http://www.debrabee.org/2008/04/19/doh-thoughts/ Finding the path is only the beginning of your journey... Sat, 19 May 2012 13:30:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 http://www.debrabee.org/2008/04/19/doh-thoughts/comment-page-1/#comment-18 Brandon Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:33:43 +0000 http://debrabee.realmofzod.com/?p=9#comment-18 Let me preface this statement by saying that I am not christian so maybe i can provide an outside perspective. I don't think that most people truly believe that becoming christian makes them automatically "nice", or "trustworthy", or "honest" or whatever grab bag of adjectives you care to use. My impression though, is that more often than not, newly converted christians tend to have an air of righteousness that can try the patience of others, especially those who knew them from before their lifestyle change. Its probably not something a person notices that they are doing but is very noticeable by someone who is non-religious. Its been my experience that someone who has been devout for some time is not usually like this. Perhaps they have come to terms with long standing issues in their life that force them to overcompensate and overjustify, or maybe they just understand that everyone has their own path and it's in bad taste to flaunt their religion. Commonly I don't even know these kinds of people are devout - my step-father was a good example of this. Its common psychology that people just want to belong to something bigger than themselves, and people typically look for that magic pill that gets them the greatest reward with the least amount of effort so embracing religion is a natural tool in this endeavor. Its compelling to want to bring other people into your line of thinking so that you can feel like you made the right choice yourself, so with all this in mind maybe its not so simplistic as it seems. Just my $.02. Let me preface this statement by saying that I am not christian so maybe i can provide an outside perspective. I don’t think that most people truly believe that becoming christian makes them automatically “nice”, or “trustworthy”, or “honest” or whatever grab bag of adjectives you care to use. My impression though, is that more often than not, newly converted christians tend to have an air of righteousness that can try the patience of others, especially those who knew them from before their lifestyle change. Its probably not something a person notices that they are doing but is very noticeable by someone who is non-religious. Its been my experience that someone who has been devout for some time is not usually like this. Perhaps they have come to terms with long standing issues in their life that force them to overcompensate and overjustify, or maybe they just understand that everyone has their own path and it’s in bad taste to flaunt their religion. Commonly I don’t even know these kinds of people are devout - my step-father was a good example of this. Its common psychology that people just want to belong to something bigger than themselves, and people typically look for that magic pill that gets them the greatest reward with the least amount of effort so embracing religion is a natural tool in this endeavor. Its compelling to want to bring other people into your line of thinking so that you can feel like you made the right choice yourself, so with all this in mind maybe its not so simplistic as it seems. Just my $.02.

]]>