who was once born again Christian and became an atheist and decided to tell people and what was there reaction

Question

I am a former born again christian now a happy atheist yet Im keeping it in the closet because in america I am outnumbered by the Christians who beleive their ways are so right they have to shove them down the throats of the masses and judge the non-believer even though I came to my decision from 25 years of freethought and scientific research some 20 year old who is told by his church jesus is the way and may find me to be wrong even though Ive done more research than life that he has had on this earth . who has opened up and found a way to help others think, important think is an important word here if you dont know what it means look it up.

Answer 1

I became a christian when I started High School, and I truly believed in it. I'm in my last year of college now. It didn't take me long to realize everything I was being taught by my ministers and my parents just didn't add up. I quit Christianity right before I started college. I didn't tell anyone for a long time either, but now I'm open about my beliefs.

You should be too. Sure, Christians outnumber Atheists, but your beliefs are just as valid, just as important to you as a religious person's are to them. You shouldn't hide them just because you're not in the majority.

Answer 2

I was born into a Catholic family...baptized into the Catholic religion when I was 6 months old. I went to Christian Sunday School as a child and then started to attend Catholic mass when I was about 11. But my parents were pretty lenient when it came to religion...I was encouraged to believe whatever I FELT and to study other religions. My parents weren't strict Catholic (although my paternal Grandpa was very strict Catholic and my Pops grew up in a very very Catholic home).

When I was about 13, I really started to question things and study numerous different religions to get an idea of what was out there. I also started to learn more about my Cherokee roots and beliefs (my paternal Grandma is Cherokee) and so for a while I was just getting to know religion and the world around me. Although I was about 14 when I decided I was AGNOSTIC. Which just means that I basically don't have one specific way of believing...that I don't know WHAT is out there...and I don't believe we will EVER know what the supreme Truth is while here on Earth (perhaps when we die?). I'm not denying a god at ALL, and in fact I do feel deeply that there is SOME sort of spiritual higher power out there.

I never hid who I am or what I believe or don't believe. I'm very open about it. I don't rub it in peoples faces or force it onto people or even get upset when people don't agree with me. In fact, I LIKE hearing others opinions and debating this topic. I maintain my ground and I'm very calm about it. If other people (like Christians or other very religious people) can't deal with my opinions or beliefs? That's their problem. And I remind them that THEY aren't god and THEY shouldn't judge me or anyone else. I've had quite a few people get SO angry with me, and I just laugh at how stupid they are...how they're supposed to be so "Christian" yet they're standing there screaming at me and getting mad and telling me I'm going to "Hell". =P

You've got to be strong and stand your ground. And you're right that it's a good thing to think openly and research many different religions and ways of thinking...you'll actually KNOW what you're talking about instead of just being one of those "sheep" who has just listened to one thing their whole life and never thought about it all.

Answer 3

No offense intended, but if you want soemthing that doesn't add up, try the concept of being an athiest. It doesn't matter if you believe in "God" but you have to admit there was some way of us getting here on earth. At the most, you're agnostic. And don't give me the Big Bang Theory. Too many species of plants, animals and bugs and stuff to have come from one single celled organism, also no real explaination on why we have the only inhabitable planet in the soalr system.
So out of curiosity, what do you believe?
And one more point, I find it insulting to say Christians force their views on people when it's been the "athiests" who force "Under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Nobody ever said you had to say the Pledge, but why force everyone to view it the way you do? ( I am using you as a general term, not to indicate anyone here specifically.) Also, if you are an "athiest" and don't believe in God, I assume you don't use phrases such as "Oh my God" "For God's sake" "God da**iit" and so on and so forth. No sense in throwing out words about stuff you don't believe in.

Answer 4

My "born again" experience occurred in high school while I was home alone reading the Bible. What I felt and knew about nature, science, beauty and love already told me there was a God, but I did not know him in a personal way. I began reading about all kinds of religions. Now on this day I finally turned to the New Testament and read The Sermon On The Mount....Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the earth...

