Responding To Ryan Pauly (Christian Fundamentalist) About De-Conversion And Secularism

 

These statements (made by you (Ryan) and your guest) are building upon a narrative which is incredibly unreasonable and unethical. First, you frame the narrative as: 'rather than allow "Scripture" to tell us who we are...' This one almost slipped under the radar. The fair and honest way of saying that part of your rhetoric would be: "Rather than allowing 1. my subjectively chosen sect's 2. subjective interpretation of 3. our subjectively chosen religious texts tell you who you are ... ".

Although, even that wording wouldn't be totally fair. Since HUMANITY does actually NOT instinctively know that your sub-niche religious faction even exists; nor that your over-arching religious umbrella (or "theme") of "Christianity" is anything they should give attention or credence to. In fact, even the people who are leaving your specific religious sub-culture are only ACTUALLY leaving because they REALIZED it doesn't add up. They aren't leaving so they can "sin". If that's what it's really-and-always about, then there wouldn't be such a thing as people having a "crisis of faith". It's called that because they accidentally realized facts, logic, ethics, and/or their lived experience are incompatible with it. And then they DESPERATELY start trying to psyche themselves into re-believing; which almost-always fails. Next, you're saying that it's a "sin" for anyone to figure out for themselves WHO they are, and then (even worse) to walk through this world with a sense of clarity, ownership, and responsibility about that identity. With that, you're also reserving the right to restrict everyone's sense of WORTH (including worthiness for respect, love, and even their worthiness to even EXIST); insisting we can only get a "true" version of those things ... from your "totally not a cult". You're saying the truest experience and expression of those things can only come from your religious system of control; -a control-system which presumes (with zero evidence) to speak and rule as extensions of a Supreme Being; who couldn't be bothered to speak for himself.

That, in turn, means everyone must submit to your Klan's moral authority, as co-dependent and exploitable mental slaves and sycophants; "lest they be damned". Also, no. I didn't spell "clan" wrong. Your "totally not a religion" is many things. Among those things, it is: An artificial social construct which (by design) functions as a race".

This, in turn, allows it to function as a form of racism. Those within that social demographic are worthy of greater power, privilege, and longevity than anyone else. Thus, they will not be throw away like trash forever on their "God's" trash-day. But everyone else deserves to be;
and is, thus, being "warned" (aka: threatened) that they should expect to be. 


That brings me to the part where you literally describe us as "broken";
 and in that very same context where only proper Christians are made whole.   
[Here, one of the internet's most clear-headed, articulate, and organized secular minds explains how fucked up that is.]

It's also deeply entrenched with color-based racism. In fact, your religion invented that too. And it has been harboring and enabling a "white power" movement, ever since; even in the highest ranks within your organizations. This is, in fact, why it took so long for the Southern Baptist Convention (founded by the same assholes who founded the KKK) to start allowing black people into high positions within their corporate administration. The secularization that you so vehemently demonize ... is what's forcing your churches (and other churches; such as Roman Catholics and Mormons) to morally mature. Every next generation, ever since the dawn of the secular enlightenment, your Klan has been dragged, kicking and screaming, towards sanity.

We could always just do this the easy way. But for all you flandering nedders, that would take the fun out of it.

We didn't get our advancing morals from you. You get yours from us. And yet, on behalf of your religious control system, you are speaking with a fantastically grand sense of entitlement;

calling DIBS on literally all other humans' narrative of identity. You presume the RIGHT to tell everyone else WHO they are. You claim to have the "authority" to tell people how they should think, feel, and live in this world.

As a means to achieve that goal, you are grossly presumptuous and accusatory about every escaped-person's moral character, intent, and lived experience; as you attempt to get them to unreasonably doubt and disavow their own mind and character, so that yours can take over. You don't care how many of those people were horrifical abused in the name of "God". You don't care how many people literally needed to get away from all of it, just to pursue safety, peace, and healing. You don't care how many people had to rescue their own children from the severe abuses happening in churches across the country and across the world. You can SAY you care. But that flatly contradicts how you just got done ascribing spiritually ugly CHARACTER and INTENT about literally everyone, everywhere, for thousands of years (and still today, and more tomorrow) whom have had to flee to safety. You are trying to all such people's ears, via your ministry, so you can tell them "the real reason" they left, and then to shame them into returning and re-submitting. This is directly and literally what it means to "gaslight" someone; both in terms of intended effect and actions taken to achieve that effect. [link to research materials on this topic] What you are doing is an insidious form of violence. [link] EVERYONE who realizes it should be very very very angry with you for that. I simply don't have the energy to be properly angry about it. Although, your authoritarian grift certainty darkens my skies.

