Why Have You Left Your Church?

[Sunstone]

Unchurched people -- sometimes defined as people who have not been in a church for reasons other than a wedding, baptism, or funeral within the prior six months -- appear to be a growing segment of American society. Many people on this board are unchurched. So, if you are unchurched, or even on the verge of being unchurched, why have you left the church, or why are you considering leaving the church?

Do you still consider yourself religious? Spiritual? If so, what do you do about it? Do you read holy scriptures? Religious/spiritual literature? Playboy?

What has been the reaction of your friends and family to your being unchurched or to your considering leaving the church?

 

[sandandfoam]

It took me a long time, to my shame, but it dawned on me that the church in which I was raised (the Church of Ireland) has nothing to do with God and everything to do with money, property and maintenance of the status quo.

 

[KovertKitty]

I feel that it is uneccesary to even go to church... At least not for the purpose of learning... Everyone who has a holy scripture that they read, should take time to interpret for themselves, because man has a tendancy to lie and distort... I'm not saying that all churches are known for it, but many use these scriputural teachings as leaverage for their objectives... Now I do feel that an ideal church to go to would be one that is more of a place of socialization and discussion rather than lecture... A place where many can gather and have civilized conversation about their own view of the scripture, about their experiences, and the like...

 

[TheKnight]

I feel that church or even synagogue isn't as necessary as it once was. The perpetuation of a house of worship is for the sake of promoting community. However, with the way we communicate in the current age, with social networking sites such as facebook and twitter comprising the majority of time spent communicating with other people, the need for a physical place of worship wherein people go to worship with others who share the same beliefs is waning.

For me personally, that is why I do not attend church or synagogues as often as I should.

 

[Splarnst]

I apostatized because I came to disbelieve all of its supernatural teachings. I don't consider myself religious or spiritual. My family is disappointed, but they know that if they push me, I will push back, so they don't.

 

[bobhikes]

I feel that church or even synagogue isn't as necessary as it once was. The perpetuation of a house of worship is for the sake of promoting community. However, with the way we communicate in the current age, with social networking sites such as facebook and twitter comprising the majority of time spent communicating with other people, the need for a physical place of worship wherein people go to worship with others who share the same beliefs is waning.

For me personally, that is why I do not attend church or synagogues as often as I should.

Interesting, I see the new social neworking as destroying the church; however, I see it as a complete negative to the societies of the future.

 

[Sunstone]

Anyone else want to tackle this?

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Sometimes it was boring, but the last Pastor at the Presbyterian church of my family kept it far from boring. She was, in fact, quite enlivening.

It was really two things: hypocrisy among certain members and that I just can't relate to Christ through anything but a symbolic or mystic model.

Gentoo and I have been going to a UU church on occasion and have found it interesting.

 

[Falcon]

The only Catholics that leave His Church are those that never really knew their Christian Faith

 

[Splarnst]

The only Catholics that leave His Church are those that never really knew their Christian Faith

False. Absolutely false.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

I lost faith in Christianity, my pastors constantly spouted fallacies and outdated arguments for their beliefs, and I was tired of waking up early.

I consider myself spiritual, and that's about it. I don't do anything about it. It's something I am.

My family didn't really care about me leaving. They'll make subtle comments about it now and again, but it's not worth batting an eye over.

 

[horizon_mj1]

Unchurched people -- sometimes defined as people who have not been in a church for reasons other than a wedding, baptism, or funeral within the prior six months -- appear to be a growing segment of American society. Many people on this board are unchurched. So, if you are unchurched, or even on the verge of being unchurched, why have you left the church, or why are you considering leaving the church?

Do you still consider yourself religious? Spiritual? If so, what do you do about it? Do you read holy scriptures? Religious/spiritual literature? Playboy?

What has been the reaction of your friends and family to your being unchurched or to your considering leaving the church?

Quite ironic is how I find this post. I recently wrote the church in which I was baptized and asked to be removed from their members list. My reasoning is quite simplistic, I do not believe in what the church was teaching and all of their core beliefs, to allow my name to remain on the list of members is to be a hypocrite IMO. As far as considering myself religious and/or spiritual, yes; I read scriptures from most religions as long as they are more than a few centuries old, I have discussions here on RF as well with other people in my life (although we do not always see eye to eye). My family was shocked and my friends were not surprised (go figure, who knows who better here eh). Oh yeah and I can not forget almost joining a religion for someone else (talk about all the wrong reasons) although I did learn a great deal and it help me put perspective on things.

 

[Twig pentagram]

Unchurched people -- sometimes defined as people who have not been in a church for reasons other than a wedding, baptism, or funeral within the prior six months -- appear to be a growing segment of American society. Many people on this board are unchurched. So, if you are unchurched, or even on the verge of being unchurched, why have you left the church, or why are you considering leaving the church?

I left the church because of doubt.

Do you still consider yourself religious? Spiritual? If so, what do you do about it? Do you read holy scriptures? Religious/spiritual literature? Playboy?

No I do not consider myself to be religious or spiritual. I consider myself to be divine.
As for books, I read whatever serves my purpose.

