Does anyone feel like they took the red pill?

[Barbarbarann]

DH and I are active Christians. I was having an interesting conversation with DH the other day and we were talking about how being saved and following Jesus feels like we took the red pill from the Matrix. It feels like our eyes are opened to how evil is operating in the world and you can't unsee it. I feel like we are in an age where evil is deemed good and good is deemed evil and we are the only ones that can see it and others are mostly blasé, heads in the sand or mislead.

I wonder if anyone else out there feels that too? When I mentioned it to some ladies at a Bible study yesterday - I was met with blank looks. I am not some militant, Bible-thumping conspiracy theorist either, just someone who quietly reads their bible daily and prays.

What you’ve learned, one hopes, is that posting a high-handed farrago about the moral superiority of Christianity and the blindness to ‘evil’ of the non ‘active Christian’ sheeple, and then not returning to the thread for several days, doesn’t incline anyone towards finding you anything other than tone-deaf and blinkered. And now huffy. Of course it’s everyone else who’s wrong, OP.

Or maybe reflect on wherever it is (Luke?)Jesus makes a cutting little remark about hypocrites getting exercised about the splinter in their brother’s eye while not noticing the beam in their own?

Because you’re coming across as a bit of a Pharisee here.

I agree with that and I am definitely not an anarchist, but everyone should beware the corrupting nature of power.

Leading the support group I run has made me very mindful that my leadership is an act of service, not a platform for personal power.

@pointythings, absolutely!

And if the mother’s life is at risk?

@brokenbutterflymagnum

Anti-choicers don't tend to give a fuck about women.

Or children, in reality, otherwise they would adopt some of the children they insist must be born at any cost.

Never met one who has though.

@pointythings Most specifically the fake preachers like Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen - twisting the gospel into something all about self and what you can get. Also the whole social media instagram/tik tok scene - where everyone wants to glorify themselves.

I feel like people went on a weird tangent and I am not sure how and why people started talking about abortion. I am very confused how this discussion panned out. People seem to just want to see what they want, read between the lines and read incorrectly. But then I suppose I wasn't specific enough.

@Barbarbarann people started talking about abortion etc as posters piled in discussing cultural things that are contentious amongst certain churches. It was an extrapolation of what evils you might be seeing as you didn't come back after your initial post for quite a while. And as with all contentious subjects there was contention!

I think my response would stay the same: every generation thinks theirs is the most dire, the Current State Of Affairs is Particularly Bad and so on. The details vary but one could forever find such perspectives. For sure there were periods when the world as a whole was under greater stress (COVID a recent example) but generally it is not useful - I do not think - to keep reinforcing such a mindset.

It keeps one focussed on a sense of helplessness IMO.

I think this is why you haven’t had a pile of responses - not even from those of us who consider ourselves to be Christians - saying Oh My Gosh Me Too Look At All That Evil Out There The Scales Have Fallen From My Eyes. Maybe your experience is a touch idiosyncratic to you and your DH in which case you might be helped by finding supportive people IRL to work it through with.

@Barbarbarann

And all churches have their faults. The charismatic movement has many that I'm sure you are aware of as you refer to two prominent American Charismatic preachers. And I would agree with being aware of that. However, the aspect of the charismatic church I do like is the encouragement of hope and faith in the phenomenal power of God to do marvellous things beyond our expectations. Although, yes, it would seem some of these preachers seem too fond of power for themselves and this cannot be forgotten.

I agree with @heyhohello that all religious groups have their faults, and your position there makes sense. It's why many people, both believers and atheists like me, dislike organised religion.

I'm not sure you can class TikTok and Instagram as unequivocal evils, however. My son is a poet. He puts his poems on Instagram- just the poems, no promotion, no photos, only the very briefest bio. All he wants is to share his words with others and maybe give them a moment of beauty, comfort or recognition. Is that evil? I see self glorification as a manifestation of low self esteem more than anything else.

But the only people who deem that prosperity gospel stuff as good are other Christians.

Really? I suppose it begs the question how far from the central message of the Gospel can you drift and still call yourself Christian? I don't like to gatekeep, but a charlatan is a charlatan. Unfortunately a bit of charisma and a promise of wealth will be a draw to some.

If you have taken the red pill, and can now see good and evil as clear cut in a way that others can’t, could you share what that means in practice?

I feel like we are in an age where evil is deemed good and good is deemed evil and we are the only ones that can see it and others are mostly blasé, heads in the sand or mislead.

specifically, what are the evils that nobody else can see?

Most specifically the fake preachers like Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen - twisting the gospel into something all about self and what you can get.

If they're your examples of I feel like we are in an age where evil is deemed good and good is deemed evil and we are the only ones that can see it and others are mostly blasé, heads in the sand or mislead. ... rest assured there are plenty of people who don't deem these people remotely 'good'. Along with evangelical leaders closer to home (sould survivor, nine o'clock service, 'bash camps' ) .

@Br0kenbutterflymagnum yes, Christian believers are the ones who are victims of flawed preaching. So are you expressing sympathy?

Just the same as women are the victims of domestic violence largely perpetrated by men. Does that mean we shouldn't have relationships with men in order to protect ourselves from them?

Or maybe the moral of the story is that human beings are all fallible and we shouldn't forget that.

@Br0kenbutterflymagnum the op is talking about a change in her (&her husband) since becoming Christian. She felt like her 'eyes were opened'.

Maybe some non-Christians have their eyes opened to (some of) the same things. However, that doesn't negate the OP's experience. The way she felt she learnt about these things was her Christianity.

So before you were a Christian you thought Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen were good?

@WerewolfBarMitzvahSpookyScary before I started focusing more upon my Christian faith I didn't even know who they were. So it wouldn't surprise me if OP was the same. I had a sketchy knowledge of television evangelists in the 70s faking healings - that's all. I spent my time concentrating on other things.