Month: May 2021

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People Talk About Whether It’s OK to Restrict Your Partner’s Online Watching Habits

Hold onto your hats, because today we’re diving into one of the most genuinely controversial things posted to Unpopular Opinions in a while.

And it’s all about…”adult entertainment.”

I don’t want to be in a relationship with someone if they watch pr0n.
Now don’t downvote this because you disagree, I know its an unpopular opinion, but I am genuinely uncomfortable by people watching pr0n while they’re in a relationship with me. It honestly feels like cheating. Why would you need to get sexual gratification somewhere else when I am literally right here willing to give you all the material you could ever want? Why do you need to get that from another woman?

I’m currently in a serious relationship and I’ve talked this through with my partner and he is ok with it and respects my boundaries. I am completely committed to the person I’m dating and I will only go to them for things that I deem exclusive to a romantic relationship, therefore I expect the same from them. When I masturbate I only masturbate to them and I expect the same. When I feel genuine romantic emotions, I only feel them toward them, and I expect the same. The reason being is that I am very, very serious about long term relationships and I’d feel like I was doing something very wrong if I thought of anyone else in this way.

If you’ve discussed it with your partner and you’re both ok with pr0n, thats cool, but I’ve been pressured by multiple people in the past to act like I’m ok with it, but I just never have been. Pr0n is something I’m highly uncomfortable with, it makes me feel jealous and betrayed and it makes me feel like I’m not good enough. Those should be valid emotions to feel, but people try to make it seem like its irrational to feel that way when I truly believe it isn’t.

I know a lot of people feel the same way as me, just know that its ok to set boundaries in your relationship because your feelings are just as valid as your partner’s. That goes for anything, really.

Turns out the people of Reddit have a LOT of thoughts and feelings about this.

1. Some gave kudos.

Great post.

You know what you want in a relationship, discussed it with your partner, came to an understanding that you both agree upon.

That’s exactly how it should be done.

– drmarts1973

2. But is this openness or just intimidation?

If my partner was adamant about me not watching p**n to the degree that they’d consider it cheating if I did, I would never in a million years share my deeper sexual desires with them.

Now, that’s just me personally and if you guys do communicate a lot and well there’s probably not an issue but I think this is the one thing you’re missing; As far as YOU know he doesn’t have sexual desires you wouldn’t be comfortable with, but you’ve taken such a hard stance on something far less consequential that it kind of implies that you’d have a negative reaction to, for example, very kinky s**.

This isn’t guaranteed or anything, but based on your post and what I’ve read of your responses that’s at least how I’d personally feel.

– Pridetoss

3. Well that’s…um…

Bruh my ex didn’t want me to watch p**n back then and she only wanted to have s** every six months. My s** drive is off the f**king charts. I don’t want to force her soooo.

We all know how that end up lmaoo.

– chili_oil_best_oil

4. Some called red flag, no question.

Wtf is this thread. It’s very unhealthy to try and control people’s behaviour and s**ual expression. Your bf can’t control how you dress. Or who your friends are.

“But it makes me uncomfortable”

Yes that’s what possessiveness is.

This isn’t an unpopular opinion it’s an unhealthy one. You can’t encourage people to be so clingy and anxious. Your bf can only c** if he thinks of you? When someone is in a relationship they can literally only ever think of you?

Doomed to failure. Instead you need to learn how to cope with other people’s behaviours. You need to learn that love isn’t meant to be all encompassing. Your partner shouldn’t be the only person in the world.

I would really consider it a red flag in any relationship.

– Kaiisim

5. The term “thought policing” came up a lo.

I can get the p**n thing, but expecting to be able to police your partners thoughts? That’s borderline abusive.

It’s so unhealthy and OP really should examine why she feels so insecure in her relationships that other women can’t even take up any space in her partner’s private thoughts.

– scottishlastname

6. And then this person wrote the opposite diatribe.

Watching people in this thread absolutely bend over backwards to defend the idea of watching p**nography is insane to me.

How is it controlling to ask your partner to not watch other people f**king? Would your opinion be changed if OP’s partner were going to a friend’s house to watch two people f**k and bate in the corner? (I’m not trying to strawman; this is a genuine question because in my mind they are not very different from each other.) P**n has been proven time and time again to impact sexuality. Wanting your intimate relationship with your partner to progress at a natural pace is not controlling, imo.

People are bringing up the idea of “thought policing” in regards to OP’s partner’s masturbatory practices. While I can sort of understand arriving at that conclusion, I highly doubt OP is popping in every time their partner masturbates to be like “hey, make sure you’re thinking about me.” I’m pretty sure it was a one time conversation where she made her preferences known, and she trusts her partner to make private decisions in regards to that boundary.

