How many of you were Christians and now aren't?

Question

Why did you decide to turn your back on God?Was it a person, a situation or what?

Answer 1

Not a lot of Good responses to this. Sounds to me that they didn't study very hard on this subject.

Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Answer 2

To turn your back on a RELIGION is not necessarily turning your back on your beliefs or your creator! I studies all sorts of religions before I ever thought of converting to Wicca. It is a RELIGION that is nature based and is lived... not from how some man wrote a book on, but through experience and interaction with the Deity ( I didn't say gods and goddesses either!) The Deity has many faces yet is still one deity. Just like the Christian's belief that the one god is three persons in one! Also a MAN'S concept! Christianity is also trying to keep women from sharing in the divine right! If we were all made in God's Image, then why are only men depicted as being the supreme rules? I will not accept something that men have written down as being God's words! Nor will I become a sheep doing what others say is right when I know to question if it is or not. I will not allow anyone control me either through religion or politics!

Answer 3

You seem to misunderstand something here. Turning my back on Christianity was in no way equivalent to turning my back on God. Not even on the monotheistic god implied by that capital letter. Because I stopped considering myself a Christian long before I decided I was a polytheist. And at that, there are still shades of monotheism in me. It's just that now I see that monad, that Unity, as much more of an abstraction. And by the way, it is my strong impression that the abstraction is more the Hebrew way to conceptualize God. That's why they would never use any sort of visual image of God; because he was meant to be "the unknown god," as the Romans called him.

I'm a polytheist in the sense that I see a variety of gods and goddesses as better able to represent various aspects of the reality which is the highest levels of existence. If you know anything about the Kabalah (spelled many different ways), you may know that the archetypes representing the points (sephiroth) of the Tree of Life are only understood on the background of the Ain, Ain Soph, and Ain Soph Ir. (Don't trust my spelling here; these are transliterations from the Hebrew.) That is, there are THREE levels of abstractions acknowledged beyond the entire tree of life details. Those are the details which are spelled out by the Tarot, or which correspond to the Tarot deck's major arcana.

But humans have a hard time when things get too abstract. They need images, pictures and symbols and statues. It's how we communicate, especially how we involve the emotional content (love, and whatever else is involved, including respect, fear, whatever) of who we are.

Answer 4

I was christened catholic. As a child, my mother used to drag me to church, often under loud protest. I used to go to church every day, not just Sundays when I lived with my family in Malta. As soon as my mum thought I was old enough to make my own mind up, I rebelled & hated the catholic church & everything it represented.

I went back to the church some years later, but it didn't last long. Remember the shootings of the children at Dumblain? That was my turning point. I asked the priest for an explanation as to why god could allow such violence against innocents & he couldn't give me a satisfactory reply. I then started questioning the existence of god & over the years, have decided he / she / it doesn't or can't exist.

As for religion, I just think it's all out-dated, especially catholicism. Their preachings are totally unrealistic for todays society. If any religion is nearly right, I'd say it was buddhism as it has some good philosophies.

I still strive to be a good person & always try to treat others as I'd like them to treat me but will never set foot in a church again or ever say another prayer or wish to god..

Answer 5

I have never believed in God. My Mother claimed to be a Christian, but voiced her doubts. My Father never spoke of religion one way or the other. I tried to make myself believe as a child, but could never quite do it. I read the Bible, went to church a few times, but it didn’t work. I could never get by all of the inconsistencies that I noticed between what the Bible said and reality. God is depicted as a harsh, cruel, killer in the Bible, yet Christians always told me how great God is. The Bible condones slavery, sexism, violence, and human/animal sacrifice. These are all against my personal beliefs. Unlike Christians, I am unable to ignore these parts of the Bible. I believe the Bible is totally false. It does not represent the word of any god, but it does represent the primitive people who ruled the world at the time that it was written.

Answer 6

Wow, kind of an inflammatory question, don't you think?
I didn't turn my back on God.. I went through a period of time where I really wanted to study the life of Jesus in order to get closer to him. I began studying Messianic Judaism and then Judaism itself and then began studying history. I came to a realization that Jesus never existed and found that it was not necessary to believe in the christian god any longer.
I found that whatever that Spirit is out there.. whether it's God, Goddess, The Great Spirit, et al.. it's always been with me and always will be, no matter how I choose to see it.

