Need Help To Write A Deconversion Story

[viocjit]

I wrote a deconversion story and I selected 3 versions of reviews that I like. (Original text : http://www.ex-christian.net/topic/59043-an-introduction-and-a-testimony-in-progress/)

Now , choice which text do you prefer. (The debate will be close in August , 30th , 2014).

 

The texts are classed by nicknames alphabetical order :

 

1.Surgoshan from www.atheismplus.com

Reader(s) I don't know who are you and you don't know who I'm.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Anthony and I'm a Frenchman who lives in a "Muslim Ghetto" in the region called "Isle of France" or "Île-de-France" in Frenchlanguage.

 

When I was four years old I became Christian , to be more accurate I can say that at this period of my lifetime I didn't know that I was a "cafetaeria catholic". I became Christian because I believed that God was talking to me (emotionaly and not with words) and that he gave had given to me a mission that I'll I'd discover later.

At the end of 90's I desired being a better Catholic to be baptised wanted to be baptized to be a better Catholic (I was never baptisedI thanks my mother and my father to let me the choice, thanks to my mother and father leaving the choice to me). Between my conversion and my deconversion I felt myself guilty because I was an "agnostic theist". I feared the hell nearby my whole life because a one day I understood that Catholicism isn't the right denomination. Therefore I looked for the right denomination and now I know that all of them are false because Christianity isn't the right religion like all religions from our world. Also I feared the hell because I thought that I was a sinner. I'm happy to say that sin doesn't exist.

At the age of eight years old I discovered the "evolution theory theory of evolution" therefore I thought that Genesis is only an allegory.

I became a conspiracy theorist because, since my 4 years old the age of four, I had the sensation that I was choosed chosen by the creator to do and make something of really important for the future of humanity (I was probably trapped by my ego). Like These videos and texts about conspiracy theories seemed logical to me. I believed I had received a kind of revelation like "here is your mission". I discovered conspiracy theories when I began to view pro-psy (astral projection, telekinesyis, telepathy, etc...) and esoterical websites because I desired wanted to improve my spirituality when I was between 10-11 years old. I really became really a conspiracy theorist when I was between 12-14 years old. I stopped to look looking into psy and esoterism between my 14-15 years old because I thought that it was a sin. At the age of 16 years old I read the whole Bible and I understood that Christians don't practice all the laws of the eternal. I felt myself guilty.

Also I was shocked by the content of the OT. The Bible seemed to me a book of non-sense because the organisation of each of these texts are not really understandable. I saw contradictions in the synoptical Gospels but I still continue to believe for emotional reasons.

Some month later I discovered that texts from biblical corpus contain interpolation like John 7:53-8:11. I still continued to believe because I feared the hell and I thought that the deity god let the forgers to act because of the existence of "free will" (Now I know that neurology say that free will is rather an illusion). Some years before discovered* this fact I discovered that Jesus have has similitudes similarities with others mythological characters but I thought that Satan inspired the writers of pagan myths.

This year I discovered that many biblical events like Exodus never happened.

 

Keys to better understand my story :

1.In my family people are not really religious (cafeteria catholicism).

2.I tried to be a better Christian because in my family people are cafeteria catholics and I was very interested about in religion. Also I can cite the fear of hell.

3.I was between 14 and 15 years old the last time where I went in a church.

4.I was never baptised because I doubted my whole life and I desired being honest with the master of the universe. Before being an Agnostic and now an Atheist . I was an Agnostic theist.

5.I looked for the right Christian denomination nearby nearly my whole life. All of them appeared to me disconect to the reality.

6.I went in a to church approximately between 7 and 15 times in my life.

2.ThinkerBelle from www.thethinkingatheist.com

Dear Readers,

I don't know who are you and you don't know who I am.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Anthony. I'm a Frenchman who lives in a "Muslim Ghetto" in this region called "Isle of France" or "Île-de-France."

 

When I was four years old I became Christian. To be more accurate I can say that at this period of my lifetime I didn't know that I was a "cafeteria Catholic". I became Christian because I believed that God was talking to me (emotionally, not with words) and that he gave me a mission that I would discover at a later time.

At the end of 90's I desired to be a better Catholic and to be baptized. I had never been baptized as my mother and my father left the choice to me. Between my conversion and my later deconversion, I felt guilty because I was really an "agnostic theist." I feared hell nearly my whole life because I understood that Catholicism wasn't the right denomination for me. Therefore, I looked for the right denomination and now I know that all of them are false. Christianity isn't the any better a religion than all the other religions in the world. Also, I fear hell because I thought that I was a sinner. Now I'm happy to say that sin doesn't exist.

At the age of eight years old I discovered the "evolution theory." Because I accepted evolution, I believed that Genesis was only an allegory.

I became a conspiracy theorist because since the age of 4 years old I had the sensation that I was chosen by the creator to do and make a really important contribution for the future of humanity. (I was probably trapped by my ego). The videos and texts about conspiracy theories seemed logical to me. I believed I had received a kind of revelation, like "here is your mission". I discovered conspiracy theories when I began to view pro-psy (astral projection ,telekinesis , telepathy , etc...) and esoteric websites because I desired improve my spirituality. This happened when I was between 10-11 years old. I really became a conspiracy theorist when I was between 12-14 years old. I stopped to look into psy and esoterism between my 14th and 15th years because I thought that it was a sin. At the age of 16 years old I read the whole Bible and I understood that Christians don't practice all the laws of the eternal. I felt guilty.

