God I Love The Good Place. I’m Reading Michael Schur’s Book How To Be Perfect Rn And It’s Just

Part of my own healing process has been accepting that there's a lot of things in my past I won't be getting apologies for. Which means that in most situations, it's up to me to decide whether or not I can move on in those relationships without one.

Sometimes I can.

Sometimes I really can't.

So when someone from my evangelical past apologized for how things were between us back then, it really meant a lot. I've recently grown to appreciate how much more emotional awareness we all have about apologies these days, viewing them as something to offer another person because they deserve it—and because we care about them—rather than a transaction to assuage our own guilt. And yes, the recipient might not accept our apology. They might not forgive us. The relationship may remain broken. But acknowledging the way we've hurt someone, taking that first step back toward harmony and wholeness… it matters.

People coming at ex christians' criticisms of harmful doctrine with "that's not what it really means it actually means [xyz]" is offensive and disrespectful, and the big reasons are of course that it's dismissive and off topic at best, sometimes it's the same exact toxic and abusive belief repackaged to sound better, there's often elements of victim blaming thrown in along with diminishing harm, people tend to skip over any kind of empathy about the harm caused to jump into Them Being Correct, and yes of course all of that (and probably more I'm blanking on rn) is gross. But on the less severe end of things, it's honestly just kind of insulting to me that people think I have no possible idea of other interpretations lmao.

I do believe people are well within their right to look at something that's harmful and completely drop it and leave it behind without any further consideration. But that is not accurate to my experience and the majority of stories I've heard about people leaving christianity. Most stories I know involve several months to years of investigating texts, looking into different sects and interpretations, extensively studying history and context, begging knowledgeable people in your church to answer your questions and trying so hard to will yourself into allowing their non-answers to satisfy them in a frantic attempt to dig your nails into a faith that's slipping away but means more to you than anything. Some people just let go, and truly good for those people, but so many of us tried anything we could to compromise so we wouldn't have to.

There is this belief in a lot of churches that leaving is a casual decision, a flippant choice, something you pick because you want to sin or you were undisciplined or are falling into your human nature or are otherwise deficienct. That narrative doesn't fit nicely into the reality of many that leave: latching onto your faith long beyond the point of pain, but ignoring it because you're so desperate to salvage any semblance of the faith you once had.

I know the other interpretations. I know the history behind it. I know the context. And I know that if there was a way for me to maintain my faith without destroying myself, I would have found it.

Made this for u 💝

For the love of god, please vote. Is Kamala perfect? Of course not. But I’d 1000% rather drive anywhere else than off a cliff.

Dear Undecided and Both Sides are Evil voters.

"and thats the end of it. theres nothing else" daniel, seeing theres still half an hour left of the episode and cracking his knuckles; time to ruin a third marriage

And Remember Kids

Isn't it weird that Christianity had convinced us that non-Christians were all secretly depressed and hopeless?

Like, with how christians have tried to proselytize to me, they talk like they think I'm desperately trying to fill some kind of void or some shit. They tell me I'm "losing my soul" like that means any more to me than threatening me with the Sith or Sauron.

And, like. No? I don't feel the need to be "saved" from anything. I don't feel some weird metaphysical angst now that I don't believe in some sky daddy. In fact, ever since I accepted the fact that souls don't exist, I've been better than ever!

It's kinda beautiful, don't you think? In the end, we discovered that the "pain" that Christianity claimed to be protecting us from wasn't painful at all. That the disease they claimed to cure was never there to begin with.

So have some fun! Do stuff that "poisons your soul!" Take pride in the fact that you no longer have to play by the rules of an imaginary dictator, or worry about an imaginary body part! Prove the Christians wrong by loving every goddamn second of your beautiful, sinful life. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone else, what's the point in not indulging yourself?

Besides, if you can feel this good without a soul, it clearly wasn't that important anyway.