of life for me. Nevertheless I have explored a good many pathways, religious and scientific, over my 71 years, and much what I have learned is from experience, not from reading opinions. I know a lot about science, a lot about the Bible, and a fair amount about the other major spiritual paths.
The earliest part of my life story is somewhat unclear. My mother was having health problems -- hormonal she was told -- and was advised that having a baby would help. The pregnancy didn't go all that well as I understand it, and I strongly suspect that she received extra "help" in the form of a certain poorly-tested endocrine-disrupting pharmaceutical. Certain of my lifelong health problems, which I will not detail, closely resemble those of others whose mothers were known to have received such "help".
My birth was delayed, and when it finally arrived my head would not fit through the birth canal. The doctor used forceps to squeeze it down to a size where it would, doing quite a bit of damage in the process. OK, he might also have saved my life and even that of my mother. My parents neglected to say anything at all about any of this until I was diagnosed with "minimal brain damage" at age 19, after which my father told me what he knew. It helps explain why it took me 10 years to graduate from college.
My medical problems are unusual, and modern medicine has failed me again and again (though not always). So I am biased. I have a lot of reason not to trust the pharmaceutical and medical industries. I like to refer to them as φαρμακεία and to the practitioners as φαρμακoi. (For non-Greek-readers those words translate as "the practice of sorcery" and "sorcerers". The root of both words, transliterated, is "pharma". Its biblical destiny is the Lake of Fire -- specifically those that deceive the nations with their sorcery -- and that suits me.)
It's a weird kind of blessing to be this way. It has protected me from the pressure of conformity, because in so many ways that seem so important in the social world, I am simply not able to conform with any reasonable amount of effort. And when things like the unbelievable deceptions of 2020 appear on the scene, I see it and I'm on it. I saw harbingers in 2019.
I was brought up in Christian fundamentalism, which was rather awkward because I have been a transsexual from very early on and I had to grow up "in the closet". This is not something I would recommend to anyone as a lifestyle. I know first hand what can happen when your hormones (the sex steroids -- those derived from pregnenolone) are inhibited. Puberty blockers indeed. Hardly anyone ever mentions the cancers that those drugs can trigger. But I digress.
By the time I turned 13 my father had all but given up on Christianity -- he invented his own personal form of it that involved drinking, gambling, and no church -- and my mother was auditioning for a fringe (heretical) fundamentalist Christian cult that believed Jesus was returning to earth in the 1970s. (I was nearly 17 by the time they formally let her in). I spent my teens involved with that, leaving when I was 21 and when the expected preliminary events prior to the Return failed to happen. Instead, they're happening now, 50 years later. But alas, that cult is no more.
What followed was a 42-year odyssey in two parts, exploring other spiritual paths, scientism, whatever came up next. Each time I would dive in, participate, notice that something was fundamentally wrong, eventually withdraw, and move on. About 19 years into that I was drawn back into Christianity for eight years, making my way over from fundamentalism to evangelicalism, and from churchgoer to Jesus follower. Again it was dive in, participate, discover major problems, and withdraw. Twice. It turns out in hindsight that I was confusing "the church" with God. That is a big, big mistake.
After what was now 42 years of meandering, I found myself back in a Christian church again. Well, sort of. It was a modernist/semi-progressive church, trans-friendly (passively so). But I liked it there and I liked the people. The problem, however, was that it was ritual Christianity in which God played little part, and I had to leave once again when they turned to overt hatred following the 2016 election. I still remained for most of a year but, as now, there was nothing I could say or do to change anything. I was not thrilled about who won, but such open hatred was too much for me and I returned to the evangelical world, for which I was already preparing. I have remained in the faith all these past eight plus years, but I have experienced a continuous unveiling of what goes on with and in these churches, the good, the bad, and the ugly. 2020 was eye-popping. By mid-2021 I had left two more. That's a record even for me, but not one I ever wanted to set.
