Respectful question for anyone who has left Christianity or any other faith: What caused your loss of faith?

Question

What was it that you read, heard, or had happen to you that caused you to no longer believe? I ask this because I do not understand. Nothing in this life can separate me from Christ. There is nothing I can think of that would cause me to doubt my faith. Indeed nothing life could throw at me. Not preaching just seriously curious.

Peace Be With You.

Answer 1

I grew up, got an education, and slowly realized its all crap. It was no one incident, just a gradual realization as science made much more sense than anything religion could ever come up with.

Fairies don't exist guys.

Answer 2

Thank you for such a wonderful question. I have been questioning my faith for a few years now. I could not place an exact time or event that caused this. There were a few times that the Church as hurt me but nothing I could not take. Yet watching how they treated others caused me the greatest pain. Only now do I realize, this is because I feel a pain that they are causing Jesus. Every time the Church does something in His Name, that is not of Him, it drives yet another nail. I don't know where this leaves me. I guess as a Christian without a home.

Answer 3

Please don't say that - "there is nothing I can think of that would cause me to doubt my faith" - as it is a challenge for just that and you might find yourself being tested.

There are things we suffer as human beings that are overwhelming. Within the space of two years, I saw my mother die a lingering death, I was shot by my husband (now, my EX-husband), I lost all I owned and found myself rebuilding my life from a homeless shelter, and, then, took care of my sister until she, too, died of cancer. I don't feel it was a weakness of spirit that caused me to lose faith. I felt it as a literal assault on my SELF and I took it very personally. For a long time, I was very angry with God, with all religion, and wondered why someone so young as I had so much put on them to suffer through.

It's a long road back, too. I'm still trying to sort everything out, and I don't think I'll ever return to the church. I might, eventually, seek out God for myself. I don't know.

Faith is a gift. You can't whip it up when you want it or get more at the store when you need it. If I am given that gift again, perhaps I'll understand what happened to me. Until then, I have to admit that I'm, still, feeling battered by it all and ask myself that if there IS a God, why, then, wasn't I comforted when I needed it?

That you haven't suffered such trying times is a good thing, but please keep in mind that there are people who have endured more than they were able to shoulder, and be understanding when you run into them. Often, they express their pain by being hateful and rude - you see that here all the time - but if you scratch that surface, most of them are simply lost and alone.

Sorry I ran on so long here.

Answer 4

I did not leave christianity because I lost faith, rather to find it. The doctrines of the christian community are to complicated and contradictory to be true. Why do you think there is such a difference of opinion among serious christians? The faith I thought I had as a christian was an illusion based on an incorrect idea that the bible contains the inspired word of God. When I discovered the correct account of creation that Jesus gave us in The Apocryphon of John that was all she wrote. Once you know the truth, you cannot go back to religious nonsense, confusion, and ambivalence.

Answer 5

Good morning dear Debra!

My story that turned me away from Christianity is a bit more personal.

You see, years ago when my husband left me alone to raise a baby girl, I had no alternative than to go on social services for a bit until I could find a job to support us both. At that time, I went to church every Sunday, taking my daughter with me and making my weekly donation. It wasn't much, but all I could afford.

One day, I was asked to be godmother to my friend's new baby. I went to the rectory and asked the pastor if I could please have a letter of recommendation to be a godparent. He looked in a rather large book and looked up my name. He told me, "Sorry, I can't. You haven't given enough money to the church."

At this point, I got up and left in tears. This prompted me to question not only my faith, but the church's motives as well. I did research on different religions and came upon one that suited me that didn't put the "almighty dollar" before its people.

So that my dear sister is my story. There have been other actions by the church which had only confirmed that my decision was the right one for me. I am sure you are well aware of what they may be, so I won't go into it again here.

Brightest blessings and enjoy your day!
Acimadeseu

PS To this day I still carry a rosary that was left to me by my grandmother, not so much as a sign of faith, but as to remember the sweetest most influential woman in my life.

Answer 6

Lasting religions are built around a core of truth that people have discovered or else it would not last. But in every religion there are man-made concepts that may or may not be true. These "extras" are generally added because of faith. When you think of what faith is you will find that essentially it is trust. I have never been to the moon, but I trust what those who have been there have said about it. I have faith in their knowledge about the moon and would believe it even if they said something bizarre like "We found an underground stream on the moon." That is the same with faith as it applies to religion. For the Christian his faith is in Christ and we trust what He said was the truth... even when He said things that were bizarre that we to this day can still not figure out... like three persons of one God. Christians believe it even though no one... not even the Pope .... can adequately explain it in human terms. So belief then is as it is defined.... the acceptance as true of something which cannot be proven because of the faith we have in the one who told us.

