I spent some time on Armstrong Delusion website this morning. One comment by a follower of the site struck me, and like many other things I happen upon, serves as the inspiration behind this blog.
The commenter referred to the time after departure from the cult as their "afterlife."
There was a time when all of us cultists looked forward to a supernatural afterlife. In our cases, we, somewhat like the Mormons, looked forward to becoming actual sons of god. Herbert Armstrong enlarged the very real original "Elohym" god family of pre-monotheist Israel and Canaan into a growing family that would include resurrected and immortal sons of God -- us. We were to become brothers of Jesus. Somehow, "daughters" didn't get included in the mix. All, including females, were to magically become sons, from my recollection. (Patriachy in overdrive.)
Of course, I no longer anticipate any such thing and am not even sure some essence of us will suvive our inevitable deaths. There is compelling "anecdotal" evidence that something may, but so far, no measurable scientific evidence. So, that is one of the "agnostic" parts of my atheist stance. I don't know, and I'm humbly honest enough to admit the fact. Anyone who objects to my unorthodox atheism at the moment is free to cast whatever stones they may have handy.
Back to the current subject. What has traspired in my life after 1974-75 can certainly be describe as an "afterlife." In fact, several afterlives.
Starting out, I was still hung up on the Bible and faith. I even attended a Divine Science church for a while and delved deeply into reincarnation. I supported Ernest Martin's Foundation. I got myself ordained by an interfaith group so I could legally do wedding ceremonies and subsequently got several online ordinations, including one from an atheist group. I've ventured into pan-theism. For years, I identified myself as an agnostic. Within the last decade, I became a devout atheist with agnostic overtones.
Is my evolution over? For the most part, I think so. Atheism seems to be the end of the line.
I will never quit questioning and growing in knowledge and understanding. I'm painfully cognizant of the fact that I don't know everything or understand all that is to be understood. Nevertheless, I no longer quail in fear of some nebulous spiritual somebody who is going to wrathfully condemn me for not falling in line with one of the thousands (maybe millions) of "faiths" out there. What makes the superstitions of some remote stone age tribe any more relevant or factual than those espoused by the vatican, a plethora of protestants, some muslim faction, hindus, etc.?
We insist on growing in science and tehnology, but much of the world has become ossified in its views of ultimate reality, especially here in the US where religion has hijacked one very old political party. We humanists and atheists are fighting valiantly to change that situation, and we're making progress. Getting much more involved in that struggle has become an increasing part of my "afterlife" of the the last year or so.
Showing posts with label Cultism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cultism. Show all posts
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Why This Blog?
Who am I and why this blog?
I am a survivor of cultism, now in my seventies, who wants to share his accumulated experiences and the lessons he has learned with whomever he can.
I opted out of the cultic organization (The Worldwide Church of God) that had monopolized my life and thinking for over 20 years in 1974-75.
In the intervening years, I have progressed in fits and spurts to the relative stability of being an agnostic atheist who believes in none of the gods and religions currently extant in the world.
I pray to no god.
I bow to no priesthood.
I think for myself.
In the past year or so, I have been a regular contributor to The Painful Truth blog at: http://www.hwarmstrong.com/, and have twice been its guest editor. There is a dedicated section of my articles on this site: http://www.hwarmstrong.com/al_dexter.htm, which includes my autobiographical book, Believing the Unbelievable -- Into and Out of Fanaticism.
I first tried to publish and market this book on my own and spent several hundred dollars on the project only to come up against the barrier facing all authors. There are just too many books out there. There is one absolutely true statement in the Bible; “...of making many books there is no end” Eccles. 12:12. After Gutenberg, that became even more of a truism. And, getting enough promotion going to be successful is virtually impossible. So, I put it online and forgot about being a successful author in the commercial market.
Many people no longer buy books. They cost a lot. They take up a lot of space, and most of them sit on a shelf or coffee table and are never really read. Most information one wants can now be found by a simple web search – free. On a whim, I recently bought a book on Alexander Hamilton at a yard sale. It looks like it was never read, and, you guessed it, I haven't read it either. I have lots of partially read books in my library.
