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What would cause someone from a normal background to become a religious zealot?
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Anonymous
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Just happened to look up a few people I knew back in the day just out of curiosity, and this one guy I knew is full-on Jesus Freak. Like he's got quotes like " Child of God" " Washed in the Blood" etc all over his social media Definitely a quiverfuller, has like 4 kids under 6 and 1 on the way #childrenare a blessing, lots of memes of Bible quotes and religious figures.
Back when I knew him he was a normal guy, grew up in your average American family, with one other sibling, they went to church but it wasn't extreme. Majored in biochemistry. It's not his wife, she was normal too when I knew them back then. They drank, smoked weed, had intellectual debates. The church was not a regular occurrence. They both are now Christian extremists. How does this happen? |
Anonymous
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Did he ever go to jail? Lots come out of jail having found Jesus.
Or perhaps he had a major medical event that changed his outlook. I have a relative like this. Science and technology hasn't kept her alive the past 8 years, Jesus has. |
Anonymous
| Mental illness. This happened to my former brother-in-law. Totally normal and then bi-polar kicked in. He often "seemed" normal, but really he never was. |
Anonymous
| The past 4 years? Trump Pandemic Riots Hate etc. |
Anonymous
| Definitely mental illness. |
Anonymous
| I don't believe he's ever been to jail and I don't know about major health issues, it seems one of his kids had a minor health scare but is perfectly healthy, I suppose that could throw any parent for a loop, but the religious conversion seems to predate that from what I can tell. I don't know him well anymore. I just found the extremeness of it all so shocking. Totally unrecognizable from the person I knew. He's all grown a beard. |
Anonymous
It appears to predate Trump and the pandemic, though definately seems m ore extreme in the last 4-5 years. |
Anonymous
Sadly I think this may be the case. The time frame would track with the onset of major mental illness and there's also been a significant change in appearance, which I think often accompanies mental illnes. Geez! Now I feel bad. |
Anonymous
| Good for him! |
Anonymous
| +1 for mental illness. This happened with a friend of mine as well. I think she is either bipolar or schitzophrenic but not privy to the details. She was functioning in a way that was alarming to many but still nomal enough for many years. |
Anonymous
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In my experience, a lot of people who are just mediocre and overlooked elsewhere, find acceptance and the ability to “be somebody” at church.
Like, you don’t need any special skills or talents or intelligence - you just need to be able to praise the Lord/Allah/whomever you believe to be the supreme being. And it’s basically a ready made community. |
Anonymous
| Looking for order in a chaotic world. Community. Some people go all in with certain movements, religion included. Search for meaning. But often I think it has to do with the need for clearer expectations and roles and to be on the "right" side of the world. |
Anonymous
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God’s grace.
I bet people who knew me from a long time ago think the same stuff about me. |
Anonymous
| Ditto mental illness. I know a couple of people like this and there's way more going on than just discovering spiritually. They can't seem to hold a job, seem aimless and keep moving around, resort to setting up gofundmes for basic things, even though they are smart and well educated. |
Anonymous
| I had a housemate in college who smoked weed every single mooring before going to class. This was in 1980. I recently saw his Facebook page and it is all about his grandkids and his faith in Jesus. Maybe it's the whole "I got grandkids now / better give up the good old fun life" thing? |