Christians

[ticklebug101]

Ok first, I just wanna say I'm not trying to offend anyone or start a religious debate, I'm just nosy :lol Also I'm tired, so forgive me if I seem like I'm rambling.

Folks, this is a big site with a lotta members, and I know for a fact there are at least two other christians on here besides me. So with that in mind, I was curious as to how others on here became christians. Some stories may be as simple as mine, that you were brought up to be a christian and when you were old enough you made your own choices. But for those of you who became christians in later life, how did you come to know God? No reason for this thread in particular, just curios 🙂

Bug :wub

 

[andymac1]

Hi there. Myself, i'm also a Christian in England, but I do grapple with whether it is right to come onto this site (as most is pornography). What about you?

 

[Featherdemon]

I was raised as Christian, but I'm not one any more. 🙂 I started out as such through family and social things like Cubs and Scouts and Sunday school.

 

[DarkPoet]

I'm Christian. I have to say that first, before anyone gets the wrong impression.

I was raised Catholic, but I quickly fell out with the church because of what Christians and church leaders had done in the past. I had wrongfully associated God with people who claim to act in His name. The contradiction was too much for me for a while.

I became enthralled with the world of mathematics and the sciences. I even hoped to find proof that God does not exist, and I was persistent. Over the years, I found that nothing we know now, nor any current theory, disproves the existence of God. It does, however, contradict the bible. Or at least, that's what I thought. Later, I discovered that, as long as you don't read the bible as the literal sum of its words, but to have deeper underlying meanings, I started seeing correlations between even the Old Testament and some of the things I was studying in physics.

Over time, I started believing in God again, and Jesus Christ, because I found that I agreed with His teachings more strongly than I could have previously believed. My faith grew, but I knew that my reasons for it growing could only be my own. No matter who I tried to explain it to, or how, the reasons wouldn't make sense to anyone but me. I think it's the same for all of us.

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

My parents attempted to raise both me and my brother in the episcopal faith actually. Over the years however, I began to see the vasts flaws in organized religion (or following a large mass of people who generally all believe the same thing). Furthermore, I was appalled by the lack of role women played in all forms of religion and the further I delved back into history the more disgusted I became with how men of religious stature treated women in general (from dungeons to inquisitions to witch trials).

All of this plus the release of the Da Vinci Code by author Dan Brown (which pretty much convinced me that Catholicism had so many holes, lies, and alterations to their doctrine) led me to come to the conclusion that mankind will ultimately fade, blue, and distort (if not fabricate) the truth if it suits it merely to achieve prosperity or even the smallest measure of power of other people (or a governmental/economic system in general). A famous quote (ironically from a science fiction show called Babylon 5) is, "the truth is a three edged sword...their side, your side, and the truth." and the truth is I don't trust people who claim to be (or speak for) the divine.

Now, all that said, I do however have MY OWN INDIVIDUAL BELIEFS. I DO BELIEVE in a CREATOR BEING and I do believe THAT BEING CREATED EXISTENCE. I also do believe in existence after death and that PEOPLE WHO DO NOT CAUSE ENOUGH SUFFERING TO OTHER to weigh down their souls eventually ascend to higher and higher planes of existence (and are met and guides by the souls of others who where their friends, family, and loved ones). I also believe there are LOWER PLAINS OF EXISTENCE where people who DO CAUSE PAIN AND SUFFERING on a LARGE ENOUGH SCALE end up and endure their own pain and suffering until they are deemed ready (by whatever beings dwell in such planes of existence [angels, demons, etc etc] to either ascend or be reincarnated to try again. I do NOT BELIEVE in a religious doctrine that forces you to perform certain rights and observe certain customs in order to gain the approval of a deity (not touching the skin of a dead pig, keeping the body of a woman covered, not working on the Sabbath, etc etc).

