What would cause someone from a normal background to become a religious zealot?

[Anonymous]

I haven’t read through all the comments, but read about Saul and the road to Damascus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read through all the comments, but read about Saul and the road to Damascus.

are you saying that's what it would take for a normal person to become a religious zealot? I do believe he was a religious zealot before that, but not Christian.

[Anonymous]

Paul may have been mentally ill. He did contend he went up to heaven and came back. At minimum, he was a very weird guy. He heard Jesus talk to him -- and this guy wrote 2/3ds of the New Testament??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what business is it of yours? And why did you feel you had to come on to DCUM to trash him?

If he declared he was a woman and grew the hair on his head long and was living with a man and had 5 mini poodles as fur kids, op would not think he was weird or extreme.

Either way, it’s his life and none of your business. It doesn’t have any bearing on your life, op.

Better yet? Message him and ask him. You think the ppl posting here know one thing about him or how he lives his life, you are nuts. People seriously need to focus on their own lives. Talk about bored unhappy housewives searching Facebook to stalk some stranger and gossip about their unknown lives. Aren’t you embarrassed? I’d be embarrassed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paul may have been mentally ill. He did contend he went up to heaven and came back. At minimum, he was a very weird guy. He heard Jesus talk to him -- and this guy wrote 2/3ds of the New Testament??

.

Many people have had near death experiences and have glimpsed what heaven is like. Then there's nothing wrong with Jesus talking to someone, he's a living breathing God. It has nothing to do with mental illness.

It may seem like foolishness to you, but I bet you've never actually read through the new testament.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, will you call someone a Muslim extremist too or does it apply only for Christians?

Not OP, but I think there are Christian extremists and Muslim extremists. Also, DUH!!

Get back to me when Muslims start being called extremist for growing a beard and having four or five kids

[Anonymous]

I’m the PP who mentioned my best friend. It sounds like some people are triggered that OP called him a zealot. Let’s step back from that word to her question which is what is the path from so-called normal dude to someone with a far more intense lifestyle than most people.

How did so many seemingly normal people find their way bit by bit to participating in an insurrection? It’s totally normal to be curious about what led to those decisions.

OP, like I said my one experience is that it happened over time. No one single traumatic event, but incremental shifts in politics and religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paul may have been mentally ill. He did contend he went up to heaven and came back. At minimum, he was a very weird guy. He heard Jesus talk to him -- and this guy wrote 2/3ds of the New Testament??

.

Many people have had near death experiences and have glimpsed what heaven is like. Then there's nothing wrong with Jesus talking to someone, he's a living breathing God. It has nothing to do with mental illness.

It may seem like foolishness to you, but I bet you've never actually read through the new testament.

Anyone who says Jesus talked directly to them by name (i.e., they heard voices) would be considered mentally ill, or have delusions. Why do we consider believe this happened? -- we only have Paul's word for it of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paul may have been mentally ill. He did contend he went up to heaven and came back. At minimum, he was a very weird guy. He heard Jesus talk to him -- and this guy wrote 2/3ds of the New Testament??

.

Many people have had near death experiences and have glimpsed what heaven is like. Then there's nothing wrong with Jesus talking to someone, he's a living breathing God. It has nothing to do with mental illness.

It may seem like foolishness to you, but I bet you've never actually read through the new testament.

People have dreams all the time. Upon waking, they know very well that they can't fly, or they are not best friends with Michael Jackson, or whatever.

But when the dream is about Jesus, some people assume the dream is real and so is Jesus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

What makes him not normal though? If he just has kids and living his life I don’t get what’s so mental illness.

Better than drinking your socks off every weekend and virtual signaling.

[Anonymous]

They might have had a spiritual encounter.

[Anonymous]

Poor guy should make his page private. Op is a stalker.

[Anonymous]

OP's post explains it all. They smoked too much weed in college and now their Jesus freaks. Why is this surprising?
They were flaky then and they're flaky now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP's post explains it all. They smoked too much weed in college and now their Jesus freaks. Why is this surprising?
They were flaky then and they're flaky now.

oops. They're

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paul may have been mentally ill. He did contend he went up to heaven and came back. At minimum, he was a very weird guy. He heard Jesus talk to him -- and this guy wrote 2/3ds of the New Testament??

.

Many people have had near death experiences and have glimpsed what heaven is like. Then there's nothing wrong with Jesus talking to someone, he's a living breathing God. It has nothing to do with mental illness.

It may seem like foolishness to you, but I bet you've never actually read through the new testament.

Anyone who says Jesus talked directly to them by name (i.e., they heard voices) would be considered mentally ill, or have delusions. Why do we consider believe this happened? -- we only have Paul's word for it of course.

That’s not true. Where are you getting this information that religious people who have a relationship with Jesus Christ are considered mentally ill! Please cite your professional credentials to diagnose people with mental illness and your sources that back up your post.