I really don't participate now primarily for myself, but rather to find where I can help the walking wounded (ever more of them now) and the young, and I am not alone. The central point is not church or family or spiritual attainment or any of the things many people think of, but developing a close relationship with God centering around loyalty and service, something I did not encounter along any of those other paths. Service yes, sometimes good, but close relationship, no. Salvation, no.
So that is my "strategy", and I know that it can work for others, though I suppose not for all. When it works it can be quite effective for "manag[ing] the existential terror". You asked, and that's what I think.
you have had an eventful life...ever think of writing down some of your thoughts on things? Liked what i read so far. Interesting your perspective through time...
Thank you. The "through time" view for me has developed from my late 50's on into my early 70's. It seems a natural enough thing to emerge, but I do not often encounter it in others, with the exception of certain authors.
I've thought about writing, on and off, and I have concluded that I prefer to talk with other people directly, on a very small scale. It's not so much that I like "small" as that writing is difficult for me and time consuming in the extreme. It represents a very different experience compared with talking with someone, listening, and clarifying as we go.
This is great article, I am on same track just one thing, to solve this problem there has to be reform of debt. Why so many people are in existencional crisis is also becouse the support system of wallfare and economy is falling. They are unable to ever repay their debt and are desperate to turn to some miracle which was IT, Finance and Pharma.
They need the gospel of Jesus Christ! 🙌 Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. He is the way, the truth and the light.
I don’t think it’s any mistake that “vaccines” come from from the root “vaca” = cow. The sacred cow, the golden calf. The golden calf that the Israelites made when God and Moses went up the mountain for a few days to bring back the covenant of the Ten Commandments.
In their absence, Aaron created a golden calf that they wanted to worship.
I agree with Forest and you that humans will worship something. It is a flimsy and deadly god they have chosen in vaccines.
I don’t think we need any new, or re-tooled religion.
The Holy Scriptures make it abundantly clear that on our own, we cannot keep all the commandments or the law. And this is why Jesus came to live a sinless life, and pay in full the price for our sin. So that through faith in Him, we can be saved.
He came to redeem the world that Adam and Eve rescinded authority of in the Garden, back to Himself.
The Bible says He has told the end from the beginning. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Salvation must be received by faith, individually. He gives it to us by his grace when we believe.
Meanwhile, speaking the truth in every area is essential. Having discussions around all these topics, as people awaken to the lies that have been so pervasive. It is a challenging atmosphere in which to speak the truth. But, it must be done.
Toby, thank you for keeping this conversation open and going. Thank you for speaking the truth into what seems like an abyss of lies and darkness.
I like your thinking unfortunately I think it is ultimately doomed to failure. As a former hard atheist, I can tell you that the real problem with creating worship items out of thin air is that they come from humans, and they are simply not enough. I think your suggestions fall under that category.
To me, the real answer is worshipping the real thing: Jesus Christ. There is a very reasonable case in favor of his resurrection. If THAT happened and The Bible is reliable, then you got the real thing. I can say that there is a very good case for the reliability of The Bible. Thus, our efforts should go into exploring the possibility that the answer has been there all along. If we like the evidence, then jump in the waters. The rest will take care of itself.
For the people that read this and are interested, I would suggest the books The Case for Christ and The Case for God by Lee Strobel, and Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. I would also recommend C.S. Lewis' book Miracles.
I concluded my essay with the same thought about God. I strive to feel God each day. I'm at peace knowing God is with us.
I had a respectful conversation today with someone I know fairly well who holds a Master’s degree in public health. She was concerned I wasn’t wearing a mask. I asked her why she believed, with her education, that a mask could be effective in preventing the spread of Covid. She actually told me that Omicron is is not the same size as Alpha and Delta, and that the correct mask could stop the spread this time. She was quite serious, and she teaches college students, so they are hearing this kind of lunacy from her in class as well.
If I had heard about her second hand, I probably would’ve marveled at her “stupidity,” but standing there with her realizing how frightened and brainwashed she is, I could see how close she is to the existential terror you described. She is clinging to her foundational religious belief in Scientism by a thread because somewhere (buried in her subconscious for the time being) she knows that this is insanity. I had nothing but compassion for her in the moment.
