Ex Christians

[Vadergirl123]

Hi Vadergirl. :0)

I had made a side by side comparison with Christianity over what is actually going on and incompatibility issues arose. I just couldnt follow the religion no more, nor engauge in active worship.

Hello , and what did you compare christianity to?

 

[waitasec]

No not at all. I'm not really taking any of these personally. I'm curious as to why people left the christain faith.

then after his explanation why would you ask this?

So then would you also say that you had a relationship with Christ and then decided to end it?

he just said he was a deist

and what he thought was true he now
considered this relationship to be founded on superstition and unreasonable dogma.

iow, there was never a jesus to have a relationship with in the 1st place.

 

[Vadergirl123]

i realized i was in a relationship with my higher self...

What do you mean exactly?

i thought i was praying but i was really meditating by being as truthful with myself as much as i possibly could.

By praying do you mean you thought you were talking to God but you felt yu were really just talking with yourself?

i am just as fulfilled, maybe even more so, as i was when i was under the illusion of getting revelation from god through jesus, when i owned it all along...still do. i just need to dig deep. my perception has changed dramatically and i couldn't have achieved that until i realized, being open to new ideas is a good thing and not something to be afraid of, if you also consider the implications and dig deep.

I quite enjoy learning more about other religions, and actually I've never heard any religious ideas that made me think Christianity is wrong.(however I also don't know about every religious belief in the world hahaha)

i also realized that there is no way any book can convey what god is, as it ultimately limits god, if there is one.

Very true. However the Bible can't tell us EVERY singe thing about God, but it tells us all he wants us to know about him. And we can't possibly comprehend God entirely since he's so superior to us.

 

[Infinitum]

Ah okay that must've been frustrating. Do you not believe God's also caring and loving?

Depends entirely on who's interpretation you follow. The one I was taught as a child started to feel more and more of a tyrant. Finally I got to the point where I decided that if there is a God, he doesn't care about whether we worship him or not, because only living a good life, loving yourself and others and being true to oneself matters. I strongly doubt there is, though.

 

[waitasec]

What do you mean exactly?

i think when one is brutally honest with their self they are at the pinnacle of their being for that moment.

By praying do you mean you thought you were talking to God but you felt yu were really just talking with yourself?

at the time no, i was raised to believe that god was listening, but at the end of the day it was always me who made the choices.

I quite enjoy learning more about other religions, and actually I've never heard any religious ideas that made me think Christianity is wrong.(however I also don't know about every religious belief in the world hahaha)

curious, were you raised in it?

Very true. However the Bible can't tell us EVERY singe thing about God, but it tells us all he wants us to know about him. And we can't possibly comprehend God entirely since he's so superior to us.

see this is something i don't understand. what criteria would lead you to believe this to be true?

i don't confuse absolutes with other absolutes, i've been using water and fire as an example lately. there is a criteria that i follow that would lead me to know what water is and what fire is and i never confuse the 2. and when there is a 3rd party telling me this is what god is letting us know about him is sort of saying, well god can't speak for himself like water or fire can

 

[Vadergirl123]

and what he thought was true he now
considered this relationship to be founded on superstition and unreasonable dogma.

iow, there was never a jesus to have a relationship with in the 1st place.

Yes, and I wanted to know what some of the dogma and superstition he believed was in it.

 

[Iti oj]

did i mention that i lost my faith while alter serving or that i was preparing/studying to be a priest

 

[Jacksnyte]

So I've read a couple of posts about people claiming to be "ex christians" and I'm curious as to what they mean exactly. If you are an ex-christain were you in a relationship with Jesus Christ and decided you wanted the relationship to end? Was it that the belief of christiantity stopped making sense or something else entirely? Please let me know.

I was raised and indoctrinated in the Southern Baptist Church from birth. As I got older, I began to read and learn more on my own. At age 14, I realised I no longer believed. I felt so free! In a nutshell, I have always despised wilful ignorance, and that is what was most encouraged: if you were ignorant of anything other than what They taught you regarding the Bible, and the nature of reality, then you were encouraged not only to remain so, but to be proud of this ignorance.