Answer 7

The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous the whole thing seemed to be.

I grew up in a strict catholic family, and was even an altarboy for about five years.

The contradictions just stood out to boldly to be ignored.

Even when I was 3 years old, I felt confused when my family told me that god would answer my prayers. Why did I never hear him. I convinced myself that tenitus was really god trying to talk to me.........if only I could understand what he said! I would make things up that god said to me to please my parents. I wonder how many kids do things like that?

Looking around me in church, what others blindly accepted without question, I couldn't.

It astounded me how few people seemed to pay attention to what they were saying when they recited the creed, a declaration that I could never go along with in full.

While my mother taught religion in public schools one day a week (not for money, but for the love of god), I used to get kicked out the religion class in high school and sent to the head master's office for pointing out contradictions in the bible to our teacher.

Once the catholism was gone, the rest was like peeling back the layers of an onion.

I read about many different faiths and religions from researching the kabbalah to eastern mysticism.

For a while I grabbed hold of patheistic ideas.

But ultimately, I could not deny where my sense of logic was leading me.

I still remember how I felt the day I realised what was obvious all along. That when you die you're dead.

It was a tremendous relief and exhilirating feeling, which quite surprised me at the time. It was such a great weight off my shoulders, having spent my life going along with something so false.

There can be no turning back. To do so would be to live in denial.

Answer 8

I find Christianity and other religions way to violent! I can not morally , ethically and emotionally support something this desperate! I have no problem following spiritual teachings , but that only goes so far!
God has done some awful things to man kind , to get his point across! - no thanks! in the name of humanity it is unacceptable by all means!
Debra , I know it probably isn't what you would like for me to write! but after reading the Bible in the past I had made this decision when I was 14! I just cant imagine that the writings with such threats could come from a ever loving entity!

love, peace and good will to you my friend!

Answer 9

It wasn't a loss of faith. It really wasn't. Sure, I had plenty of faith once but then in my zeal I started asking questions and discovered that Christianity didn't really have answers. God answers all prayers - yes, no or later? That's not a god, that's a magic 8-ball. Nothing about a belief in Christ or a god produces predictable results, not in this life, and any afterlife is entirely supposition that is not supported by any fact at all. Basically a Christian (or Muslim, or Zoroastrian) can perform any atrocity whatsoever in this life and claim that God will reward them in the next life. It's just nonsense.

Good luck with learning but having declared that your faith is unshakable, it will blind your reasoning. It's that simple.

Answer 10

A skepticism that began at about age 8 or 9 and began to grow as I grew. By the age of 16, I knew what I was (atheist). There was no one event that caused the loss of faith. I have nothing against Catholicism, though I don't agree with many things Catholics believe.
See my last question.

Answer 11

I think for alot of people it's just too much to bear in a world that seems so cruel and desperately nonsensical. I would probably be stronger in faith towards God if I only knew and understood what the reason and purpose of my being here is in the first place. When you consider all that's at stake here, that is, then, -eternity- when you obviously had no choice as to whether or not you wanted to be here, and all that can lead you away from Him because of your status as a :fallen" being, you (I) begin to wonder if there's any place you can go where He won't find you (me).
I mean, if I make the decision to follow and believe in Him, then I've just effectively turned the whole world loose on myself. Is He going to be there and give me the strength and courage to bear with it? Or is He going to leave me out in the open as a target for a bunch of idiots whom I would want to literally kill under any other circumstances just for their being like that in the first place? And then, I find out I'm wrong for thinking or feeling like THAT about those kinds of people to begin with. He's never going to come to me personally and talk and walk with me and answer my questions about so many things, is He? Where do I fit in with Him? Or don't I? I mean, what if I choose to go to Him and He doesn't want me? What if I'm not one of the "chosen" ones? How can I ever know? If God wants me, He will know and understand that I do require and demand answers. I'm not going to fool around with this "He's not obligated to give them to you" crap. Either He wants me and will answer my questions, or he doesn't. But in the end, it will have been His decision not to do so that's caused my destruction-not my decision. And yes, I will tell him that to his face.

Your turn

Peace to you