fact
January is named after Pagan God Janus. He is deity of new beginnings and transitions. He is two faced. Older face is the year that has come to an end. Younger face is the New Year we look forward to.
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Christmas celebrations were illegal in New England in parts of the 17th century, because the Puritans found no scriptural justification for celebrating it and associated the celebration with paganism and heavy drinking.
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Sometimes it can be hard to imagine what people from the past looked like before cameras were invented.
Yes, we have paintings and sculptures we can admire, but it sure would be nice to know what ancient leaders and famous artists of centuries past REALLY looked like.
Well, thanks to a photographer and artist named Bas Uterwijk who specializes in computer graphics and 3D animation, we have an idea of what some famous figures from history might have looked like.
Uterwijk started tampering with the likenesses of historical figures in 2019 and his work is really something. Here are some faces that the Dutch artist made come to life.
Let’s take a look.
Why yes, it is!
A German painter, FYI.
This one is pretty interesting.
If she was a real person…
A giant historical figure.
A lot of crazy stories about this fella.
What they must have seen…
Taken from a sculpture. I like this one.
An emperor and a philosopher.
We all know what happened to him…
A master Dutch painter.
Those are awesome! I love all the detail. His creations seem to jump right off the screen.
Who else would you like to see given this treatment?
Share some fascinating historical figures with us in the comments. Thanks!
The post This Artist Uses Tech to Show What Historical Figures Really Looked Like appeared first on UberFacts.
Religious extremism has always kind of scared me.
I’m all for people having their beliefs and worshipping the way they want to, but when those beliefs become extreme and it starts to affect the folks around you, that’s when there’s a problem.
And it seems like more people than you probably think actually grew up this way.
Let’s take a look at some interesting stories from folks on AskReddit.
“Let the beatings commence.
Spanked, paddled, whipped, and beaten for minor offenses.
That’s why I joined the military to get away from that nonsense.”
“Terrifying in retrospect, but I didn’t realize it at the time.
You just start to think that all the bullsh*t that’s going on around you is normal, and then when you start meeting people in the real world outside of the religious bubble you slowly start realizing how f*cked up everything was.”
“Grew up in a non-denominational Christian Church. The resemblance it had to a cult didn’t really dawn on me til I was older, probably 14-16.
My parents were the stereotypical helicopter parents- watched our every move, put screen mirroring apps on the very first cell phone we were ever given at age 16, shaming the hell out of us for what they would find on our phones talking to our secret girlfriends, etc.
Our church was full of families with 7+ children, the largest family having 12 kids and single mom (the dad was in jail for molesting some of the eldest girls). Out of a population of about 5-600, me and my sister were the only kids enrolled in public school, because mom was a school teacher. As a teenager, life was absolutely miserable.
Around the age of 14 I decided I hated Christianity and the absolute perversion and abuse of power this church was capable of inflicting upon me. One suicide attempt and psych ward trip later, around the age of 16, I decided I was done with the church punishing me, I decided if I couldn’t escape my parents house physically, then I would escape it mentally.
This led me to start using drugs of any sort. I started drinking cough medicine and smoking weed. Fast forward a few months, I started chemistry and synthesized multiple plant-derived psychedelics in my room. This led me to overdose and panic and have a second psych ward trip. After the church hears of this, they expelled me from the congregation. (They also expelled multiple people for being gay and all sorts of other lovely things)
Long term, I’m now almost 21 and I’m not gonna lie I have a substance problem. I think there’s some very deep emotional scarring I’ll never be able to completely deal with. I’m trying to stop my substance abuse issue and turn my life around for the better, but after being so bright in high school I feel like a retard now from all of the oxys.
My goal now is to go to trade school and get certified in welding, hopefully make a pretty ok life for myself. I wanted to go to college, but I have a few drug charges on my record, so I’ve pretty much abandoned hope of an easy future. I know I’ve f*cked up my life a lot, I’ll be honest it’s hard.
I think about suicide often, but I want to give life one last clean try for I abandon all hope. If it doesn’t work out and I wind up homeless, I do plan to kill myself. I’d rather be dead than homeless.”
“Grew up hardcore Mormon. I’d like to stress that my childhood isnt as common for other Mormon kids.