And to be quite frank about it, it's a measure of our world's collective dystopian immaturity that such violence remains "grandfathered in" to our legal systems; such that it's exempt from laws against racketeering and other forms of violence. Meanwhile, IF any nation started requiring your religious ilk to start abiding by the same ethical-minimums everyone else must live by, ... your cult would cry "persecution!". Meanwhile (in your video clip; seen at the top of this blog), you are also pretending there is only one single faith-narrative in the world. (which your cult also dishonestly markets as "totally not a religion"). And thus, you speak as-if there is only one faith in existence which anyone could depart from. Now, did you hit your head and then forget other religions exist? Nope. You didn't forget. You're just trying to manipulate cognitions via framing the narrative as black-and-white, so that you can maneuver listeners into desired conclusions. "Everyone who does X is guilty of Y. The only alternative is Z. If you have sufficiently-good moral character, you'll choose that instead". #Marketting #Propoganda [X = Escape any authoritarian religion. (although, when you get to the "Z" part of this gambit, you hot-swap this out for your specific system; and then pretend that's what "x" was) Y = giving in to the sinful desire your GOD cursed us with, to WANT to figure out for ourselves who we are. [although, you speak out of both sides of your mouth about this too, when you alternate between who gets blame for those facets of our nature] Z =Let Ryan's one-true-totally-not-a-cult do that for you instead; based on (pretending) Jesus gave your "totally not a cult" the true and exclusive authority to do so. ] That's why you left absolutely ZERO room for the FACT that countless many of those people are escaping SECTS of Christianity which EVEN YOU YOURSELF realize are false-religions. Many are ALSO escaping from entirely other rival religions. Many of those religions employ devious tactics of manipulation and control. And you know it. So when those people are WAKING UP to EXACTLY what the OTHER SIDE OF YOUR MOUTH thinks they SHOULD wake up from, ... those people say (correctly) that they are "de-converting". And then you come along to say "No. What's really happening there is they are rejecting GOD in favor of the selfish pleasures which they are choosing to enslave themselves to". [Although, you speak out of both sides of your mouth about this too; even in this short video clip. You say "It's true" that this (alleged) sin is freeing. And then you go on to insist that it's also totally not freeing. Worse yet, you speak like it's some kind of sickness for people merely HAVE a sense of who they are in the world based on what they've been through and how they feel about it. "How dare they?!!!"] Meanwhile, you willfully overlook how [within the context of your own theological narrative] it was your "God" who "intelligently designed" all humans to operate entirely on carrot-and-stick motivators. He also "intelligently designed" them to have the specific desires your religion demonizes them for acting upon. -Even though you can't actually tell us what those people's other so-called "sinful desires" actually are. [a desire to 'sleep in' on Sundays?] That means you're also intentionally overlooking how (within the context of your own theological narrative), your GOD is "leading people into (those) temptations" by making them psychologically and physiologically drawn to those experiences in the first place. [link] [within the context of your own theological narrative] He ALSO "intelligently designing" for human psychology to get accidentally and deeply STUCK into habitualized ruts of dysfunctions. [not