I think we activists get so used to going into battle with crooked legislators, we get accustomed to attacking the problem at hand with aggression, sarcasm, etc. Our biggest battlefield right now, though, is the average Joe who believes he’s doing the right thing by following orders and is too scared to think independently or break rank. Now that there’s an obvious crack in the (faulty all along) foundation of Scientism, maybe we need to have more compassion? We’re literally asking people to leave a cult, so I found some generally accepted advice about helping someone do that:
* Be patient and respectful when asking questions. For all her strange beliefs about the relative size of Omicron vs Delta, I kept a straight face as I asked questions. I let her off the hook when it got too intense because I want her to think about it later, not go home mad and feeling belittled.
* Teach by sharing similar examples and experiences. I told her about my niece’s life-threatening reaction to the pentavalent, and she did care about my story. That opened the door to talk about how dirty big pharma plays and she agreed. I then told her about homeoprophylaxis, which shows her that we on the other side DO have other techniques, and that we care about our families and others. There needs to be something for them to grab onto when they leave the system.
* Learn about mind control techniques. I’m working on this.
* Work to establish a relationship and connect with your friend or family member, which will build trust. I think we all want to do this the quick and easy way by marching and holding up signs. These are good things to do, but unfortunately, I think we’re going to have to also do the hard work of investing in the lives of our friends, family, and neighbors in a personal way. They’re going to be reached at the metaphorical dinner table, not by yelling at them through a bullhorn.
I agree that it’s important to help people to distinguish between Scientism and actual science if that is their “preferred religion.” The church will have to actually evolve past boring Protestantism and fluffy evangelicalism. 🙃 Maybe we start our own house churches where it’s ok to marvel at the God of true science. I’m personally ok with many of the “old ways” that are re-emerging as new. Each person will have their own preferences, and I hope to be a simultaneously solid and soft landing space for people who desperately need it going forward. Keep the faith! Love wins! ❤️
This was such a great article btw! 🙏
This was beautifully articulated here: http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=1335
Thanks for consistently great work. We have to find a way out of "us and them" thinking. They are not the enemy. As Rob Malone notes, once they come over to our side they do not go back - and it seems we never go over to their side. So what makes us stay us? We seem to be a mixed bag from religious zealots to conspiracy theorists - but something stops us from becoming vax devotees. When they come over we have to accept them with no strings attached - no "I told you so" type gloating. The dark fear that drives them must be ousted by the light of knowledge and understanding.
What you write Toby makes sense; it would be good if scientists afflicted with such existential crises could help with a solution. I don't know that the untormented, who have not had science as a religion, will be able to solve it.
Medical spooks went to Whistleblower UK Funeral Director John O'looney in hospital and tried to coerce him to try an "experimental cocktail" this week. Not wanting to be epsteined, he refused and is out of hospital now. LISTEN TO THIS!!
https://mediaarchives.gsradio.net/rense/special/rense_123121_hr3.mp3
In my late 20's I realized I couldn't believe anything. It had been a nagging thought that had stuck in my mind since I was a teen. Always questioning and if people wouldn't answer I had my answer. They were wrong. After a while I decided just to base my life on understanding things to the best of my limited abilities but never to just believe something.
It is not atheism. That says there is no proof of god but I don't think that atheists have looked at the implications of the quantum mechanics "conscious observer" test results. One of the pioneers, Schrödinger, had said "You can base a lot of philosophical ideas in science but materialism isn't one of them". The idea that material came first in our universe is wrong. So what came first? Consciousness and everything comes from that. Sounds awful god like to me but it would mean that all earth religions are wrong. Impossible for any belief system to accept.
It is not agnosticism. That maintains that humans will never understand god. I disagree. Here again we have just scratched the surface but by understanding consciousness we may be able to understand god. A long way to go but it will be a fun trip I think.