Most of the time Mormons are fairly understanding and loving to their kids. BUT, the mormon culture does promote the mentality my parents had.
When I was growing up I wasnt punished like some others here. I was spanked, and experienced the belt but that isnt why I have some psychological problems now. The real punishment was shame. From the earliest age I can remember (around six) I was told that I was lazy and I was pissing my life away (This was the strongest language my father would use).
When I first heard the word s*x, around eleven, I looked it up on the family computer. I was a pervert from then on, and had to talk to the bishop every month for a checkup. Hell, in every school I went to my parents told school counselors that I wasnt allowed on computers because I might look up pictures of naked women. (I never did this)
This is just the sparknotes version but I internalized the shame. Being so young I just accepted that I was what my father called me and hated myself for it. I was a lazy faliure at six, I was a pervert at eleven. It didnt stop me from doing any of the things I was doing before, I just learned to fear my fathers footsteps as if it was the devil himself walking down the hallway.
I lived my life in the brief intervals between punishments. I am still not beyond this at 24 years old.”
“Oh, where to start?
Spankings that were borderline beatings for every offense. I wasn’t allowed to “talk back” at all. Asking “why?” Was talking back. I spent my entire childhood believing that all my problems were because I didn’t love god enough.
When I was 9, I was convinced that if I didn’t shape up, God was going to kill me. So I spent six months being a perfect angel but also living in constant terror. Just completely convinced that if I did one thing wrong, lightning would blow me off the planet.
Last thing I’ll mention is how my parents wouldn’t feed me as a child if I talked back. Many many nights I was sent home with no food for the most minor of infractions. (Finishing a chore a minute or two late)
They have largely turned things around. And even apologized for some of these actions. But I still have no interest in talking to them.”
“Very religious parents, we have to abstain from eating onions, meat and garlic for nine days twice a year.
My parents always think that their religion is the best they sometimes criticize other religions.
The think homos*xuality is a sin.
My mother wants me to stop eating non-vegetarian food after I get married
I’m only allowed to eat Non- veg on Sunday, Friday and Saturday
My mother frowns when I tell her that I dont believe in god.
Yes, I’m Hindu.”
“Was forced to attend a Christian cult for years. I told my parents every single time that I’m an atheist. Didn’t matter, had to go.
Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t study, they burned my books, couldn’t go out, so I was literally confined in my room with absolutely nothing. I had a bed and a wardrobe and clothes. No music, no drawing, no reading, no PC because only my little brother could use the computer.
I was studying programming in high school ffs. Had to hand-in my homework written on a paper instead of programmed in various languages.
Shamed me for being a woman. Shamed my body. Made me think I’m stupid. The “Pastor” kept saying how he sees god’s light on my face and how I’m clearly a devout Christian. I was thinking how to…uhm… evil stuff evil stuff… anyway not so nice thoughts about him during these conversations so yeah I don’t think he saw what was really in my mind.
Almost snapped. That would have ended in a sad, messy way. Thankfully I was banned, most likely because in the end I let my true thoughts show on my face. Claimed it was because they saw me walking with a boy or some other bullsh*t. I think they realised I’m not a sheep like the rest but a bloody angry wolf. Don’t try to indoctrinate the psychopath.
I left my family, moved a few thousand kilometers away, I have a great job, a great husband (he knows all my past), travelling constantly with my BOOKS. Yeah I love my books. Noone will ever take them again. I’m planning on building my own tiny library with a mahogany desk and heavy drapery on the windows.
Also I learnt I’m not stupid (quite the opposite) and I’m not that ashamed if my body anymore. My brain still have some trauma to work through. But I might even be a completely normal human in time!”
“I wasn’t in a true cult but I was homeschooled for religious reasons.
Mom replaced the word “millions” with “thousands” in our history/science books. Words like “liberal” and “democrat” and “secular” and “muslim” were insults, deserving mockery and shame. Went to church 3-4 times a week, mission trips every year.
Didn’t do Halloween (but always had “fall festivals”) or Easter Bunny or Santa. We weren’t allowed to say “holy cow” or “holy smokes” because only God is holy. Couldn’t watch Disney movies because of the “follow your heart” messaging, since the human heart is evil, it’s God’s heart we should follow (and also cuz Eisner supported equal rights).
