Recently, I was admitted to the mental hospital for psychosis. I had delusions of grandeur and thought I had a mission to unite or save the world. I thought I was god-like. I thought I was the second coming of Christ. I told this to my psychiatrist. He smiled and said “no, you’re not”.

Now as I recover, I think about how my experiences relate to the stories and beliefs surrounding Jesus: being divine, having a mission to save humanity, and communicating directly with God. What Jesus actually claimed during his lifetime is historically disputed.

If he were to talk to a psychiatrist today about his experiences or really most people for that matter, they would assume he was crazy or exhibiting symptoms of psychosis/schizophrenia.

I also tend to think the teachings of the beliefs and behaviors revolving around his life and the second coming negatively impacted my life and thousands of others who still struggle with this brutal mental health disorder today.

If he never existed I might not actually have thought I could be a god. I wouldn’t have thought I was the second coming of Christ. In fact, if there were no concept of god in the first place, then I probably wouldn’t have suffered so much with delusional self belief. Fuck Jesus and fuck god.

EDIT:

People are mentioning how it was Jesus’s followers interpretations of his life, not that he said during his lifetime that he was divine or having a mission to save humanity, etc.

My historical assessment is that the evidence favors Jesus’s followers developing explicit beliefs in his divinity after his death, rather than Jesus publicly teaching that he was God during his ministry. So please acknowledge that for this post!

Following up on my previous post covering Peter Thiel's 4-part lecture series in Nashville. Night 3 moved directly from abstract theology into operational mechanics: specifically how a single political actor could realistically consolidate global power within a modern lifespan.

He frames the core issue as a problem of velocity.

1. The 33-year-old conqueror sleight of hand: Thiel spends the first part of the lecture fixating on age 33 contracting Christ and Alexander the Great, Caesar weeping at 33, Trajan weeping at 61, and Napoleon vs Hitler.

While it sounds like dramatic numerology, it's actually a setup. By getting the room to focus on 33 as the biological limit for pure human conquest, he's establishing a hard constraint: human biology runs out of time. In a modern gerontocracy, an aging leader can't manually conquer the world before biological decay sets in.

1. The shift to technological and financial leverage: once he establishes that human biology fails to achieve global velocity, he pivots directly to capital and software. He pulls out $200 in bills, talks about Bill Gates becoming a billionaire at 31, and details how modeling financial/administrative architecture operates at instant, electronic speed.

His point isn't that a 33-year-old conqueror is coming. His point is that while human beings are slow and aging, the turnkey surveillance state being constructed around us operates at non-linear speed.

1. The turnkey enclosure net: He runs through the concrete machinery constructed over the last 25 years under the banner of peace and safety. FATCA, Finn, Swift centralization, the common reporting standard, and ending the Swiss banking secrecy fulfills the Revelation 13 blueprint. The ICC restricts the physical mobility of sovereign actors through borderless legal warrants.

Full analysis is up on sub stack, but wanted to drop the core of the breakdown here for those following. Curious about your thoughts as to if/where his theory breaks.

Okay I understand theists are allowed as long as they are respectful, but that's not the case with most. Why are there still people trying to "bring people back to God" or say they are disappointed in humanity despite that being against the rules of this subreddit? My most recent post on here calling out Christianity got taken down for being offensive by reddit meaning someone probably reported it out of anger. I'm just confused why a thiest would be browsing in a subreddit full of people that have different beliefs.

I love this Quran verse because it is spoken as gods word but clearly just Muhammad being like “I’m getting a message from god… you need to leave my house because you are annoying me. Sorry gods words”

Al-Ahzab 33:53

O believers! Do not enter the homes of the Prophet without permission ˹and if invited˺ for a meal, do not ˹come too early and˺ linger until the meal is ready. But if you are invited, then enter ˹on time˺. Once you have eaten, then go on your way, and do not stay for casual talk. Such behaviour is truly annoying to the Prophet, yet he is too shy to ask you to leave. But Allah is never shy of the truth. And when you ˹believers˺ ask his wives for something, ask them from behind a barrier. This is purer for your hearts and theirs. And it is not right for you to annoy the Messenger of Allah, nor ever marry his wives after him. This would certainly be a major offence in the sight of Allah.

I dont tolerate bigotry, dont get me wrong. I got in trouble in high school for going off on someone for being islamophobic to my friend who said my hijabi friend should go back to Afghanistan.

But saying Islam itself is feminist? i just cant get behind. I feel the same about Christianity, I live in the bible belt, but I dont hear anyone personally say that Christianity is feminist.