I understand that people have s**ual needs, and that sometimes they just want to c**. I do not think that all people who use p**nography on a regular basis are bad people with ill intentions. However, when you’re in a long-term relationship with someone, I don’t think its controlling or insecure to ask your partner to not watch p**n. P**n is idealistic and largely plays at humanity’s base fantasies – aka, big breasts/penises, “ideal” looking genitalia, and overall extremely “attractive” people. I’d feel pretty insecure if my partner was consistently seeking sexual content from people who look very different from me.

Idk, maybe I’m the weird one here, but I agree with OP. I don’t think its controlling as long as it’s something that’s talked about early and with tact in a relationship. If you wouldn’t want to date somebody who wouldn’t want you watching p**n, that’s fine!! But defending p**n as a morally neutral thing is just pretty silly, imo. I just think it’s weird that people are accusing OP of being controlling and trying to change her opinion. There are plenty of valid reasons to dislike p**n, especially in a long term romantic relationship.

– LegitAllergic2TheSun

7. Is it insecurity? Or a reasonable expectation?

The only time a gf had a problem with p**n was when I was 18 and she was really insecure.

I especially wonder about the part where OP expects him to only think about her during masturbation. It might work in the early stages of a relationship, but I think it’s completely unrealistic for a relationship that lasts several years.

Chances are, because of how strict she is about this stuff, he’s just gonna lie to her about it. And honestly I think it’s perfectly harmless if he does. Those are his private thoughts after all, they don’t necessarily mean anything.

– HighwayTemporary3266

8. “To each their own.”

I couldn’t imagine asking someone to not watch it. To each their own though.

As long as you find someone who’s comfortable with your boundary, you are in the right mind.

Happy you’re expressing your feelings. Most people wouldn’t.

– MavenMermaid

9. Love the use of “unorthodox” here.

I don’t really think this is crazy, a little unorthodox, but I’m guess there are more people who’d prefer their significant other didn’t watch pr0n than do

– Butterfriedbacon

10. There’s a broader question of the industry in general.

I agree with you, but in my case it goes beyond that. I just don’t like that people in general support this f**ked up industry… Luckily for me, both me and my boyfriend think like that, so it’s fine.

– NineTailedDevil

11. Most dissenters were caught up on one particular element.

‘When I masturbate I only masturbate to them and I expect the same.’

Red f**king flag. I’d jump ship as soon as I heard that, and I don’t even remember the last time I watched p**n. I prefer reading it.

You don’t get to control your partners thoughts and trying to is abusive.

– left_tiddy

12. How bad is the harm?

I don’t think it’s wrong to feel that way.

P**n is addictive in nature and twist people’s perceptions of what intimacy should be like.

I’m willing to say that it has destroyed more relationships than anyone is willing to admit.

– Emanouche

13. Is it a together thing?

I mean everyone has their own boundaries which is fine.

For me I don’t like the idea of my boyfriend looking at another girl’s nudes at all, and probably wouldn’t be comfortable with p**n unless we watched it together.

– keIIzzz

14. Maybe it’s downright courteous?

Tbh I think when people in relationships watch p**n is because they don’t want to make their partners uncomfortable by hounding them with their needs.

In fairness, one person is always gonna be h**nier than the other, and watching p**n instead of making your partner uncomfortable is actually pretty solid logic.

– IzJusMeOG

15. “The hub.”

I’ve straight up had my girl hand me her phone with the hub opened up because she didn’t wanna deal with it lmao

– someguyat3am

An enlightening conversation as always, Reddit.

What do you think about this?

Give us your opinion in the comments.

The post People Talk About Whether It’s OK to Restrict Your Partner’s Online Watching Habits appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Discuss Their Best Techniques for Quickly Ruining a Date

Dates can be pretty rough, and usually we’re trying our very best to do everything within our power to make them go well.

But what if, hypothetically, you wanted something a little different?

You have five seconds to ruin a date, what do you do? from AskReddit

Unsurprisingly, Reddit has ways to ruin things quickly.

Let’s take a look!

1. The hunger technique

Eat my food like I do when I’m on my own

– ToBoredomAGem

2. The art of the crunch

My sister told me about a quiet pub date she had with a guy recently who bought himself 2 packs of pork scratchings.

He opened both bags and separated them by most crunchy to least crunchy and then would pick 2 up at a time and ask her which one he should eat next.

He did this for the whole date.

They didn’t have a second date.

– Reave1905

3. The full assault

Ooh something I’m good at! Quickly find a way to steer the conversation to the eastern front during World War Two, and just keep talking about Stalingrad.

Once their eyes glaze over you know the city on the Volga has claimed yet another life

– tateochip

4. The money gambit

So, how much did you say you earn?

