Have you every changed your religious beliefs?

Question

Hi! I was just wondering if you have ever changed from one set of religious beliefs to another... and if so, what set of beliefs you orginally held, what set you converted to, and most importantly, what was the reason for your change? I am just mostly curious and interested in this subject. Thank you for sharing.

And to play fair, I am personally a Protestant, non-denominational Christian, and was raised as such. While I have never personally changed religions, I started to explore my beliefs more intensely in high school, when I decided that I needed to understand if there were good reasons for me to believe what I had been taught my whole life, or if I was just blindly swallowing what I had been told since childhood. The result was a closer, more intimate relationship with God, and a much more solid foundation for understanding and explaining my relationship with Him. :)

Answer 1

Good Question-

I changed from Grk Orthodox to (no title) I just say I am a child of God. It's all about having a relationship with Jesus. It's not about tradition, works or man made rules. Jesus took to the cross all our sins, sicknesses, infirmities and iniquities. I didn't know this until I became a born again Christian and read my Bible. They never told us "Read your Bible" It was not stressed enough. I was never even taught "how to ask Jesus in my life" nor did I even know about the free gift of salvation. I believed in my mind but not in my heart.
Here I thought we were the "best religion" the most righteous. Again, it all boils down to having a "relationship" with Jesus.
I am so thankful to Jesus for opening my eyes and ears to His Truth.
It's all about Jesus and all Glory to His Name.
Hallelujah! **A child of God**!

Answer 2

In high school, I always thought I was a really good person (volunteered in every possible way and always tried to be selfless), so of course I would go to heaven. I just thought that is where good people went and murders went to hell. The week before I entered my freshman year of college, God used a couple of my friends to show me that I wasn't a good person. I failed all the time. I started to realize that we had some sort of moral law inside of us and I pretty much sucked at living up to it. Then the next week I realized by reading the Bible and without anyone really telling me, that Jesus needed to be the Lord of my life. This may not seem like such a big deal, but in my family it was a huge deal. My parents always raised their children with the mindset to choose whatever we wanted to follow and that was okay. I was the first child to really follow after what I believed with my whole heart. This was something my parents really hated for a while. It sucked to go through that with my parents, but I would never change what I went through. I am a follower of Christ and couldn't imagine life any other way.

Answer 3

I used to think I and all of nature talked to God, and God was a friend...no age or gender what not. I used to believe all the animals in my backyard were teachers and my imaginary friend a link to some other everyone had one of.
Then I went to Catholic school and more of less became my own version of Catholic, still believing the above, without the imaginary friend. Jesus was a cool big brother I could make jokes too in my head, who understood my commitment to others even if the teachers did not. Who approved of my choice to be a freethinking honor bound moral person. I believed at the time in heaven but had no idea what it was like...like most kids found it unimportant...way in the future..
Than to make a long story short I gave up the catholic stuff except the above, then went (no longer had) the ol belief in heaven and the bible as written by god and god as a man.
Then I mixed Engaged Buddhism with Taoism and most importantly went back to the beliefs I had as a kid before catholic school, cept I kept the cool big brother, but this Jesus alot of other folks here and about speak of is not much like him(: he's way nicer. (holy spirit kinda, thats how I figure I get my wrong and right...to me books are for fun not...a moral compass to be followed rigidly)
These three mixed is alot like my faith now. Long story short including the best stuff would be hard to explain in words.

Answer 4

I was not raised in church, but I started going in high school because my mom thought it would be a good influence on me to get involved in the youth group. As a result, I became a Christian in high school.

I didn't make it all the way through college, though. I was sincere in my efforts, but that "become a new creation" thing never worked out for me. I did it all--memorized big chunks of the bible, did mission work, participated in fellowships, led bible studies, etc etc... If you could be a Christian through sheer force of will, I would have done it. I practically sweated blood praying to feel God in my life.

I didn't leave all at once, but if I had to pick a moment it would be when I was in a young adult sunday school class in college. We broke into small groups to discuss the lesson, which I think was a few verses and a handout of discussion questions about them. I questioned one of the discussion points, and the group leader said, "Yes, but don't you think X?" I rephrased my point, thinking we were having a discussion, and the leader repeated exactly again, except with more emphasis this time, "Yes, but DON'T YOU THINK X?" I stared at her for a moment until something in my brain went, "Oooooohhh!"

