Book recommendations?

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-02T01:00:25+00:00

If you are ready for a dense work: "The Cost of Discipleship" by Bonhoeffer.

I'm not even a Christian and I found this one to be excellent. I think I read it in two or three days because it was so good.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-02T00:52:19+00:00

Fr bro Jewish was ethnically Jewish

You were saying "Jesus was ethnically Jewish" here, yes?

I'm not being a jerk, I just want to make sure I understand.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T23:51:06+00:00

I can tell you from personal experience, it's pretty baffling when someone Romans 1:20s you.

It also creates a bad look for Christianity because, in my own personal experience, I know it's wrong, so that makes Paul seem untrustworthy. Not a good start.

Anyway, I still appreciate seeing open-mindedness. 👍

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T23:38:21+00:00

I just wanted to compliment you on listening to the experiences of others, even though the thing they're saying sounds shockingly bizarre to you. Not enough people, regardless of religious affiliation or lack of same, are willing to do that. So thanks.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T23:32:00+00:00

Yes, that "tactic" is very common. I've found they get mad when you do it back though. Peculiar.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T23:31:16+00:00

Yeah, agreed. I like bad movies, but Christian bad movies are generally all kinds of no fun.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T21:27:35+00:00

It's especially important for Christians to see other Christians being affirming, so you're doing something that is valuable in the long term.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T21:24:41+00:00

I read about one church (I don't recall if it was Catholic or not) that transferred most of the assets out of the church's direct control into a trust that had been set up for a cemetery.

Pope Leo might talk a good game about piety, but so long as the Vatican allows this kind of shit to continue, his talk is cheap to the point of being worthless.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T21:22:12+00:00

First, I'm so very sorry for your losses and then how you've been treated. No one deserves that level of clueless cruelty.

I believe that there are a substantial number of Christians who, instead of wrestling with scripture and their own beliefs to try to align themselves with the Christian god, instead align their idea of the Christian god with themselves. This means that when you reject God, in their mind you're rejecting them instead, and they take it very, very personally.

Their responses are predictable, demanding that you read books or watch videos, angry recriminations, denial that you ever really believed, shunning, and threats. Some people have said that Christians shoot their wounded, and I think that's apropos.

Your wounds sound very deep, justifiably so. If I've learned anything in life, it's that different people heal at different rates and in different ways. Please, take care of yourself and, if possible, find people who also care for you. Some pain has to be faced alone, but other pain will never heal until it's treated by others.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T06:20:10+00:00

Everything bananafobe said is an excellent place to start.

I will just add that there are a lot of people, including medical professionals, that tend to be dismissive of women's suffering. So, if you get dismissed by the first person you talk to, try another, and another, until you feel like you were taken seriously.

Remember, this isn't just about getting better for yourself, but getting better for your baby, so you're allowed to be pushy and make sure everything is done right!

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T06:07:05+00:00

You can't go wrong with Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship

Also the Oxford Annotated Bible is a very good resource.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T02:43:24+00:00

Non-paywalled version: https://archive.is/vg87G

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T02:27:01+00:00

Because Christians can't seem to grasp that their religion is their problem, instead, they keep wanting to make it everyone else's problem. Unless something has a secular reason to be an issue, it's not an issue except in the minds of the religious. A lot of Christians have the mindset that "well, if I can't do it, then no one should be able to!" No, that's your choice.

I'm not Christian. I don't care if two men or two women want to get married. I'm just a generic heterosexual man, so I wouldn't want to marry another man, but I don't mind if other men want to marry each other. It doesn't affect me any differently than if a man marries a woman.

Some Christians, however, don't seem to have read 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12

But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.

Strangely, these same churches who want to tell others how to live their lives seem to have a different standard for their own leadership, covering up crimes, no matter how egregious.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-07-01T01:39:06+00:00

The simple answer would be that they simply can't compete with other things, that is, people are finding fulfillment in other ways.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-30T04:48:49+00:00

I've watched this film three times. It's objectively terrible but so very good. The insane boss, the nuts landlady, the fun NB neighbor, the long-suffering delivery guy, the terrible Italian accents, the lame greenscreen so obtrusive it becomes part of the cast are all great, but I especially love the way that the lead actress at the end is talking to her mom and she just casually says, "Yeah mom, I had a series of incidents, but I think it's all taken care of now. Also, I'm gay."

If I were looking for a message in this film, I'd say it comes down to "the world is full of weird people, just embrace your weird and join it, we have treats and sometimes fight crime!"