– dior_princess

5. The familiar face

Hi! Wow, you look just like my ex!

Done.

– firewire87

6. The vital vidya

Tell them I’ve played 7000 hrs of Grand Theft Auto.

Watch the interest dry up immediately.

– thelocalllegend

7. The gambling gambit

I used to work at a gaming bar.. this dude was on a first date and had been drinking with a girl for a while.

An hour or so in, he put like 40 bucks in the machine. He ended up hitting for like $1200 or something. Nothing crazy, but a nice hit.

We paid him out and he ordered a round of shots and soon after said he had to use the restroom.

Dude bolted. Left the girl with the bill. She legit walked in the bathroom looking for him, walked around the building.

Felt bad for her. She started crying at the bar, had a shot, and paid the bill while she waited for an Uber. Ouch.

– PuddingPoops

8. The sniff shift

One time a guy leaned over and deeply smelled a lock of my hair within the first couple minutes of our meeting for the first time.

I made up an excuse and left

– LydiaAgain

9. The unexpected double

Bring my friend and expect my date to treat them.

– s**ykenobi

10. Just go too fast

Say “I love you please marry me I’m not kidding”

– Thermal_bay

11. The “nice guy”

“I’m a really nice guy, like super nice, I would treat you so Good. Now show me your t**s.”

– invinoveritasb**ch

12. The warranty

I just watched this all play out in my head:

You meet someone online who seems to click with you.

You arrange to meet at a cozy restaurant.

When you arrive they’re already at the table, waiting for you.

You – hi, you look amazing

Date – thanks, now I’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.

Pulls out huge wad of paper, and dumps it on the table

Date – you see it states here in the terms and condi..

– Your_One_Lord

13. The slug…system?

Pour salt on them and say “sorry, I really, really, reaaaaaaallllllly hate slugs”

– Randomredditwhale

14. Start a fight

Pull up their social media and point out all the things they like that you don’t

– _manicpixie

Yup, I’d say those are all sure to work.

Do you have any others to add?

Tell us in the comments.

The post People Discuss Their Best Techniques for Quickly Ruining a Date appeared first on UberFacts.

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15 Things That Aren’t Cults but Sure Feel Like They Are

What is a cult? How do you distinguish a cult from a regular religion? Or for that matter, from any group?

It’s actually a very difficult question to nail down, though many have tried. Cult specialist Rick Ross (not the singer) has laid out a few basic identifiers:

  1. A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes the object of worship
  2. A process of indoctrination
  3. Exploitation of members be it economic, sexual, or otherwise

With that in mind…

What’s something that’s not a cult, but feels like a cult? from AskReddit

That’s not exactly exhaustive of course, but it’s the kind of thing that gets Redditors thinking…what else is kind of a cult?

Let’s get their thoughts.

1. Under Armour

Under Armour’s corporate culture creeps me out.

Companies should not have an official chant.

I would consider them cult-adjacent at the very least.

– SoManyStarWipes

2. The Tech Industry

If you are a tech worker – your job.

Upper management puts in foosball tables, orders lunch and has off site things on weekends (which is a daycare nightmare for parents), and expects you to spend every waking minute thinking about your job and having a device ready to answer email at any time of the day or night.

Then, they have quarterly layoffs where they sweep out the unpopular.

Yet, they want your loyalty and insist you are family and blah blah “cultural fit”.

– VapoursAndSpleen

3. House Music

One of my favorite genres, but the hardcore fans make it almost unbearable. It’s just constantly one upping.

Bro, I’m just trying to party and vibe.

– soonerguy11

4. Fanboys

Brand fanboys such as Apple fanboys, Playstation fanboys, etc.

They definitely feel like a cult since they revere these brands and cannot take any criticism.

– Bombaci_Mulayim123

5. Jeep

Jeep owners and waving at each other.

My friend would go out of his way to wave at other jeep people

– Dodofuzzic

6. Academia

You slave away your youth, eyes set on the gleaming promises of the 0.1% who made it: tenured faculty.

And when you realize it’s a pyramid scheme (just spend X years and publish Y papers and mentor others to advance!) and pay to play (yes, you PAY journals to get your papers published!), you’ve wasted your youth, you’ve wasted those years of good health on building a CV that isn’t really functionally different from any of the other thousands of disillusioned PhD candidates out there.

Meanwhile, friends and family are asking, “wait, you’re still in school? I thought you were the smart one”, etc. Etc. Your dumb friends from college are out-earning you by the thousands. You don’t have a family of your own. You hardly have papers to call your own.

