Have you converted to a religion?

Question

Anyone out there convert to another religion...just want to know your reason for deciding to accept this new faith and how it affected your relationship with those around you.

Answer 1

I converted to Islam. I chose it because it is logical, complete, understandable and a universal faith.
As for my relationship with those around me, my immediate family understand and accepts me (they are Catholics). My sister is scared of the change and I have to convince her repeatedly that my religious conversion doesn't separate us as brother and sister. Half my extended family is in the dark; the other half doesn't take me seriously. My friends are good about it, and are interested in it sometimes, but they tease me sometimes.
My refusal to drink or do drugs changes things too, for the better. My group of friends has gotten better over time and I feel like I have my integrity. It gives me respect form others and self respect.

Answer 2

I abandoned Islam at age 15. I have yet to find another religion but it will probably be Coptic Christianity or Conservative Judaism. For obvious reasons, when I do find a religion I believe in, the conversion will have to be done in secret till I am out of the country. If my parents knew I would be disowned and disinherited and if the government knew I would be in prison.

A great many allegations about Islam are dismissed as "misconceptions" when they are in fact based on evidence taken directly from the Koran and Sunnah. Yes, the apostasy law is absolutely true, despite what you will be told here. Many Muslims here will give you misleading information and pro-Islamic websites are strongly biased. Every one of the so-called miracles of the Koran has been debunked at one time or another, and the book also has logical, mathematical, and historical fallacies that are similarly dismissed by Muslims. Islam has one of the bloodiest histories imaginable and what angers and upsets me most is the new meaning that Muslims have given to the words "hypocrisy" and "double standard" in their media and arguments. It took me a very, very long time to realize this.

To Muslims, the idea of a Muslim leaving Islam is unthinkable, which is why Muslims here will strongly suspect our identities, like with "Ex_Muslim" earlier. I know seven others who have done this, including two central Asian sisters, a Kuwaiti college student, and a Palestinian teen, and I believe it is much more common than Muslims think, but the sad truth is that we will never know because almost no Muslim apostate ever comes forth with their conversion. It's far too dangerous.

Answer 3

I converted from Christianity to Islam after researching both very heavily. And many christians are thinking about what the bible says in their false accusations of islam. They say that Islam says to kill apostates and the bible says to leave them alone. it's backwards. The bible says no matter who it is, kill them, whereas the Quran says to leave them alone as it is between them and God. The bible also hates women and even says that the very birth of a girl is a "total loss". Islam says it's a blessing. Another thing, how can the God of the Bible of today be so loving and forgiving when he's damned everyone to hell for what one woman did? In the Quran, Adam says "we have wronged ourselves and you". He doesn't blame the woman with him and the woman is not cursed or told her husband will "rule" over her.

ALso, Islam has so many miracles that nobody could have known at the time. They are still being proven to this day. One major example for me is the creation of the galaxy and the layers of the earth. The only way a person could have known all layers of the earth and what was in space is if they suddenly grew wings and flew.

Answer 4

As an alter boy in a Greek orthodox church when I was 11 I felt the whole thing was false and became an atheist. At the age of 14 I started feeling unfulfilled and studied as many religious texts as I could and eventually concluded that Christianity although was not exotic and exciting was the truth and I accepted it.From the age of 21 until now..37 I have been a Christian and I continue to study religions as it is a passion I guess. As for those around me nobody gave a damn about anything until I announced I was a Christian. I lost most friends and was not welcome at most family that previously loved me. That convinced me further that I was on the right path and some of them have apologized since.

Answer 5

i didnt actually CONVERT in the litteral sense of the word... but i was baptized a christian orthodox and lately i have realized that this faith does not express the way i truly feel about the supreme being called "God".

i like to consider myself and agnostic at the moment, because until i can rediscover my religion or put my faith in an order in which i can fully comprehend it, then i like to believe that god is not someone who made us, or someone who makes up rules that we have to follow in order to be considered "worthy" or the blissful afterlife situation called "Heaven".

i believe that God is merely a term that humans have created to answer their inner questions. He is nothing but a fictional character that helps us express our need to be/do good or an excuse for some to be immature and blame someone else for their wrongs.

