Relient K Band • Page 20

You don't even go here!

 

Heh, I was worried the reference wouldn't come through

 

I was worried that you might not have been quoting what I thought you were so the relief goes both ways. :)

 

I think I dislike the youth group fanbase for this band more than I dislike CL. Haha It's really awkward when I see rants about how "the band is secular now so I don't like them", and the ones where people are like "CL is a deep Christian album about losing your way and finding God again" just sound desperate... Like, even if that is the case, that doesn't make bad writing, and bad songs, good. Sorry for rant, I should not do Reddit. Haha

 

That sounds awful, haha, can't say I've run into any of them.

 

I see them a little on the Relient k subreddit now, but I also grew up in youth groups and such and couldn't talk about the band without kids (and even once a pastor) getting "uncomfortable" because of the "secular direction the band is taking". It is super awkward. Like, religious expectation was one of the shittiest things I grew up with, and it's weird seeing it put on a band.

 

Uncomfortable lol what a word choice

 

I know. I had a youth leader talk to me once because he wasn't comfortable with a secular band shirt I was wearing. Hahaha I'm really just glad to be out of the church at this point.

 

Shit, that's awful. Fortunately I was never really around any conservative churches

 

That's good. I'm in the bible belt south, so that's pretty much everything and everyone goes to one. haha

 

My condolences

 

So glad I've never come across anything like this in the UK churches I've been to. Sounds awful.

 

Yeah. I don't know if this is what it's like all around the US, but at least in NC (which now famous for being shitty) it's pretty common. I'm glad there are churches out there that do church better than churches here though.

 

Funnily enough I've been talking to my girlfriend tonight about the horrible church her family used to take her to. They used to make fun of her and tell her off just because she didn't believe in God or questioned things. They called her a devil child, ha.

 

Fuck, that's absolutely horrifying.

I can only speak for the US, but I think in most places you can usually find churches that aren't so bad. Of course, you can also find churches that are terrifying. I was fortunate to be brought up be parents that are much more liberal and open about religion than some of the people you guys are talking about.

 

Oh man, this is so depressing. Absolutely awful.

 

Yeah apparently it was really bad and it made her life really hard, especially since it was so important to her family.

I'm not religious but I've luckily never really been exposed to that side of religion, whenever I have been taken to church, either by school or family, it's always been fine. One of my friends lied to his mum about me once though which was weird, he just said he didn't want to upset her so he told her I believed in god.

 

This is the worst thing I've read all day (so far). If it's any consolation, I've been a Christian my whole life and I've been wounded by the Church too.

I go to a pretty conservative church now and we're definitely an anomaly in the Bible Belt among more conservative churches. Not close to perfect, but I'd feel 100% comfortable bringing anyone in which is more than I could say about the church I grew up in. The atmosphere of some churches is straight up oppressive. Sadly less like the Jesus we teach and more like the people Jesus came to condemn.

 

A really bad church, with so much emphasis put on it from family is so bad, and it always sucks to hear others went through similar stuff as I did with it. I remember once, the mother of one of my friends e-mailed my parents saying she thought I was the spawn of satan over listening to not even not "christian" music, but because I listened to music that wasn't worship and hymns, and because I watched movies that were above the PG rating. I've been dumped twice by different girls for the same reason of not being religious enough for them. And was once told I wasn't good enough for God because I wore skinny jeans. It's just a weird environment to be in, especially when you're in highschool and your parents make it your entire life.

 

We started discussing it because we were talking about how hard it must be at times for people who are gay but also part of a religion that's usually against that. I think it's sad that certain people can cause a bad name for a whole group of people. It's definitely made her a bit wary around religion and I see it all the time with people hating on Muslims or even people who aren't Muslim but are assumed to be just because there's been terrorist attacks by people who happened to be Muslim.

The most interesting and admirable religious people I've come across are always the ones who focus on the good and try and better themselves and become accepting of all people without being preachy or judgemental. I think that's a great quality I wish everyone had more honestly.

 

Yeah, it sounds so hard and I can't imagine how I would have handled it if it happened to me.

 

The core teaching of Christianity is that Christ came to redeem broken people so if Christians are so aware of their own brokenness then they should by nature be the most accepting and empathetic people. I think there's a lot in the church who lose sight of that and prefer to cast judgment on gays, Muslims, and the like to distract others from their own mess. But ironically, it just highlights it. I'm not going to pretend that the Bible doesn't teach about judgement, because that's the whole purpose of grace, and that teaching will always lose some people. But the Gospel is supposed to be good news and so many people proclaim it like it's bad news.

I'll just say that not every Christian is legalistic in a similar sense that not every Muslim is a terrorist. These stories kind of break my heart because it's such a misrepresentation and I've been there. I'd say all those stories are of Christians by name but not by practice. Not redirecting all the blame away from me because I don't represent it perfectly either.

Sorry, wasn't trying to make this a religious discussion. Just wanted to clarify any misconceptions because some of those stories are absolutely ridiculous.

 

Yeah, I get it. I'm always very aware that whenever I come across a horrible person, they are not representing anyone other than themselves. I've known many lovely religious people of multiple different faiths so I have no ill will against anyone and it saddens me to see a lot of people feel so much hate over something like that.

 

Saw that thread, and your post right after mine haha. That subreddit is pretty awful

Also we share a similar history of youth group/church so I empathize with your other posts as well. Really glad to be out of that southern baptist/bible belt culture.

 

Man that thread though. "The album, while in the surface seems immature and secular, is actually really deep, mature, thought provoking, and is actually a Christian story!" that whole chunk made me cringe so hard. haha

And yeah, the most toxic people I've known have been from those types of places. Also the westboro baptist type cult my parents were apart, but that's another story for a more suitable thread. I was at my most depressed while around those people and youth groups, and while my life is objectively in a worse place now, I'm a thousand times happier thanks to cutting out that whole part of life. I really do like meeting nice religious people though. I have a close friend who is really religious, I just have to avoid churches for my own sake.