To those who have lost or gained a faith, what caused the change?

Question

Basically, if you've had any drastic change to your system of beliefs in your life. What brought it on? What was happening in your life at that time and how did the change manifest and impact on you?

Answer 1

Well, I've had several changes over the years. And in fact, at the age of 60, I'm changing again. First I was raised a Protestant Christian; my mother was a Sunday school teacher. But the minister did such a poor job of answering questions in our catechism class that I told Mother I would go through confirmation for her sake, but then she should never expect me to go to church again.

I converted to Catholocism to marry my first husband, but was "excommunicated" when I divorced him. Then for some time I considered myself a sort of generic Christian.

One day I was talking to my friend who was the Episcopalian chaplain at my university. We were discussing how a lot of women were becoming deacons, in anticipation of the church being ready to ordain female priests shortly. I asked, "But wouldn't they be called priestesses?" "No," he said, "That sounds too pagan." In my innocence, I asked, "What's wrong with sounding pagan?" He said if I felt that way about it, I should go to California and become a pagan priestess.

So I did.

Now, many years later, I have joined the Ethical Society. It is nominally a religion, but in fact many of the members are atheists, deists, polytheists: all over the board. Many are Jews, and go to synagogue on Saturday and Platform (at the Ethical Society) on Sunday. So now I'm wondering: do I truly "believe" in my polytheistic gods and goddesses, or do I use them as metaphors, symbolic of a more abstract, esoteric truth?

I'm still mulling that one over. I guess that makes me an agnostic.

Answer 2

I think what brought about me to lose my religion was once the notion I had skilled by means of attending a catholic tuition. I had an excessively bad revel in and believed that the Catholic Church was once entirely worried with the economic detail rather of worrying approximately individuals as a entire. For decades I was once totally became off from the Catholic Religion I stored my religion in God even though I hadn't attended a mass in over 15 years. When I met my husband who had an lively function within the Catholic Religion, he became all of the negativity right into a confident. He was once surprised at one of the vital reports I had mentioned with him and informed me that there are different church buildings available in the market and that I had to discover the proper one. I am an excessively skeptical individual and did not believe my notion might ever difference even though it has taken a couple of years, however I eventually discovered a location wherein I can worship and fairly think at ease in my selection to stay Catholic.

Answer 3

I was a Christian all of my life. Gradually over the past few years everything stopped making sense. The more I questioned Christians about things the more I realised that they didn't have the answers either. I drifted away and finally found my way to a website written by a Hedgewitch. She was talking about me and my life. Here at last was something that made sense to me. I have never looked back. I am happier and more self confident and have found the meaning to life that I had searched for, for so long. I am the woman I always wanted to be.

Answer 4

First, you have to allow God back into your life and repent. I lost faith in God about a year ago; I have depression/anxiety and it has taken a big role over my life let's say about 8 years or more or less. I started to feel down and out like I was nobody. I stop going to church and believing in God because I started to worry. I was at the edge of suicide until I decided to get my life back together. I went to counselling and got back into church and joined the choir. Since than, my life has been great I don't worry and I leave it for God to deal with. I've been stress free for 2 weeks and I feel great. I was also believing in man and not putting an enough faith in God to get me through the day.

Answer 5

I regained my faith in Jesus Christ by studying all religions and realizing God's master plan is The Holy Bible. EVERY LAST RELIGIONS BELIEFS CAN BE FOUND IN THE BIBLE IF YOU KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THEM, THAT IS WHY THE HOLY BIBLE IS THE TRUE BOOK OF GOD, BECAUSE ALL TRIBES BELIEFS ARE THERE.
1) The lone creator God of The Jew's and Muslims
2) The Beliefs in Gods of war who is with the soldier in battle
3) The peaceful side of God with sayings like Buddha and Krishna in Christ
4) The God who is the son of the creator
5) The God who is spirit and comes in the flesh to teach mankind how to get along.
6) The Savior side of God who will give you eternal life if you acknowledge and accept him.
7) The birth of God through a virgin like beliefs of Hindus and ancient Egyptians.
The Holy Bible shows God Supreme is The source of all life's beliefs that is why it is the TRUTH not the lie.

Answer 6

I stopped listening to church leaders, preachers and so called bible teachers and started studying for myself. It didn't make any sense that God would go to all this trouble to give me a bible of my own only to have me check it to make sure the "preacher" wasn't misquoting. He said to ask the Father for our daily bread...not a once a week tidbit snack. He wants us to devour scripture...its changed everything I ever thought I knew and emboldened my faith..not weakened it. I discover that all the lies I was taught were prophecied in the Bible as being false doctrine so that strengthened my faith to know that God knew ahead of time the things that would be mismanaged....yet the Bible even predicts itself which I find amazing and describes the struggle the scriptures came through in order to be bound together on this earth. Read Rev 11...the two witnesses...are the Law and the Prophets...the Old and New Testaments...love in Christ, ~J~

Answer 7

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

it was about 5 or 6 months ago... i had no job, no money and all my friends and family... just didnt' care about me. So i packed my bags and headed to Washington D.C to stay with my father.... however, i only met him a few years back and hardly knew him at all and vice versa... so living with him was almost impossible, we just didn't know anything about each other so there were some complications. Anwyays, on my way there and while i was there, i just know God was communicating to me... (believe it or not) through my music, signs and just nature itself and i knew it because my thoughts were directly connected to everything i witnessed. God does work mysteriously... you just gotta know how to look for it. Anyways, i couldn't stay with my father for long... it was difficult, so i moved back to Ottawa, and all my friends and family still neglect me, but since i'm closer to the Lord, that alone is all i need to stay strong. I have a job now and some money and alot more strength in myself.

Answer 9

I was 25 and my little boy was 3 at the time. I was very into the occult and was living a lesbian life.

My son began seeing demons in our home, specially at certain times in the early mornings. The would come to him as wolves and say really nasty things to him. Having been brought up Christian, I knew what these things were, but had no power over them because i was not a child of God and they will only go away in Jesus Name.

I would say to them, "Go away in Jesus name", but they would not listen to me because of the sinful life I was living. But when my little boy said the same thing, they would only leave then.

I then gave my heart to Jesus and I am so very glad I did!

Today I know Jesus, am covered with His precious blood and have His authority over Satan and his demons who tremble at the name of Jesus.

Answer 10

I stopped being a christian after 15 years because the non-existence of god became too obvious to ignore.