To former believers and whomever would like to comment?

Question

How can you think that something is truth one day and lies the next if there has been no change in it? Since the Bible has not changed (not talking about different versions), what about you changed to cause you to reject it? When you were a believer did you study the Bible, or was your belief based on tradition?

I ask this because people say they believed until they read the Bible. If you didn’t know God’s Word while you were a believer, what exactly where you believing in??

Answer 1

I believed the Protestantism I was raised in until about the age of 9 or 10, when I realized the utter silliness of the whole thing. At about 13- 19, I spoke to ministers, priests, and other clerics in various branches of the Christian faith, and non of them could answer my questions without insisting that I take it on faith (as in, without evidence). That is silly. If you want to say a supernatural being exists and poofed everything into existence, you ought at least be able to show evidence of his existence.



In response to Adam, below: understanding the Bible is not difficult: understanding the actions of the lunatics who act in its name is difficult.

Answer 2

I was a hard core fundamentalist. I know the Bible better then most, which by the way pisses a lot of CHristians off. The I read the Da Vinci Code. I was so incredibly pissed off that I went on a crusade to prove it wrong. I did prove Dan Brown's theory wrong (different question) but I also fell love with Roman History so I began to study the Romans. A little buit of the Kingdom, a moderate amount on the republic, and a huge amount about the empire.

After you get past the Augustan Age, you only run into one more intersting emporer. Constantine the Great. While studying Constantine Learned all about how the Christian church was founded. How the Bible was reconstructed and edited. And what the political climate was when this happened. (Ever wonder why christians worship on sunday when the sabbath is on Saturday)

That still wasn't enough however. One day as I was working on a project I started looking for the historical evidence of Abraham. (I was working on a Jew/Muslim/Christian thing). Problem was I could not find any. Long stroy short I gave the Bible one last chance and tried to prove the kingdom of Solomon. You would think that that was the easiest thing in the world to prove seeing as how he was so great. Sorry no mention of him anywhere amongst his contemporaries.

The final stage, I began learning how all religons are formed. From Neolithic to modern day. And everything is the same. A bunch of people got together and put a story together that evoled over time or some guy who in todays society would be locked up came up wit some ideas and people signed on to them.

The final conclusion, the Ancient Greeks believed in Zeus with more passion then your most pious christian. Why? They did not have the working knowledge of the universe that we have in science. What is religon but an attempt to understand the world around us, a search for the truth. Funny how your smarter people are generally agnostic or atheist while your uneducated (inner cities - Middle East) are your true believers. Because it takes a fool to believe this junk and I like to think of myself as a reformed fool.

Good and evil is man dealing with himself. An afterlife is man's way of dealing with death which we will never know what awaits us till we get there. My vote is nothing and I am sorry if I find peace in that. Finally religon is the construct of the powers that be devisied in order to cow the populace to their will. Follow these rules and go to heaven. Cross them and burn forever.

Answer 3

Because from birth you are raised to believe in God/Jesus as if they were real...just like Santa Claus except one day your parents tell you that he isn't real anymore but God/Jesus are. In Sunday School you hear the nice little Sunday School stories mostly from the NT and a few from the old.

When you get older you start noticing contradictions but you are so fearful of going to hell that you are afraid to question. Then, one day you can't take it anymore you ask your pastor for help...he gives an explanation that makes absolutely no sense. You pray and ask God to help you understand the contradictions, he remains silent. You ask another preacher and they contradict the first preacher. Then you get an apologetics book to figure out what the hell is going on and they make no sense. But still, you figure that since they've been to seminary that you are wrong, they surely know. Then you realize that there are THOUSANDS of sects of Christianity that DO NOT agree with each other and each claim that they have the correct interpretations of the bible.

You pray some more and read, read, read your bible. You read the OT without an apologetics books and see the horrific commands a supposed loving deity gives to his people. You see God rewarding evil and punishing the innocent. You see the numerous contradictions and failed prophecies and you slowly begin to realize that what you were told about God is NOT depicted in the bible that you have believed a lie. Little children sing "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world..." and "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." That is the kind of God/Jesus I believed in, when I was little no one told me that the god I believed in ORDERED the Israelites to TAKE BEAUTIFUL WOMEN from their enemy as their own. Or that God said that a RAPE VICTIM must marry her rapist for not screaming loud enough.

Then you realize that it is a story made by men that a supreme being had nothing to do with and hence all the errors and contradictions, and evil commands.

Most people stay in their beliefs based on the country

Answer 4

It is simple... some people learn how to think properly. Once that happens, religious belief is usually the first casualty... it just evaporates. Poof. Religious beliefs simply cannot withstand the glaring light of reason and critical thought.