That was the symbolic end for me, anyway.

Answer 5

I was raised in a christian home. Not a very strict religious family, but the declaration of faith was clear. So as a child, I believed in the Christians ideals of a perfect god, heaven/hell, Jesus coming again to make the world a paradise etc. But as I grew up and became a more critical thinker, I found that a lot of those religious beliefs didn't make sense to me anymore. When I stopped looking at life for what I wanted it to be and started looking at life for what it was, religion didn't seem to explain things in a way that was satisfactory to me. I can't just take things to be true on faith and because it makes me feel good; I need logic and evidence.

Answer 6

Born and raised Baptist and spent most of my life feeling like something else was missing. Went to a revival ( Assembly of God )and discovered the gifts of the spirit and anointing of the Holy Spirit and it all came together. I have to say that I still have a lot of respect for the Baptist, they will teach you most of the word, just some of it they don't discuss unless you are one of those freewill baptist and I understand they speak in tongues and believe in gifts of the spirit. I am pretty much non-denominational so I can go to any church that's available but wont go to Jehovah witness or Mormon or any church which isn't scriptural based. I believe what I believe because it is taught in the bible and if a church says something that is not in the bible, I am wary and won't continue.

Answer 7

I was raised agnostic, went to Methodist church on Christmas eve and Easter.

In Jr. high I was a professed atheist.
In high school I pretty much stayed an atheist but started studying philosophy.
In college I dabbled in Christianity just out of curiosity.
In my 20's I really felt drawn towards Eastern thought, especially Taoism.
In my 30's I felt more and more grounded in Eastern thought.
Now in my 40's I'm still heavily influenced by Taoism and Buddhism, but do not subscribe or practice any particular religion.

To the most part I still see organized religion as an insult to human intelligence, but still respect the mystical and personal spiritual traditions of every religion. I'm still anti-dogma, but am now pro-spiritual.

Answer 8

I grew up in the Southern Babtist church. I used to believe almost all the things generally believed by conservative Southern Baptists. But when I began to have serious questions, or was faced with challenges to what I believed, I felt it wasn't enough to say "that's what I was taught" or "because the Bible says so." I wondered why an all powerful, all lloving, all knowing God would evil like the Holocaust, or would allow "bad things to happen to good people."
I think it's important to always have an open mind and be willing to examine my beliefs.

Answer 9

I have been continually changing my religion since i was old enough to understand. What is odd is that there are so many sects of christianity it has lost all cohesiveness and shouldnt be classified as one religion. One church is teaching kill the non-christians while another is teaching non-judgement and loving the enemy. I am no longer christian but can speak that within christianity, there is plenty of truth. When studying other cultures religions it becomes difficult to understand and requires exhaustive research, while the same jewels lie hidden in the writings of the christian mystics. key words in Christian Mysticism might be, love, unity, forgiveness, compassion, non-judgement, humility, and purification.

I was raised southern Babtist, and then studied in the "positive thinking" movement then moved to study Buddhism and random others, them back to Christianity in its saint and mystic sect. I liked this much better, now i am studying Hinduism and other modern teachers. I have no religion but believe God gave us one religion (the heart) and many ways to understand it.

Answer 10

Congratulations on becomming more knowledgable in your faith. That's something alot of us never bother with (hence the "dumb and stubborn" stereotypes).

I was born and raised Southern Baptist, became a Christian at 8, fell away in high school, came back in motherhood.

Being educated in a Christian school gave feet to alot of my faith, but I've learned a great deal more than the basics in the past few years. I continue to study to shew myself approved.

I am currently between churches (like being between jobs?), and am considering leaving the Convention due to their stance on several issues (Tongues, being one). I prayed for a Yes or No answer, instead of a Where Should I Go? answer. Now I'm sorta' stuck. I know God has a place for me to serve and will put me there when He's ready.

Meanwhile, I continue in my activities for Him and have tried to keep my kids' maturity level on the increase. Stagnation brings bugs...