that your list of "sins" are limited to things which are actually bad for us] In fact, modern mental and physical health experts now universally recognize addictions (to anything seriously bad for our health) as "disease"; because they are entirely physiologically caused and physiologically-manifesting mechanisms ... which require science-based intervention. It's entirely a matter of physics. And yet, here comes your "totally not a cult" ... ascribing mystical causes to both real and imagined problems, so that your group can provide exclusive mystical solutions. You're also ignoring the fact that anyone can act upon countless many different pleasure-sins ... and still BE a "Christian". Because that's exactly what they're being perpetually forgiven for. Otherwise, you'd have to say that the only real Christians are the ones you never act upon any such desires. Anyone who IS a Christian already knows that. As such, there's literally zero sin-pleasure-incentive to leave Christianity. That means your theory about WHY people are leaving ANY religion (including yours) is: nonsensical. -Especially if you'd say that all sins are equal in the eyes of "God" except for sins (specifically) against the Holy Spirit. -Which (per your theological narrative) isn't forgivable anyways. That means (necessarily) that only people who would have to CHOOSE between your "God" vs "sin" ... are the people who can't come back to that "God" anyways. So then it would make no sense to have a ministry which tries to reach those people (again, the only people who ever leave Christianity on the basis of having to choose between a "sin" and "God"). Meanwhile, WHY are you demonizing them for escaping those OTHER religions? Here's what I realized about that: It's because you realize that all forms of literal personal-God-ism, whenever predicated on "authority' (aka "authoritarianism"), ... makes all those controlled people (even the people in rival authoritarian religions) (collectively; as a society) exploitable for your socially and politically weaponized cult of Narcissism. Because even the ones in rival authoritarian religions will still be highly receptive to the political agendas of ... really any masculine cult-personality who offers to lead their society on an authoritarian agenda, to help those weaponized citizens "take out the trash" (hated-other citizens). That's exactly the kind of thinking they've been trained into by authoritarian religions. That's exactly what Abrahamic religious texts promise; and which fundamentalist churches emphasize.
So they've been programmed to think in those ways. It's all the same Small Dick Energy. [No, it's not really about the size of anyone's penis. Well, at least, not usually]
This is why 0ver 80% of Christianity (your version of Christianity) voted for Trump. It's an expression of profound un-wellness; an un-wellness of character. It's the rotten "fruit" of a rotten spirit. This is why religious fundamentalists remain so completely enmeshed with authoritarian politics. Your church doesn't trust your own GOD to keep his promises for a kingdom which is "not of this world". You're all tired of waiting for him to show up and rescue you from this world. In fact, that attitude has been prevalent for Christians ever since they realized Jesus wasn't coming back when he SAID he would; around the end of the 1st Century CE. He went out for a pack of cigarettes, saying "I'll be right back". But he never came back. He left you at the Cosmic Walmart we call "Earth". Ever since then, your people have been taking matters into their own hands; by hijacking entire political systems and relentlessly colonizing ... in an ongoing attempt to violently create such a kingdom for yourselves here on Earth.