No Pokemon because of “evolution” and a Satanic Panic fear that they were based on Japanese demons.
I’m 30 now and ashamed of the person I was, but I try not to be too hard on myself… It wasn’t all my fault. I was a Bible thumping Republican until late in college, and even though I’m an entirely different person, I still encounter chunks of bullsh*t in my psyche that I try to pluck out.
Therapy and reading and introspection and travel and empathy will do a lot! But we’re all on a journey…”
“All non-Christian gospel music was considered demonic. All fantasy was demonic.
I couldn’t watch how to train your dragon because it might as well be how to train your demon. Any time I acted up, it was because of the demons either influencing me or in me.
Church every day gets a little old after a while too.”
“My mom is a devout mormon. I was forced to pretend to believe in their church for 18 years.
I moved out a few months ago, she knows I don’t attend but she doesn’t know how far away I have distanced myself from that church.
She still calls me every week saying she’s trying to find out who my bishop is so they can send people to bring me to church with them. It’s like leading a double life but she’s micromanaging my religious beliefs from 4 hours away.
I love my mom but Jesus Christ does the Mormon lifestyle irritate me.”
“It was Hell, and now I’m an athiest. We were raised in the Satanic Panic era in a Full Gospel Pentacostal church where people spoke in tongues, slithered on the floor like a snake, and fainted ( I guess thats what you call it).
We were only allowed stay overnight with friends whos family were from the same church. Only permitted to watch Rated G and PG movies. Not allowed to watch The Smurfs because they were satanic. We and other members of the church would stand on the side of the road in town and preach over a sound system to the teenagers cruising on Friday and Saturday nights.
We were forced to go to church every Wednesday night and morning and evening service on Sunday. Our stepdad was a deacon and later was “called to preach”. He beat the hell out of us on a regular basis and molested my sister. Beatings were so bad we were told no to dress out at PE in school because he didnt want anyone to see the bruises.
We were basically his slaves. We were forced to work our entire childhood. If we were caught with Rock and Roll music, it was burned. He later left my mom for another deacon’s wife which is why im not in prison because I had future plans to kill him once i got older.
There were four of us kids, one has since commited suicide, one is a crack head, my sister and her husband are very wealthy and i am a police officer. Hitler is still alive but he is paying for all of the abuse he put us through.”
“Having religious extremist parents is having a family that looks good from the outside, but is completely broken on the inside.
Having religious extremist parents is having your mother “obey” your father because that’s the only advice their pastor gave for marriage counseling. Having religious extremist parents is being told from an early age that all you’re going to do as a woman is graduate high school, get married, have a bunch of children for god and obey your husband.
Having religious extremist parents is being pulled out of school so they can “instill the proper values and beliefs”. Having religious extremist parents is being gaslit CONSTANTLY. Brain washed CONSTANTLY. Not being allowed your own views.
Having religious extremist parents is being told to not be “vain” so you spend every minute telling yourself not to feel pretty, not to feel confident, not to feel proud of yourself for your accomplishments. Having religious parents is using the bible verse “obey your elders” against your younger sister to play what you wanted to play, and realizing how much you hurt her all those years because of some stupid bible verse taken out of context (just to clarify, our relationship is the strongest out of my family).
Having religious extremist parents is being lectured for hours that “you aren’t helping your mother out around the house enough” while neglecting our education.
Having religious extremist parents is spending hours in a church service where the preacher tells you how you can’t be like the rest of the world, that the rest of the world is wrong, that other theologies are wrong, and woe is the church for having so many young people leave christianity, and don’t ever be like them.
Having religious extremist parents is realizing years later that you gave money EVERY GODD*MN WEEK to some grown man that could’ve gotten a real job to pay his bills, because if you weren’t tithing, you weren’t “christian enough”.
Having religious extremist parents is having a father who thinks the world is awful, and a mother who is so disillusioned that she can only see the rosy world in her head.
Having religious extremist parents is watching your family fall apart when you grow up. Having religious extremist parents is watching the abuse between your parents, but knowing they’ll never divorce because “it’s not god’s will”, and “divorce is wrong”.
Having religious extremist parents is knowing that there are some things, some beliefs that they will never accept you for. Having religious extremist parents is finding yourself much later in life that you should’ve.
