How has your belief system changed over the years?

Question

You don't know how many times I hear of people who grew up going to church but something happened where they became atheist, humanist, etc...

If something happened to you because of a bad religious experience...what was it...

Or the other way...you grew up in a family with no religious beliefs and someone introduced you to a belief system...how did that change you?

Or you grew up and borrowed your parents faith but now that you have grown up you have your own faith that may be stronger..

Go either way here.

Batseries5 Question 2 of 5 (spiritual). I will ask a series of 5 questions a day for 5 days a week (psychological, spiritual, sexual, polls, and miscellaneous). Answer all 5 if you have time for a well rounded response. Have fun!

Answer 1

Yes I have heard of this happening many times. It is in human nature to rebel.

I have also seen those raised in secular humanist homes that have come to Christ (myself). I'm sure there are many reasons why people turn from the faith they were raised with. But God calls all of us. I hope that doesn't diminish in anyway, the hurtful places people find themselves in and put christianity in a bad light. I have heard so many stories of abusive christian parents. I have heard stories of sexual abuse by those in the clergy. It is a sad testimony on christianity. I hope people just know that Jesus is superior to any of us pathetic humans. Jesus loves you all, even those abusive people that have caused many to turn. I have heard stories of people raised by "christian" parents, the child grows up, rebuking the parents, then find the real Christ and actually go back and reveal truth to their parents and the parents repent of the way they treated the child. Life is so strange and who can know what will happen. But I do know Jesus loves you and everyone in this forum. Especially those who have broken spirits. He never wanted that for them.

Answer 2

I was raised Presbyterian. My father died when I was 9, which caused a lot of anger issues with the idea of a "loving God" who would do that. Add to that the comment from a Born Again Christian that my dad must have done something bad to be taken so young and now he was burning in Hell... yeah, that did a lot to make me want to follow the Christian concept of "God".

I was atheist for a while, adamant that God didn't exist. But to me that felt empty - I couldn't believe that this was "all there is", and even though I believe in evolution and the big bang theory, I can only go back so far before I hit the question of "Well, where did all that matter and energy come from in the FIRST place?" I eventually became what I called an "apathetic agnostic" (Does God exist? Don't know, don't care...).

In high school I started reading Norse mythology because I am half Norwegian by blood (albeit several generations removed from Norway), and that started changing my way of viewing the Higher Power and the nature of the universe. For many years I considered myself "spiritual, but not religious."

I eventually found others who had similar beliefs, but followed a different pantheon, so with them I explored a blended Kemetic/Wiccan path for a while. After a few years I left the group and am now a solitary, drawn strongly to the Greek pantheon, and now refer to my path as "Pagan, with strong Wiccan influence."

Answer 3

I was in a Baptist church since I was an infant all the way up until I turned 18. I believe that I am a Christian - just not religious if that makes since. I haven't found a church that can keep my attention long enough. I try to do the right thing and not mistreat people but no, I never have wanted to change my beliefs. I believe there is a God and that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and I'll always believe that. Sure the Bible doesn't explain alot of the things we most wonder about, including dinosaurs, etc. but that is where your faith comes in. I just don't want to think that I am living my life for no reason and when I die, I just die. I believe that there is an inner being or soul in each and every one of us and that is what makes us different from everyone else I guess you could call it your personality. And I think that when you die that your soul leaves your body and goes to another dimension.

Answer 4

Great question batman! I was forced by my parents to go to church even when I was sick. And I think that is wrong. People shouldn't force anybody into religion if they don't want to go - especially a teenager. I had a preacher that kicked his own dad out of the church. He got kind of too big for his own britches as the church grew. But I was saved and baptised and I'm a Christian just not a participating one. I always find an excuse not to go. I sit in there and look at my watch and think about other things I could be doing and I guess that is wrong of me. I can't talk to my mom about the Bible because she always disagrees with me. We were talking about creation and she says that God created the earth to look old. I see it as if you read Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" and Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep" how do you know how much time lapsed between the 2 verses? He might have created this earth millions of years ago and put the dinosaurs down here and it does say in the Bible that Satan and his legions of angels were cast out of heaven before the creation of Adam and Eve. I believe earth is where they went. The asp was down here to tempt Eve. Science and Christianity coincides to me except I believe something made God mad and he threw that asteroid down and that's when the earth became without form and void and no light - just water. Then maybe he became bored and wanted to start another creation all over again. If there were no animals then why did God make them after their "own kind"? I think he made humans to have something after his own image. He gave us the will to choose between right and wrong and obviously God had a soft place in his heart for humans. That's why he sent Jesus down here. I do believe that Jesus died for my sins and that I will go to heaven when I die. If I didn't, then I would have no hope. And there are alot of people that I would love to see that I believe are there. I also believe in the possibility of reincarnation. I am a Pisces (old soul) and I believe everyone has a purpose for their life and if that purpose wasn't fufilled (as in children dying or warfare, etc.) we might have a second life to try again. Who knows? I guess everyone's just dying to find out! Lol!!

Answer 5

I left the church as a young adult, because of a bad experience with a minister who was mean-spirited. I decided in my mind that all Christians were like that, even though most I'd ever known weren't.
Was away from Christian worship for seven years. Married a girl who was also away from what she grew up with.
We didn't think about it much 'til we started thinking about having kids. We knew if we were going to be the parents our children deserved, we had to stop being selfish, and self-centered.
We got back into church and Bible study.
And began to grow in many ways that I had never experienced when I went to church for my parents.
Been a part of a loving community of believers for 22 years now.

Answer 6

I was raised Methodist. I went through Confirmation in 5th grade. I was active with youth group and at one point thought I wanted to be a Youth Minister. I worked at church camp for two summers during college.

Now, here's what happened to me. I started to take the required Humanities classes in college and started to learn about other faiths. Other creation stories. When you start to learn about all that, you realize that every culture has a creation story and that surely not all of them could be wrong. Most likely, they are all correct. I started to notice the intolerance of most religions for others and started to desire peace and loving your fellow man and having character over any one particular dogma or organized religion. Every country has their own beliefs and if I was born in a different part of the world I'd probably have been raised differently.

I don't go to church anymore because I believe that doing the right thing can happen anywhere any day.

Answer 7

My family was not overly religious. i grew up attending a Presbyterian church without being forced. I believed in Jesus but I never could believe in hell. It made no sense to me. To this day I cannot imagine that anyone would buy into such an absurd theory.

I attended an Assembly of God church a couple of years ago for several months. Yes, long story. I knew that I disagreed with them before I walked in the door. Those bigoted fanatics drove me running away from God. I tried to totally let go of all my belief in God, but I could never do it. I think my soul remembers God.

Answer 8

I was raised a Lutheran. Later, I became an atheist, and I have been an atheist now for over 20 years. I don't remember having any bad religious experiences back then. I dropped the religious superstition because there are no gods. It was a gradual realization after years of study and introspection.

Answer 9

I believe that most people have had bad experiences with their religion, but you need to get over it and move on. That is the whole tenant of the belief system in the first place. Going to a church building is not always a measure of your belief, though.

Answer 10

Basically; over the years I have rediscovered values that were implanted in me during childhood. My core has remained the same but as I traveled through out this country & lived overseas My horizon has broadened. I have enjoyed my experiences and grown from exposure to different cultural values and other belief systems ------I know the at the heart of the matter all humans shed blood and have the same basic needs. My Cultural awareness has sharpened and my faith is ever present. I was most fortunate that both my parents gave me wings to fly !