What made you decide not to be a christian anymore?
Stories welcome.
former christians what made you stop being a christian?
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crystalmage
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former christians what made you stop being a christian?
Post #1McCulloch wrote: I make no claims about God.
McCulloch wrote:We claim that god does not exist
People who keep changing their story are called liars.
Post #21
Go rational fear! It keeps the cardiovascular system strongcatalyst wrote:I have waffled on elsewhere as to the why's. Some people know even more through PM.
One sentence sums it all up though.
I no longer "do" irrational fear.
Oh hear the voice of the Bard/ Who present, past, and future sees/ Whose ears have heard the holy Word/ That walked among the ancient trees/
“What can you ever really know of other peoples souls - of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands.� - C.S. Lewis
“What can you ever really know of other peoples souls - of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands.� - C.S. Lewis
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OnceConvinced
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Post #22
I know how you feel. Forever trying to justify God and the bible. If God had put together his word a little more carefully and thought a little bit more about his actions, there wouldn't be any need to continually have to do that. I sometimes began to feel, "what the hell? Why am I doing this? Surely God is quite capable of sticking up for himself, he doesn't need me to do it for him".Avariel wrote: Fighting a pointless war
Society and its morals evolve and will continue to evolve. The bible however remains the same and just requires more and more apologetics and claims of "metaphors" and "symbolism" to justify it.
Prayer is like rubbing an old bottle and hoping that a genie will pop out and grant you three wishes.
There is much about this world that is mind boggling and impressive, but I see no need whatsoever to put it down to magical super powered beings.
Check out my website: Recker's World
Re: former christians what made you stop being a christian?
Post #23When I was about 10 years old, I was sitting in Bible study and I remember suddenly thinking to myself, "Why am I doing this? I don't believe any of it." I carried on with the studies for the next couple years just to please my mother.crystalmage wrote:What made you decide not to be a christian anymore?
Stories welcome.
The study of other world religions and evolution are what finally made me realize that I'm an Atheist.
It was a realization, not a decision by the way.
The best, short answer I can give to the question is; Logic and reason prevent me from being a theist.
Post #24
Hi Everyone,
I am new to this forum.... So please bare with me until I get the hang of it.
The reason I have lost my Christianity is in my personal search for the Truth - I was accepted into the church when I was 17 and carried on believing for some time until my Father passed away in 07' and turned atheist. The end of 08' I started receiving signs which I believe came from God and so, since then, I have been slowly climbing my way back up the mountain and started reading a book called "The global History of Christianity" (an unbiased book about the development of Christianity which have been based on actual confirmed and accepted Historical recordings) after which (Recently) I have been reading the Bible a lot. I have been reading a piece from the Old testament (from the beginning) and the new testament every day and the more I read the more I started to wonder why there seems to be a "personality" or perhaps a "point of view" difference between God in the old testament and in the new. This made me start to wonder why the Jews never accepted Jesus as the Christ and so I started doing research and discovered that according their Prophecies:
- The Christ will be a normal human being
- He will not make any changes to the Torah
- He will not come twice but once and during this time he will reign as king of the world.
As you all know Jesus didn't fulfill any of these prophecies.
This new information started to bother me tremendously because if the Jews are correct (and I have no reason to doubt them) - Accepting Jesus as God is a sin and so against the 10 commandments.
And then off course from the book - "Global History of Christianity" I remembered all the various philosophical debates/arguments between prophets and followers (which ultimately led to the various branches of Christianity) that made my new religious disposition official.
- Why were there none of these arguments during the writing of the Torah and during the writing of the New Testament?
So I still believe in God but not in Jesus as a God but perhaps as one of the greatest and wisest moral teachers that ever walked the earth.
I have now started learning the Kabbalah in an effort to search for a higher level of spirituality so that I can live closer to God while still being alive in this realm of existence.
I would love some feedback.
Many Thanks.
Stefan
I am new to this forum.... So please bare with me until I get the hang of it.
The reason I have lost my Christianity is in my personal search for the Truth - I was accepted into the church when I was 17 and carried on believing for some time until my Father passed away in 07' and turned atheist. The end of 08' I started receiving signs which I believe came from God and so, since then, I have been slowly climbing my way back up the mountain and started reading a book called "The global History of Christianity" (an unbiased book about the development of Christianity which have been based on actual confirmed and accepted Historical recordings) after which (Recently) I have been reading the Bible a lot. I have been reading a piece from the Old testament (from the beginning) and the new testament every day and the more I read the more I started to wonder why there seems to be a "personality" or perhaps a "point of view" difference between God in the old testament and in the new. This made me start to wonder why the Jews never accepted Jesus as the Christ and so I started doing research and discovered that according their Prophecies:
- The Christ will be a normal human being
- He will not make any changes to the Torah
- He will not come twice but once and during this time he will reign as king of the world.
