Christians, do you believe you have been brainwashed?

Question

I am pretty tired of hearing it ALL the time, that we are brainwashed into our beliefs etc...do you think you have been?

I know I was not, I made the choice to believe when I was 20, and never was raised with any religion, so I made a personal choice.

How about you?

Answer 1

I questioned my faith for a long time because I wasn't sure if the religion that I was a part of was right. Then I came to the understanding that religion has absolutely nothing to do with God and my relationship with Him. I don't believe in God and all of His works because people tell me about it. I believe because He walks and talks with me daily and it was because of the way that he revealed himself to me that I believe.

I feel sorry for those who think we are brainwashed. They have no idea how much God loves them and all of the wonderful things that He can do for them. I'm fairly new at all of this stuff but I just want to go out and tell the world about how God changed my life, but when people say such cruel things it is hard. The good thing is that I am surround by people in my real life who are all very supportive of me and as I grow closer to God and what He has done they get curious and want to learn more.

Answer 2

Well, I don't believe that I have been brainwashed... but that's a part of my belief, that I chose to be a Christian on my own.

I was born into a Christian family in a Christian town and was taught about the Bible and Jesus from an early age. As a child it was my families ritual to go to church every Sunday and Wednesday. Another ritual was to say grace at every meal and to thank Jesus for the food. There were plenty of other rituals that we did too, such as the Christmas ritual and the Easter ritual, both of which took place once a year.

Some may see the indoctrination starting at an early age, as well as the family and cultural pressure to believe, as very powerful brainwashing methods. Others may see the daily, weekly, and annual rituals as reinforcing some deep trance like a hypnotist swaying a pendulum back and forth, back and forth. I disagree, however.

I have a feeling of belonging in Christianity. I have a good life and friends who support me. I would never leave Christianity and give all this up. Besides, I've invested too much time and energy already in worship and prayer to Jesus to even consider the possibility that I might have been fooled through very powerful yet relatively unknown brain programming/washing and consciousness altering techniques.

Even if I was fooled and my brain tricked into joining a really big cult, does it really matter as long as it makes me feel good and I'm not hurting anyone in the process?

I also believe the choice was always mine.

Answer 3

No, I don't believe I was brainwashed. I was raised with religion, true, but I was encouraged to read and to ask questions.
Despite the fact that I was raised with it, I only just now became a Christian a little more than seven months ago. I spent the first twenty-five years of my life (minus the time until I was five, because most children don't start questioning until at LEAST age five) as a skeptic, then an atheist, then Wiccan, and finally a skeptic again.

I made the choice to believe based on scientific evidence that suggests a Creator, and the archaeological and historical evidence that supports the Bible. On top of that, God revealed Himself to me when I asked Him to, and I've seen too many things that can't be explained.

Answer 4

No, I know I have not been brainwashed-- but I am tired of hearing that I have been too.

I made the best choice to except Jesus as my lord and savior when I was 12.... and I got baptized at my church this past April 2007...

What we need to do is continue praying for the those who do not believe so that the lord can show them the way to everlasting life.

-- I cannot wait!!!! Take care hun!

Answer 5

My father's father is a Pentacostal preacher. Because of this my dad was very reluctant to follow religion. My mom went to school in a Catholic boarding school, she hated it.

Both of my parents never talked to us about God, never took us to church (maybe just once or twice when I was real little), and even told me themselves that they did not believe much in the Bible.

After my father died, I had to do some real soul searching. Some things happened to me in my life that I will never be able to explain. Ever since then I believed. And, I believed on my own, without any brainwashing. If anything, you would have thought I would have been brain washed to not believe.

I think that what people say is stupid. Maybe while you are a child you can be brain washed. But, once you reach that age where you start to make decisions for yourself, there is no way anyone can make you do anything or brain wash you to believe anything.

Answer 6

Good point. Most people even raised in relgious belief systems or not make choices. It is really in rare instances such as dangerous cults that practise mind control techniques that peoples free choice is affected. But I personally don't know anyoe involved in one of those groups. Im such instances the practise things like taking the nutrients out of peoples foods, keeping them awake late at night so they are over tired. Love bombing and then withdrawal of approval if people question them. It's far to easy an excuse to accuse people of brainwashing simply because they disagree with us.

Answer 7

Although I was raised in a Christian household, I made the choice myself. My doctrinal beliefs are different than my parents. I read the Bible and really studied for myself what I felt was right and wrong about the Bible and a relationship with God. It took me a while to reconcile certain issues, because what I was taught is different than what I believe God is really saying in the Bible.

Did I ever doubt God was real? Yes. But I studied, considered, thought and prayed until I saw for myself that faith is the basis of a relationship, and followed Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Answer 8

I do because I used to be one. My entire family believes in christianity, and I used to go to a catholic school too! I just decided to make my own decision and my family tried stopping me. I didnt do it to hurt them, but the key word is *my beliefs* and they didnt take them seriously. They accepted me as an atheist after I did something really bad, then they felt sorry and sucked up to me because they were afraid of losing me. That was the only way to get my families bigotry off my chest. I was brainwashed as a kid to believe in it as it was passed on to me by tradition and not free will. Im the same good person I used to be, just without religion.

Answer 9

I also made the choice to be a Christian in my teenage years. I don't believe I've been brainwashed, and I wouldn't pay any attention to people who accuse me of that. One could make the argument that believing in evolution is also the product of being brainwashed. I would never make that argument, mind you, but what makes one think that believing in anything fervently is the product of mind control?

Answer 10

properly pointing to all Christians as being brainwashed extremely enables justify loss of thought and faith for some human beings. Face it - being an honest and honest, dedicated believer takes time, attempt, committment, very own exchange, attractiveness of non-public flaws & faults and concentration on repenting and changing to grow to be extra valuable and extra christlike. i think of it extremely is purely spiritually some distance extra handy and extra basic to in basic terms DENY GOD and stay a carefree, non-spiritually based life. of direction i do no longer deny that some extremely hyper intense anybody is fanatical and have compelled or manipulated, guilted or perhaps recommendations washed a number of their toddlers - yet i think of that's a minor proportion who try this.... till you pass through all the atheists in this website of direction! ; )