Was it the utter hypocrisy that you witnessed among your fellow christians? You know the ones. The ones who treat everyone like crap Monday through Saturday and then put on their humble masks to take the sacrement or say their Nicene creed or profess their faith, etc. so they can fill up their plate with sin again until they come back?
Or maybe it was the fact that your church building is now so large that the block had to be re-zoned for the new addition? or maybe it was the confusion you felt when your read your bible and saw the truth in it, but it just wasn't same message you were getting from your pastor/priest/giver of lipservice? I'm curious to know. Perhaps those who are still Christians will get a clue.
2007-02-15 10:28:27 · 16 answers · asked by vicarious_notion 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
all of that. but the final push for me was....when i was most fervently seeking god and attending a Pentecostal church. i quit taking my meds ( for OCD) on FAITH that God would heal me, and....well..i crashed instead.
i feel like i sought Him with all that was in me for a very long time...to the point of sickness.( obsessed with prayer,studying scripture,etc)yes it was a sickness. people have said to me" you cant have too much of God." but i fully disagree. it can become an obsession. and the bottom line is....something isn't kosher. i don't think god wants us to be sick about him. i don't think god wants us to judge others. i don't think a loving god will keep me from him just because i question all of it.i like to think that he gives me credit for questioning it all. cause what i witnessed...sure wasn't something i want to live through again.
so...I'm just sitting back about it all. and I'm cool with it.
2007-02-15 10:40:21 · answer #1 · answered by dali333 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am a Christian who has come back to the faith so I am answering a question I would be told doesn't apply to me.
But I found it curious and a good question so I would like to comment respectfully.
I would answer saying probably all the things you say could turn a Christian away. Very true. However the one thing you are leaving out is that the Christian God I serve is the same today , yesterday and forever.
Many hypocritical Christians do turn others away. Many poorly run churches, not in the will of God, turn people away. Many pastors/priests/givers of lip service do exist. However the God you serve never does this. Looking to humans (priests, churches, fellow Christians) for your God does produce this lack of faith. We all sin and fall short. Your eyes should be on the Lord. You should pray that God NOT put you in touch with these type of people. The message you should be getting (which you so eloquently put) is the truth in the Bible and if it is contrary to what you hear in an assembly professing to be Godly . . .. . . . . run . . . . . . .read your Bible and pray he find you a church that is faithful to his will. You don't just stop being Christian or loose your faith. If that were the case we, including myself, would all be in trouble because the only person that has walked the planet in perfect grace died over 2000 years ago.
God Bless
2007-02-15 18:42:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Be one of the few christians to read the bible cover to cover and you'll begin to see why...
The bible not only endorses but fully encourages atrocities such as murder, genocide, rape, killing children and nobelievers, destruction, hatred, prejudice, cut the hands off of thieves, and so on... God hates women, he hates the handicapped, he hates people of other ethnicities and skin colors, Jesus called a canaanite woman "dog" (Matt 15: 21-28)... and so on. The christian god is by far the most unpleasant character in all of fiction, he even gives you instructions for how to kidnap a woman and force her to be your wife (Deuteronomy 21:11-14).
Never in my life have I read anything so undeniably cruel, so brutal, archaic, and so utterly made up and foolish. I mean the book of Job speaks of Unicorns, and people still believe this stuff? Everyone I know who's read the bible all the way through has since become agnostic (at least), only the christians still cherry pick.
Also reason, philosophy, history and science have since demonstrated beyond a shred of doubt that it's all nonsense.
2007-02-15 18:46:13 · answer #3 · answered by Mike K 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hypocracy and finding that so much of the bible was untrue. Seeing first hand the hate that "loving" christians would have for thier neighbors who were of differnent faiths. The realization that most organized churchs were just nonprofit businesses that cared more about the money coming in than the people who sat in the pews. That and so much more. There just isn't enough room here for all the crap I witnessed over the years. Finally I was just tired of being afraid all the time. Organized religions like thier people to be afraid as they tend to donate more money, things and time when they are afraid.
2007-02-15 18:48:10 · answer #4 · answered by Praire Crone 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
In high school I was a christian, but yeah, the hypocrisy is what killed it for me - the young people were praying for this girl to break up with a boy they didn't like, the pastors refused to marry people because they didn't approve of the relationship, etc. And then in university I studied ancient hebrew and discovered firsthand how much of their religion they just made up to suit them. Now I'm practically anti-christian, I know there are a few good ones, but the vast majority are judgemental bigoted ignorant and arrogant people who think it's their job to "save " you.
I still believe in God, but I sure would never follow any god that endorses that behaviour.
2007-02-15 18:36:56 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
In most every case, people get turned away from their religion because they are unable to distinguish between the teachings of their true prophets, in this case Jesus, and the teachings of their misguided followers and recognized church authorities. The teacher knows, the students inasmuch as they are still students have yet to fully comprehend what they are studying. The Master is righteous and holy, the pupils are still in the process of learning what is right and good and how to live, accordingly. We should not judge the religion, itself, or its teachings based on what the students think and do. For in the course of our studies, we being yet imperfect, we will continue to misunderstand and commit many errors and mistakes.
Test yourself on Jesus: http://innerquest1.blogspot.com/2006/09/test-yourself-on-jesus.html
2007-02-15 20:01:46 · answer #6 · answered by Angel Luz 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nothing negative turned me away. My interest in the natural world is what ultimately made it happen. After a lot of independent study I was able to fit the pieces together and see that nothing in the universe really required a creator. That's when I stopped believing in a god. You can't be a Christian if you don't believe in God.
2007-02-15 20:14:18 · answer #7 · answered by Danaerys 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If I give up, I will be giving up on the Lord Jesus Christ. I will not give up on Him. If He don't do anything else, which He will because He has promised according to His word that he will, He has done enough. When He died for my sins in my place, told me how much He loves you, me and the world. The truth will come to light sooner or later. Truth will always win out, no matter what. Stay with Him, He did nothing against you. Everything He did was for you. Find another body of believer that you can worship with. But do not give up on Him.
2007-02-15 18:40:57 · answer #8 · answered by Mrs. Morality 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
to me the bible has too many inconsistencies in it and then there was the fact that one of my pastors who portrayed himself to be this holy man of god would go home and beat his wife and step kids and there were other hypocrites in the church as well and i saw so many different christians as hypocrites it made me sick seriously it's not even an attempt to disrespect christians as i know that there will be some who will get offended so to the nice christians i will apologize in advance
2007-02-15 18:44:22 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. I could handle Christians. It was the utter disdain that god had for his creation. It was the suffering that he caused here on earth through his exercise of his free will. Ultimately it was the idea of worshiping someone who could torture people without end that made me take a stand.
2007-02-15 18:32:55 · answer #10 · answered by Dave P 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