So why not just pick a belief? Several problems with that for me. First you abdicate your ability to understand and accept on blind faith that things are the way you are told. No questions allowed. Religions all claim to be universal but yet over the last 5,000 years hundreds of millions of people have lived and died never having heard of their "universal" god.
So I base my life on trying to understand things knowing full well I'll never understand even a fraction of our world. Once I made the change it was very easy for me to change views. As I looked into stuff I'd sometimes go back and forth but settle on one point of view. If something later came up and disproved the previous view it is easy to change.
Unlike changing one's beliefs, which can be gut wrenching, changing one's understanding is easy. It is vastly easier for me to change my understanding than it is for someone else to change their beliefs.
So I'm not an atheist or an agnostic and I don't believe anything. What's left? The most fun path of all. Understanding.
Have fun, learn lots and help others.
Great piece Toby! Glad to see Maready getting more and more air time. He's been on my mind lately too.
https://unbekoming.substack.com/p/while-in-the-forest-i-found-maready?r=lo15j&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Or maybe we can be ok with being agnostic.
That's the most truthful belief. Why? Because neither "science" nor religion are based on reality.
Thank you. This explains my husband's dogma regarding the 'science'. Anything I would send to him to read - he would write off as someone who has a grudge or or or or. But, it could not ever be even a little bit true.
The Catholic Church has always had, and will always had sinners, even depraved sinners in Her hierarchy. She is a sure way to Heaven in Her teaching, including dogmas, and Her Liturgy ( the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass).
That is why the world and satan hate Her...
Rome, Francis and the Church he heads aren't Catholic... God allowed Her enemies to take over the Vatican and Appear to put a heretic on the Chair of Peter. Oct 1958
There is no Mar 2020 without Oct 1958...
Secret societies, commies, knew they could never have pulled off their evil unless they took out the pope
So, instead of 1. 2 billion Catholics, there really is far less than 1 million. The Great Apostasy. The Great Deception.
When you hear a man in white in Rome condemn Vatican II Robber Council, the false popes since 1958 Oct, and the Mass of Paul VI...
Relax. The Catholic Church is coming out of Her eclipse and thus, the world also.
As the church goes, so goes the world.
It is the beginning of the end of this covid
chastisement. A true Pope will fight NWO to the bitterest of ends. As will his subjects
Francis believes in forced mandates... he deserves hanging at NUREMBERG.
I love papacy and the Catholic Church.
Francis is a charlatan.
Btw, true Catholic teaching on mandates.
https://novusordowatch.org/2021/08/pope-pius12-moral-limits-of-medical-treatment/
Sgg.org has some fierce Catholic clergy against this evil.
Your diocesan Bishop in union with idolator Francis is a heretic... wolves
Research... Permanent Instructions of Alta Vendita.
Bella dodd, commies.
Turning your request into a question, what strategies [do we] think might work best to help these people manage the existential terror that resulted from their ill-advised decision to worship idolatrous junk science?
Well, you asked for what we think. I’m not a philosopher, theologian, or scientific researcher, or anybody who should know anything special. I'm more into applied computer science (having a BSCS and 50+ years experience), where things either work or they don't, although it is not a way of life for me. Nevertheless I have explored a good many pathways, religious and scientific, over my 71 years, and much what I have learned is from experience, not from reading opinions. I know a lot about science, a lot about the Bible, and a fair amount about the other major spiritual paths.
The earliest part of my life story is somewhat unclear. My mother was having health problems -- hormonal she was told -- and was advised that having a baby would help. The pregnancy didn't go all that well as I understand it, and I strongly suspect that she received extra "help" in the form of a certain poorly-tested endocrine-disrupting pharmaceutical. Certain of my lifelong health problems, which I will not detail, closely resemble those of others whose mothers were known to have received such "help".
My birth was delayed, and when it finally arrived my head would not fit through the birth canal. The doctor used forceps to squeeze it down to a size where it would, doing quite a bit of damage in the process. OK, he might also have saved my life and even that of my mother. My parents neglected to say anything at all about any of this until I was diagnosed with "minimal brain damage" at age 19, after which my father told me what he knew. It helps explain why it took me 10 years to graduate from college.