The MAGA alliance with Christian Nationalism is all about ego, power, and pleasure.

It's rooted in narcissist-levels of paranoid insecurity and over-compensation. It exemplifies "Righteous" domination and destruction of (incorrectly perceived) enemies. It offers the grand satisfaction Masculine Might; vicariously through cult-leaders standing in high places ... as the peasantry cheers beneath. For those whom identify with it, it's an expression of their personality.

This is why Trump being a serial sexual-assaulter isn't a deal-breaker for his supporters. Even the mere rumor of such behavior being committed by a political rival would be "unforgivable". They'd also care a LOT about any rival being best friends with the late Jeffrey Epstein (for many many years, until Epstein was finally brought to justice). But like Trump said, he could stand on a busy street and randomly murder people, and he wouldn't lose any votes. It's because his supporters don't support him "on principal". He doesn't even offer any for them to stand on; except for ugly bigotries. They support him because they identify with his personality, and because they want to vicariously experience the power they're giving him.

Now, to be fair, I can't say for sure that you have Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Trump does. But I'm not yet sure if you do. This is why I said "your personality" instead of "your personality disorder". The reason I can't be sure about that is this: Your religion reshapes psychology to deeply emulate that specific Major Personality Disorder. As a result, it dampens compassion, honesty, prosocial aptitude, and personal accountability. It also puts apologists into the necessary roll of behaving as Bad Faith Actors in debates. In turn, this makes it hard for anyone to tell when we're seeing someone who actually is NPD. It 'might' only be that you're just high on that spectrum of traits (aka "cluster B"). The real difference is prognosis. IF you are NPD, then that religion has perma-bonded to your psychology. Christian fundamentalism is "Adamantium" for Narcissist Wolverines. In that case, you can never separate yourself from it. [I've seen that happen to my own mother and brother] Whereas, if you are not actually NPD, then you could end up overcoming it. BUT only if you HEAL and MATURE enough first. That can only happen naturally; by accidentally maturing via fortunate, gradual effects of lived experience. Nobody can lead you out of it. Because of how religious fundamentalism hijacks the brain. [<--- Link] Meanwhile, your Corporate Religion (what is, functionally, a mafia) markets all of that as "the ultimate expression of human humility" Thus, you're compelled to demonize literally every escaping and maturing person (even when they're escaping from a rival religion) as being of poor moral character. To support that accusation, you characterize all of them as: De-converting from "the truth" (while you willfully pretend they're all departing from your specific religious-niche) ... as people who are: * ever, * always, and * purely pursuing unhealthy pleasures; also, specifically, in a state of rebellion and rejection of a 'one true spiritual connection' ... to an exclusively true "God" ... which every single one of those people either: a.) consciously knows is true. or else (if they don't consciously know that stuff is true) b.) are "suppressing (those) truth(s) in unrighteousness". In this case, it would mean the REASON those individuals don't consciously know that stuff is true is because they USED TO know it ... but they forgot; when they lost the ability to remember and perceive all of that. How? By making themselves incompatible with that "sight". How? By using their (libertarian) "Free Will" [a type of "free will" which doesn't even exist in reality] to commit themselves to habitual and unhealthy pleasures. Which pleasures are those? The "sin" of people taking ownership and responsibility for their own lives. As for any other "sins", ... all you "know" is it must have been pleasures which they all * initially/previously and * instinctively knew offends your "one true God". Per your political cult's narrative, each and every one of those people decided those pleasures matter more to them than *love, *truth, *moral accountability, *having minimally good moral character, *their own life, * and the sacred-yet-fragile emotional feelings of their Creator. [Despite the fact that your religion's offer of "grace" is literally the offer that anyone can actually EVADE all moral accountability; along with the INSITENCE that we actually SHOULD want to do that] Meanwhile, you still can't list what those alleged pleasures are. You're also trying to have your cake and eat it too, when it comes to freedom vs slavery. How so? By accusing those people of exercising their freedom-of-will in a way that's not good for them. - And (at the same time) you say they are foolishly and mistakenly thinking of themselves as having and exercising that very same freedom . Meanwhile, if THE SIDE OF YOUR MOUTH which says "they are not actually free" actually BELIEVES that, then: It makes no sense that you're trying to reach and reason with them; since: Within the context of your theological narrative: Only a MORALLY FREE AGENT who has functional SIGHT to "see" what you're saying is true ... could then ACT upon the sight and freedom you just got done saying they don't actually have. The only way, in that case, that your words could REACH THEM "in their heart of hearts" is if they arbitrarily put their FAITH in YOU (Ryan Pauly) ... in ironic REJECTION of the Bible-passage which says "Do not put your trust in men" 'when it comes to your salvation'. [Psalm 146:3] 
Now, you could choose to dishonestly SAY "I'm only appealing to them to put their trust in God; not in me". But this (again) would be trying to have your cake and eat it too. How so? Because in the context of your theological narrative, and (in fact) the premise-of-function for your ministry ... you are offering to personally "lead them back to God". But that requires those people to FIRST trust YOU, so that they can afterwards gain (or recover) "sight" and trust in that "God". Now, you can SAY you aren't asking them to trust YOU but rather trust their own ability to reason. But you just got done saying they lost that already when they became a slave to "sin". Also, when they DO rely upon their own reasoning, you just switch to saying that's something only a sin-slave would foolishly do.

That way, you can negate the validity of their differing conclusions. It's another layer of contradiction. Meanwhile, your theological narrative says those people CAN'T perceive what you're saying as-true; ever since they willfully forsook "righteousness" and then began to suffer from blindness, amnesia, and the total loss of their free-moral-will (as "slaves" to "sin").

In any case, you can't really justify your absolute conviction about each-and-every one of those people's true character, motives, or lived experience. -All of which, here, in this video clip, both you and your guest posture as being absolutely able to account for.