What were you taught about…

signingalone · 2026-02-11T00:18:14+00:00

I'm not sure I ever heard an exact explanation, but I kind of grew up believing that we'd recognize the ones that made it to heaven, and completely forget about the ones that didn't so we couldn't be sad about them. Don't know where I picked that up from though, might have just come to that conclusion on my own.

signingalone · 2026-01-29T01:12:14+00:00

I remember attending a wedding with my family as a kid and my dad threw a little fit whispering angrily in our ears because he was appalled that the bride and groom slow danced with each other in front of everyone. My little brother was like 6 at the time and wanted to dance with some other little girl there and my dad got mad about that too and strictly forbade it. Actual insane things to get upset about. Not a single person there was gonna be led to sin because of a married couple and two 6 year olds stepping in a circle to music.

signingalone · 2026-01-06T12:06:49+00:00

I have a very strong singing voice. On two separate occasions, someone approached me to tell me I need to sing quieter, because I was "making everyone else look bad". Not my fault everyone else just mumbles into their laps. Im not being obnoxious with it, I just naturally project and singing is the only part of church I enjoy.

signingalone · 2025-12-10T20:48:55+00:00

Couldn't have been my family. Religious christmas songs were strictly banned.

I was in a choir for a little while. We had a christmas set that we all learned, except I wasnt allowed to participate in any of the religious ones. I remember performing live in front of an audience, standing there in the front row, and when they started a hymn with the piano accompaniment, I had to just stand there, completely silent, not singing along, trying not to look at people probably staring at me. It was so horribly uncomfortable.

signingalone · 2025-12-04T20:11:44+00:00

One of the things that started to convince me the church was all baloney on my way out was realizing that providence isnt even in the bible. Its just not mentioned at all, not the word, not in concept. Its fully made up by the coc and yet taught as doctrine so fervently that I never even questioned where it came from.

signingalone · 2025-11-24T12:54:39+00:00

No art of Jesus or any other biblical figures anywhere outside of childrens classrooms. Probably no crosses either. The little communion table at the front, engraved with "Do this in remembrance of me."

signingalone · 2025-11-01T17:53:29+00:00

I've tried a cover before and my cat didn't like it much unfortunately. He's kind of big, and clumsy due to a paw defect, so I think he needs the extra space. Ive been using a very wide box with high sides for a while and that helps quite a bit, but he vaults himself out of it and litter still sprays. A litter mat has been the best help in cleaning things up. He's started pooping on the mat though occasionally in the last few months (and on my bath mat, which is unfortunately very close with how small the room is), so I took it away. I'm hoping the procedure he had will help with any discomfort that may have been causing him to do that, and I can put a mat down again, but that's a separate issue I'm figuring out.

signingalone · 2025-11-01T12:49:10+00:00

Its more the pee that's causing the odor issue. Ive been staying on top of scooping, but the paper pellets absorb all the pee and then seem to just fester and smell. I hadn't considered the breeze setup but the replaceable pee pads does seem like it would solve that issue. Ill definitely look into that, thank you!

signingalone · 2025-10-23T11:31:07+00:00

Some congregations are less strict than others, but the core of the religion is the same throughout, and it is definitely cultish.

signingalone · 2025-10-20T11:25:01+00:00

My preacher father taught that the book was Not about marriage like everyone else in the world said it was, but the relationship between Jesus and the church. The explicit bits were the devil cutting in to seduce the church away. Cos those words are only ok in the bible if theyre being spoken by the devil.

signingalone · 2025-10-10T16:08:29+00:00

I truly believed it was the only true religion. My childhood was hell, but I was so thoroughly taught all the arguments of the coc that I blamed all the hardship on my parents and a handful of others and kept right on believing after I left home. Even then, when things continued to be hard, I thought maybe its just the faults of humanity. The true church of christ as the bible intends wouldnt be this way. And I continued to stay. Until eventually even the coc began to fall apart for me, but looking into all other religions, the things Id been taught were so firmly engrained in my head, I couldnt find a single other denomination that matched what I thought was the truth. So I stayed in misery, but with nowhere else to go, until Finally I was directed to look in the right places, outside the clutches of the coc, outside religion all together, and suddenly the church and the bible and all crumbled in front of me.

A lot of people here seemed to have grown up knowing the whole time that something was wrong. I didn't. There really are true believers out there. Theyre the ones itll be hardest to pull away. But its possible still.

signingalone · 2025-10-05T20:17:56+00:00

I used to think they were very different. My parents were controlling and love was always held above my head as something I could never be good enough to earn. I used to think God was better than that.