But now you’re stuck. Can’t get a nice job post-phd without a postdoc, right? So you feed into the system a little more. Mentor some other bright-eyed youngsters. Feed them into the hungry system that eats their passion and spits them out when they’re just depressed husks of what they once were.

Now you have two postdocs under your belt, as many papers as the children you don’t have yet. A wife you haven’t met yet. Or maybe you met her, went on one date with her, cut it short because you had to tend to a mouse colony emergency and she got away. Your hair, what’s left of it, is turning gray.

Now it’s time to apply for professorial positions.

– HappyHappyKidney

7. Kpop Stans

They just scare me and they’re all so obsessed with the boys and girls.

– YourLocal_brit

8. Horse Girls

It just feels like they know how to talk to them and when you turn your back they are gonna laugh and talk about you in horse…..

– Dark-Onion-lad

9. High School Marching Bands

Every weekend hanging out with each other for competitions, rehearsals before/after-school, and with any free time you do have you’re with band friends.

All I ever talked about was matching band. Still love it though, with all the memories I’ve made!

– poliomikayla

10. Atheism?

It gets weird when they pull out their little Starfleet-looking medallion.

Good job, bro-dawg, you turned being a non-religion into a religion.

– Guvnuh_T_Boggs

11. Keto

My husband is on a keto kick and I swear to God every single conversation includes keto this and keto that.

Keep in mind my husband does not cook or buy groceries so basically it’s my job to research and provide him with all of this horses**t. I’m so sick of this crap.

Mind you I have decided to burn him out on this crap by only cooking chicken and making salads for EVERY SINGLE MEAL. I’m not going out and buying almond flour for some crappy recipe that taste like saw dust just so he can decide he hates it.

My husband is not over weight and is constantly jumping from one fad diet to the next because he perceives constantly being on a diet as healthy, it’s more about everyone knowing how much he takes care of himself. Which is all fine and good but he’s not “taking care of himself” I am… I do all the work, the prep, the cooking, the shopping, the research, just to watch him try something I put all this work into go in the trash because he doesn’t like it.

The wasted money, time, and crap I spend literally hours a week reading about a diet made for epileptic children is infuriating.

– expect_less

12. MLMs

General knowledge is such that MLMs and pyramid schemes are very easy to identify and debunk, so they have to transform it into an ideology pretty quickly after you join.

If you can convince your new initiates that everyone else criticizing the Cause is against progressivism, and that you’re actually fighting for a better solution to capitalism or whatever stupid sh*t, and that YOU are the TRUE core of the Cause, when people tell you the stupid cult you’ve joined is ridiculous, you will take it personally and it will re-enforce the us-versus-them isolationism that fuels cults.

Watching crypto currency NFTs go from a dumb meme made for trading drawings to an art auction platform that gets immediately debunked as a pyramid scheme exploiting tech-illiterate artists to “we’re revolutionizing art as a whole.

We are a brand new system, a way for artists to be powerful and influential, we are changing the world, if you disagree with this you are LITERALLY a luddite that hates art, the world, and us” happened literally over the course of two weeks lol.

– No-Bewt

13. Crossfit

• extensive use of cult-generated information ✅
• require members to internalize the group‘s doctrine ✅
• reduce complexities into buzz words ✅
• regulate member‘s diet ✅

– Infinite_Advantage_5

14. Homeowners Associations

Used to work in a gated community pool. Some were cool, but most were the most awful bunch of wealthy twats.

Never wanted to follow the rules or cooperate and their kids always acted like little sh*ts. It also felt kind of incestuous as well because those people were occasionally f*cking each other.

Not in the pool. I would just hear the pool gossip.

– Icy-Pin-8226

15. You

Most fandoms, honestly.

– RmmThrowAway

Blessings be upon you and yours.

What else would you add to this list?

Tell us in the comments.

The post 15 Things That Aren’t Cults but Sure Feel Like They Are appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Discuss Debunked Myths That Just Won’t Go Away

It was Mark Twain who once said “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

A point that’s all the more poignant when you consider that actually it was probably not Mark Twain who said that.

Just goes to go how confusing following the truth can be, like in these cases:

What is a common myth that has been debunked but too many people still believe? from AskReddit

What does Reddit have for us to debunk today? Let’s find out.

1. Albert Einstein failed math as a kid

This myth originated due to a misunderstanding of grading scales.

Einstein’s primary education took place in Germany, where the grading scale went from 1 (best) to 5 (worst).

His secondary education was in Switzerland, where the grading scale went from 1 (worst) to 6 (best).

His scores in math and science were excellent at all stages of his education.

– sillybear25

2. Dogs see black and white

Most placental mammals are dichromats with two types of cone cells in their eyes. They’re descended from tetrachromats with four retinal pigments, but we believe that two were lost during an era when mammals were primarily nocturnal and color vision was less useful at night.

