<oembed><type>rich</type><version>1.0</version><title>Mandrik wrote</title><author_name>Mandrik (npub1qe…z82qk)</author_name><author_url>https://yabu.me/npub1qex7yjtuucs6ac49kjujdgytrjsphn5a4pdscu2w3qlprym4zsxqfz82qk</author_url><provider_name>njump</provider_name><provider_url>https://yabu.me</provider_url><html>I&#39;ve been thinking a lot about my nearly 15 years away from the Greek Orthodox Church.&#xA;&#xA;I&#39;ve come to this conclusion - I don&#39;t know if I would have the same ethical values without that upbringing. It&#39;s easy to think I would when I had that foundation since birth, but I no longer think it&#39;s that simple.&#xA;&#xA;I&#39;ve been around a lot of secular people. Not all, but many are in a dark place. People who are missing something from their lives. Ones who didn&#39;t have an upbringing similar to mine.&#xA;&#xA;I&#39;ve begun to wonder if these people would benefit from religion in their lives. Some type of positive power to pull them out of the darkness.&#xA;&#xA;I&#39;m not saying I&#39;ve found Jesus. I haven&#39;t.&#xA;&#xA;But more and more I want to be around the people who have.&#xA;&#xA;Because I can&#39;t really be around these other people any more. My wife &amp; I have cut most of them out of our lives at this point.&#xA;&#xA;We prefer to spend our time around positive people who are working on building better lives. Building families. Nearly all of them are religious.&#xA;&#xA;We&#39;re both very logical people. Religion and logic were like oil and water to me. &#xA;&#xA;But when I look at the state of the world, it&#39;s not hard to see the positive impact religion can have on people. That&#39;s a very logical conclusion I&#39;m coming to.&#xA;&#xA;Also, I miss a lot of the Greek cultural stuff that I grew up, and it&#39;s intertwined with the church. It would be strange, but I&#39;m accepting the idea that returning there, even as someone who isn&#39;t religious, feels more right than not going.&#xA;&#xA;Still working through this but wanted to share.&#xA;&#xA;Because bitcoiners are how I got here. The ones having families, going to church, and being decent human beings. Those are the people I want to be around.&#xA;&#xA;The alternative is despair and darkness, and I am not going down that road. &#xA;&#xA;✌️🧡</html></oembed>