What has been the reaction of your friends and family to your being unchurched or to your considering leaving the church?

Sparked a few debates here and there. My fiance ended up leaving me, but I think she was just using that as an excuse. That's pretty much it,
nothing else in my life have been drastically changed.

 

[zomg]

I didn't like what the history of the LDS church contained. Further study indicated the claims it made were not what was documented in history.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

I lost faith in Christianity, my pastors constantly spouted fallacies and outdated arguments for their beliefs, and I was tired of waking up early.
I consider myself spiritual, and that's about it. I don't do anything about it. It's something I am.
My family didn't really care about me leaving. They'll make subtle comments about it now and again, but it's not worth batting an eye over.

Kind of sounds like you lost your faith in your religious leaders.
Jesus too lost faith, so to speak, in the first-century religious leaders.
Jesus said they were not teaching Scripture but own traditions.
-Mark 7v7,13; Matt 15v9

So, is it really loss of faith in Jesus teachings, or loss of faith in religious leader's teachings out of harmony with Scripture?

Luke did forewarn us that wolf-like clergy would fleece the flock of God.
-Acts 20vs29,30.

Jesus also warned that genuine 'wheat' Christians would grow together over the centuries with the fake 'weed/tares' Christians until the harvest time, or time of separation when the good news of God's kingdom would be spread on a global scale.
-Matt 24v14; 25vs31,32

 

[Falcon]

Uravip2me,It is Biblical obvious that Jesus wasn't speaking about His Apostles and their successors, but later man-made groups such as your JWs.
Besides Gjallarhorn stated in an earlier post that he didn't believe in any of the new groups invented by mere men in the past couple hundred years, wasn't your organization invented circa 1879 ? And no , there wasn't any apostasy within Christ's Apostolic Church , the doctrine/ teachings are always protected by the promise of Jesus .

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Kind of sounds like you lost your faith in your religious leaders.
Jesus too lost faith, so to speak, in the first-century religious leaders.
Jesus said they were not teaching Scripture but own traditions.
-Mark 7v7,13; Matt 15v9

So, is it really loss of faith in Jesus teachings, or loss of faith in religious leader's teachings out of harmony with Scripture?

Luke did forewarn us that wolf-like clergy would fleece the flock of God.
-Acts 20vs29,30.

Jesus also warned that genuine 'wheat' Christians would grow together over the centuries with the fake 'weed/tares' Christians until the harvest time, or time of separation when the good news of God's kingdom would be spread on a global scale.
-Matt 24v14; 25vs31,32

Thanks for that, but the loss of faith in the credibility of Christian preachers was the result of the loss of faith in the internal consistency of the Bible and the incompatibility of the Bible and modern science, morality, and history. Their inability to answer my questions accurately or logically merely confirmed my thoughts.

 

[Falcon]

Gjallarhorn, your reasons for leaving the Christian "religion " is the reason why Jesus never left us a Holy Bible "first ' .Jesus only left us with His Church [ singular 'church ' ] which was His Apostolic , Universal as in Catholic. It was His Apostolic Teaching Church that He formed for 'all ' His followers , Luke 10v 16;Matt. 18: 15-18, it was this very same Teaching Church that was commissioned through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the authority to select the Canonical from the non-canonical BooKs that we find in our NT today. It is this same Church that has the correct One and only True Interpretation , unchangeable from Pentecost 1st century, never a changeable Doctrine/ Teaching will you find in Christ's One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church [ don't confuse disciplines with doctrine, they are changeable ] the reason for this unchandeable Doctrine is because it is protected by the promise of Jesus found in Matt 16; 18-19 , it is impossible for the hierarchy of His Church to ever change Church Doctrine/ Teaching , never has it been changed and never will it be changed. It takes both the One Church given to us by Jesus along with the Holy Bible as the combined "rule ' for salvation . True [Universal/Catholic Christianity is the only World's religions without a Book Alone as its sole "rule ' of Faith

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Gjallarhorn, your reasons for leaving the Christian "religion " is the reason why Jesus never left us a Holy Bible "first ' .Jesus only left us with His Church [ singular 'church ' ] which was His Apostolic , Universal as in Catholic. It was His Apostolic Teaching Church that He formed for 'all ' His followers , Luke 10v 16;Matt. 18: 15-18, it was this very same Teaching Church that was commissioned through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the authority to select the Canonical from the non-canonical BooKs that we find in our NT today. It is this same Church that has the correct One and only True Interpretation , unchangeable from Pentecost 1st century, never a changeable Doctrine/ Teaching will you find in Christ's One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church [ don't confuse disciplines with doctrine, they are changeable ] the reason for this unchandeable Doctrine is because it is protected by the promise of Jesus found in Matt 16; 18-19 , it is impossible for the hierarchy of His Church to ever change Church Doctrine/ Teaching , never has it been changed and never will it be changed. It takes both the One Church given to us by Jesus along with the Holy Bible as the combined "rule ' for salvation . True [Universal/Catholic Christianity is the only World's religions without a Book Alone as its sole "rule ' of Faith

Um...okay then.

 

[Falcon]

"Um...okay then". Thank you, I now know not to waste my time with you