It’s growing up and realizing the isolation, the trauma, the depression, and the brokenness in your own family and wondering why you never realized it before.”
How about you?
Were you raised in an overly religious household? Maybe even bordering on extremism?
If so, please tell us about it in the comments.
The post People Who Grew up With Very Religious Parents Talk About Their Experiences appeared first on UberFacts.
Triclavianism is the belief that three nails were used to crucify Jesus. The issue of whether three or four nails were used has been a matter for a centuries-old theological debate.
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I’ve met people over the years who’ve told me long stories about how they were raised in very strict religious families and they eventually became so turned off by the rules and what they saw as hypocrisies that they eventually abandoned the whole thing.
Swore it off forever.
And I guess that makes a lot of sense if a certain kind of religion is forced on you from a young age and you eventually get tired of it.
Here’s what AskReddit users had to say about what ruined religion for them.
“That people would try to force their religion onto me and make me feel like I was a bad person if I didn’t have the same beliefs as them…”
“Was told that dinosaur bones were planted in the ground by Satan to trick us into believing in evolution.”
“Learning that my Mom got alienated and bullied after she tried creating a single mom’s club at our church.”
“My parents told me at a young age that I would go to hell for asking the question “how do we know god is real.”
They could have simply said to read the Bible or something like that.
But instead they told me that I would go to hell, I guess it was the idea behind “blind faith”.”
“My infant brother’s death.
I was very little when he died at 3 days old, but it always bothered me being taught that Jesus was the only man that ever lived without sin. I thought “what could this helpless little baby have done that was a sin? He never even cried?”
When I asked my very catholic grandmother about it she told me to watch what I say because I was being blasphemous.”
“When I came to the realization that trusted authorities did hurt and damage children and gaslight the communities that literally supported the church through personal sacrifice and sincere generosity.
It was the absolute definition of disgrace and I am in agony that it was ever even tolerated.”
“Being kicked out of Christian school prior to the third grade because my Mom bought the wrong edition of the Bible.”
“The non-answers to all my questions as a kid.
“You just have to have faith” is a dumb way to respond to an inquisitive mind.”
“In the third grade my teacher (who was a good person) didn’t believe that cavemen existed because they weren’t mentioned in the bible.
My teacher gave my class a lecture about how cavemen didn’t exist despite there being a lot of evidence. In the fourth grade my teacher was required to teach the theory of evolution to the class by showing a documentary she also gave a lecture on why evolution was fake.
During my time in middle school i realized that it was all crap.”
“How hypocritical the people in church were.
They would judge you and condemn you for drinking as a teenager yet I would see the pastor and all the deacons out drunk and driving home at friends houses whose parents went to the church.”
“My family went to a large church when I was young.
One day the pastor was on the news because it turns out he lived a second life at strip clubs and got arrested for kidnapping and pistol whipping a guy who owed him money.
That was the first time I questioned my faith. How could a person act so stone-cold confidently on stage about everything he was preaching and be a total fraud?”
“The first world religions class I took in college.
Realizing other people in other faiths also believed their religion was true gave me the courage to consider maybe Joseph Smith didn’t really see God and Jesus in a forest in 1820 a few years before sticking his head in a hat to look at magic rocks that helped him translate golden plates inscribed with the history of Jesus visiting North America and a Jewish family sailing around in a wooden submarine lit by rocks god touched to make them glow.
Then I thought, “yeah none of that happened”.
And it was all over for me.”
“I grew up very religious. My father killed himself when I was young. We were back in church before my sister and I went back to school.
The first day back at church, it seemed that the sermon was tailor made for us, as the preacher went on about suicide being against God’s will and there was no chance to repent, so those who commit suicide had no chance at redemption.
Essentially: “Don’t kill yourself. You end up in Hell. Your family will never see you in the Kingdom.”
That was the last thing a teenage, rebellious, Shagnasty needed to hear. I quickly disassociated myself from the organizational part of the church. I occasionally went to Church camp and other events with big groups of kids my age, but I never went back to church again.
As one final middle-finger to that pastor, I later banged his daughter when we were on a trip to Ichthus Festival.”
“I was a freshman in college in 1995 at Clemson.
