Christians or former christians, is there any event in your life that made you question your religion?

Question

Not your faith, but the religion/church you worship with.

Answer 1

Yes, when I was a child of a poor family and fellow church members judged me for the clothing I wore to church and how much money I put into the collection plate. I left church feeling fear and having unanswered questions. It seems organized religion is more of a social club than anything else.

Answer 2

I am a former Christian. I find the OT hard to believe. I do not believe the true god would be so vengeful, jealous, believe in slavery, the killing of men, women, and children and future generations to come to for the sins of a few. I do not think I ever read in the OT that god loves us.

Then I found the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian texts, and the Egyptian book of the dead. I studied these and other ancient religions and have come to know that many of the OT stories originated in these pagan religions and were passed on in modified forms to the bible. That did it, now I know the OT is false.

Like the other person said I would be more inclined to believe the NT but since it also refers back to the OT it is false by default. Also I do not believe that all non Christians will go to hell. And since I have studied the history of Christianity and the council of Nicaea I cannot believe the NT is correct either.

I believe in the teaching of Jesus. I also believe that many of his teaching were in secret and were not passed on to the general population including current Christians. I do not believe that they even understand the true teaching of Jesus and that they misinterpret many things in the bible.

Answer 3

I question man and don't trust man, but I do believe God and His inspired Word. God is Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is God! 3 in 1 or 1x1x1=1.

Church, family, friends, Pope, priest, nuns, can not save you or reedem you Only Jesus Christ can.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Don't believe everything anyone tells you rather be like a Berean and search the scriptures for you self to see if it is True.

Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Act 17:12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

Therefore many of them believed,.... What the apostle preached, and in Jesus of Nazareth, as the true Messiah, and professed their faith in him, upon finding, through reading and searching the Scriptures, that the characters of the Messiah agreed in him, and that what the apostle delivered were entirely consonant to those writings.

http://christian-hiphop.net/

Answer 4

I used to go to an Assemblies of God church. One of their doctrines is baptism of the Holy Spirit with initial evidence of speaking in tongues.

Because I have spoken in tongues, I know it's legitimate. However, that church insisted that a person is not baptized with the Holy Spirit UNLESS tongues is demonstrated.

I'd had the HS indwelt in me and empowering my ministries for years before I ever spoke in tongues. I've also heard stories from VERY legitimate pastors (Johannes Amritzer; casts out demons and such; look him up) about people who spoke in tongues even before they were Christian!

I know that tongues is real, and I know that the HS indwells His people, and I'm just as convinced that these two events are not inseperably linked like the AG claims.

This diference did not cause a split. I only left them when I moved crosscountry. My curent church in nondenom, only because I am. I would still attend an AG church with no problem.

Answer 5

Yes, I put on Chap Stick, plain old, nothing-special-about-it Chap Stick in church once, and I was told that it was makeup and that I shouldn't be wearing it. And I was also told once that the clear nail polish that I had on was sinful. I think I was about 12 or 13 at the time. That really put a dent in my faith. I ended up changing religions when I got older. I'm much happier now. I'm no longer judged by how I look.

Answer 6

I don't question my faith but the denomination that I am a member of has done some things recently that I don't consider appropriate for a church. I would like for the church to stay out of popular social issues and be more biblically based.

Answer 7

First, even though I was raised a christian I never had faith or believed in christianity so there never were things for me to question. However, I did see things I didn't like and wouldn't like no matter the belief system involved. I won't go into a long explanation but it had to do with the Pastor and hypocrisy.

Answer 8

Not a specific event, just personal intelectual questions:
1 Is there evidence for Jesus outside of the bible?
2 Is the Bible a reliable source when subjected to the same scrutiny as other historical documents?
3 Does the Bible contradict itself?

Thankfully, I was able to find satisfactory answers to all these questions, and I would be happy to share them.

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Answer 9

Questioning is good. For an interesting look at religion see http://www.mysteryinvestigators.com/richard/dawkins.htm
It surely opened my eyes and answered a lot of questions and the main one I had, " What would happen if I don't believe?" That was thirty years ago and nothing has happened to make me go back to religion, only more to stay away.

Answer 10

My father tried to raise us as baptist, with Sunday school every week. The problem arose when I became interested in such subjects as archeology (ancient civilizations, such as Egypt) and paleontology (dinosaurs). While I could apply my critical mind, such as it was at a young age, to these topics, I was discouraged from such by the "teacher" of Sunday school. Any questions I would raise about the disparity between the bible and other sources would be shut down instantly.

It was at that point that I began to delay the departures on Sunday mornings so we could all miss the idea-exchanges of Sunday school. Not long after, my father moved out of state, thus freeing us of the weekend custody arrangement, and freeing me to live my non-religious life.