This is a chance to share your "testimony," for lack of a better word.
2006-09-27 06:17:16 · 16 answers · asked by GreenEyedLilo 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I am actually trying to help keep the peace by freeing up Flavormint's question for the answers she wants while letting others have their say.
2006-09-27 06:26:51 · update #1
Yes, absolutely.
First, I have had to become a more moral person -- I cannot just fall back on some dogmatic set of rules. This makes me far more aware of my each and every action. Without morality, life wouldn't be worth living.
Second, I cannot rely on a deific force to bring rightness and justice to the world, so I have no excuse to not work towards rightness and justice.
Third, I am able to sate my intellectual curiosity without having to constantly question things in the light of a book that was written by men thousands of years ago. I am free to take things entirely on their own merit.
2006-09-27 06:23:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
In a word, yes.
When I was a Christian, I was confused, angry and frightened all the time. I had questions no one could answer and any logic that I applied to my questions indicated that god was either imaginary or a psychopath. I tried leaving a few times when I was younger, but the fear of hell and of what god could do to me while I was alive always brought me back. (I thought that if I left, god would kill my mother.)
Despite my constant moodiness and depression, I met a wonderful man a few years ago who loved me in spite of it all. We decided to get married and no preacher would perform the ceremony because we were "unequally yoked" (he's an Asatru and I was a Christian). One preacher even spent 3 weeks trying to break us up. It was the final straw.
It took me about a year after that to come to terms with it all. I still needed some form of spirituality in my life, so I turned to a pantheistic, nature-oriented path. (Not quite Wicca, but close.) My husband and I are still "unequally yoked", but are closer than most couples who are. After the rocky transition period, everyone who knows me says I seem happier, more confident and more at ease. And I am!
I'm not saying that Christianity is wrong and that no one should be Christian. I'm just saying it was wrong for me. I'm happy for people who are content with Christianity. But I wasn't. And that's really all there is to it.
2006-09-27 13:37:11 · answer #2 · answered by Avie 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I was raised as an African Methodist Episcopalian Christian, and personally I believe that I am better off. I felt that while growing up in the church that the beliefs were pressed on me. I felt as if I didn't have a choice to choose to believe what I wanted. I resented my mother's behavior when she would literally force me into church clothes and drag me there.
While I do contend that there are many wholesome values within the church itself - Love thy neighbor, honor thy father and thy mother, etc etc. I do not condone the entire "Our religion is the right one, the ONLY one" theory. I cannot believe in a religion that tries to scare and/or force people to believe the same. Maybe this is just my own personal experience making me biased, but I believe that a god/diety/supreme being created the universe, but my worshipping/acknowledging this fact is not central to my finding everlasting peace in the afterlife.
2006-09-27 13:23:18 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes I'm better off now. I don't have a clergyman constantly telling me I have no choices in my life. It is very damaging to think you can go through life with no control over the decisions you make. I feel free and don't regret walking out of that church for the last time 22 years ago.
2006-09-27 13:20:06 · answer #4 · answered by genaddt 7 · 6⤊ 0⤋
I feel that I am much better off now, although it is difficult to say as I began doubting the premise at about the age of 11 or so. I do believe that it is better to be intellectually free than enslaved by mythology.
2006-09-27 13:19:42 · answer #5 · answered by Blackacre 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I love Buddhism. I feel so free, it was like I was in a cage before, but now I am free to grow, to look into other beliefs! It is a great religion, and I am truely happy!
2006-09-27 13:25:15 · answer #6 · answered by Shinkirou Hasukage 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
What makes someone a "former Christian"?
Let me get this straight. A person repents toward God, puts their trust in Christ to save them, the Holy Spirit dwells in them, and one day they change their mind and are no longer Christians? Are you kidding? That just can't happen.
More than likely they were a false convert. They thought they were Christians, led Christian lives but never repented and put their trust in Jesus. Oh they may have said the sinner's prayer, signed a card, were baptized, but they never humbled themselves and bowed down before the cross, grieved that they have sinned against a Holy God. That's the fault of the modern day Gospel.
The modern day Gospel promises peace, love, joy, fulfillment and lasting happiness. There's no mention of future judgement, hell, repentence. We're afraid to offend so we paint Christianity as a cure for your drug, alcohol, marriage, and financial problems. And when these don't happen people "backslide". But you can't slide back if you've never slid forward in the first place.
God is more concerned with curing your sin problem.
2006-09-27 13:51:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
Well I first want to say I don't believe in criticizing anyone's religious beliefs. I feel that for myself, I am more spiritually aware and enlightened in my belief since I left organized religion. I now realize how limiting and oppressive it was!
2006-09-27 13:21:52 · answer #8 · answered by WiserAngel 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I've found Buddhism, got a great job, and I'm generally enjoying my life a whole hell of a lot more.
2006-09-27 13:58:32 · answer #9 · answered by shinai_inaozuke 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am significantly better off now because I am no longer choking on another's beliefs.
2006-09-27 13:20:23 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