ChazR Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hello! My name is Chaz Ralls. I am 20 years old, so I am probably one of the younger members on this forum, but I am very excited to see what I may be able to add or take away from the conversations that go on here. I'll give everyone a little bit of an idea of my background, and if anyone is interested to delve a little deeper Id be happy to discuss my life in more detail. Anyways, I currently live in Virginia. I was brought up in a Christian environment. My parents are Baptists, while others in my family are more Pentecostal. Not only that but I was put through christian schools that had a large part to do with my indoctrination as a child.. In early high school, my mind was so overwhelmed with the implications of a Christian reality.. I knew what my teachers and family was saying about the Bible didn't really match up. This started me on a journey to become a true biblicist and theologian. That only led to my "spiritual demise." It didn't take long for me to discover that the Bible was in no way divine. The only proof and the only authority that the book and the faith had given me was the very objects that I was questioning (i.e. the Bible, faith). So here we are two years after high school. Two years of no longer being a Christian. And my thirst for truth and wisdom could not be any greater. I love that I have the internet to go to for new ideas and good ideas; otherwise, I would probably be a very confused and miserable christian. Currently, I'm not an anything. I guess one could say I'm Atheist; in that, I don't believe in any gods. But I'm still trying to learn more about the world and about people; so, I wouldn't say that I'm anything more than a truth-seeker. I just recently stumbled upon FDR and Stefan, and I've quite enjoyed all that I've seen and heard. I joined the forum because I want to be a part of the discussion, and I definitely look forward to getting to know some of you and contributing to this movement of ideas and truth. Be Well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Beal Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hi Chaz! Welcome to the boards! How'd you discover the show? How was the transition from christianity? I hear it's a really difficult one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChazR Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 I discovered the show through Stefan doing a Joe Rogan podcast. I don't necessarily like everything that comes out of Joe Rogans podcast, but he has some interesting guests sometimes. So ya, I watched the 3 hour podcast of him talking to Stefan, and I was really intrigued by the things he said and the kind of person his is. I then found his freedomainradio show on youtube and started watching his videos. More recently though I have been really digging through all the information he has put out and that led me to his website which led me to this forum, and I'm all about talking to people about all this stuff so here I am. And man, more like Transformation. You have to completely break down as an individual and work to build yourself back up. And even now after two years I still have to weed out some bad thought patterns and preconceived notions.. The hardest part for me was changing what I saw as reality.. That is not a simple thing at all. I'm not a depressed person but during the early stages I struggled to find reasons to continue living. Christianity and religious people in general have this built in need to live for an everlasting purpose. Physical reality is made out to be this sad thing that is only here for a moment and has no real value other than for the determination of how you will spend eternity. The only thing that really kept me going was me telling myself "Be patient, keep learning, maybe you'll find a way to get over this." A buddy of mine during those beginning stages of my departure, actually called me in the middle of the night, very angry and depressed and threatened to jump out into the street. He was struggling with Christianity and faith at the time as well, and the one thing he kept telling me was "What's the point???" but he eventually went back to Christianity and is going full force. So it isn't easy at all. You have to come to a place where you realize you don't know much of anything, and you have to be open and honest about yourself and the world you live in.Hope that wasn't more than you were asking for. haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasDoubts Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hey Chaz. Nice to have you here brother. I went through a similar transition with christianity to atheism. For me it was slow at first, and then all at once. It was like, if I poke a little hole here, and a little hole here, suddenly it all comes crashing down. It can definately be disorienting at first. You have to completely break down as an individual and work to build yourself back up. And even now after two years I still have to weed out some bad thought patterns and preconceived notions.. The hardest part for me was changing what I saw as reality.. That is not a simple thing at all. This is very true in my experience. I would say finding the truth IS simple, when you have a consistent standard by which you judge truth/falsehood. Looking for it, or accepting it, and it's implications can be more difficult. I know for me, I was caught up in a whirlwind of reevaluating everything I knew, or thought to be true. It will pass, if it hasn't already. I've also been a listener of Joe Rogan's for a couple years, he does some great stuff. Just last night I was watching his interview with a Canadian astronaunt (don't recall his name off the top of my head) but it was really fascinating stuff. I don't agree with him about abolutely everything, but that's ok; I've got a ton of respect for him as a person and a thinker. Anyhow, welcome to the boards man. I'm 25 and stones throw away in Maryland. If you're anywhere near Northern Virginia/DC I've probably been bashing my head on my steering wheel in the same traffic as you at least once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChazR Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Anyhow, welcome to the boards man. I'm 25 and stones throw away in Maryland. If you're anywhere near Northern Virginia/DC I've probably been bashing my head on my steering wheel in the same traffic as you at least once. I actually live in south east VA so I don't deal with that bad of traffic. Not as bad as DC traffic anyway. And yeah things for me now are good.. Right now Im looking for a basis to structure my views and reasoning on. Which is partly why I joined this forum. To have people to bounce ideas off of and to learn from.. I personally don't know anyone in my area that is even willing to have some go these discussions. So I'm kinda on my own right now, and I don't trust myself to just start making right choices morally or practically without a solid basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasDoubts Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I know what you mean. I think most people here have dealt with varying degrees of isolation. I'm dealing with it myself right now. This community has been an immense help, but finding people in "real life" who want to talk about real issues has been more challenging, at least for me. There's no shortage of content here, for sure. I found FDR roughly a year ago, and I've got plenty to catch up on. I don't even know where I'd recommend you start, or if my recommendations are any good. The Introduction to Philosophy playlist is essential. Likewise with the Bomb in the Brain playlist. The Story of Your Enslavement video. The Handbook for Human Ownership video. Stefan's live events/speeches and debates are great. I would say it's hard to go wrong with just about anything Stefan has put out, I can't think of one video/podcast that was without value to me. People have come from a lot a different places to find FDR. For me, it was the natural progression of my understanding of economics and individual liberty, so I would suggest anything on Austrian Economics if you think that might interest you. Mises.org is a good resource for that, along with some of Stefan's stuff. The call-in shows are great to listen to, I'm going to do one myself if I can ever boil down what I'd like to ask/talk about. All his books are free to download as PDF's or audiobooks. I could go on forever. Just dig in, that's what I did, and haven't stopped yet. And don't hesitate to ask questions, everyone is super helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChazR Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Thanks! I will definitely check some of that stuff out. And yes, this does seem like one of the friendlier and helpful Internet forums. Most of the time these kind of forums are full of egotistical trolls, but from what I've seen that's not the case here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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