The Ironically Self-Defeating Methodology Of Christian Fundamentalism's Path-To-Truth.

In a Stoicism group, a Christian started this as a thread:

It’s only a short trip, make good use of it.

Seek the Lord while He May be found.

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• Venris Davila

  “While he may be found”?

  

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  • Charlotte Roberts

    Venris Davila Call out to him. He will answer. 

    

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      James Apperson

      

       re "Call out to him. He will answer."

      --

      WHEN that works (it doesn't for everyone),

      "he" is us

      answering ourselves.

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    • JD Krznarich

       it works for anyone who does it correctly. If you pray and talk to Him you will be answered. Sometimes it happens while reading scripture, sometimes it's a dream. Regardless, it happens.

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      James Apperson

      

      JD Krznarich

      re:

      "it works for anyone who does it correctly. "

      --

      So it's like a secret password or a magic spell?

      Say the wrong words and the magic doesn't happen?

      

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    • JD Krznarich

      James Apperson no lol. You are watching too much Harry Potter bro. Some people just talk to God out loud or in their head and nothing happens but that is because you need to read the scripture and combine that with praying.

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    • JD Krznarich

      James Apperson the second mistake people make, that I made anyway, is they expect God to work on their time. God is God, an hour, a day, or a year to us is irrelevant to Him.

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      James Apperson

      

      JD Krznarich re "you need to read the scripture and combine that with praying."

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      so ... exactly like a magic spell.

      The person has to say or think the special words

      while reading from a special book.

      Otherwise, it won't work.

      It's not me reading too much Harry Potter, ... "bro".

      It's you.

      

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    • JD Krznarich

      Charlotte Roberts there are no special words lol. It's just talking and praying like it's someone you know. Why are you obsessed with magic? I love Dr. Strange too man, but you are taking it too literally 

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And so I paused.

I took a moment to reflect on what's he really saying, before I replied; 
as I always do. 

This is my reply. 

Of course there are special words they have to say.

Example:
It wouldn't count, if:
they call god "George",
mention his "Daughter" instead of his "Son",
and mention that he's their favorite multi-armed blue elephant deity. 

There are are a list of (baseless) assumptions they must make.

And they must speak/prey in accordance with those assumptions. 

They have to confine themselves to the essential elements of your religion's script. 

Thus:
The words matter. 

Moving to the next point:

The reason someone must be reading lots of Harry Potter and really immersing their self in those narratives,
if they want to be assured of eventually having a DREAM about it, ...

is the exact same reason someone must be reading lots of biblical stories, and really immersing themselves in those narratives,
if they want to be assured of a dream about that instead.

It's directly related to the reason that "Near Death Experiences" for Hindus are:
Hindu story-type experiences;

while NDEs in Christian cultures are:
Christian story-type experiences.


Although, I noticed that you've added a careful disclaimer about it. 

 According to you, any person might need to keep trying (maybe even for "years") before it works. Because "God" doesn't work on our schedule. 
 
In other words:

You advising them to ASSUME FIRST
that your religious narrative has a good chance of being true. BEFORE having any good reason to think so. 

They may as well, right? It's not like they'll EVER be given a valid reason to think so.
And you realize that.
So you have to manipulate them into it, instead.

 Even more interestingly:

At this point, you aren't even telling them exactly what your religious narrative is.

And why not?
Because that massive mess of absurdities would take months, to lay it all out on the table.  

Even if you did lay it honestly, to start with, 
they'd easily realize it's a mess. 

So you need to sneak little pieces into their brain, over a longer period of time; so that they never see the entire picture until AFTER they've committed to it;
-at which point, they'll no longer be able to objectively and honestly analyze it.

You're also saying they should spend years trying to convince themselves that the vague premise is legit;
until that finally starts to work
(which only someone really emotionally desperate, immature, and gullible would do). 

Meanwhile, you haven't even NOTICED 
that "even if your beliefs are true", 
you've just thrown your human brothers and sisters to the wolves. 
 
How so?
Because if some random person on the internet SEES your advice and then TAKES your advice, ...

They'll eventually end up under the mentoring wing of a totally random version of "Christianity". 

Months or years from now, if you managed to get some desperate and vulnerable person into psychologically manipulating themselves into it, ...

They're just going to start church-hopping;
looking for whatever version of "the message" 
can finish the process of
their glorious indoctrineation. 

So it will boil down to random churches and whichever sect's point-man has the best recruitment skills. 

Statistically speaking, it is VERY VERY unlikely that they'll end up in a roughly-same version of Christianity. 

They'll probably end up in some rival sect that your sect disavows as "not real Christians". 
 Maybe it'll be the Jehovah's Witnesses, or Mormons, or Roman Catholics, or Westboro Baptists, or the latest fringe cult. 
Who knows. 

Worse yet, you wouldn't even accept any responsibility for that, because your clinically narcissistic religion shrugs off all responsibility. 
 
You would just unreasonably imagine that they "freely chose" to get tricked into some rival faction's narrative. 
 
 And then you'd assume they just don't have enough love or humility. So you can imagine them being on the wrong path is their own (damned) fault. 

Either way, 
if your version ~just happens to be~
a correct-enough version to please
  The Great God Of Inept Plans, 
they're still gonna be totally screwed; because of you.

And if neither that rival sect nor yours are the "truth" they claim to be, then they're still gonna be totally screwed. Because (as the OP super-ironically points out), life is too short to spend years getting it wrong. 

They'll end up indoctrinating their own kids into a bullshit religion; setting them up, very possibly, for a lifetime of stunted reasoning skills, emotional instability, confusion, and dysfunctional relationships. 

At some point down the road,
 they start doing what you do.
 
They'll go into groups that have FUCKALL do with their religion, trying to recruit for their religion.

As a result, ... 

 They'll be helping to make this world a WORSE PLACE for everyone to live in.
And they'll be feeling good about it.

All the while,
they themselves will make terrible sacrifices for a false religion;

 in a LIFE that is TOO DAMNED SHORT to be throwing so much *opportunity away. 

 [*like: better sex, better platonic human relationships, better education, more freedom of thought, a wider range of discoveries]
---
You're trying to get people to manipulate their own mind, by exploiting a common psychological quirk.

For you personally, that counts as verification that those stories (your interpretations) are "true". And even *exclusively true*.

But if your sales technique was stripped of all backdoor psychology-hacks, and logical fallacies, and false-histories, and was up-to-date on all current (relevant) sciences,
there wouldn't be anything left for you to say about your religion (sect/culture/faith/narrative. Whatever you want to call it),
except for a list of reasons why you like it.