 

[tumbleweed41]

I was raised Conservative Baptist, accepted Jesus Christ at age 12 and was baptized soon thereafter. Later in life I married my wife in a Southern Baptist church that I soon joined and became an active member in. Eventually my wife and I took over running the Youth Group and I was asked to become a Deacon.
As a Youth Group leader and Deacon, I delved even further into studying the Bible. The more I studied, the larger my doubts grew about the premise of Christianity. The more I learned, not only about the Bible, but the history of Christianity, natural history, and how the world naturally works, the more I realized that I could no longer follow what I now considered superstition and unreasonable dogma.
It was my reading of "Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan and "The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine that eventually lead to my evolving beliefs in Deism.

Today, I continue my studies of science and religion, specifically religious anthropology, and am constantly amazed at the peace brought about by living in harmony with reality.

Oh wow. What was some of the stuff you believed was the dogma and superstition? So then would you also say that you had a relationship with Christ and then decided to end it?

As I said, my in-depth study of the Bible as a Southern Baptist Deacon, combined with a deepening knowledge of natural history and how the world naturally works made me realize I could no longer follow what I now consider superstition and unreasonable dogma.

In other words, it was Christianity as a whole that I found to be superstitious and dogmatic.

As for whether I "had a relationship with Christ and then decided to end it", I would have to say, yes, at one time I believed with my entire being that I had a relationship with Christ. And no, I did not "decide" to end it. I simply no longer believed.

 

[Jacksnyte]

I have to say that, having been trained to "witness" and to preach, I see a lot of catch phrases used heavily in the OP's replies on here. Most Christians who have attempted to "witness" to me these days are simply parroting something they have been told. With the advent of the internet, people are generally better informed, and are more likely to have a solid, well-thought-out response to such attempts at "saving" them. It is much better to use your own brain to study on your own (no "study guides" trying to give you someone else's interpretation), because then a real conversation can take place, and you both may learn something!

 

[Tarheeler]

I'm fairly certain that we're all going to be told we were never "really" Christians or that we were given the word incorrectly.

Unfortunately, it's the only way some people can deal with the idea that someone could walk away from Christianity.

 

[Jacksnyte]

I'm fairly certain that we're all going to be told we were never "really" Christians or that we were given the word incorrectly.

Unfortunately, it's the only way some people can deal with the idea that someone could walk away from Christianity.

Yep! they can't seem to understand that someone can truly believe with all their heart, and then later renounce that belief. Apparently the party line is "if it is a true belief, it is un-breakable".

 

[9Westy9]

When you admit you're a sinner and are destined to go to hell because of your sin, and realize the only thing that can save you is believing that Jesus' death on the cross. and when you confess this to God that's what saves you, and at that moment you're adopted into God's family. You become his child and start a relationship with him. Of course as in any relationship you have to sacrifice things, however Christ showed us how much he loved us, and out of love for him we should have a desire to serve him, obey his word, and learn more about him. That's what christianity is all about

In which case I did have a relationship with Jesus

 

[ForeverFaithful]

"...Under Constantine I Jewish clergy were given the same exemptions as Christian clergy.[1] Constantine also supported the separation of the date of Easter from the Jewish Passover (see also Quartodecimanism), stating in his letter after the First Council of Nicaea (which had already decided the matter):

"... it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. ... Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way."[2]
​

Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History records The Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, concerning the matters transacted at the Council, addressed to those Bishops who were not present:

"It was, in the first place, declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this holy festival, because, their hands having been stained with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded. ... Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries. ... Let us ... studiously avoiding all contact with that evil way. ... For how can they entertain right views on any point who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of their minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by an unrestrained passion, wherever their innate madness carries them. ... lest your pure minds should appear to share in the customs of a people so utterly depraved. ... Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have any thing in common with those parricides and the murderers of our Lord. ... no single point in common with the perjury of the Jews."[3]..."
Read more here >>> Constantine the Great and Judaism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
​

What's your first point about exempetions and what exemptions are you talking about?

