Were you raised as a Christian or did you find God later on in life?

Question

If you were not raised as a Christian but instead had Athiest parents who would call you for asking questions about God, were born in not a pleasant atmosphere etc would you still have found God? If you are sure of this, how?

On the flip side for Athiests, instead of saying who is God etc I ask if you were born into a Christian family, as in you as a child you believed your parents and so believed in God, would you believe in God now?

Is anybody a born again Christian? Or was once a Christian and not anymore?

Not many people who were raised as Christians and still are have answered this question. For that matter not many have found God later on in life. Something is wrong here.

I actually feel bad that somebody might be questioning their faith. Don't because there is a God.

Answer 1

I was born christian, my family is very religious. However, when i was in high school I started to think about religion and god and I felt that it just didn't work. I developed my own beliefs and convictions and I'm very happy with it. And by no means am I an athiest. I believe in god, I just don't feel he's done everything that he's said to have done and I believe religion is highly over rated. But I think thats my right to believe in what ever I want. Just the same for everyone else, we are independent and unique people, we all have the right to believe in what we wish.

Answer 2

I was born into a half-christian family. My mother was a Baptist, and her dad was a free methodist minister. My dad was a christian on Easter sunday, just in case. The rest of the time he was living sorta christian-inspired life. He called himself a christian, but not a good one.
My mother died of cancer when I was 6. As of this morning I was still angry at anyone who says that is god's will.
Then I was a methodist for a couple of years, and then my dad married his half-niece and we all became catholics (except him, of course)
I enjoyed it. All the rules and structure, all the saints, and Mary, the kind and loving mother, I missed so much. It felt good to know all the answers for a while.
then I turned 16, and all of a sudden the church did not have the answers i craved. It was full of deception, empty rituals and smirking commands. I enjoyed the donut shop better.
For 30 years I was an atheist, and very angry and frustrated. I raised my children to think it was all baloney.
Then I discovered the Unitarian church. For about 15 years I went there, and had found a home again. My children went with me. I even met my current boyfriend there.
Now the UU church that I am a member of has a bummer of a minister, and I can't stand to listen to him, so I stay home.
I have been reading a lot of Buddhist titles lately and love it.
I can at least sit while someone talks about religious topics, so I have come a LONG way.
My grown sons are both Unitarian. One is more Buddhist /pagan, one more Humanist.

Answer 3

I was raised in a vaguely religious setting, with belief in a God and the idea of moral wrongs being instilled into me from an early age. But I have never been pushed or encouraged into a particular denomination, despite my upbringing and my attendance at a CofE school, and also my christening when I was a month old. Instead I found God, the Bible and Christianity rather more recently. I showed interest in religious affairs and beliefs from 12 or so, and more recently (I am now 18) I have begun my true acceptance of CHristianity and of the salvation promised by Jesus Christ, Son of God.
So to answer the question, I was raised in a faintly religious setting, and found religion for myself and acceped it for myself later.
It might be of interest that a survey in America showed that 88% of children raised in a religious family will leave the Church at 18 permanantly.

Answer 4

I was raised in a non-faith family, and God called me through Jesus to become a Christian when I was 29. That's a born again christian not a sunday morning christian.

Answer 5

I was raised as a catholic and was even an altar boy for many years. What is pathetic is I had no idea what Jesus dying two thousand years ago had to do with my sins. I openly mocked the born again crowd mostly I think because all the stereotyping I was programmed with through the movies and other media. Jesus said a man must be born again to go to heaven. Ironically I never heard anything about being born again in my Catholic church which begs the question if we wanted to go to heaven and believed Jesus wasn't just waxing poetic should we not be exploring what he meant? I now belong to the born agains and although we have our share of hypocrisy (myself included) there are allot of good people to. Also I have found hypocrisy isn't limited to people of faith. If you aren't a hypocrite, our church could sure use you to help us become more perfect like yourself. In truth we need to focus on God not his flawed believers. Again I find it time consuming pulling the logs out of my own eye. Please don't allow other peoples failures to distract you from your search for truth, and try to find God on his terms not our own.

Answer 6

I was raised as a born again Christian and found God later on in life.

Answer 7

Strange question for someone calling themselves "not enlightened yet". What is it that you're looking or hoping for?
I was brought up in a very Christian family and I don't know. I'm not even concerned with knowing.
Yes I suppose it might be nice, secure, to have that kind of faith but I don't.
I simply get on with life. Consider myself to be blessed (in any sense of the word) for my family and friends who all bring meaning and balance to my life.
If there is a judgement day I think I can honestly stand there and say (overall) I've been a good person.
If, there is a God, I'm sure he put me here to test others and I've done quite a good job of that.

Answer 8

I was raised a Christian, went to a Christian school etc. Never believed even as a young child that Jesus died to save us from so-called sin. Always had a strong belief in God, but it took me to becoming a Sprititualist in my late 20's that I truly felt and understood the power of God.

Answer 9

I have to agree with the last guy. I was born and raised catholic. Now i claim no religion. I like the teachings of zen and becoming centered with ones self and becoming enlightend. I think it is better to practice something that will benefit how you feel about yourself rather than worrying about oh, is god going to strike me down for having sex before being married? I'm not going to follow some dumb rules that some random dude made about how to live my life. I want to live, not be scared and not live. I find that christians are very naive, close minded, and ignorant and dont have their own say in whats goes on in their life. I'd rather ask questions and look for answers then just settle for what someone tells me is right or wrong.

Answer 10

At one point in my life I thought I was a christian, its all I ever knew growing up. But as I got older and started to actually read the bible and started asking questions I found that most people didnt know what they are talking about. Now as for my daughter I will not discourage her from being a christian or any religion for that matter but I also will not let her get brainwashed by other christians at such a young age. It would mean more to me and her if she found christ on her own as opposed to being told all her life.