Thread: The Subconscious/Brainwashing in Church

Originally Posted by naikou

Almost every religion uses 2 or 3 of those. I posted this video a few posts back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNSe5XYp6E

Yes, it's somewhat comical, but the tactics recommended are the real deal.

First off, I just watched it. Dude, that was beautiful. Anyways a couple things I want to say is that when someone is young they are easily influenced about whatever they are taught. There is no way to get around this. But to say that is the sole reason someone would believe in something is a little far-fetched. You see kids are easy to "brain-wash" because, lets face it, they're stupid. The problem is they start to grow up and mature. Eventually it isn't long before those kids have free will and can actually look up what they're being taught. This happened to me where I don't believe what I believe because of what I was taught as a kid. Otherwise I'd be a good hateful Catholic like my grandparents. No, instead I believe what I believe because of a decision I made when I was 15. So, I'll stand to say that both arguments are half right. You definatley can and are brainwashed when you are a kid, but only when your a kid. If you take 5 minutes you can undo all the brainwashing. (the time is exagerated, but you get the point)

Church services, especially Catholic Masses, are really exercises in mass insanity. You do things that you would normally never do openly. You sing publicly, you pray publicly, and recite oaths together. You stand up and sit down based on arbitrary rituals, and you watch what is suposedy the "transubstatiation" of a piece of bread and some wine into what is the body and blood of a man who died over 2000 years ago and then miraculously rose into the mystical realm of heaven. If you look at it from an impartial perspective it is completely and utterly ridiculous.

What you have to wonder is, if you are brainwashed to the point of utter conviction that something is true, does it make that thing true? Your answer to this question depends entirely upon how much you believe our thoughts influence our reality of course.

Originally Posted by Belisarius

Church services, especially Catholic Masses, are really exercises in mass insanity. You do things that you would normally never do openly. You sing publicly, you pray publicly, and recite oaths together. You stand up and sit down based on arbitrary rituals, and you watch what is suposedy the "transubstatiation" of a piece of bread and some wine into what is the body and blood of a man who died over 2000 years ago and then miraculously rose into the mystical realm of heaven. If you look at it from an impartial perspective it is completely and utterly ridiculous.

Well... to be fair, if you look at anything from an impartial perspective (e.g. that of aliens haha), it can be weird. Like, try describing sleep to someone who doesn't know what it is. Every night, you lie down on some platform, and are rendered unconscious for about 8 hours, during which you recharge your tired body and brain. That's right out of a sci-fi movie.

But your point is well-taken. Even back in my catholic days, the first thing that started to bother me was the arbitrary ritual stuff. We're sitting, we're standing, we're sitting, we're standing, we're... kneeling (that was always a pleasant change of pace), we're standing... now we're lining up to eat styrofoam, like a pack of dogs yearning for a treat... and the priest always got this massively huge piece he had to break in two to fit into his mouth, while we little people who NEED the carbs from all the legwork, got the crappy little pieces.

Er... anyway... yeah, but not all sermons are the same. I went to a more "general christian" one (not sure what it was... basically not catholic hehe), and it was a lot more pleasant. Definitely less "moves" to learn. Then there's the other style, which I haven't been to, but I've heard from outside when the doors are closed (which says plenty about it). I call it the "James Hetfield" sermon, cause the preacher is real loudAH, and talksAH likeAH James HetfieldAH singsAH. You know the kind, they make the "Praise" in "Praise the lord" sound like it has way more syllables than it actually needs (prayayseAH).

To end this on a happy, less evil note, I go back to my belief that spirituality, be it religious or not, ought to be a personal thing. It's YOUR relationship with God. And even then, it's nice that people can come together as a community around this common thing they share (the details of which are NOT common, since everyone is different). But again, the ritual aspects of it are kind of bleh, for the lack of a better term. You wouldn't dance the YMCA every morning to show your wife you love her (or at least, you wouldn't marry someone insane enough to require that), so why would you treat your love of god with such superficiality, when it ought to be so much more? Just my .02...

I was too zoned out during church over the years to ever pay attention to anything that was going. It was just too boring.

My typical mass went...

1. Get there and sit down
2. Think about something to daydream about for the next 40 minutes
3. Go into auto-pilot mode
4. Stand, sit, kneel, stand for 30 minutes
5. Come out of auto-pilot mode
6. Go up and get the Eucharist which tasted like cardboard
7. Walk by the wine and wonder how the hell people could put all their mouths all over it, especially when like 70 year olds drool on that.
8. Leave

And after all that, I believe in God! Though not sure if a "Christian God" - but I do believe in some sort of creator. I've switched over to a more philosophical view as my basis of belief in God.

blade5x:

You got cardboard-flavour??!? That's the high-end stuff! Individually wrapped and all that.

You're on the path I was at the time hehe. You're quickly becoming a Deist, if you aren't one already .

Originally Posted by Replicon

blade5x:
You got cardboard-flavour??!? That's the high-end stuff! Individually wrapped and all that.

I know what you two are talking about. I was Episcopalian during the second and last part of my Christianity days. I remember being 12 and really looking forward to communion. It was the coolest part of church because I thought those stiff wafers tasted good, but more importantly, I couldn't wait to drink that red wine. I loved that stuff. I looked so forward to when I would be old enough to drink it by the bottles. And that's exactly what I did. I became a binge drinker, and now I spend my days trying to talk myself out of being one. Thank you, blood of Christ!

I'm joking. It would have happened any way.

But aren't they supposed to be serving bread? When Jesus did these, did he take a ball of bread, and give it a real good squeeze before handing it out?

Yeah I'm definitely somewhat Diest. Not fully Diest, but close. A lot of my belief comes from logic and reason.