For me, God is an objective notion. it means something different for each different person. He is every seperate individual's personal scope of the universe and the soul.

so in a sense... to answer ur question... yes, i HAVE converted to another religion. i have switched from christianism, to "personal universialism" (LOL...in case u didnt notice, i just made that last term up... for the practical purposes of this answer)

Answer 6

Um, I was Christian, but became a Roman Catholic when I turned 24. My Father was already one, but nobody else in my family was. My decision? Well already having a belief in God helped ;) But my decision came from recognising the teachings of the church and comparing them with the bible one by one and realising that for me, this was it.

I also went overseas to an apparition site, supposedly young people claiming to see the Mother of God. I didn't know what to believe. But certainly I was open to it. Whilst over there, I experienced one of the miracles that go on there quite often. I had never seen anything like it and was shocked.

It was something supernatural, and inexplicable as to how in natural terms it would even be possible. I didn't need to hear anybody's thoughts on it. I saw it for myself and it was enough for me. mindblowing. Something I've never seen before, nor again and it stays with me to this day.

That to me, was an indication from God that the things going on in this site, were real. That's how I took it. People are of course free to scoff at the idea, but unless you have seen it for yourself, you cannot really describe the effect it has on you.

And so this helped my journey towards becoming a baptised Catholic. I guess I thought when I came home to my family, they'd be so taken with what I had experienced, they'd automatically believe too. But people are not like that and I found that very few are willing to believe or listen to someone's experience when it's to do with God.

Didn't affect people too much around me, I never shoved it down their throat. But it ruffled a few feathers of those who were anti God or just didn't want to know about any of it. I left them to it. It affected my mother profoundly though (she was very positive). My brother was indifferent. Dad was with me, so he saw the miracle occur also, no need for me to tell him!

I wrote a story on the entire trip and the event and sent it to my Aunt. She liked it so much, she said "why don't you photocopy it and share it with others". Well, I did and from there, it's been passed on, photocopied and ended up being passed around and even going overseas, so I don't know how many people have read it. I do not know who will be affected by it or not, but I shared it anyway.

Answer 7

I have not with the mercy of God I have been guided to the straight path. (btw I think ex_muslim is a liar) but anyways, I have witnessed many people converting to Islam. The last was a Columbian Surgeon.

Answer 8

In the past I was totally a servant of the devil. Servants of the devil are those who donot believe the existence of God and they live their sinful lives as they want. They may even pretend to be going to the church but so far as they are knowing living in sin as have refused to repent from their sins they are all of the devil. Brief I am converted to Christ Jesus and not to a religion.

Answer 9

No. Christ converted me from being a sinner to being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! Let's see, when that happened folks around me had to adjust to my new conversation, my new interests, and my new confidence. I tell them when they hurt me and that I don't like it will they please stop. It's not so easy for the ex to run me over now. He knows enough to offer some respect to the real spirit of God living in me and sees the change in attitudes. I was sick and tired of carrying the burdens of bitterness and anger to mask my hurt. God healed the wounds and put it in my heart to forgive years of abusive behavior. I would say it made him jealous but really made a difference in his behavior towards me although he still abuses when given a chance but my response is different. He first said I didn't have any salvation but when he got into a mess he helped create he called me asking for prayer. He still calls me "self-righteous" and other put downs but only because he is full of sin himself which I won't name the ones I know of or the ones I suspect. It has given me the experience I need to witness to others and made me a better person for abuses I suffered and made me realize the grace of God is sufficient to take you through anything thrown your way in life if only you depend upon God for your refuge.

Answer 10

I converted to Catholicism. I had been an anti-Catholic fundy Christian and then an anti-Catholic Deist, but when I really studied Catholicism in an effort to prove to a Catholic acquaintance that it was false, I instead became convinced it was true.