My medical problems are unusual, and modern medicine has failed me again and again (though not always). So I am biased. I have a lot of reason not to trust the pharmaceutical and medical industries. I like to refer to them as φαρμακεία and to the practitioners as φαρμακoi. (For non-Greek-readers those words translate as "the practice of sorcery" and "sorcerers". The root of both words, transliterated, is "pharma". Its biblical destiny is the Lake of Fire -- specifically those that deceive the nations with their sorcery -- and that suits me.)
It's a weird kind of blessing to be this way. It has protected me from the pressure of conformity, because in so many ways that seem so important in the social world, I am simply not able to conform with any reasonable amount of effort. And when things like the unbelievable deceptions of 2020 appear on the scene, I see it and I'm on it. I saw harbingers in 2019.
I was brought up in Christian fundamentalism, which was rather awkward because I have been a transsexual from very early on and I had to grow up "in the closet". This is not something I would recommend to anyone as a lifestyle. I know first hand what can happen when your hormones (the sex steroids -- those derived from pregnenolone) are inhibited. Puberty blockers indeed. Hardly anyone ever mentions the cancers that those drugs can trigger. But I digress.
By the time I turned 13 my father had all but given up on Christianity -- he invented his own personal form of it that involved drinking, gambling, and no church -- and my mother was auditioning for a fringe (heretical) fundamentalist Christian cult that believed Jesus was returning to earth in the 1970s. (I was nearly 17 by the time they formally let her in). I spent my teens involved with that, leaving when I was 21 and when the expected preliminary events prior to the Return failed to happen. Instead, they're happening now, 50 years later. But alas, that cult is no more.
What followed was a 42-year odyssey in two parts, exploring other spiritual paths, scientism, whatever came up next. Each time I would dive in, participate, notice that something was fundamentally wrong, eventually withdraw, and move on. About 19 years into that I was drawn back into Christianity for eight years, making my way over from fundamentalism to evangelicalism, and from churchgoer to Jesus follower. Again it was dive in, participate, discover major problems, and withdraw. Twice. It turns out in hindsight that I was confusing "the church" with God. That is a big, big mistake.
After what was now 42 years of meandering, I found myself back in a Christian church again. Well, sort of. It was a modernist/semi-progressive church, trans-friendly (passively so). But I liked it there and I liked the people. The problem, however, was that it was ritual Christianity in which God played little part, and I had to leave once again when they turned to overt hatred following the 2016 election. I still remained for most of a year but, as now, there was nothing I could say or do to change anything. I was not thrilled about who won, but such open hatred was too much for me and I returned to the evangelical world, for which I was already preparing. I have remained in the faith all these past eight plus years, but I have experienced a continuous unveiling of what goes on with and in these churches, the good, the bad, and the ugly. 2020 was eye-popping. By mid-2021 I had left two more. That's a record even for me, but not one I ever wanted to set.
I really don't participate now primarily for myself, but rather to find where I can help the walking wounded (ever more of them now) and the young, and I am not alone. The central point is not church or family or spiritual attainment or any of the things many people think of, but developing a close relationship with God centering around loyalty and service, something I did not encounter along any of those other paths. Service yes, sometimes good, but close relationship, no. Salvation, no.
So that is my "strategy", and I know that it can work for others, though I suppose not for all. When it works it can be quite effective for "manag[ing] the existential terror". You asked, and that's what I think.
you have had an eventful life...ever think of writing down some of your thoughts on things? Liked what i read so far. Interesting your perspective through time...
Thank you. The "through time" view for me has developed from my late 50's on into my early 70's. It seems a natural enough thing to emerge, but I do not often encounter it in others, with the exception of certain authors.
I've thought about writing, on and off, and I have concluded that I prefer to talk with other people directly, on a very small scale. It's not so much that I like "small" as that writing is difficult for me and time consuming in the extreme. It represents a very different experience compared with talking with someone, listening, and clarifying as we go.