If you have told your family especially parents that you are an atheist or an agnostic person,

When did you tell them and what was their reaction?

How did you tell them?

What did you say?

Or

Do you pretend and listen to them without telling them anything? (go with the flow). So as to avoid the subsequent questioning about your moral, reasoning etc?


I consider myself as a Weak Agnostic. Right now, I am going with the flow. But when the issue of going to church comes up, I just sort of tune out and just say ok ok. no problem.

Watch this. This is a very mild reaction to what my parents would do to me if i was his age and told them i dont believe anymore. I know that most nigerians would probably have to wear body armour and have your bags packed and ready to leave.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Aq00yJSxo

Christians; Do you love Jesus more than you love your own family, and why?

Well well well, that video explains it all. I thought christians are supposed to be tolerant, understanding, and accepting of everyone. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF. Well we can now say that there are exceptions.

When she said she got confirmed and total the priest/pastor whatever. i bet he was probably young then. I was confirmed when I was young. At such a age, most people are not capable of critical thinking and understanding of things they do and why they do them. As we grow, we gain more knowledge and hopefully begin to understand the whys, whats, whens, of life if possible.

The lady not even willing to understand and reason with the son ifit is not staged is evident of the fact that many people would like to force religious doctrines without even wanting to consider the other person's opinion, morals, ethics. The woman is judging her poor son, which is in contradiction to what is in the bible, do not judge. Interesting, we can use some parts of the bible to reinforce our points while ignoring other parts.

It's a shame but that is reality. Hopefully, at some point in time people can be tolerant and understanding of each person at least that could possibly reduce the number of conflicts around the world.

It is a pity it has to be like this. I bet it will be worse for many Nigerians telling their parents they are unsure about religion. Which is one of the things I am trying to avoid.

My believe is:

DO WHATEVER ROCKS YOUR BOAT. AS LONG AS YOU DON'T REGRET DOING IT AND YOU DONT HURT ANYONE BEFORE DOING, WHILE DOING, AND AFTER IT DONE.

So the next question is, how would one know if they will regret or not regret.

the video is a perfect evidence that christianity is perpetuated by fear as some one already noted.

@ poster if you feel that your coming out against your beliefs will cause ripples between you and your family then it's better you keep it to your self. . . family is very important. . . .when all else fails your family can at least be reliable. . . .

@poster
Be careful. This is what the god of the holy bible says that you must do to people, (including family members), who do not believe in him anymore.

"If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him.  Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you.  You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.  And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst."  (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)

Open your bible and read it for yourself. 

This is truly sickening, savage, and barbaric. i hope your family are a little bit more tolerant than this. 

If people do what was said to be done from the passage you highlighted, how many people will remain in this world.

I previouslly posted in another thread regarding the fact that, christianity is not our religion it was introduced to us. pre-colonial era, different groups of people practiced different things if you want to call them religion cool. What they practiced then was part of their culture and tradition. so when the "white europeans" came, telling locals, what you are doing is wrong our way is better. Then people started accepting, and culture/traditions were gradually erased.

What would have happened if missionaries never came to nigeria and other parts of africa? would chrisitanity be dominant as it is now?

I am comfortable keeping things to myself, sometimes just feel the urge to say it, deal with the blacklash, and get it over with. Well, i guess still have to keep it in the jar, except someone on here reading my posts in the religion section knows me and gives a hint. I dont care might even be better this way lol.

Oh well life continues

When I went through my Atheist phase I tried telling my mother. I quickly recanted when I saw how upset it made her. At the time her reaction only confirmed for me that the religion was a load of coerced BS. You don't even have to be an atheist, all you have to do is have a different take on certain doctrines and you'll be inviting all kinds of ire and emotional blackmail.

A funny one is my father telling me that christianity is my family's religion and what I was brought up in so I should stick with it. My response was that he should have tried telling that to his parents when they converted away from traditional religion.

Anyway, now that I'm older I don't care about telling anybody anything about what I believe. If they don't like it that's their problem. I suspect that they find my christianity today a lot hotter than they found my atheism. I guess I'm just a bit insensitive when I tell them that what they are practicing is not even religion but a sophisticated system of extortion. And they are the victims.

@Post
The problem with most religious belief systems especially christianity which i am very familiar with is that over the years man as corrupted the true essence of the religion for their own benefit and to manipulate and control other men. (jeremiah 8:8-10) Even the bible as been distorted by men, however this does not not take away the fact that there is a God and that he has revealed himself to manking in several ways. I became more convinced of my christian beliefs when i read thru the new testament, the gospel there can only be truely divinely inspired and certainly not what a mere mortal man would come up with. it also left me very disenchanted with the church who over the years have distorted the gospels and used it to extort others(today's churches are totally different from the churches established by the apostles in the new testament). I suggest you take time out to study the books of the new testament well i am quite certain God would reveal something to you. Forget church practises and doctrines just let the holy spirit inspire you thru the bible.