This was the inaugural season of the Carolina Panthers, and because the stadium in Charlotte hadn’t been completed yet, they played their home games at Death Valley.
It was cool, the town is well equipped for tailgating and stuff. But not on Sunday. Sunday is church day.
I was a Methodist. I well recall the pastor of the Clemson United Methodist Church allowed himself to be quoted in a a newspaper, complaining that the Panthers organization owed all the churches in town for the donations they didn’t get on Sunday because everyone was at the big games.
The donations. Not the souls that weren’t saved. It was the money.”
How about you?
What role does religion play in your life?
Talk to us in the comments and tell us what you think.
Thanks!
The post People Open up About What Ruined Religion for Them appeared first on UberFacts.
I grew up in a Catholic family. I had to go to church every weekend and did the whole First Communion and Confirmation things.
As I got into my teenage years, the whole thing just faded away for me…I don’t think anything necessarily “ruined” it for me, but I just realized that it wasn’t going to play a part in my life whatsoever.
But that’s just my story.
AskReddit users went on the record about what ruined religion for them.
“Someone telling me that it was God’s plan for my unborn daughter to lose her life after her mother was pushed down stairs by an openly racist man.
If that’s what faith in a religion gets me, then I’m out.”
“The arrogance in believing “god” works like Santa Claus just started sounding ridiculous to me around the age of 16. “I got a new job – THANK GOD”
“I almost got into a car accident – must have been god looking out for me.”
But this deity ignores genocide, starvation, and cancer in children but waves a wand to give you a .25 hourly raise. And this is allllll part of the plan too.
Yeah okay….”
“Religion ruined religion.
So many rules.
Like why can’t I just be a nice person and not do harm? Why do I have to go to a building every Sunday and listen someone drone on while surrounded by a bunch of fakes?
Why do we shun those that make mistakes? Or reject those that don’t believe exactly what we do? Why can’t we embrace the differences and just say “it’s ok we don’t believe the same, we both do good and don’t hurt others – team religion!”
But nooooo. We kill in the name of God, because of differences, enforce rules that are almost impossible to keep in modern society and then act like we are following those rules even when we aren’t.
It’s all just gross.”
“I was fully committed Southern Baptist and filled in at times teaching my adult Sunday class.
I then read The End of Faith and The God Delusion. Then I had a realization that all of medicine and biology is based on evolution. I prayed for God to make himself real to me and really wanted to believe. Now I realize every evidence of God I saw in 40 years of church was just confirmation bias and placebo effect.
Can’t tell my family I’m atheist it would kill them. Still go to church to see and make friends.
Edit to follow up: I wouldn’t be ostracized. But I would cause them unnecessary pain since they would think I’m going to hell don’t feel like putting them through that. I’m not wanting to be on everyone’s prayer list.
Funny thing is I like the typical USA Christian way of life.In my experience it works. In my extended family everyone is fairly happy and out of 10 marriages we have no divorces and my kids 20+ cousins are all doing great. I don’t think casual s*x, drugs, or excessive drinking is a good way to live.
I’m not sad, just not able to believe anymore.”
“The hypocrisy, the hate, the shame that’s directed towards humanity.
My last experience was with a fairly middle-road church- I went to the high a school aged youth group service with some classmates. The services started with singing worship (cringe just saying that), and everyone around me was sobbing with their hands held in the air, swaying, singing to a song about how we are so unworthy of love.
And I was like… holy sh*t, what is WRONG with all of you?! I barely survived the rest of the evening.
Never went back.”
“Learning about original sin in church school when I was 9.
I couldn’t get over the unfairness of it, and that started me questioning the whole religion thing.”
“That God’s plan involved the trauma my family endured over the years.
It’s all part of God’s plan?
Well, that plan sucks, so I’m out!”
“The idea of Hell.
I was brought up mainly in Asia. Most my friends and their parents were irreligious, some would go temple but no one took it seriously, it was more about respect for your elders. Learning that all the good people in my life who had heard the “gospel” but didn’t follow it were destined for an ENTIRETY of suffering was abhorrent to me.
It is inherently evil to think that most the world just because they do not believe what you believe is destined to an INFINITE amount of harm.
