Converts, some help please!

[cfer]

To everyone who has converted from the religion they were brought up in to one they found made more sense, I have a question for you.

How did you do it? Did you ever find yourself "defaulting" back to what you had learned earlier? How did you overcome that?

I'm really considering converting to something else, but my whole life has been spent within the Christian religion so I don't really feel like I know anything else, even after studying about whatever that something else is. I try to change my mindset, but I seem to keep going back to those Christian roots. Things like the 10 Commandments keep repeating over in my head and I feel guilty because I feel like I'm breaking them - especially that one about having no other gods - even though I'm trying to no longer believe in that religion.

Is there any way to overcome that?

(Advice from non-converts is welcome, too, of course!)

 

[Fluffy]

Well learning about another religion which is completely different might help. Then you will have something to replace the previous ideas with rather than just leaving a void. It probably depends on why you want to convert to something else. What is it about Christianity that is wrong for you?

 

[No*s]

The first step in my conversion was because I came to believe in the Resurrection of Christ. From this, I went to the rest of the faith.

At this point, I was converting to the Baptist faith, and well, I did have problems. I was human . However, by immersing myself in Scripture and whatnot, things changed.

Now, I have studied history to find the Church Christ founded. This is resulting in a total reorientation, and well, it's a lot harder to reorient Christian to Christian, than it is from non-religious to Christian. Many key understandings change a piece at a time, and with it, a whole new world opens, which changes behavior. In other cases, I realize a non-intellectual lesson, and another world opens.

What I do know is that I have a long way to go .

 

[Lintu]

My fiance learned in a class at college about "primal beliefs." Those are any beliefs that started before the age of 5 or so. So, if you learned that Jesus was G-d as a very small child, it might follow you no matter how hard you try to forget it. So far I haven't had a problem with the old beliefs I had as a kid, although I do sometimes feel guilty and scared that I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Master Vigil]

There is no need for conversion now. Do not submit yourself to a title, or a name. Just study. Study, do self searching, meditation, prayer, whatever. Go camping, fast for a week, read all the books you can find, etc... There is no reason to not like the religion you raised with, it is ok to not agree with it completely, and it is ok to incorporate other parts of other religions into the philosophy you grew up with. About the 10 commandments thing, just remember that god didn't write them. That men did, and they are not infallible. Just remember, since we all perceive the universe in our own unique way, so too do we perceive religion. Which means, that each and every one of us has a different religion that is unique to us. It may not have a name, or a generalized title, but it is there. Be true to yourself, and the world will be true to you.

 

[Unedited]

There was a point in time when I decide "this is not for me." At that point, I was simply a non-Christian. I didn't try to narrow it any more. I studied a lot, but mostly I concentrated on discovering what I truly believed in, and separating that from what had been drilled into me. For me, this took a long time, a lot of self-discovery, and I'm still discovering.

Whatever your path, it's important that you find a path that agrees with you, and not to find a path, then try to agree with it.

 

[robtex]

Cfer guilt is not a reason to stay with a belief. If you still believe in God realize that all other religion also believe in one God too but interpret them differently. They are obeying their "first commandment" too..they just called God by a different name.

When I read your posts overall on here I have noticed you don't really have a clear-cut idea of what you think God is. That is in important first step. You can't know where you are going if you don't know where you are right now.

Studying various religions has taught me that there are more similarities between them than differences. By studying various religions you will see where a lot of the Christian influences came from. The forum atmosphere is a great way of excellerating your learning curve but only if you do two things:

1) be objective in your analysis (sounds stupid but don't lie to yourself)
2) follow the links people post and read what others have found..treat it like an ongoing research project.

good luck--

 

[cfer]

When I read your posts overall on here I have noticed you don't really have a clear-cut idea of what you think God is. That is in important first step. You can't know where you are going if you don't know where you are right now.
QUOTE]
That is very true. But it's because I keep reading things that seem contradictory. I have trouble deciding what is really objective and what is biased. I read one thing that says that this is the way it is, then I read something else where it goes directly opposite what I just read. I'm having trouble sorting out which one is more valid. All I want is validity or the truth (small t) without any kind of personal slant on things.

But thank you for being honest with me and pointing that out. It's something I see in myself, yet I'm also afraid to acknowlede it for fear of being labeled wishy-washy or indecisive. :bonk:

 

[robtex]

validity is assessed by cross referencing. Go back define what you find God to be today and one area at a time assesses on your own time. If you see opposing viewpoints realize that much of faith is subjective (some might argue all of it but that is an arguement in itself) and will have various intrepretations.

Think of it like job hunting. Everybody has job hunted before. You find out what you are looking for put together a plan and than look at the proposals (job prospects) that are presented. When you see the proposals you look at the company (look at the arguements) and assess their validity to you.

You are not being indecisive you are exercising critical analysis. Now if you haven't made up your mind by 5 o clock today than I would say , "Yes you are being indecisive"...(just kidding).....good luck.....

 

[Green Gaia]

But thank you for being honest with me and pointing that out. It's something I see in myself, yet I'm also afraid to acknowlede it for fear of being labeled wishy-washy or indecisive. :bonk:

Or a UU!

 

[Green Gaia]

Is there any way to overcome that?

Yes, but it's not overnight, and you may not completely overcome it altogether, but you will be able to recognize when you fall back into that mindset and be able to come out of it more and more quickly. For me, it was overcoming the feelings of guilt and worthlessnes that I had developed growing up in a fundamentalist Christian environment (I blame the church I attended, not Christianity as a whole). I didn't have the "faith" I thought I should to be a good person, I couldn't just believe a lot of what I was told. I had been taught that people who don't believe and don't have faith, are going to hell. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make myself have faith, I had too many unanswered questions (mostly because asking questions was a sin too). I thought I was hopeless, an unworthy hopeless person. Those feelings are hard to overcome, even when I realized that most of what I'd been taught was wrong and that it's OK to question and to find my own path, which I feel I have done now. But still sometimes those all feelings sneak up on me and I have to face and send them back from whence they came. :tsk:

 

[cfer]

I didn't have the "faith" I thought I should to be a good person, I couldn't just believe a lot of what I was told. I had been taught that people who don't believe and don't have faith, are going to hell. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make myself have faith, I had too many unanswered questions (mostly because asking questions was a sin too).

That's exactly how I feel. I just can't make myself have faith, and I've tried so many times. It's pretty easy to see that if you have to make yourself have faith, then you obviously don't have any. Faith is not something one should have to work at; it should come easily. I'm just too skeptical of what I've learned in church over the years.

 

[Isis-Astoroth]

Before I 'converted' to Satanism, I went back to the beliefs I had started off with in Christianity . I took them all one by one, and asked myself why I believed in them, what did they really mean to me. By doing that I found myself 'deprogramming' because I realised that I only believed those things because I had been brought up that way, and because I had never really brought my beliefs to the attention of my concious self. Apart from that, I was drawn to Satan, and from there, included things from many different faiths to bring into the one set of beliefs I have now.