As I read those words it seemed like the author knew me. It seemed like those words were alive, and that the person speaking them was alive. I had this incredible sensation of Jesus Christ being alive, and God being alive. I said to myself, this is it. This is the end of my search, I've found it.

I went to college to study applied physics, did not go to church or anything, but I still knew that Jesus Christ was the way. After college, a friend of mine, whom I did not know was an atheist, asked me if I believed in God, and I said yes. We began a series of debates, with me arguing from science, math, philosophy, human nature, etc. Then I decided to go back to the source, the Bible, and instead of winning the debate (no one ever "won"), I became hooked / caught / enraptured with God again. Through my life experiences and faith, I know that God is alive.

So now I would be the most miserable of creatures if I were to say otherwise. I might not obey God, or might not even be a good Christian, but I could never say that there was any fault in God. I am somewhat like that thief that was on the cross next to Jesus, you know the one to whom Jesus said, "verily today you will be with me in paradise."

My experience makes it hard for me to understand how anyone could be "born again" and then renounce Christ, like he doesn't exist. I guess you are saying that all you were going through before was imaginary, or role playing. If that is the case, I'm sorry about what you went through, but I guess it makes me realize how blessed I am to have had a real long lasting heart to heart, and mind to mind with God. Peace.

Answer 5

What you are saying doesn't make sense or line up with what the Bible teaches. You do realize that if you were truly born again, as Jesus describes in John 3, that you are still saved? According to the Bible, the only way for you to live happily as an atheist and call yourself a "former born again Christian" is that you were never truly saved (born again) in the first place. A true Christian, who is defined as a new creation in Christ, cannot loose their salvation and revert back to being an inherit unbeliever.

Answer 6

i was once a "born again christian" now i am an atheist (or more of a panthiest). i told people when i became an athiest, many people didnt really mind however there were people that refused to believe me. I regularly have debates with them about god, its quite ammusing! LOL

Answer 7

I was a christian who became an athiest.

It made me pretty happy for about 45 years, then about 15 years ago this happened to me.

Several years ago I had an unusual experience concerning an uncle, a distant relative who lived over a thousand miles away.

While driving my car I suddenly felt the unmistakable presence of this relative that I hardly even knew. He was more like someone I had heard about than someone I knew. It was very strange; it felt as though I was momentarily lifted right out of my physical body. I seemed to be suspended somehow beyond space and time, bathed in a love so intense It felt like I could have just disappear into it at any moment if It would have let me. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed to last forever at the same time. I realize how crazy this must sound. The experience was so strong that at first I was afraid I was loosing my grip on reality. I finally managed to chalk it up to an over active imagination.

Three days later I got a call from my aunt telling me that this uncle we are talking about had gone into a coma and died the day I had the experience. It felt like ice water had been poured down my back when she told me this. I had lost any real ideas of God or faith and had become somewhat of an atheist. Needless to say this experience caused me to rethink some of the conclusions I had come to.

I feel blessed to now understand that even in our darkest confusion something loves us so much that it went out of its way to assist me and bring me back to a state of absolute certainty about Gods love for us.
During the experience it seemed like there was a vast amount of information that I was somehow allowed access to. One thing that I came away from this experience understanding beyond any shadow of a doubt was that any Idea that God is unhappy with us or would judge or allow us to be punished for any reason is simply impossible.

I can’t explain the love I felt with words. They simply don’t make words big enough or complete enough to do this. The only way I can begin to convey this love to you is to say that there was simply nothing else there. Nothing but love. No hint of judgment, no displeasure of any sort. It is as though God sees us as being as perfect as we were the day we were created. It is only in our confused idea of ourselves that we seem to have changed.

I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck. Love and blessings.

Your brother don

Answer 8

Deliciously liberating, isn't it.
Like the sun coming out after fifty years of rain.
Keep it to yourself, like a nice bar of chocolate in the cupboard.