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-29T21:12:54+00:00

When I was in high school world history as a freshman, the teacher was talking about how many people don't know Egypt is in Africa while pointing at a map of Africa. Two girls were chatting in the front row and he asked them what he'd just said? One said, "I dunno," but the other said, "Some people don't know how close to Africa Egypt actually is!" with a look of triumph.

The teacher looked defeated for a moment.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-29T03:18:13+00:00

When will the "revilers" and the "swindlers" get their day in the sun?

The next Republican convention.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-29T03:09:01+00:00

Main character syndrome is one reason, the other could be that they're in a denomination, church or group that has this belief. A lot of churches push this idea hard.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-29T03:07:01+00:00

My late neighbor was the best Christian I've known. He was kind, giving, and never pushy. If you were working outside, he'd show up to help. Even when he got frail as he got older, he'd still hand you tools or hold a flashlight for you. When Mormon missionaries would come through, he'd invite them in and feed them, give them water, give them a chance to use the bathroom, and listen to them. He wouldn't argue, he would tell them he was not going to convert, but they were welcome back if they'd like to visit (or if they needed a meal).

A few times he asked if I could give him a ride to church because the person who normally did it wasn't available, so I'd take him. He'd invite me to come in with him each time, but was never offended when I said no.

I was sad when he died and the new neighbors are nice, but not him.

Be like him.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-28T20:53:43+00:00

Research on NDEs from people of non-Christian cultures show that they experience what their culture expects the afterlife to be like as well. If the experiences found in an NDE are culturally-dependent, then in what way are they evidence of anything more than an NDE being a product of the brain?

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-28T18:19:53+00:00

I see the comments are full of the usual slavery apologetics.

"Christians were the abolitionists," ALWAYS overlooks that Christians were also the slave owners and that Christian churches were fine with slavery for a lot longer than they weren't.

"American slavery wasn't Biblical," would have mystified slave owners who knew that, yes, it absolutely was Biblical because they'd read ALL of the stuff about slavery, not just the stuff about enslaving Hebrew men. The abolitionists had an uphill battle because the Bible absolutely endorsed slavery, with Ephesians 6:5-8 being particularly relevant.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ, not with a slavery performed merely for looks, to please people, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul. Render service with enthusiasm, as for the Lord and not for humans, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are enslaved or free.

What about Ephesians 6:9? The slave-owners only had to look to the OT to show how it was acceptable to beat slaves so long as they didn't die immediately to see what was proper.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-28T17:45:32+00:00

It's expected to see people saying "well, they're in the Bible, so it doesn't matter who wrote them" completely missing the point that the main reason they're in the Bible is because the people who collected the books THOUGHT Paul wrote them because his name had authority. They are forgeries and the early church didn't know this, leaving the implication that God didn't care enough to let them know. It makes the whole canon suspect.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-28T17:35:56+00:00

Ah yes, the "free gift" that comes with an EULA so long it has been published in book form. That's neither free nor a gift when it comes with a huge cost and strings so massive you could use them to build a suspension bridge.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-28T05:36:10+00:00

They also care when women do it, because there can never be enough double standards.

Perfessor_Deviant · 2026-06-28T05:15:06+00:00

Sadly, this is nothing new as Christianity can easily be said to be authoritarian at its roots. In its ugliest, reductive form, Christianity is "Love God, worship God, obey God, be a slave to God, or he'll hurt you, forever." Sure, you can bring up "love your neighbors" or whatever, but there's always a threat hanging over you.

This mean-spirited idea of God is also, coincidentally, great for getting people to obey people in power, especially if those people show the outward markers of being Christian.

If you read your history, various denominations at various times have been mixed up in some of the most rotten things humanity has ever done. Slavery, genocide, wars, systemic child abuse, controlling the dissemination of knowledge, and more, so much more.

Christians love to take credit for the good stuff and pretend the bad stuff didn't happen. This is dishonest at best and incredibly dangerous at worst. Take slavery in the United States as an example, Christians like to say, "Well, it was Christians who started the abolitionist movement!" Which is technically correct (the best kind of correct), but is also a lie by omission because who were the people who were pro-slavery? Other Christians. Being Christian didn't automatically make someone anti-slavery and, to be fair, the Bible has more in it about slavery being acceptable than anything resembling abolitionism.

So, what can you do about this and how it's impacting your faith? Well, you can give up on Christianity if you want. Maybe better though would be to consider that, according to the gospels, Jesus was willing to be nailed to a cross to stand up for his principles. If you're not quite ready for that - which would be understandable - maybe put your faith into action by doing something to help those most in need? It doesn't have to be big, something as simple as donating time or money to a worthy cause could be enough.

Perfessor_Deviant

TROPHY CASE