Growing Up (Extreme) Christian - Part Five

**More info below**

Inspired by V00D00SIXXX's "Growing up Fundie" series, I decided to tell my story leading up to my deconversion series (that will take awhile as I want to do it justice). If you aren't subbed to him, please visit his channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/V00D00SIXXX and at least watch through his "Growing Up Fundie" series. It's powerful and a testament to that man's strength and grace in the face of such adversity and hardship.


This is the final chapter of my Growing up extreme christian series. This was never meant to be my deconversion story, but a groundwork for where I was when I began my actual deconversion. Since there is such a gap between my youth and who I am now, I needed to put my life into perspective, if not for you, for me, and being 33 now, the experiences I went through while being in the extreme christian environment shaped how I reacted to being in a world I had been sheltered from my whole life. My upbringing created an unhealthy person psychologically and the extreme part stayed with me as I tried to cope with a life lived instead of a world observed. This part will cover a lot and although it all affected my psyche and caused a lot of hardship throughout my 20's, there wasn't too much that happened to jolt me out of my socks...just an everyman's story.
For the record, I am pro-choice at this point in my life, but at the time of the abortion, I was a staunch supporter of pro-life and would be a Tea Party member if I was that age in this era.

Music:
Nina Simone "Sinnerman"
Ryan Adams "Come Pick Me Up"
The Frames "Denounced"

This video may or may not contain images under copyright. Use of these images in this video are for the purpose of education or criticism, and fall under "Fair Use" US Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107

Category:

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Tags:

• growing up christian
• extreme
• deconversion
• christianity
• religion
• spirituality
• loss
• death
• insecurity
• romance
• memory
• xandar
• xandars meteor
• xandar's
• meteor
• rage
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• god

[leet3lite]

Damn. I can't watch part 4. GEMA hasn't granted rights to watch SME music content in Germany, so the video is blocked. :-(

[XandarsMeteor]

@leet3lite I put it up on vimeo for that reason, the link should be in the description. Hopefully it works! Let me know if it doesn't and we'll find a way. Cheers!

[Buddhuzlefthandman]

Watched all 5 parts today .. thanks for sharing :)

[XandarsMeteor]

@Buddhuzlefthandman I'm glad you enjoyed the vids and the story. I'm on a bit of a hiatus right now as I just moved back to Seattle, but I'll be back soon. Cheers for now!

[travlr3000x]

This was a great series. I can relate to your story a lot. My "fuck god" moment came when my parents gave me the spare the rod and spoil the child/ honor thy father and thy mother talk for the 10,000th time after turning my stepdad in for cracking my sister's rib. I find the world a bit easier to understand without all the imaginary friend/ they're in a better place/ god works in mysterious ways mumbo jumbo. Great vids on this channel. Keep up the good work ;)

[XandarsMeteor]

@travlr3000x I'm glad you enjoyed it and that it meant something (as an insider of sorts). I never thought about the spankings when I was a kid: it was just a part of life. Now, I wonder how anyone could ever strike a child, whether out of "love" or anger. I still lose my temper with my dog from time to time, but I try VERY hard not to hit him since I know it's not helpful to him or me. It just hurts him and makes me feel like an ass.

I will surely keep making videos. Take care!

[XandarsMeteor]

@artgoat I don't think they could be too religious since they were trying, more than any other endeavor, to make money. I had a few classmates from high school go off to Bob Jones University, which was more in tune with what could be called "too religious." I also have had friends (and one ex-gf) that went to Baptist Bible College (I think...so many in Springfield, MO). Lots of stories from those places...all of them detrimental to being a healthy human being mentally (and some physically).

[XandarsMeteor]

@270Chicago My pleasure. 

[270Chicago]

Fuck you for telling my story.

Fuck you for making me cry.

Fuck you for understanding all of your pain.

Fuck you for saving my life.

Thank you.

[artgoat]

Oh, Lords. I grew up in Tulsa, eight miles from ORU.  That place wasn't nearly religious enough for some of my high school classmates. I remember one who threw a fit every time we had readings in Latin that involved "false gods." He eventually dropped out of public school to go to a Bible school. He probably saw me as a disciple of the horned one after I pointed out that the shoes he bought were named after an aspect of the Greek goddess Athena (Nike). Life down Alice's rabbit hole. Heh.