The internet has been a boon to those with a message. Finally, an affordable vehicle with worldwide potential open to anyone who has the ability to put their thoughts in writing.
One has to develop a lot of courage and go through much emotional upheaval to come to the place in which I now stand. I'm basically right back where I started as a skeptical teenager, before the siren song of Herbert Armstrong's hypnotic voice and writings overwhelmed my youthful naivete and turned me into a goose stepping fanatic akin to the Hitler youth of the previous generation.
I count myself a free thinker in the mold of Thomas Paine. Paine is revered as one of our great thinkers and a founding father. Many of those who extol him have never read his book, The Age of Reason. If they had, they would have serious questions about the current push to paint the United States of America as a Christian nation. You can find his book here: http://www.hwarmstrong.com/age-of-reason-00.htm.
Paine was an outright avowed atheist!
Others, like Benjamin Franklin (who himself stated the fact), Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, were more in tune with Deism, the belief that a god started it all and then took a hands off policy. Prior to Darwin, that was a logical conclusion to many educated people.
Thomas Paine is no longer around to counter the lies of the religious right, so I've decided to be one of those who stand in for him.
Hence, the title of this blog.
I am a survivor of cultism, now in my seventies, who wants to share his accumulated experiences and the lessons he has learned with whomever he can.
I opted out of the cultic organization (The Worldwide Church of God) that had monopolized my life and thinking for over 20 years in 1974-75.
In the intervening years, I have progressed in fits and spurts to the relative stability of being an agnostic atheist who believes in none of the gods and religions currently extant in the world.
I pray to no god.
I bow to no priesthood.
I think for myself.
In the past year or so, I have been a regular contributor to The Painful Truth blog at: http://www.hwarmstrong.com/, and have twice been its guest editor. There is a dedicated section of my articles on this site: http://www.hwarmstrong.com/al_dexter.htm, which includes my autobiographical book, Believing the Unbelievable -- Into and Out of Fanaticism.
I first tried to publish and market this book on my own and spent several hundred dollars on the project only to come up against the barrier facing all authors. There are just too many books out there. There is one absolutely true statement in the Bible; “...of making many books there is no end” Eccles. 12:12. After Gutenberg, that became even more of a truism. And, getting enough promotion going to be successful is virtually impossible. So, I put it online and forgot about being a successful author in the commercial market.
Many people no longer buy books. They cost a lot. They take up a lot of space, and most of them sit on a shelf or coffee table and are never really read. Most information one wants can now be found by a simple web search – free. On a whim, I recently bought a book on Alexander Hamilton at a yard sale. It looks like it was never read, and, you guessed it, I haven't read it either. I have lots of partially read books in my library.
The internet has been a boon to those with a message. Finally, an affordable vehicle with worldwide potential open to anyone who has the ability to put their thoughts in writing.
One has to develop a lot of courage and go through much emotional upheaval to come to the place in which I now stand. I'm basically right back where I started as a skeptical teenager, before the siren song of Herbert Armstrong's hypnotic voice and writings overwhelmed my youthful naivete and turned me into a goose stepping fanatic akin to the Hitler youth of the previous generation.
I count myself a free thinker in the mold of Thomas Paine. Paine is revered as one of our great thinkers and a founding father. Many of those who extol him have never read his book, The Age of Reason. If they had, they would have serious questions about the current push to paint the United States of America as a Christian nation. You can find his book here: http://www.hwarmstrong.com/age-of-reason-00.htm.
Paine was an outright avowed atheist!
Others, like Benjamin Franklin (who himself stated the fact), Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, were more in tune with Deism, the belief that a god started it all and then took a hands off policy. Prior to Darwin, that was a logical conclusion to many educated people.
Thomas Paine is no longer around to counter the lies of the religious right, so I've decided to be one of those who stand in for him.
Hence, the title of this blog.
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