Nor do I believe that BELIEF ITSELF is ANY SORT OF KEY to get a ticket into a higher plane of existence. All of this said, I will respect anyone else's right to believe in whatever they wish (however I will not necessarily agree with it nor refrain to express my displeasure with your beliefs [as I frequently do with people who worship Islam]). Hope all this helps clear up my INDIVIDUAL BELIEFS for ya bug hun. I gotta say, this thread was a pleasant surprise. I may just have to "reward" ya. (wags fluffy feather) 😉

 

[ticklebug101]

@Sox Thanks, those are some interesting opinions. And if you wanna use that feather, you're gonna have to come to London or wait till I can afford to travel 😉

@andymac Yes, the thought has crossed my mind a few times before. But at the same time, I feel like I can't stay away. But I'm weak, what can I do? Being a human is hard lol. Thanks for the respones folks 🙂

 

[tff69]

I was raised Catholic, but as our family began to start looking into other churches, I started to really like Baptist churches. Reasons for me is that some of the Catholic churches I was going to before was condradicting (sp?) what the bible says, mainly praying in drown. I feel that praying in unison in a low sound, to me sounds in drown. It was a big thing for me, even to this day. I feel also that having a personal relationship with God is very important. Again, the only way to speak to God is to confess to a preacher, and I feel that is not correct either. Well those are my two cents, hope that helps a bit.

 

[TheTickleMonster]

I'm a Christian. But I'm pretty sure I'm one of the people on the site that you already knew what a Christian. I was raised in a southern baptist church. And I'm still a Christian because I have a strong belief in God and nothing has changed my mind yet. I don't make it too obvious on this site but on the TMF whenever I post in my signature you can tell by quotes I have in my signature...

 

[dentrag1231]

I was raised as a Christian, and choose to become a Presbyterian. However, as I grew up, I also decided that Christian beliefs do not hold up in the modern world as well as they have in the past (a view shared by many branches of Protestantism). As a result, though I believe in God, Heaven, and Hell, I also believe things that fundamentalist Christian reject. I believe that only God has the right to judge the sins of others, so things like "Gay rights" shouldn't even be worth considering anymore then one would consider "Caucasian rights". As Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone upon her", something a lot of fundamentalist's seem to have missed. I also believe that science and religion need not be mutually exclusive, for example believing in Evolution, specifically theistic evolution (not to be confused with intelligent design, which is a form of creationism). To that end, I am greatly disturbed by the rising trend of schools in the Southern US offering creationism classes as an alternative to science classes.

Logic > faith.

I realize you probably posted this simply to start an argument, but assuming that someone who has faith in God rejects logic is no less ignorant then your statement implies the religious are.

 

[P[a]pi]

Meka and I are Christians. We got baptized recently (last year). I don't want to talk about the how, when or why, just wanted to let other fellow Christians know.

 

[Slaver123]

I

I became enthralled with the world of mathematics and the sciences. I even hoped to find proof that God does not exist, and I was persistent. Over the years, I found that nothing we know now, nor any current theory, disproves the existence of God. It does, however, contradict the bible. Or at least, that's what I thought. Later, I discovered that, as long as you don't read the bible as the literal sum of its words, but to have deeper underlying meanings, I started seeing correlations between even the Old Testament and some of the things I was studying in physics.
s.

So glad to hear that someone else sees it this way. Science and Genesis are not at odds, if you take the creation story as symbolic and not a literal 6 days/144 Hours.

The Creator didn't "sculpt" Adam out of the dust in a day with his hands- but over several billion years our species (and all the others) did arise from the "dust". So in a symbolic way "dust thou art- to dust thou shall return" is absolutely true. The six days of creation was a great way to explain things to pre-scientific man, and it's uncannily close to the truth...

 

[ticklebug101]

C'mon guys I said when I posted this thread it's not meant to start a debate. Don't fight. Show some love, it's valentine's day 😉

 

[TKLVR181]

Raised Christian, still going strong. Becoming more about spirituality and less about the organized beliefs as I grow older...I don't believe you have to think *everything* that the Bible, preachers, etc is accurate to go to Heaven and to live right. Nor do I believe it's expected of us to have all the answers! My beliefs are headed more towards thinking that Jesus sacrificed himself so we'd BELIEVE we were wanted and accept Gods' love. Humans need to see things physically and all that.