As you all know Jesus didn't fulfill any of these prophecies.
This new information started to bother me tremendously because if the Jews are correct (and I have no reason to doubt them) - Accepting Jesus as God is a sin and so against the 10 commandments.
And then off course from the book - "Global History of Christianity" I remembered all the various philosophical debates/arguments between prophets and followers (which ultimately led to the various branches of Christianity) that made my new religious disposition official.
- Why were there none of these arguments during the writing of the Torah and during the writing of the New Testament?
So I still believe in God but not in Jesus as a God but perhaps as one of the greatest and wisest moral teachers that ever walked the earth.
I have now started learning the Kabbalah in an effort to search for a higher level of spirituality so that I can live closer to God while still being alive in this realm of existence.
I would love some feedback.
Many Thanks.
Stefan
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Zzyzx
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Post #25
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Which of the thousands of proposed "gods" do you believe in -- and why pick that one?Stefan wrote:So I still believe in God but not in Jesus as a God
Many statements attributed to Jesus are insane if he is not a "god". "Hate your family to follow me", "no one gets to heaven except through me", "I come with a sword", "Give away your possessions and follow me", etc are NOT thoughts of a great teacher.Stefan wrote:but perhaps as one of the greatest and wisest moral teachers that ever walked the earth.
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Non-Theist
ANY of the thousands of "gods" proposed, imagined, worshiped, loved, feared, and/or fought over by humans MAY exist -- awaiting verifiable evidence
Non-Theist
ANY of the thousands of "gods" proposed, imagined, worshiped, loved, feared, and/or fought over by humans MAY exist -- awaiting verifiable evidence
Post #26
If you look at those phrases in a physical/corpreal way - i.e. the same way our eyes sees a cup, spoon etc. They appear crazy simply because they are referring to a spiritual/metaphysical plane of existence and not a corporeal one. - Your perception let's you see what you want to see - you see crazy, others see wisdom. Now I'm not going to debate with you as to what those phrases can possibly mean (spiritually or physically) - So don't try to engage me with your point of view over some quotes you PERCEIVE as crazy - I will not respond.Zzyzx wrote:.Which of the thousands of proposed "gods" do you believe in -- and why pick that one?Stefan wrote:So I still believe in God but not in Jesus as a God
The answer to your first question is quite obvious - If I don't believe in Jesus as God (Being a former Christian) then I'm obviously picking Zeus as my god? - Sorry for the sarcasm - couldn't resist.
Second Question: Now I'm not going to try and give you some explanation that I perceive as rational/logical, which you will obviously perceive as irrational/illogical and then with your (All of Man's) opinionated nature, invariably come up with some way of proving (only to yourself) your rationality and logic. So my answer quite simply is this: Why do you choose/pick/like that which your perception can rationalize as a "good" or "right"?
Many statements attributed to Jesus are insane if he is not a "god". "Hate your family to follow me", "no one gets to heaven except through me", "I come with a sword", "Give away your possessions and follow me", etc are NOT thoughts of a great teacher.Stefan wrote:but perhaps as one of the greatest and wisest moral teachers that ever walked the earth.
Post #27
The answer to your first question is quite obvious - If I don't believe in Jesus as God (Being a former Christian) then I'm obviously picking Zeus as my god? - Sorry for the sarcasm - couldn't resist.
Second Question: Now I'm not going to try and give you some explanation that I perceive as rational/logical, which you will obviously perceive as irrational/illogical and then with your (All of Man's) opinionated nature, invariably come up with some way of proving (only to yourself) your rationality and logic. So my answer quite simply is this: Why do you choose/pick/like that which your perception can rationalize as a "good" or "right"?
Second Question: Now I'm not going to try and give you some explanation that I perceive as rational/logical, which you will obviously perceive as irrational/illogical and then with your (All of Man's) opinionated nature, invariably come up with some way of proving (only to yourself) your rationality and logic. So my answer quite simply is this: Why do you choose/pick/like that which your perception can rationalize as a "good" or "right"?
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Nilloc James
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Post #28
I studied the bible in deeper detail and then proceeded to question it. Snow ball effect after that.