The fact that you still harbor these delusional beliefs and willful ignorance demonstrates that you have NOT learned to think properly.

"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion." ~ Robert M. Pirsig

You have my sympathy.

Science, logic, reason, and critical thought have long been regarded (by religious people) as the enemies of religion. Considering that those are the tools of highly intelligent people, it should not come as a huge shock to learn that intelligence (or lack of it) has some connection to religious belief. In fact, there are about 40 studies, conducted over the past 80 years or so, that reveal a statistically significant NEGATIVE CORRELATION between intelligence and religiosity. In plainer language, that means that they found that the more intelligent a person is, the LESS likely that person is to be religious... or, conversely, the LESS intelligent a person is, the MORE likely that person is to be religious.

If you think about it, those findings make a lot of sense. Intelligence tests mainly provide an indication of reasoning ability and problem solving ability... logic, reason and critical thought. These are the very qualities that see through religion, and recognize it for what it is; i.e., religion cannot survive the glaring light of reason and critical thought. This was well understood by important figures in religious history. This is why the early church destroyed all the 'tainted' (non-canonical) writings, which were in conflict with dogma... Greek philosophy, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, engineering... all the good stuff. By this means, Christianity dragged humanity directly into the Dark Ages.

Just to illustrate the point, let's see what Martin Luther, the 'father' of protestantism, had to say about 'reason' and secular knowledge:

"Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but -- more frequently than not -- struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God." ~ Martin Luther

"There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason... Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason should be destroyed in all Christians." ~ Martin Luther

Answer 5

Instead of studying the word for themselves people believe what they are told without verifying if there is any truth.When the word is being preached, don't just take the speakers word--verify. The Bible says to do that. Know for yourself. So when others change their way of thinking-it was someone else's way that you were thinking.
2 Timothy 2:15
Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth.
Study, meditate on the word and know for yourself so that when other people's opinions don't agree with what you have studied-you can agree to disagree confidently because you know the truth. They may see it the way you see it or disagree.

Answer 6

I don't believe in any of it. I don't know if Jesus was a real person, according to some things I've read.

My high school psychology teacher had an interesting theory.

In the times of Jesus Christ, there were Coca plants in the region. He would have his followers chew on these coca plants (from which cocaine is made) and they would have "trips". Someone wrote down what he saw in those "trips" - what he believed occurred - and there you have the story of Jesus Christ.

I believe in evolution. I don't really know that there is a god - in fact, there may be multiple gods, like in Greek or Roman religions - who knows for sure.

Remember, the Bible was written by people - not God, not Jesus - but by people.

There are many similarities between stories in the Bible, and stories about different global leaders of the time (like Caesars, etc.).

That's my take on this issue.

Answer 7

When i was a kid i believed because i was told it was real, i had no reason to doubt my parents or the church. The bible has some nice stories in it too. As I grew up and read more of it, and also studied science, i began to realise it didn't make a lot of sense and was always contradictory. In answer to your question, it's probably tradition yes.Kids will believe anything. A bit like santa claus, you believe it until one day you realise it can't be true

Answer 8

I did know God's word when I was a believer, and I was believing in God. Then I received other input, from science, from logic, etc, and realized that what I was believing was in error. It didn't hurt that I'd already started seeing the contradictions in the Bible, which really was bad for the assertion of it being God's Word. But yes, my belief was absolute.

Think of it this way. I spend five years telling you that I will only drive red cars. You don't know me face to face, so you have to take it on faith that I drive a red car. Then you meet me and I'm driving a silver car.

Answer 9

Have you ever believed what someone had told you until you read somewhere that it wasnt true. Or heard a story but it was from a friend who heard it from a friend that heard it from a friend who.....etc.

People may belive because someone tells them its true, and after they read the bible they formed their own opinions and read else where they some of the things in the bible may not be true (science). The bible is stories writen by some who heard from someone who heard from some one who.....etc.

Its like the game telephone (everplayed it?) Sometimes only part of what really happend comes out in the end. Apply that thought to the bible.

Answer 10

I believed until i had some nasty experiences with family members that thought the other sect of christianity was going to hell. To top it off they wrote me a nasty letter saying that i was a liar and a thief and i needed Jesus(basically that i wasnt a true christian - but at the time i was a christian) even your bible said Jesus came not for peace but a sword to divide and cause anomousity towards family, since i love my family i decided this religion was not for me, also i believe animals have souls and we reincarnate, that is something you cannot change because it goes agianst my personal experience.

dont bother with converting me, i can do some nasty things to christians that think they are superior to everyone.