Nor do I believe you have to believe either strictly my way or any other way to get into Heaven.

A pertinent 'joke':

Saint Peter was giving a new soul the tour of Heaven. They came to a room that was quiet inside, with one man speaking loudly

"What's that?" asked the new soul
"The Catholics." Explained Saint Peter. "They like to hold Mass, even here."

The next door they came to had loud music, singing, dancing, and plenty of "HALLALUJAH!"s.
'Who's that?' asked the new soul.
"That's the Pentecostals. They're loud, but they're great praisers."

The next door was several halls away on it's own.
"Who's that?!" asked the new soul, confused.
"That's the Baptists. They think they're the only ones here"

XD

Of course, I mean no disrespect to Baptists-I consider myself one 😛 It seems that a lot of sub-religions of Christianity, and lots of other religions, think they're the only ones that'll go to Heaven. Which I think is kind of sad, and hopefully not true. I don't believe it is personally--but I'm also not going to poo-poo those that do.

~K

 

[BlackDragonScar]

I have been raised in a Christian home. Been raised to look at everything in the world based on the Bible and only by the bible. Now when i first discovered my tickle fetish at the age of 13, i did my best to try and keep it a bit clean at first. After a while my parents caught me and told me that this fetish is the result of a demon and needed to be cast out of me. I was told that it was a demonic spirit that shouldn't be apart of me and that it needed to go. Now i was homeschooled for a while and did a lesson book on seeing things through both the worlds eyes and christan's eyes. Taking that into account I do believe in God and have my faith's that still take into account. Although I take my beliefs to a different extreme. I will not try and force those to believe in God, I will not just go to the ghetto to save a bunch of folks (who have more churches than most people) and try to convert them to Christianity. I am not one to really judge those because they don't believe in God. Now have alot of different beliefs when it comes to Gay Marriage and thingso f that such and many will believe or disagree with me. Now I do not believe a male and male or a female and female should be together but I am not gonna go around calling people abominations because of that. Its not in my nature to do so, people will believe what they wanna belive and its not my place to change them. Now we can share difference in opinions and such hence why I kept going wtih my fetish. I was called a pornaholic (as my mom called it) I was told i was demon possess, I was told i am a horrible person because of these fetishes, but if I am to deny that who i am, who am I to judge others for who they are? I will continue my beliefs in Christ, but i feel the christian community could use a wake up call. anyway that's all i gotta say. I will say this, people will have difference in opinions and that's fine, God gave us free will for a reason. The bible tells us we are not to judge as others will judge us. But I will say I will continue my religious faith no matter whose opinion in my own way. anyway thanks to those who listen and

GO FOR TICKLISH CHRISTIANS!​

 

[MistressValerie1]

Debate on validity of religion moved to http://www.tickletheater.com/showthread.php?t=72966

Please confine debates to that thread, not this one.

 

[Smoten]

My parents let me figure out and decide for myself what I wanted to believe. I think coming to terms with one's own spirituality and worldly beliefs (or lack there of) is more important than trying to mold your life into someone else's code of moral ethics and conduct. For me, it's been more about finding what best reflects my personal beliefs, rather than being told what my beliefs are.

Personally, I have taken many ideas, beliefs and concepts from a wide variety of theologies and made them my own. Ultimately, I consider myself Christian and I go to a Lutheran church. I don't necessarily share the exact same beliefs, but it's close enough for me to be genuinely happy there. It also helps that the pastor of my church is an amazing and wonderful man that I can look up to as a paragon of compassion, kindness and understanding.

I've found what works best for me. For those of you who are on the fence over religion, I hope you find whatever makes the most sense to you and may it help you get by and stay sane in life.

 

[likeasong1]

Hi there. Myself, i'm also a Christian in England, but I do grapple with whether it is right to come onto this site (as most is pornography). What about you?

