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G'day from down under

Started by Teaspoon Shallow, February 27, 2013, 06:33:45 PM

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Teaspoon Shallow

G'day all.

I found my way via an invitation from The Non Prophet which may or may not be a good thing. :-k
I am an old bugger, raised in a strict Christian home with the fear of hell-fire drummed into me from an early age.
This lead me to a miserable childhood.  
Not only was my home broken with many abusive drunken men sharing my home but also the idea that I am worthless.

It was taught that to play the victim was good for some reason and fighting back was a sin.
By the time I was 13, I was feed up with being picked on at school and again at home.
I started my love affair with martial arts (Karate at the time but soon spread to boxing and kickboxing, then to Pankration, Judo, Muay Thai anf BJJ)
I funded this myself by working at the local mushroom farm and soon enough instructors were kind enough to teach me for free.

I started living the exact opposite to my upbringing.
Being only average in size other older and larger students thought I could remain submissive but I lost my fear. If struck or threatened I would fire back with every thing I had immediately.  I would not wait till after school when some one said they were going to "get me".  I would start fighting and would not stop unless they were on the ground or we were broken up.

This made my life so less stressful and I made a lot more friends.

It also had me thinking if what I was taught to believe was all wrong (I did not consider religion was wrong at the time).

In my last year of high school I studied at nights at a Bible college.  It was stimulating and I was learning in a safe environment, I considered a career "helping people". #-o
 
The topic soon turned to the formation of the bible and the canonisation process.  We learnt about the different source documents and when they were believed to be written but how authors were mostly unknown. We also learned about the council who debated the merits of each book and decided what was gods word and what was not.

WTF?  This was the most powerful being and he was fumbling around trying to get his "word" to the world for the salvation of your soul?  I read all our material that night and fired a dozen or so question the following evening. Nothing could restore the faith I once clung too and I left.  I read a lot more, I prayed, I waited for an answer from the Almighty.  

I then suspended any belief in the super natural and guess what, I took another huge leap forward in my own happiness.  I could think about a topic and come up with my own reasoning.  I was free from simply following orders to be able to thoughtfully make my own way.

I have been running my own company for 14 years, have a wonderful wife and 3 awesome children.

From an early age I have taught them about religion, they do scripture at school and we visit a Buddhist monastery every couple of months.  I don't teach them to hate religion.  I teach them how to perceive truth from non truth and let them experience and decide for them selves.

My eldest who just turned 9 asked to do ethics at school instead of scripture this year as "I will learn something useful".  He advised he did not believe in god when he was 6 as the "salesmen tell me its true but cannot show me how it is true". =D>  

They are bright, happy and much loved.  They have a high self esteem, care for others and will not tolerate injustice. I am so glad I could offer them a better system for living than blindly following some one else's instructions.  I have taught them how to think, not what to think.

We are men, not sheep.

The Non Prophet

Haha good to have shown you the site mate. I too fell in love with martial arts from doing kickboxing.

I had no idea you were a lot older and had kids though, how old are you? Also what denomination were your parents?

Teaspoon Shallow

I am 39 years young :P .
My mother and sister are Anglican. I have not seen my father since I was 1.

PopeyesPappy

Welcome!


and 39 isn't an old bugger...
Save a life. Adopt a Greyhound.

mnmelt

39.!!!??? I'd kill to be 39 again..!!
Welcome from another newbie..!!
Down under in Florida... :-D
Jesus loves me but I still make him wear a condom

Teaspoon Shallow

Thanks all.  

It may not be the age that is the problem, it could be the mileage. :oops:

I have not actively sought debates with theists previously but a thread on a MMA site had me picking this topic up and scrutinising their position and claims.

I describe my position as an agnostic atheist .  I do not assert there is no god.  I do assert that current models of god present to me via religious claims are illogical and have little to no merit.

I do like learning about the philosophical arguments, William Lane Craig has one argument that is interesting to me.  It is a shame he is a smug little snot who speaks with contempt and will not provide answers to direct questions but convolutes the discussion with rapid fire unsupported claims.  I would not like to publicly debate him as he would run rings around me with woffle but I am enjoying dissecting his points to see what is possible and what is pure conjecture and verbal diarrhea.

I see the philosophy thread is slow but I hope to have some input in the near future.

 :popcorn:

seanfish


aitm

welcome to our forum.  If nothing else we have a shit load of ass-kickers on this forum.
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Brian37

Do you come from a land down under
Where the beer does flow
And the men Chunder

Cant you hear cant you hear
The thunder
You better run
You better take cover.

Or stay at this website and have fun.

For extra credit can you name the band who did those lyrics? NO CHEATING FOLKS, just him.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers." Obama
Poetry By Brian37 Like my poetry on Facebook Under BrianJames Rational Poet and also at twitter under Brianrrs37

FoxComedy

We have a saying in the States: "Age ain't nothin' but a number."

And that sounds awesome, what you're doing with your life.  And I'm glad you're not teaching your kids to HATE religion, but rather to understand it.  I think the only way we're going to make real progress with our society is to reach out a hand to our religious fellow human beings.  Kind of a Professor Xavier approach as opposed to the Magneto approach.

the_antithesis

Quote from: "Brian37"Do you come from a land down under
Where the beer does flow
And the men Chunder

Cant you hear cant you hear
The thunder
You better run
You better take cover.

Or stay at this website and have fun.

For extra credit can you name the band who did those lyrics? NO CHEATING FOLKS, just him.


Zatoichi

"If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it." ~Skippy's List

Teaspoon Shallow

Quote from: "Brian37"Do you come from a land down under
Where the beer does flow
And the men Chunder

Cant you hear cant you hear
The thunder
You better run
You better take cover.

Or stay at this website and have fun.

For extra credit can you name the band who did those lyrics? NO CHEATING FOLKS, just him.

Sorry for the late reply.  

Men at Work. :-D

[youtube:1fsroap4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeG-hNXXy6I[/youtube:1fsroap4]

Brian37

Quote from: "Teaspoon Shallow"
Quote from: "Brian37"Do you come from a land down under
Where the beer does flow
And the men Chunder

Cant you hear cant you hear
The thunder
You better run
You better take cover.

Or stay at this website and have fun.

For extra credit can you name the band who did those lyrics? NO CHEATING FOLKS, just him.

Sorry for the late reply.  

Men at Work. :-D

[youtube:16sg2oxx]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeG-hNXXy6I[/youtube:16sg2oxx]

You get a gold star!
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers." Obama
Poetry By Brian37 Like my poetry on Facebook Under BrianJames Rational Poet and also at twitter under Brianrrs37

Teaspoon Shallow

83.....I was 10.  Had my first dance floor romance. :-$