Has Free Jinger had any influence on you?

[Patsy]

I've come to appreciate being straightforward over being "nice :) :)". It really pisses me off when I see someone being obviously passive aggressive and rude, but in a way where it is impossible to call them out "nicely".

[Guest Anonymous]

It makes me laugh.

[geniebelle6901]

Without a doubt, yes. A lot of things I believed in have been challenged, and a lot of posters have said things that have made me question some things in my life. On the other hand, though it has strengthened a lot of the things I believe in.

[jjmennonite]

Since I was raised in this weird stew of 2 kinds of Mennonite, Pentacostal and Baptist, FJ has given me a lot of insight into my ways of thinking. I have not been a bible believer for many years, but there are certain ways of thinking that I retain from my uber-Christian upbringing, and it is good to recognize those. Spiritual abuse is a term I first heard here, and it describes some of my childhood.

Also, like a previous poster said, I am better able to articulate things that I have thought for a while.

[terranova]

It's made me a more confirmed atheist and believer in the evils or organised religion.

And confirmed that we women still have a huge fight ahead of us in the war for true equality.

[JesusFightClub]

It has changed my thinking a bit.

In the UK I would call myself a revolutionary socialist if someone asked, which is Left code for Trotskyist ;) The tradition can get fairly macho and I

am used to this. Am not very feminine and I'm interested in things like riot porn, the history of carbombing, weaponry drills, political violence... to a nerdy extent. I have a whole wall of photos of carbombings though and I can talk you through each one. Which is not like getting your hair done and buying a pretty dress. As my family remind me.

Can't help it. Just a nerd (p.s I am not in favour of carbombs! I am very opposed.)

FJ reminds me not to be so "macho" or, well, can't think of the word. To think about women more. Remove brain from nerd world, think real world.

[muffynbear]

FJ has made me realize that organized religion does more harm than good. I also think that I pick up on misogynistic attitudes far better than I used to.

[DowagerDuchess]

The other day, I was thinking that if it was not for Free Jinger, I would have never used the term feminist to describe myself.

Has Free Jinger influenced or changed your way of thinking in anyway.

Honestly, no it hasn't.

I am retired though, which I only say to give you some indication of my age, and happily settled into my belief system, my own family, my life, my style. I am very interested in the culture of fundies and hope to educate, myself on them to the point I can incorporate them into a screenplay I hope to write one of these days.

It was a good day when a friend told me about FJ.

[constantgardener]

I am glad this thread was started, because Freejinger has helped me come to terms with something that happened to me. Without going into too much detail, as only two people in my 'real' life know about this, I chose to have an abortion when I accidentally became pregnant while on birth control. It was extremely traumatic but I knew that it was absolutely the right thing to do for me. During the months afterwards, however, I got myself in a real turmoil about what I had done. Reading here has helped to realise that I don't have to feel guilty about it.

Thanks everyone, without knowing it you helped me though a really difficult time.

[Soldevi]

Some. I am not so shy anymore to write in English. I do somewhat rape English language but I finally learned that it is far more important to become understood and spread ideas than keep quiet just because grammar and syntax are not perfect. Like many others, FJ has expanded my knowledge of fundydom. I also started blogging about LGBTQ issues, US politics and fundies because I want to bring these issues to daylight in my own country as well. We are secular nation in general and fundies are something to snigger at but some of them and their ideologies are really dangerous. I want to share my knowledge with those people too who don't understand English.

[MetalLaLa]

I think FJ has reinforced my own belief that I can function perfectly fine, mentally and physically, without needing to pray to a God or follow organised religion. Since I joined this forum having found it by chance, I have enjoyed hearing the views of likeminded people, and also having my own views heard and appreciated about some of the more 'taboo' aspects of the topics that FJ is all about, which in turn has probably influenced me to educate myself further about things that are becoming more and more of a pressing issue on a social and political level. And being from the UK, I'm more aware then ever that things going on in the states are slowly but surely creeping over to my country.

[mrs]

I understand it is ok to disagree, and its not personal. And sometimes its good when someone "calls you out." It has resulted in a lot of self reflection.

love you guys!