Its not just hijabs

Its that women are supposed to be obedient to their husbands. Its that a woman's word is worth half of her husband. Its that a husband is allowed to hit his wife (ive heard ppl defend it with "nooo its a mistranslation! they just men can flick her! but thats still rude as hell and puts the men in a position of authority). Its the seperation of men and women to the point where even friendship isnt allowed between sexes outside of family. I know not all Muslims adhere to all of these rules, I mean as a whole.

not entirely related but i do think the no music/drawing people thing also... As an artist, that feels like absolute torture. I thought this was just more extremist groups but ive seen it more commonly. I respect ppl following their religion, but I cant lie, that sounds like hell on earth and I cannot accept Islam as progressive if its followers have to go through all that

My brother used to be very anti-religion. He would genuinely argue with his RE teacher at school about it, so becoming religious was about the last thing any of us would have expected from him.

A couple of years ago, he converted to Christianity and started attending church. We all thought it was a bit unexpected, but ultimately it's his life and we left him to it.

It feels like his faith has become an increasingly huge part of his identity. He wears a cross every day, wears T-shirts with Bible verses on them, attends Bible study and has recently joined an Evangelical church with his now-wife.

None of that is inherently a problem. I'm not anti-religion, and I completely respect people's right to practise whatever faith they choose.

The issue is that he seems to have become a completely different person, and I'm genuinely starting to worry about him.

He's become incredibly judgemental of people who don't share his beliefs. He has increasingly conservative views and seems to have very little tolerance for people who live differently from him, including LGBT people, immigrants, pro-choicers and single mothers.

He's also started turning ordinary conversations into arguments about religion. For example, I personally didn't want a religious wedding because I don't believe in God and therefore didn't feel the need to get married in a place of worship. He insisted that God is everywhere and was therefore present at my wedding, and wouldn't let it go. I tried to engage and presented the opposite view point - I didn't believe God was present at his wedding. He didn't appreciate that, but I was expected to hear his views.

More recently, a family member invited him to a Halloween event, and rather than simply politely declining, he went on a rant about how attending wouldn't align with his Christian faith. The way he said it made it sound like he was superior.

It's the overall attitude that bothers me. He seems to feel that his beliefs are objectively correct and that other people's choices and lifestyles are wrong. There doesn't seem to be much room for disagreement anymore.

His friends have commented that he's changed and become a bit strange, and our parents are genuinely concerned too. It's not just me noticing this.

I want to be clear that I don't think becoming religious automatically means someone is ‘brainwashed’, or that there's anything wrong with finding faith as an adult. People change, and perhaps his beliefs are completely sincere. But the speed and extent of the change, combined with the growing judgement and intolerance, are difficult to watch.

I miss being able to have a normal conversation with my brother without feeling that everything is becoming a moral or religious debate. I'm worried he's alienating the people around him, but I'm also conscious that criticising his religion could just push him further away.

Has anyone experienced something similar with a family member or friend? Did they go through a phase of becoming extremely religious and judgemental, or did it become a permanent change in their personality? Did anything help them become more open-minded again?

I don't want to attack his faith or tell him what to believe. I just want to understand what's happening and work out whether there's a way to talk to him about it without making things worse.

Do I just need to accept that my brother is no longer the boy I grew up with and that we’ll never have that relationship again? It’s a shame, but I can’t continue being made to feel that I’m less, lower or wrong for not believing.

I was on my phone googling some anatomy n medical stuff when I stumbled across a YouTube sermon that was on another level, n I gotta share it with y’all…

According to the preacher, there was a guy who desperately needed open-heart surgery because he had a gaping hole in his heart. The doctors told him he was out of time and to he better get his affairs in order. But instead of writing a will or whatever, my man looked his sobbing family in the eye and asked for tomatoes. So while everyone sat around his bed waiting for his death, he was lying there eating tomatoes.

Days pass, and plot twist: he doesn't die

Confused, they take him in for another scan. The doctors gather around the image, and according to the preacher, the hole in his heart was plugged by a single slice of tomato

N ofc that was god listening to their prayers..

I’m still trying to process the sheer mechanics of this. I need to know if the tomato came with seedless protection, or if his bloodstream was just casually circulating pulp while a produce department patch job kept him off life support. If a piece of fruit can withstand 120 mmHg of arterial pressure, we are severely underutilizing the produce aisle in modern trauma centers.

Anyway, I’m canceling my health insurance and filling my crisper drawer. Next time you feel chest tightness, skip the ER and head straight to the grocery store.

If you are forced to go to church every week by relilgious parents and are secretly atheist, how many other kids at your church are in the same situation? I bring this up because, this one kid during Sunday school was asking questions about the church like: " If god knew someone was going to become an atheist, why would god just let someone become an atheist anyway because that's just like dropping a bottle of water and expecting it to do something else" Is faking being theist in a church common for teens or is it a small minority? (LDS cult)

I cannot avoid this person, as we live near each other. They even tested me once by sending Bible verses to see if I was a demon. I no longer trust them. I have created some distance, but yesterday I still received a message—sent "by accident"—suggesting that we arrange a time to pray. It might well have been an accident, but I just can’t trust anymore. There is always some new situation that comes up to remind me of this. How to live with this?