Jeremiah 8:8-10:
8How can you say, We are wise, and we have the written law of the Lord [and are learned in its language and teachings]? Behold, the truth is, the lying pen of the scribes has made of the law a falsehood (a mere code of ceremonial observances).(A)
9The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken [captive]. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom and broad, full intelligence is in them?

10Therefore will I give their wives to others and their fields to those who gain possession of them; for everyone, from the least even to the greatest, is given to covetousness (is greedy for unjust gain); from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.



For more on my submissions on this topic, you can read my posts on this thread: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-148850.0.html

KunleOshob:

@Post
The problem with most religious belief systems especially christianity which i am very familiar with is that over the years man as corrupted the true essence of the religion for their own benefit and to manipulate and control other men. (jeremiah 8:8-10)

The bible as we know it today was not available during the time of jeremiah. . . . jeremiah was talking about some of the jewish scriptures. . . not the bible and by the way the jews do not believe in the christian bible. . .

Even the bible as been distorted by men, however this does not not take away the fact that there is a God and that he has revealed himself to manking in several ways. I became more convinced of my christian beliefs when i read thru the new testament, [b]the gospel there can only be truely divinely inspired and certainly not what a mere mortal man would come up with.

what are you talking about here? are all the contradictions(most of their stories cancel each other out) and wrong portrayal of history in the found in the gospels also divinely inspired? is there any thing that jesus has said that other gods or prophets of other gods have not said? love thy neighbor as thy self which is one of the greatest sayings of jesus was said over 1000 years by buddah before the writers of the gospels said that jesus said it. . . . .

it also left me very disenchanted with the church who over the years have distorted the gospels and used it to extort others(today's churches are totally different from the churches established by the apostles in the new testament). I suggest you take time out to study the books of the new testament well i am quite certain God would reveal something to you. Forget church practises and doctrines just let the holy spirit inspire you thru the bible.

is it the same holy spirit that speaks to donnie or huberility, pepeye on nairaland that also speaks to davidylan, osisi, lady, sirjohn and bobbyf? if it is then why do they always
spend their discussions vehemently arguing and disagreeing with each other? why the very strong disagreements amongst believers who all claim to hear their message or interpretation from the holy spirit? is it the same holy spirit that ministers to pastor adeboye and prophet tb joshua? if yes then why are they fighting with each other?

Jeremiah 8:8-10:
8How can you say, We are wise, and we have the written law of the Lord [and are learned in its language and teachings]? Behold, the truth is, the lying pen of the scribes has made of the law a falsehood (a mere code of ceremonial observances).(A)
    9The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken [captive]. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom and broad, full intelligence is in them?

    10Therefore will I give their wives to others and their fields to those who gain possession of them; for everyone, from the least even to the greatest, is given to covetousness (is greedy for unjust gain); from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

jeremiah was talking about events during his life time not the bible as you will like to have us believe. . . .

mazaje:

jeremiah was talking about events during his life time not the bible as you will like to have us believe. . . .

Jeremiah was talking about scribes and prophets twisting sriptures in before and during his time, some of theses scriptures have found there way into the bible, also there is no evidenc that this tradition of twisting scripture as stopped. Even today that we have a cannonized set of scripture, these so called men of god are still trying to twist it by giving all sorts of ridiculous interpretation to scripture. Essentially why i quoted Jeremiah is becos i wanted the OP and other readers on this thread to realized that man as always twisted the scriptures(from biblical times) even today and that is what accounts for the discrepancies we find in the bible.

It often seems that people interprete things fromt he bible differently and many times end up not agreeing with things. When people go to church, listen to pastors, reverends, preachers etc talk about the bible, isnt it the way they interprete the bible they tell the congregation? It is more of a profession to be a person that preaches the bible. These people go to seminaries etc to study the bible, so how come one needs to go to school to study the bible? if i read the bible, it is very easy to understand so how come if i go to church i need to listen to someone else tell me what it means?

@kunleoshob
If you are trying to prove a point, dont use any reference from the bible to prove the point. Holds little or no substance.

How old is the earth based on the bible?

What is your response to the pyramids in egypt, fossils found, ancient china, etc.


How come?

if jesus was born in a manger to a virgin mary,

what about the people that were living before his birth,
so how does the trinity apply/

oh well, definitely no one may be able to answer the questions so it will just be a hanger

KunleOshob:

Jeremiah was talking about scribes and prophets twisting sriptures in before and during his time, some of theses scriptures have found there way into the bible, also there is no evidenc that this tradition of twisting scripture as stopped. Even today that we have a cannonized set of scripture, these so called men of god are still trying to twist it by giving all sorts of ridiculous interpretation to scripture. Essentially why i quoted Jeremiah is becos i wanted the OP and other readers on this thread to realized that man as always twisted the scriptures(from biblical times) even today and that is what accounts for the discrepancies we find in the bible.

mohammed warned muslms against people that wll twist the islamic scriptures, how is that different than what you have written about jeremiah? how can man twist the scriptures when the scriptures are the words, thoughts imaginations, fantasies and ideas of men?

ha ha, the youtube video was funny ass hell.

poor kid isn't getting a gift for christmas. no Wii for you beyotch