A branch of primates including apes and, specifically, us mutated up a new pigment, different from either of the ones that were lost, getting us back to trichromatic vision. (Our L and M, or red and green, cones are very similar, with one being a mutation from the other that proved useful to have exist in parallel.)

It’s why hunters wear orange vests and tigers are bright orange despite living in jungles.

To prey species, they both look green like vegetation.

– ThePowerOfStories

3. Lemmings are suicidal

they were filming a disney nature documentary where the producers herded them off cliffs and the misconception stuck

It’s been debunked but you ask someone about lemmings and see what they say.

– graeuk

4. The tongue has “taste zones”

Not only was this one a myth, they TAUGHT us this in school.

I remember coloring in the different sections of the tongue various colors.

– MattieMcNasty

5. Handling a baby bird will make the mother reject it

Most birds don’t have a significant sense of smell. So put the nakey baby back in the nest!

Now, sometimes mother birds will push a sick or otherwise terminal chick out of the nest, so when people try to put it back she goes “Hey, thought I got rid of you” and does it again.

But that’s not because of you, she just knows something you don’t, so take that babe to a rehab rescue and hope for the best.

But a lot of the time the little squishy beans just wiggle out of the nest, so feel free to put them back in. No harm done.

– AlwaysWantsIceCream

6. Bumblebees shouldn’t be able to fly

Except they obviously can.

I think bumble bees perfectly exemplify the fundamental misunderstanding that laypeople have of the scientific process and the difference between a law and a theory.

A scientific law is a physical description of what we observe under specific circumstances. A theory, on the other hand, explains why we observe different phenomena when at least one variable isn’t controlled for.

So it isn’t that “bumble bees shouldn’t be able to fly”. It’s that they fly as a result of a different set of variables within the mechanisms of flight.

– Dynasuarez-Wrecks

7. Direction of a toilet flush depends on the hemisphere

The design of toilets direct water in a specific way, the Coriolis effect would never change that, but even in more passive drainage systems, the internal flow of water and geometry of the basin will be much more significant than that of the Coriolis effect. This is true even if water sits still for long periods of time.

Under very specific scientific conditions, with a flat, perfectly circular pan and a centralized drainage hole, many days after filling the water the Coriolis effect can begin to govern the direction of the water as it’s emptied, but this is not exactly practical. We do see the effect in weather patterns of course though, so that’s something.

– CanFjord

8. Blood is blue before being exposed to oxygen

Seriously tho, I was told that everyone’s blood was blue on the inside when I was younger, and I honestly don’t know why my Mom thought that.

Maybe it’s just one of those things that you only believe because your family has been saying it since your Grandma’s Grandpa’s Grandma’s Grandma’s Grandpa or something like that.

– Rand0mWe1rdGuy

9. The tryptophan in turkey makes you tired

The reason you always feel tired after a Thanksgiving meal is because your body is spending all its energy digesting your big meal.

– LiquidMetalStarman

10. It’s dangerous to swim after eating

There’s no reason that should be dangerous.

However swimming after drinking alcohol puts you at a substantially higher risk of drowning.

– Scrappy_Larue

11. Mammals have alpha males and beta males

The researcher who wrote it himself not only said that this cannot be used to interpret human behaviour in any way, but he even proved his own findings wrong in a later study, because this behaviour only applied to wolves in captivity (so, a constantly stressful situation)

– JuFo2707

12. The McDonald’s “hot coffee lawsuit” was frivolous

Lady melted her vagina and only wanted to get enough for bills.

They wouldn’t even do that.

– Tenebrousoul

13. Electromagnetic fields cause nausea

A lot of people in Sweden believe this despite research attributing it to the nocebo effect.

– hampan97

14. Ted Bundy was a very popular playboy

That goes into a bigger myth that people with psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder are these cunning manipulative geniuses.

Ted bundy abducted girls in a busy af park going by the nickname ted and only got so many girls because cops didn’t communicate across state lines at all and there was virtually no video surveillance.

By definition these people have god awful impulse control, delusions that they can control people, and terrible control of their behaviours. They have awful control of how they act when they get emotional, and people like Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Wayne Gacy, ect. All got caught because they were genuinely suffering from arrogant , very dumb, and poorly planned behaviors.

– Antispam1432

It’s always nice to find out you were wrong!

What other myths would you add to this list?

Tell us in the comments.

The post People Discuss Debunked Myths That Just Won’t Go Away appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Who Used To Be Atheists Share Their Conversion Stories

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian community and around high school essentially started a very slow “deconversion” process that eventually led to my comfortable adoption of the word “atheist” several years later.