Echoing much of what is here (though I'm in WA by way of MI). Though, I'm sure no one here remembers me, a year or two ago, I vehemently defended my faith against the attacks upon it from fellow members. But hey, that's what Internet debate is, right? Anyway, still proudly Christian, still imperfect as a person and in my disciplines. Lust being my biggest struggle, which as andymac noted has a lot to do with grappling about coming here. For me, it has always been about support. I've always felt guilty about my fetish, scared to admit it, worried that it's an instant dumping offense to be into it (especially as a 'Ler). I had tried to find a gf on here, but where there are players whose "game" is on par with Stratego or Chess, my "game" is more on par with... Candyland. Or War. Not even good enough to be Tic-Tac-Toe.

Now, I have a fiance, one of the reasons I'm seldom here anymore. She's Christian like me, and she accepts that facet of me, tolerating it (though I'll always feel bad about it because I know she'll never truly love it like I do).

Sorry to stray off-topic, but andy's post resonated with me too.

Btw, Papi and Meka, welcome to the family. 🙂

 

[RangerLoki]

Some interesting reads here. I'm interested in hearing more about the guilt associated with visiting a website like this, from your perspectives.
It takes me back to my deviance psych classes in gen ed.

 

[Critical Kai]

I was raised Christian at a young age, and I attended scripture during primary school. But it was around the time that I first came across corner of the Internet that I stopped being one.

And I'm not saying that I went into the spotlight and lost my religion, I never really lived a Christian lifestyle in the first place. Never ran around praising Jesus. The only times when we did things remotely Christian were at my grandmothers, but even then - nobody in my family ever enforced it. We would say grace before dinner at hers, and she would go to church every Sunday, she would always ask if I wanted to come. But she wouldn't really care less if I said I didn't.

It was easier for me to grow out of, because I guess you could say I was never really a Christian in the first place. Heaven or Hell? (Lets Rock!) >_>;

 

[ticklebug101]

That's interesting, thanks Kai.

 

[Uglyhobo]

For me, always trying to reconcile science with theism was a headache. I say to be a rational theist, you must suppose God came from evolution, not the other way around. Even then, most of the known universe has such high radiation the chance of some space opera bullshit is slim to none.

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

I've always found it ironic that there are those out there who are perfectly content saying that everything came from nothing, but that God can't exist because God needs to come from something. IMHO, It is a little from column A and a little from column B.

 

[likeasong1]

Some interesting reads here. I'm interested in hearing more about the guilt associated with visiting a website like this, from your perspectives.
It takes me back to my deviance psych classes in gen ed.

Loki, I can tell you why the guilt for me: because girls (ones I've known in real life) don't like it. And because we try so hard to treat women as equals. That hasn't been too difficult for me... in fact sometimes I got in trouble for treating girls like I did boys! But tickling involves subjugation of some sort, as it renders the victim less able to defend themselves, and oftentimes, to a squirming pile of helplessness. Combine that with being a straight male who prefers to do rather than receive the tickling, and for whom tickling is almost exclusively a sexual thing, and the life experience that relatively few girls actually enjoy it (again, that I've met), and you've got a recipe for instant guilt, no religious dogma involved whatsoever.

 

[Miss Sassy1]

Hmm, that's a very good question Bugs. I mean, my mom's side of the family became Christians shortly after I was born. My dad's family (as far as I know) have always been Christains, though I know there are a few who don't believe. As for me, Well, I never really thought about it. I mean, I grew up believing that God was real, and I've prayed and read the kid's Bible so many times. Now, I still believe in God and I am still a Christian, but i"m not one of those crazed Christians who pray/read the Bible twenty-four/seven. I'm trying to better myself at that though. 🙂

 

[Mash]

I grew up as what I suppose you could call a 'Christian'.

I went to church with my family... and hated every god damn second of it. Not because of what was being said or done, but because as a 6 year old, I was being forced to sit in a stuffy building with a bunch of stuffy people for several stuffy hours listening to a stuffy old guy preach about a stuffy dead guy.

If there's anything that turned me away from belief to begin with, it was that shit.