The logic of it never felt right to me. I had a mother who was sent to convent school in Ireland so Catholicism was rammed down my neck with an iron rod.
At school when we had to write our own accounts what happened to Jesus in Religious Education about when Jesus was resurrected, at the age of 12 I already knew that wasn’t possible so I wrote a story about a big con Jesus had with the women who opened his tomb. My school teacher called my mother and told her.
When I got home she screamed like a banshee at me for hours saying I was ungrateful for what Jesus had sacrificed for us but I was thinking well he was God, he knew everything and is all powerful so actually his sacrifice is meaningless.
One life as a human doesn’t make you great, we have billions of humans life. All human life has more meaning than an infinitely powerful eternal being pretending to be a human for one life. It’s like an instagram influencer showing up for good pics at a BLM march.”
“That my church kicked out someone gay.
That my church was so racist that they campaigned to get a black African priest removed, and when Jesus get removed, half the church left in protest.”
“When I was 5 years years old, after we walked out of a prayer, a beggar approached my mom asking for $5 for food.
As my mom reached into her purse and about to hand him the money, she asked the man if he was muslim, he said yes.
She asked him if he was Sunni or Shia, he answered wrong and she put away the money.”
“Raised Catholic.
The idea that one religion is right and all others are wrong, the idea that so many people suffer on a daily basis but “God loves us”, the idea that we must love each other but religion teaches you to hate those who aren’t like you.
And above all else, the idea that some invisible, all powerful being exist somewhere in the sky. I stopped believing when I was 13.”
“Overbearing people while I was exploring.
I have a Jehovah’s Witness grandma, Wiccan mom, atheist dad, and a solid set of gay Christian friends. Everyone stuck their noses in and I just said “f*ck it, there’s something out there and as long as it doesn’t kill me, I’m chill.”
Just… kinda respect the world and go with the flow.”
“I think it was probably reading the Epic of Gilgamesh in a high school literature class.
It showed me the Bible was qualitatively no different from other ancient writings.
The alleged sacredness was not in the text itself.”
“Being told that every good non-christian person will go to hell.
I decided then and there that I’ll happily burn next to Gandhi and buddhist monks.”
“Scientology ruined my religion for me.
I’m an actor, and they hired me to do some instructional/education video for them and paid decent. I know they’re kinda kooky, but I thought “Hey, I’ve worked for crazier people in this industry” so I met with them on their super secret ‘Gold Base’ in Southern California.
I shot there for several days, and got to know the staff/volunteers who have dedicated their entire life to serving Scientology. I learned a lot about their religion, as I’ve been genuinely curious about all faiths.
I remember driving home after my final day on set, and thinking to myself “How can such normal, nice people believe in something so obviously false? I mean, their founder, who has been historically documented as a scoundrel and a crook, literally wrote a book, got a huge influence of people, and then convinced them that it was the one true way to live!”
Being a fully practicing Mormon at the time, you can imagine my shock when I immediately realized that’s the exact same thing people say about my religion.
EDIT: Some people are asking, so I’ll give an update. This happened about a year ago, and I haven’t been practicing since then.
I still firmly believe the heart of the Mormon church is to make someone better through weekly introspection and selfless service to others. 90% of the people are honestly working to become their best self on a weekly basis by focusing on its teachings. However, as for the one true faith?
There’s too much dissonance, particularly when it comes to LGBT+ policies, for me to believe that’s true.”
How do you feel about this?
Does religion play a role in your life?
Or maybe it used to but not anymore?
Talk to us in the comments and tell us what you think.
The post What Totally Ruined Religion for You? Here’s How People Responded. appeared first on UberFacts.
When Chicago radio station “The Loop” was replaced by a Christian music station. They signed off with Highway to Hell.
The post When Chicago radio station “the loop”… appeared first on Crazy Facts.
When Chicago radio station “The Loop” was replaced by a Christian music station. They signed off with Highway to Hell.
The post When Chicago radio station “the loop”… appeared first on Crazy Facts.
Michael Jones, one of the all-time greatest rugby players, was a devout Christian, and didn’t play on Sundays (which made him miss many World Cup matches). When asked how a religious person can be such a fierce tackler, he replied with a quote from the Bible: “It’s better to give than receive”.
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