what happened in your life to lead you away from Christianity? Do you ever question your decision? Just wondering.
Thanks for answering.
2006-10-31 06:25:08 · 22 answers · asked by seeya 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I don't question my decison, but let's just say it was not an easy path to go from placing one's self entirely in Jesus's hands, trusting him with your every day, your every hour, your every minute, and having to give that feeling of strength and security up because you have learned more and more and see less and less evidence for his existence, let alone that he was divine. Even moreso when one is studying for seminary because one feels deep within the calling to follow Jesus in every way by becoming a priest to serve him in all things.
Lord knows, if you'll excuse an atheist using the expression, that I spent hours upon hours, week after week, alternating between tears and rage, demanding or begging for the slightest bit of proof to rebuild my faith so I could walk once more along his side.
In the end, reason and logic won, because there was never any evidence besides a book that the more I studied, the more flawed I realized it was.
Strangely enough, the day I finally closed the Bible for the last time as a believer, I found the strength and security I thought I had lost when I walked away from my faith, and I have never regretted the roads I've walked, before or since. I am who I am because of both my former faith and conviction in the divinity of Jesus and my current beliefs otherwise.
2006-10-31 06:30:36 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
ok where should i begin... well, first of all my parents are really catholic. They put me in bible school for a couple of years until i got confirmed. I would have to say that bible school really got me learning a lot of what christians/catholics are like and it weirded me out because it looked like they were under control and ignoring other people's beliefs and ideas. They did not really think for themselves and repeated the same answers when i asked them different questions, especially from the bible...
what got to me the most was when i told my mom for the first time that i was not catholic anymore (after going to church EVERY sunday for 16 years). She said that she has failed her job and that she's going to go to hell if i don't go. At that point, I totally did not want to believe in a god that would never even let me have my own free will and condem my mom for not "keeping" me a catholic. I thought that was absurd. I told her that she did as good as anyone could have done, but that she has to let me pick for myself.
I was an atheist kid for a while during some years in high school after my mom's earlier conversation( I probably read and understood the bible more then many christians at that age), but now i'm in college and have been studying world religions. This has been one of the best things i have done because i've realized so much about people, cultures, and especially religion. Now i'm agnostic and i appreciate what religion has done and is doing...but if i ever have kids I'll take them to church if they want to...i'm not against it.
hope this helps!
oh and for "chromesta" (the guy 2 up from me) christianity is definitely not a "white" religion ! wow.
2006-10-31 06:52:25 · answer #2 · answered by bob888 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Thank you for your polite question!
I was in bible college and it was the LAST thing I expected to be honest. I was translating a bit of 1 John from the koine greek to english in Hermeneutics class. The bits that "kinda" didn't make sense in english became gaping holes in the original language. I knew this couldn't be right so I dug harder. The harder I dug, the less I found.
This led to a crisis of faith that lasted for about 3 years. Toward the end, I was in a state of "just don't EVER think about it all. Just accept. When you think and question, it leads to pain and distance from god."
Eventually I just couldn't hold it up any more. It wasn't an emotional thing, nor an angry-at-god thing. Just a "the more I think about this, the more I study, the less I find" thing.
I questioned my decision more at the beginning. Hurting my family, losing my world view, losing hope of seeing loved ones in heaven, losing the comfort of prayer.
I keep an open mind and reread CS Lewis and come to sites like this. But, do I think I'll see some light I didn't see before? No.
Thanks for asking :)
2006-10-31 06:32:12 · answer #3 · answered by Black Parade Billie 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Logic and school.World history played a huge role in my understanding of all religions and why none of them are better than the other.When you study world history, you need to view the world in a neutral view meaning not taking sides. Our present history is Eurocentric meaning that it compliments europeans. Whites have been, still are to some to be the superior race that holds all the knowledge of the world. Christianity is presently a white religion that is the majority of the United States. Religions have been used by Europeans to justify colonism, Imperialism, and other unjust acts. I just dont believe the religion is truer than any other religion say (Judaism or Islam) just because you have white people backing it up. I know I sound like a Euro-phobe but it is basically true from my studies of World history. Also, Growing up as a child, My mother was not all that convincing and I eventually relized it was all fake. I relized there was more than just this one religion and found out she was in another religion prior to Christianity. I witnessed a church full of people crying for no good reason on the church floor which scared the crap out of me when I was 4. I witnessed alot of corruption in most religions and figured why is this religion any more truer than that religion and found out it was based on your origin of birth and your society. The main reason is that Christianity involves the supernatural which by definition is considered superstition!