[Guest Anonymous]

It is great for my mental health as I get at least one belly laugh every day, at something someone says. The downside is that FJ owes me a new keyboard for my net book, as I spilled a whole cup of coffee over it during one such belly-laugh episode. :lol:

I was already beyond my evangelical christian days, long before I discovered FJ, but I find myself frequently realising that I still have hang-ups and habits left over from then. And I have certainly become more open and frank about why I left Christianity, after having thought it all through again, during my time on here.

[Hane]

QFT. I, too, found out the world is a much scarier place than I originally believed it to be.

Thanks to FJ, I am more acutely aware of the threat of Dominionism in the US and beyond. I am actually panicky at the fact that Jerry Falwell's New Life Church has made its way into a formerly mainstream Baptist church here in my town, and is attracting so many new members that its Christmas and Easter services are held in a huge concert venue nearby--and that its local born-again poster boy is our former governor who was thrown out of office and spent time in a federal prison for corruption. (He now has a popular right-wing radio program, and has never expressed the slightest remorse [other than "It's easy to get caught up in the moment, and mistakes were made"] for what he did.)

I am similarly panicky to see the Catholic Church slide even further to the right, and getting into bed with denominations it once opposed, in order to make political hay.

If twenty-year-old me, back in the '70s, were to learn that contraception would become "controversial" in mainstream America in the 21st century, she would have dropped dead in shock.

[darareaksmey]

It's made me stop and think about the issues that atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers, non-Christians have with Christianity and to check myself before I, as a Christian, go adding fuel to the fire. For that reason, if anything, FJ has made me a stronger Christian, more desirous of following the example of Jesus. But other than that I don't think FJ has had a huge effect on me. I was always liberal, feminist, and tolerant of people of other beliefs or no beliefs. And I've always thought physical truth is found in science.

[reds]

What has free jinger has done for me?

I am more scared of what the future holds for my children, my daughter in particular.

I am a catholic who is concerned about the direction the church is taking and am trying to figure out what to do with it.

[genericJname]

It has added some fun words to my vocabulary. While I was already pretty into QF/fundies before I joined here, I met a lot of new ones, like the YLCF ladies.

[Trynn]

I'm definitely more educated now than I used to be. Not just as far as the Duggars and quiverfullers (which is how I found the site in the first place). But other things as well such as women's issues, transgender equality, LGBTQ equality, etc. Because of this, I think I am more open minded than I was. I still wouldn't call myself a feminist, but I definitely am seeing more of these issues around me. (And my friends' definition of feminist is apparently someone who thinks that Women can do everything men can do, so if that's their definition I am an extremely proud feminist.)

[Witsec7]

just ignore me wrong thread :oops:

[Mela99]

I've consistently become more appreciative of what I have - a new house, a great boyfriend, being in law school, pursuing my dreams. So many are denied that.

I also like to think I've become more informed on some situations.

Mostly, I'm hugely grateful that I have a forum of like-minded people in this crazy ass world who remind me that I'm not alone, and that sanity does still exist.

[Lillian]

Fundies, and by extension FJ, have made me really freaking grateful for my education and parents who let me grow up to just be myself and not some idealised picture of Godly femininity.

FJ has also provided various useful information for some uni classes, and made me more aware of women's issues in general.

[nomoxian]

I just joined after lurking for ages... so I guess it got me to be a part of the community :) And it will give me a place to hate on the KAC show when it comes back next season! And the new Bates show too!!

[Kaylee]

It's made me more comfortable in following my own path instead of trying to conform to someone else's definition of "biblical womanhood". For a long time, I was sort of hiding big parts of myself and keeping quiet in the face of things that were wrong because it seems like every time I spoke up I was told I was being rebellious or unChristian.

Since being on FJ, I've examined a lot of my own beliefs and become more comfortable following the Bible as I see it instead of trying to live by a set of religious rules. That's made me more comfortable doing things that many of my fellow conservative Christians are against, but that I see as as extension of loving others. It's also helped get me more involved in social justice type things and becoming more politically active in regards to LGBTQ and women's rights issues.

[Beeks]

I have been getting more and more liberal in my beliefs as I get older. A combination of having my own children and reading FJ ( which often prompts me to dig deeper on my own) has made me VERY pro-choice. I started out very pro-life (even through college) so this is a big change. The funny thing is I've gotten the guts to post a few things on Facebook and answer back to religious family members who question me and everybody shuts right up!

[MamaJunebug]

It's not changed the path I was on, but it has accelerated my progress along it.