I’m very familiar with what it’s like to go from a believer to a non-believer, but I have often wondered what it must be like to go the other way, and even whether it could happen to me at some point.

Former atheists of Reddit, what made you turn to religion? from AskReddit

So why do the skeptical find themselves entering the fold? Let’s hear from some self-professed former atheists of Reddit.

1. At death’s door

I wouldn’t say I was ever an atheist as most would describe. I never actively denounced religion or Christ. But I never really thought of it a whole lot growing up or thru my 20s.

Almost two years ago I set next to my grandfather basically my father as he was the one who raised me while he passed from a long battle with cancer. He was on hospice for 2-3 days at home before he finally passed. I was there right beside him the whole time. The whole experience was so profound. One thing that stood out to me was how he kept calling for his mother and reaching out like he was trying to grab her hands.

She had passed about 7-8 years prior. He would call to her screaming her name. This was steady for 2-3 days before he went.

I know without a doubt there has to be an afterlife after that experience. She came to get her son. And I have no doubt she was in that room with us. You could feel her. The whole family could.

– jb_run29

2. The experience

Not me, a friend of my parents. He suffered a minor heart attack during a business trip, and the moment he arrived at the hospital, he got a massive heart attack.

He was clinically dead for about 2 minutes before he was brought back.

He hasn’t told anyone what he saw, and whenever someone asks, he just says “I really don’t want to talk about it”.

But from that day on, not a Sunday goes by that he doesn’t show up for mass.

– TheDangerHeisenberg

3. Regaining control

I was raised Catholic and was very strong in my faith until I was 26. I don’t think anything took me away from God, I just got busy and wouldn’t go to church, or wouldn’t pray more and more. Then, I found myself agreeing with some atheist thoughts.

It’s weird because the more I parted from the God, the harder life was, and the harder life was, the more I parted from God. It was like a terrible positive feedback loop. By the age of 32, I stopped calling myself Catholic and life was the lowest (loneliness, finance issues, depression, health, anxiety, relationship issues, etc).

About a month before my 33rd birthday, I surrendered my life to God. I told God, I can’t bare the load on my own. I thanked Him for everything and prayed for strength, wisdom, and to guide me on His path. I felt like God told me He was with me through all my suffering and never left my side. He was just kind of waiting for me to come around.

I have been praying again daily. I’m not exaggerating, so many things bad things reversed and I feel better. I’m going to church for the first time today in… years? I like having God in my life—much more peace and happiness.

– Environmental-End115

4. In honor of her

My great uncle was a lifelong atheist til his wife of 50 years died.

She was always begging him to go to church and he would never go with her. When she died he was so devastated he started going to church to feel closer to her. That naturally resulted in him converting.

He loved and missed her so much that he was willing to believe anything that would reunite them. He was a tough man but her death broke him.

He always gave me sh*t for not going to church and it annoyed me but I respected how deeply he loved my aunt. On occasion I would go with him and he was grateful I humored him.

– valerieswrld

5. The how and the why

To be honest? Because I separated the “how” and the “why”.

I accept science explaining the “how’s” (evolution, Big Bang, etc), but they never explained the “whys” for me (and, as an objective tool, science was never intended to explain it regardless).

Religion and science answer different questions, and both are incredibly fulfilling to me.

– Jforest99

6. The phantom radio station

My sister became born again later in life. I had always believed in God but didn’t really have a relationship with him. She became so pushy and changed so much it turned me off to the whole idea of christianity.

She had a son who I was very close with and for a few years after he turned 13 lived with my family. Unfortunately at 17 he got into drugs and ran away. For months we didn’t hear from him then one day he popped up at my sister’s house. Pretty much completely worn down. He looked and smelled terrible.

On my way out to my sister’s I was at such a loss on what to do that I prayed out loud to God to help guide me. I decided to find a worship station and there was a sermon playing that felt like it was directed right at me. Everything that preacher said felt like he was talking to me. A commercial came on and as an inpatient person I looked at the station number and decided to go back in a few minutes…I went back and that station was nothing but static. No music, no sermon it just didn’t exist.

I tried going up and down thinking I mixed up a number but still nothing. I know have a much close relationship with God. Not a full fledged every Sunday at church relationship but a good one.

– littlefootrac

7. Hope is good

I’m starting to realize that it might be actually incredibly good for humans to believe that everything will be ok. Like, in general. Having a purpose and believing that there is a point produces positive brain chemicals.

I’m getting into a specific religion now, including aspects that I don’t necessarily believe are true. Take prayer for example- it doesn’t matter if there’s a beardy dude in the clouds taking notes. It’s not the point – regularly contemplating community and loved ones is a good thing to do. If you need to frame it as talking to a fella in the sky, well then do it to it. To me, faith is more about believing that living a certain way is the best way to live. Whether it’s true or not is besides the point.

