Juliette

Juliette is a girl who used to be an atheist. She had no religion and also did not believe in anything supernatural whatsoever. She also had addictions to drugs and drinking and this despaired and depressed her. At some point, she met some people with very sinful lifestyles who were involved with black magic. When she got involved in it, she saw that supernatural things existed. She saw that magic was real and things that it was causing. A very dramatic and scary event also happened to her and she was scared and confused.

After this event happened and after she realised that certain supernatural things may actually exist, she was more open to other questions too. She started wondering if God exists as well, for example. She lived in a country where people were orthodox Christians, but she was personally an atheist. She decided to start going to church. When she went there, she started feeling God’s grace and many problems that she was previously facing in her life were also solved. She also understood how pointless everything is. She used to be concerned a lot with eg what people think or that she should follow society pressures on things to do. All of this now seemed to be completely pointless and it seemed like she had worried in vain.

Jesus in the Bible says that if we drink from the “water” that He offers, we will never be thirsty again. It was something similar. Why should we put so much thought in what food to eat or what things to drink as if it is the purpose of everything and the most important thing? Why should we concern ourselves to such a big extent (as if they are the most amazing and meaningful things in the world) with earthly materials and neglect the true eternal “water” that will satisfy us the most and never let us feel thirsty again? It all seemed to have less point right now. There was no point in making eg food the centre of your concern when it is such a small thing compared to eternity and what God blesses you with.

Juliette also felt less pressure from the world. Everyone is talking about how bad society was in the past. People were being pushed to get married even if they didn’t want to, women had less rights than men etc. The list goes on and on. Who told you though that today’s society doesn’t do the same? I personally believe that today’s society has become even more hypocritical and evil because it supports certain believes in the name of freedom of people, but at the same time pushes people even more and it makes them feel that they are not free.

Think about it. There are many rules that society pushes people to follow. For example, people are being pushed to spend some years in their youth participating in a hookup culture where they hook up with people and are not supposed to commit to anyone or want a more genuine and fulfilling relationship with everyone. Society especially stigmatises people who have only had their husband/wife as a partner and have had no other romantic partners in their life.

People are not really “allowed” to e.g. have sex with only one man/woman in their life. They are really pushed and they feel that they are not “allowed” to go out and just immediately seek their husband/wife, even if they felt that they wanted to. You are not even "allowed" to WANT that. If you tell someone that you want that, he may laugh at you.

Polygamy is also pushed a lot in some societies. In America, for example, today monogamy pretty much exists only in the context of a relationship. It is hard to get it in another context and sometimes someone may also feel pressure from society or friends to be more polygamous. Thus, there is a lot of pressure towards certain behaviours and these are just some examples. There are many more examples of pressure that the modern society exerts to people.

How can a society that pushes people towards certain behaviours and stigmatises them if they do not DO or even WANT certain things be truly free? Even if you consider it free, you have to admit that it gives to people similar pressure that societies did in the past, but for other reasons; in the past, for example, societies pushed people to get married, even if they were not fans of the idea.

I find this whole thing horrible. I feel like a complete robot when people are trying to control what I want and what I feel. Society has not truly become more free than it used to be. The specific orders of what you have to do have only changed. They have actually changed and are advertised in a way that can easily deceive people that the thing that is actually promoted is freedom… Human nature does not change though. It pushed people in the past and it keeps pushing them now…

Juliette told me that she subconsciously felt a lot of people by society. It was subconscious and she didn’t realise it at the time. When she changed her way of life and stopped following this society, she actually felt relieved. She felt as if a burden was not on her anymore and as if some pressure was gone.

Moreover, even though she lived in an orthodox country, Juliette also had other options before she became orthodox. She had met some people from evangelical Christianity. She initially spent some time with them, but she decided that she didn’t want to convert to it. One main reason for this was the fact that these people have no confession of sins. This made Juliette feel that this may be some sort of “easy” Christianity where you can actually take the benefits that you would take from becoming a Christian, but don’t really have to work on changing and repenting yourself.

Juliette didn’t like that and she felt that she should be doing something different. She also felt that if God exists, she can’t just continue living as if God didn’t exist (as she lived before). She couldn’t e.g. continue living as if life was pointless and had no meaning. Something had to be different. After she went to the orthodox church and she felt that she experienced God and His grace there, this also kept her and made her feel that she wanted to stay there.

This was the story of Juliette. I hope that you enjoyed it and that it helped you in your quest regarding whether orthodox Christianity may be true or not.