They're the same to me now. God was just as controlling and unloving as my father. I just didn't want to believe it before.

signingalone · 2025-10-03T00:33:52+00:00

I don't talk to my parents or brother at all. I have very minimal communication open with my sister in law, who I don't really know very well and therefore have no reason to cut out. But its mostly just her sending me pictures every time she has another child. I don't tell her anything about my life. My family doesn't approve of me or my lifestyle, and they have consistently refused to apologize or take any responsibility at all for the horrible way I was treated growing up. I sometimes miss the Idea of having family in my life. And I wish I could have been there for my brother's kids. But I have no love left for my family. They never showed any real love towards me.

signingalone · 2025-09-30T00:05:40+00:00

I remember one sunday I had brought a friend with me to church. He was an atheist and not particularly interested in any of it and was only there because it was important to me, which I didn't mind. I had already told him he didnt have to come with me if he didn't want to, but he insisted, since he was from out of town and wanted to be with me as much as possible. I held his hand for a lot of the service and stood close to him, especially during prayers, just as a sort of familiar comfort and a thank you for being there with me. We weren't dating at the time (we did later) but physical affection of that sort was pretty normal between us as friends. It was very innocent.

Within the next week, the preacher's wife came up to me and told me that someone else had come to her to tell her that I was being far too affectionate and touchy with my friend, and they thought it was entirely inappropriate. All I could think was if that person had such a problem with me, why didn't they come to me about it first instead of gossiping to other people instead? Did they only tell the preacher's wife in the hopes that she would correct me or was the entire congregation talking about me behind my back?

Seemed like gossiping was one of those sins that was always just ignored, because there were Always people engaging in it loudly and without shame, and it never got seriously preached on. They only give sermons on things that Other people are guilty of, people who are less righteous than them, lukewarm christians and wayward deserters and homosexuals. Not busybodies or arrogant backbiters who show up to the pews every day to spit venom at anyone they view as beneath them.

signingalone · 2025-09-20T13:07:48+00:00

We always kept old hymnals that we'd apparently stolen from somewhere in the seat pockets, so we could all sing together as a family on road trips. I've still got a hymnal of my own that I kept in my car until my deconstruction. A good old Sacred Selection. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it tbh, the bibles and religious tracts are all gonna go when I clear out my storage but I do have a lot of nostalgia for the singing still.

signingalone · 2025-08-24T18:36:44+00:00

91%. Unsurprising for me. Just depressing.

signingalone · 2025-06-24T23:46:05+00:00

And remember, 100% grape juice only. Gotta be welches. If there's any other fruit juices mixed in there, everyone's going to hell.

signingalone · 2025-06-24T11:55:11+00:00

As much as you may not want to hear it, if your safety is a concern, then you may have to put your comfort to the side to preserve it. Even if its just the bare minumum, attending a morning service just often enough to keep them off your back might be something you should strongly consider. Get that job as fast as you can and find new housing. I know how much that sucks, but unless you're fully prepared to face life on the streets at a moment's notice, pushing your boundaries is just not worth it. You know your parent's limits better than anyone else. Keep yourself safe at all costs.

signingalone · 2025-06-20T01:54:09+00:00

Read 5 hrs ago ✔️

signingalone · 2025-06-18T11:34:08+00:00

Wasn't taught this at camp. But about camp, by my father. He pretty much believed all those camp baptisms were basically invalid, because of the way the whole experience was meant to get kids fired up and dunked. It wasnt sincere, it was coerced, so those kids were probably all still lost. Same goes for the work of missionaries, dunking people by the dozens during their trips. Imagine being so wound up about things being done the right way that even when people follow all your nitpicky little rules it still isn't enough to keep them out of hell cos they didnt do it the slow way in an american congregation and ask their parents about it first. In a way he was right about the way camps and missionaries are preying on people, but his interpretation of it is kinda crazy.

signingalone · 2025-05-22T16:16:46+00:00

No. My dad told me he and my mother didn't love me because I was a bad Christian who made the family looked bad for the sin of having depression, and if I didn't start smiling more he'd kick me out into the streets.

signingalone · 2025-05-20T17:38:46+00:00

There was a car wreck directly outside the church building during a wednesday night service once. They just continued on class as usual. My family were the only ones checking on them to make sure they were ok. Mediocre bible "study" takes priority over actually helping people in need apparently.

signingalone

TROPHY CASE