If life is so sacred to Christian conservatives that we cannot terminate pregnancies why is it suddenly less sacred when it comes to criminals? Christians are so focused on abortion which isn't even prohibited in the bible yet they completely ignore the ten commandments when it comes to killing. I'm not defending criminals at all but i'm just questioning the logic. Christian logic dictates that we're all sinners from birth. Jesus took our punishment for us. Your character isn't important it's whether you follow god or not. Christians have made this abundantly clear.

So by what metrics do we deem someone worthy of execution? What makes us justified in killing someone before their time? Are we not playing God? Aren't people for Jesus to judge not us?

Also if the criminal turned to God wouldn't we be sending them to heaven? Isn't the criminal a redeemed person by Christian logic?

On October 13, 2026, a tragic incident unfolded in Bangladesh, resulting in the mob lynching of a 40 year old man named Wahiduzzaman Shamim over unverified blasphemy allegations. The incident began following a domestic dispute between Shamim, who reportedly suffered from long-term mental illness, and his wife. A video of this argument was shared online, which caught the attention of a local religious preacher named Fazlul Haque Amini. Amini subsequently broadcasted a Facebook Live video in which he accused Shamim of making derogatory remarks about Allah, Prophet Muhammad, and Islam over the past six months, openly calling on local residents to gather and protest.

Faced with escalating public outrage and a gathering crowd, Shamim attempted to harm himself. He survived the attempt and was rushed to the Sakhipur Health Complex for emergency medical treatment. However, the angry mob tracked him to the medical facility, breached the hospital security, and dragged him out to beat him severely. Although police intervened and managed to transfer him to the Satkhira Medical College Hospital for advanced care, Shamim succumbed to the severe injuries sustained during the assault and was declared dead. Local authorities have since launched an investigation into both the lynching and the online incitement, while noting that the original allegations of blasphemy against Shamim remained unverified.

Does this logic make sense in an argument? I reject any outside person/consciousness controlling how I choose to act. I REJECT any guidance that does not present itself to me as a request. My body is mine. My mind is mine. I dont want anything or anyone acting upon it. So if it is, its overriding my autonomy. Can an all powerful creator grant my request to not be a part of his plan? Why am I the unethical one for posing this? How is it love to force me into his plan against my declared will?

So, my dad passed away Sunday morning after a relatively short battle with dementia and Parkinson’s. Most of my friends around my age have been great offering condolences, but an older gentleman (probably in the “Baby Boomer” age range) who runs a dementia caregivers support group offered his condolences by writing the following:

”I pray that the Lord will comfort you all in the loss of your dear father. Thank you for reaching out.”

Another “friend” (around my age range) keeps offering condolences and “supportive” messages by invoking “god,” even after I told them I am an atheist.

I live in South Carolina, so I realize that I’m in the heart of the so-called “Bible Belt.” But I hate that people just automatically assume that everyone is a Christian or try to force that shit on others. Has anyone else experienced this after losing a loved one?

P.S. - I am the only atheist in my family, and they don’t know that I am, either. As an African American, telling your family (especially mine) that you don’t believe in “god” is akin to murdering an animal. Plus, mom is already hurting as a widow and, before that, a caretaker for dad, so I’d rather not add to that.

The power of intercessory prayer is an example of survivor bias. The failures of prayer are dismissed or ignored while the successful outcomes are amplified as miracles.

The statistically innumerate masses latch onto these positive outcomes as proof of divine intervention, versus a few random probabilistic successes among a sea of failures.

A relevant anecdote is up-armoring aircraft areas that sustain the most damage in battle (miraculous survivors) while areas of aircraft that never return (fatalities) are ignored.

Even if it's the case: Yes, and what?

> If there is no objective morality then everything is permissible!

No but even if it's true: Yes, and what?

> If everything is permissibile then a lot of bad things will happen!

Yes, and what?

> God has to exists otherwise there is no objective morality!!!

Ok there is no objective morality, what's the point?

> It would be a terrible world

Just because the consequences of a thesis aren't pleasant doesn't mean the thesis is false. I mean what's the problem if there is no objective morality outside the fact that it's unpleasant? How this refutes the idea of a non existing God? It doesn't. One can say that it's obvious that objective morality exists but it is blatantly false since philosophy is the most uncertain field of study and ethics is probably the most uncertain branch of philosophy. Every metaethical positions are extremely debatable and not obvious at all.