That being said, religion is not an excuse to treat others poorly. If someone uses their religion to treat other people poorly, I still look at them the way I look at anyone that treats people poorly.

– lovegiblet

8. Overcoming addiction

I was raised Christian, became an atheist in college and was atheist for more than a decade, but became a Christian again about three months ago.

I fought a war against everything I hated most about myself and lost. When I had lost all hope of ever being able to overcome depression and addiction, I tried praying and, to my great surprise, I received an answer.

In that moment I surrendered my life to God. I will never be able to explain my experience, I don’t have scientifically conclusive evidence, but I will never doubt that God is real after what I experienced. I have overcome my addiction and depression and, while I still have a long way to go, am doing much better than I ever dreamed possible.

– CitizenReborn

9. Less a believer, more a student

Instead of being a Christian, I chose to follow the teachings of Christ. That changed my entire opinion about religion.

I was an atheist throughout college. My major was Philosophy/Religion. Most of what I learned, I used to justify my atheist beliefs. The more I studied, the idea of a creator became more and more intriguing. The ontological perspective just makes practical sense to me.

I dont think I believe the way most people believe, but that’s okay. I’m happy with my worldview and it gives me purpose and meaning. It inspires me to be a better person. No matter your beliefs, if you are striving to do that, and whatever helps you do it everyday, must not be so bad.

– headrons

10. Practices are bigger than truth

I was raised atheist but have always been very open minded. A friend invited me to their church one day. It was a pretty progressive church but also they were serious about faith.

I decided to participate fully in the church for a year regardless of my belief.

As I took part in the practices of christian faith I realized they were as true and something can be true. In the sense that with discernment and rational thinking participating in the Christian faith leads to being a more forgiving, loving, other-centric way of living.

The actual stories in the Bible may be historically true or not true, who really knows. But the practices are bigger than historical truth. They are a deep truth that rattles down in the part of my soul that expands beyond my personal awareness.

So I got baptized and committed to Christianity flaws and all ?

– zakmcdonald

11. The slow dawning

I was staunch atheist who hated all religion until I had a professor (also an atheist) who convinced me to respect people’s religion.

Around the same time I had a lot of Muslim friends and started learning about Islam and came to appreciate a lot of the “why” behind the practices. I tried fasting and joined in some daily prayers and appreciated the benefits of it.

One day as I was joining in the prayer I realized I was praying and I felt a connection to God that I’d never felt before in my life. I realized I was a believer, and the rest is history.

– cpleasants

12. Finding light

Depression.

I’ve been going to church for a little over a year now and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life.

– Foxtrot4321

13. The struggle

Raised atheist, and born gay.

My ex boyfriend taught me all about the Gospel and how Jesus died for me on the cross, all about God’s love and all about Christianity. We stayed together for a bit over a year (my longest relationship), and now we’re not together anymore, because he believes homosexuality is something that can be “resisted” like any other sin.

I’m still lost and confused, but I’m clinging onto my faith more than ever right now because it’s all I have left that’s keeping me up

– rattboy74

14. I agree with the lifestyle

I realized that in my ancestral region of the Maghreb (tamazigha), virtually everyone identifies as Muslim. The idea of atheism just doesn’t process in their minds.

Therefore, I converted to Islam, not because I believe in god but because I agree with the lifestyle.

I enjoy fasting for Ramadan, praying (meditating) 5x/day, abstaining and giving back to the community, et al.

– freedrako

15. Weighing the options

The philosophical answer: I could no longer defend the decision to choose “lack of evidence” over “actual, tangible, and profound impact in my life.”

The religious fanatic answer: I found a religion that’s right for me (Buddhism).

– fonefreek

It’s important that people be allowed to follow the truth where it leads them and to find happiness. So long as your faith is not used as a weapon, I say live and let live.

Do you have a conversion/deconversion story?

Tell us about it in the comments.

The post People Who Used To Be Atheists Share Their Conversion Stories appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

People Talk About the Groups That Feel like Cults to Them

You can hardly take a step in any direction without running into another documentary or podcast series about cults lately.

But what are the cultish things that are a little less obvious that are also among us?

What’s something that’s not a cult, but feels like a cult? from AskReddit

Get ready to become a true believer with these Reddit folks.

1. Salesforce

No, I don’t want to build a community, go hiking or join a hundred online classes to learn the basics.

Make a couple of well-explained, to-the-point training videos ffs

– Grace534448

2. Peloton

WHY ARE THEY SO OBSESSED WITH PELOTON?!?