Anyways Christians had abandonded Jewish festivales long before that, that fact that Easter doesn't match up with Passover is because of the different Calendars Christians and Jews use, How imporant is that actual date? Is it not more imporant that we simply celebrate the ressurection of our Lord?

In the first century Jewish and Christians both made efforts to distinguish themselves, Christians worshiped on Sunday and the Jewish cut books out of their scriptures, such as Maccabees and Judith. Constatine just made offical what was already Christian

 

[bigbadgirl]

I was born into Christianity, the whole bit. I decided one day to look for the oldest version of the Bible I could find, and that led to a long stretch of studying the history of the Bible. Over a year. That ended my belief in revealed religions, because it led to the study of the history of other revealed religions. If a God exists it would never reveal itself through the flawed and feeble minds of human beings. And if that God did reveal itself through humanity, then it itself lacked the ability to see the weakness and frailty of humans themselves. That is no God. I believe in Mother Earth. Nature is perfect, never right or wrong, but still perfect. No book written by any man or women can compare to nature.

 

[waitasec]

I was born into Christianity, the whole bit. I decided one day to look for the oldest version of the Bible I could find, and that led to a long stretch of studying the history of the Bible. Over a year. That ended my belief in revealed religions, because it led to the study of the history of other revealed religions. If a God exists it would never reveal itself through the flawed and feeble minds of human beings. And if that God did reveal itself through humanity, then it itself lacked the ability to see the weakness and frailty of humans themselves. That is no God. I believe in Mother Earth. Nature is perfect, never right or wrong, but still perfect. No book written by any man or women can compare to nature.

a simple truth that speaks volumes.

 

[-Peacemaker-]

The common thread I see here is that at some point Christianity "no longer made sense" as if the measure by which we are to judge truth is whether or not we can completely fathom it. I'd be lying if I said the thought never crossed my mind that sending people to hell for eternity is unreasonable regardless of what they had done. I just choose not to lean on my own understanding

 

[Vadergirl123]

I'm fairly certain that we're all going to be told we were never "really" Christians or that we were given the word incorrectly.

If someone really did admit they were a sinner, and accept Christ, only, as their savior then they're a christain. I can't disagree with someone over that. And it seems like mostly everyone who's posted on here believed that and therefore was a christain at some point.

 

[Vadergirl123]

i think when one is brutally honest with their self they are at the pinnacle of their being for that moment.

Why?

at the time no, i was raised to believe that god was listening, but at the end of the day it was always me who made the choices.

Well yeah God lets us make our own choices.

curious, were you raised in it?

Yes I was raised in an independent baptist church

see this is something i don't understand. what criteria would lead you to believe this to be true?

I believe God inspired men to write out his words for us to understand, and since he inspired it then everything that's in it is what he wants us to knwo about him.

i don't confuse absolutes with other absolutes, i've been using water and fire as an example lately. there is a criteria that i follow that would lead me to know what water is and what fire is and i never confuse the 2. and when there is a 3rd party telling me this is what god is letting us know about him is sort of saying, well god can't speak for himself like water or fire can

Are you saying some people claim God's one thing and others claim he's something else? If so it doesn't matter what people claim about God. Ultimately it's his words which should have the final authority on who he is.

 

[Vadergirl123]

Technically no, as no child instinctually knows of Jesus. I was raised Christian, and prayed regularly (and with decent effects too). Jesus never seemed very interesting though. I typically focused on God directly, and the angels.

Oh, what interested you about the angels?

LOL. What I meant is they required you take classes beforehand, and being the lazy bum that I am, I never did my "homework". It was rather amusing.

Hahaha (I probably wouldn't ahev done it either) that's kind of weird that you had classes beforehand.