2006-10-31 06:50:28 · answer #4 · answered by Maikeru 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I love the teachings of Christ and have live my life by those words. I find the People who I had to deal with while attending services in this devotion repellent. Rather than accept the hypocrisy I elected to live out my hedonist lifestyle while still ascribing to the message of Jesus. It's simpler for me and the Christians seem happier with this as well. I can blather on about Jesus with the best of them but I can't seem to morph His words to suit the situation as I've seen demonstrated so often by my estranged brethren. I never attended Sunday school so I wasn't able to learn how to be more judgmental of others and this to created a void in my indoctrination . Finally, I don't embrace suffering; and as every good Christian knows this is what it's all about; Jesus dieing on the cross and all that scourging He went through so People who hadn't yet existed could be free of whatever sin it is that we're supposed to be born with. I hope this helps, oh; by the way; no hard feelings on my part!
2006-10-31 06:50:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The more I studied Christianity, the more I found that it didn't jibe with my idea of a loving God. I still believe God is Love... but the Christian religion is a poor reflection of that. Yes, Jesus said some great things, but that has amazingly little to do with the religion. It seems that fear and bigotry are so much more important. Let's say I have too much faith in God to be a Christian.
I am open to information that changes my spiritual views every now and then, but the basic concept of God = Love has never changed for me. I have absolute faith and trust in this, and have never doubted it.
Currently I consider myself a NeoPagan Taoist.
2006-10-31 06:43:01 · answer #6 · answered by KC 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What lead me away from it at first was looking at the Bible objectively and doing research on the etymologies of certain "controversial" words (such as witch, lie, etc.). I also began to notice not only contradictions, but the conditional factors that could affect God's love. If it is not unconditional, it could not be godly. Ever since I was a small child, I've thought that there could be a great many creatures more powerful than any on the earth, but one must "earn" the title of God; God, as depicted in the Bible, does not deserve it. He is far too egotistical and genocidal.
Jesus was a great being who would deserve the title of God; sadly, if he is the way I feel he is, the Republicans would hate him and label him a "liberal commie f@g." He was powerful, but not egotistical, and he NEVER claimed himself to be God, or a god for that matter.
Jesus himself is in my heart, but I reject the doctrines of Christianity. They've been altered far too much by men over time. So, I do not question the rejection of the religion called "Christianity."
2006-10-31 06:31:51 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
i was raised christian. the reason i stopped believing had a lot to do with the leaders of the church and the people in it. Many of the people i encountered were full of hatred and distrust for anyone even slightly different from themselves. As i grew older i started to see the hypocrisy in what they were preaching to me. i also started asking questions. when they didn't have answers they told me it was "gods will". i now believe that churches are the cause not the solution to may of the problems we have today. War, hate, distrust. it all stems from the basic belief that one persons god is better than anothers. From the view that your beliefs are wrong, mine are right so i will "help' you , by force if necessary.
2006-10-31 06:31:04 · answer #8 · answered by staci m 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Its been said 1,000 times that Xtianity is a religion about Jesus and Judaism is the religion of Jesus. When that finally sank in and I started studying the religion of Jesus and what they believed then I gradually began to let go of things in the new testament that didnt make sense anymore until eventually I gave up belief in anything the NT had to say period.
2006-10-31 06:39:43 · answer #9 · answered by james.parker 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Read the book, beginning to end, ignoring what people who hadn't a clue told me it said and meant, studied its history and seriously studied the other major texts, including those from which the bible "borrowed." Have yet to discover any information that would cause me to question my decision.
2006-10-31 06:38:36 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