Answer 7

I was raised Episcopalian. Got confirmed, was an acolyte, whole ball of wax. I really enjoyed the church. It was a good group of intelligent people, very much about the conversation, the discovery, the mystery of God.

In high school, though, YoungLife sprang up. I went to YoungLife meetings and camps, and was told that my Episcopal church was a 'dead' church. So I went to the church that all my YoungLife friends went to: this small, independent Pentecostal church tucked away in the woods. There I saw people jumping up and down and screaming and speaking in tongues and having all these healings. Weeping. Wailing. Lots of singing. I figured, if they are being this vocal and physical about it, there must be God here, right? So I joined. I discovered pretty quickly that things were very different at this church. The elders had the right to say anything to the members, but the members were not allowed to say anything back, or disagree. People who had 'the gift of discernment' had the right to point at someone and claim to see a demon. Which would bring on a 'casting out of spirits' which was very dramatic and theatrical. I was told over and over again that I was 'unteachable' and that I was 'unclean' and that my tendencies to ask questions and make jokes were clearly demonic influences. No one pointed at me and said, "He is gay" but it was clear many knew it. I had that 'demon' driven from me several times. While all this was going on, I truly wanted to belong. I wanted to do what God wanted me to do. I wanted to be a Christian who believed that strongly. I prayed constantly. I wept. I pleaded. I read the Bible. But the further and further I went into that theology the worse and worse I felt. I continued to have 'demons' driven from me until the day that the person who had become my spiritual leader banished me from her house. "I can't have you influencing my family," she said. "You're unteachable." This was the worst thing a person in that church could be: unteachable. It meant that I was beyond hope.

What were my crimes? I smoked off and on. I was given the lead my senior year in 'Dark of the Moon' in which I was to play John the Witch Boy. The church elders insisted I turn the part down, but I didn't. I asked questions of the elders and the spiritual leaders of the church. Honest questions that came to my mind, asked out of a genuine state of curiosity. Because of these crimes, I was basically excommunicated.

I began reading a lot of authors who had studied early Christianity and Bible texts (Elaine Pagels, John Bosworth and, later, Karen Armstrong) I realized that the beliefs the church elders set forth as being incontrovertible and rock-solid were actually very fragile, and historically inaccurate. I began to question everything about what I was told. "No wonder they didn't like my questions," I said to myself, "The questions were threatening the very foundations of their faith."

I have had a long road of it. I find that I still have a very deep spiritual belief. But I can no longer believe that there is only one way to see, experience or worship God. If there truly is a God - and I believe there is one - then I believe that this God celebrates all the diversity of creation, whether that be diversity in belief, shape, color or sexual orientation.

Am I a Christian? Well, if Jesus were here he may say that I was. According to most hardline Xtian churches I'm a dangerous heretic, a rebel who dares question the 'authority' of 'God's Word.' But I would rather ask the questions and find answers I don't like than shut down that part of my soul that cries out for answers.

Answer 8

I didn't turn my back on anything; I simply outgrew desim. I still believe that we are essentially spiritual entities,and that our experience of reality involves a spiritual dimension that greatly exceeds our conscious awareness. Deism is an understandable attempt to personify spirituality. I reject this as an approach to spirtitual values. I do not reject the idea that the true reality of our being exists in a spiritual domain,of which the physical domain is a mere shell of an experience.

Answer 9

I turned my back on your so-called God because I had the sense to question it, to take other religions into account and finally to study the evidence.

Having done all that it's not hard to come to the conclusion that God is a man-made construct. And religion is the cause of most of the misunderstanding, intolerance and evil in the world.

You should try it!

Answer 10

Was catholic. Turned away because I do not agree with their teaching, I also did not feel anything when I was in church.
All my questions about god and religion were answered with circular reasoning. No group has the right to tell me what I can and can not do; other than obeying state and federal laws.

Answer 11

Oh good grief. I didn't "turn my back on God"
It's just not what I believe. It didn't make me feel good about myself or my life or my soul. I felt like I was lying to myself. That and most Christian's I met weren't very nice people. I remember thinking "If this is what its about, then I am out of here"