– Pretty-Supermarket55

3. Crystal Stuff

One girl in my year started telling us about her religion around healing crystals which her mum happened to own (and we could buy) and one boy said ‘sounds like a pyramid scheme’ and you would not believe how offended she got

– TytonidaeOwl

4. Air Fryers

I keep telling everyone how great they are and how life changing getting an air fryer is.

Then they get one and love it and repeat the cycle. But seriously, air fryers are awesome

– Frankyboy07

5. 12 Step Groups

Having participated in them, as well as studied them, I feel comfortable in saying they’re not cults. Some individual groups can behave like them, however.

Some ‘cult-like’ experiences in a safe refuge from a life-threatening mode of behaviour can have positive impacts on the well-being of individuals for a period of time. Finding a ‘new home’, a ‘new family’, and a ‘new way of living’ can save lives. In that regard, I believe it’s important to take into consideration the ‘positive’ meaning of the word ‘cult’: “a system of religious (or spiritual) beliefs and its body of adherents”.

On the other hand, peer-support for recovery needs to be a part of — not the entirety of — a recovery plan that involves plenty of other forms of support, especially professional help.

There are also non-religious/non-spiritual peer support groups available for those embarking on the journey of recovery.

r/stopdrinking has some excellent resources for anyone in need of help now.

– -o0_0o-

6. Twitchers

Basically any twitch streamer with a decent following.

Mob mentality and echo chambers are crazy things.

– trawd

7. Elon Musk

There’s a guy in my office who drives a Tesla, has a Tesla jacket, spent thousands on getting Tesla solar panels for his house, his phone case has the Tesla T on the back and his lock screen picture is an Elon portrait of him smoking that joint on Rogan’s podcast.

Say something bad about Elon like how Elon’s hairline is fake and watch him lose his sh*t.

– gizmosbutu

8. Politics

Way too many people treat politics as team sports.

They’ve picked their side and everything that side does is great and everything the other side does is awful.

That’s as much thought as they ever put into it.

– sharrrper

9. Harry Potter

my brother’s mother in law literally bought him all the Harry Potter audio books on audible for his birthday because she believes that ever person needed to read the books.

Thing is, my brother has already read the books before but now that his wife is making him listen to them he’s starting to get creepily sucked into them and won’t shut about how fantastic of books they are

– SolarSummons

10. Acapella Music

Don’t DARE to point out how processed and studio tweaked all the big groups are, especially on their albums.

Also never try to get them to use room mics rather than individual ones…oooo boy.

They won’t listen to a sound guy, someone with more experience, or (especially) the bass.

God forbid you are a straight male who likes it either…

So many catty inside jokes, diva f*cking singers, and politics.

– CowboyFleeborg

11. Work in general

I’ve had a few jobs like that where the manager brings us into a room and gives us a talk about how we’re all a big family here, and I’m looking at the wall and it’s covered in sh*tty motivational art and “The best employee is a happy employee” type sh*t.

I’m just sitting there, wondering wtf I’m doing with my life and how low I must have fallen to end up here, thinking “Listen b*tch, I’m giving you 40 hours a week of my time, and in return I want you to pay me minimum wage, it’s that simple”.

That kinda talk just translates in my mind to “We have mandatory overtime policies here, and also you’ll get fired if you don’t add your boss to Facebook, or if you don’t have Facebook”.

– darth-canid

12. Yoga

I do it for the exercise too but all the wishy-washy stuff that comes along with it is so annoying. It’s one of the reasons it took me so long to try yoga and meditation in general, I didn’t want to be associated with the air-fairy nut jobs that make the whole thing into a lifestyle centered around crystals, astrology and auras.

It’s a great exercise and it’s good for your mental health and I can see why people who are more spiritual are attracted to it, but I hate that public perception of it has been tainted by this.

– ShreddedKnees

13. Company Chants

When Walmart bought a British supermarket chain they tried to introduce a company chant.

After the UK executives had finished laughing it was politely explained that there was no way that British employees would do that.

– Razakel

14. Huel

Huel Black, Chocolate Flavor (and I use that term extremely loosely) is the single worst substance I’ve ever purposely consumed.

If half the posts on the subreddit are about how to make it not taste like sh*t and how to actually make it dissolve instead of clump, you’ve got a garbage product on your hands, folks.

– barriekansai

15. Nutriboom

Whoa there brother.

Your amino acid levels are looking dangerously low

– TytonidaeOwl

These cultish comparisons are the opinions of individual Reddit users and do not necessarily reflect the views of this website.

There, I think we’re covered.

What else would you add to this list?

Tell us in the comments.

The post People Talk About the Groups That Feel like Cults to Them appeared first on UberFacts.