I was also shocked by the content of the OT. The Bible seemed to me a book of non-sense because the organization of these texts is not really understandable. I saw contradictions in the synoptical Gospels but I still continue to believe for emotional reasons.

Some month later I discovered that texts from biblical corpus contain interpolation, such as John 7:53-8:11. I still continued to believe because I feared the hell and I thought that the deity let the forgers act because of the existence of "free will." (Now I know that neurology say that free will is rather an illusion). Some years before I discovered this fact, I discovered that Jesus had similarities to others mythological characters, yet I still thought that Satan inspired the writers of pagan myths.

This year I discovered that many biblical events like Exodus never happened.

 

Keys to better understand my story :

1. In my family people are not really religious (cafeteria Catholicism).

2. I tried to be a better Christian because in my family people are cafeteria Catholics and I was very interested about religion. Also I had a great fear of hell.

3. I was between 14 and 15 years old the last time I set foot in a church.

4. I was never baptized because I doubted my whole life and I wanted to be honest with the master of the universe. Before being an Agnostic and now an Atheist, I was an Agnostic theist.

5. I looked for the right Christian denomination nearby my whole life. All of them appeared to me disconnect with reality.

6. I went to a church between 7 and 15 times in my life.

3.William from whywontgodhealamputees.com (he edited it a bit) :

Dear Readers, I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am. Let me introduce myself. My name is Anthony. I'm a Frenchman who lives in a "Muslim Ghetto" in this region called "Isle of France" or "Île-de-France" in French language.

 

When I was just four years old I became Christian. To be more accurate I can say that during this period of my lifetime I didn't know that I was actually a "cafetaria catholic" like the rest of my family. I became Christian mainly because I believed that God was talking to me personally (emotionaly and not with words) and that He gave me a “mission” that I'd discover the details of later in life.

 

At the end of 90's I had a desire to be a better Catholic and to be baptised. I hadn’t yet been baptised because my mother and my father had left the choice up to me. However, doubts prevented me from believing I could be baptised.

 

After my conversion (and leading ultimately to my deconversion), I developed feelings of guilt because I knew I was an "agnostic theist".

At the age of eight years old I was introduced to the "theory of evolution". Consequently I thought that Genesis could only be an allegory, and so I could not take the Bible to be literally true.

 

From the day I understood that Catholicism isn't the right denomination I feared I would go to hell. Later, through my search for the right denomination I came to the realisation that all of them are false. I concluded that not just Christianity, but all the religions in our world are false.

 

Another reason for my fear of hell was that I thought I was a sinner. I’ve lived in fear for nearly the whole of my life, but no more, now I'm happy to say that sin doesn't exist.

 

Since the age of four, I had already become a bit of a conspiracy theorist. I had a feeling that I was chosen by the Creator to do something of great importance for the future of humanity (I was probably a victim of my own ego.) Many videos and stories about conspiracy theories seemed logical to me – they appealed to my sense of having a secret mission. I believed I would receive a revelation some day, like: "Anthony, here is your mission ...".

 

When I was between 10-11 years old I became interested in pro-psy (astral projection ,telekinesy , telepathy , etc...) and esoterical websites. These websites fed my desire to improve my spirituality. By the time I was 12-14 years old I was immersed in these ideas, but later by the age of 14-15 years competing Christian ideas began to make me feel it was sinful. Feelings of guilt made me stop looking into psy and esoterism. At the age of 16 years I read the whole Bible and I learned that Christians don't approve of anything to do with the eternal that is outside of their own teachings. I felt a great burden of guilt.

 

Reading the Bible had another effect on me. I was shocked by the content of the OT. Overall the Bible seemed to me a book of nonsense. The texts are not well organised and some parts are hard to understand. I saw contradictions in the synoptic Gospels - but I still continued to believe for emotional reasons.

 

Some month later I discovered that some texts from biblical corpus contain interpolation, like John 7:53-8:11. Nevertheless I still continued to believe because I feared hell and I thought that the deity allowed the forgers to act because of the existence of "free will" (BTW now I know that neurology says that free will is an illusion).

 

Years before this I had heard the Jesus story has many similarities with other mythological characters. But I dismissed that – I thought that Satan must have inspired the writers of pagan myths.

 

This year I discovered that there is no evidence for many biblical events - like Exodus never happened.

 

The combined weight of all this knowledge has finally made me realise that I’m an atheist.

 

Keys to better understand my story :

1. My family are not really religious (cafetaria catholicism).

2. I tried to be a better Christian because unlike people in my family I was very interested in religion. I believed I was called to do a “mission” for God. Fear of hell was also a strong motivator.

3. I was between 14 and 15 years old the last time I attended church.

4. I was never baptised because I doubted my whole life and I felt the need to be honest with the Master of the Universe. I was an agnostic theist. Later I became an agnostic but now I’ve progressed to thinking of myself as an atheist.

5. I searched for the right Christian denomination nearly all my life. All of them appeared to me to be disconnected from reality.

6. I attended church approximately 15 times in my life.

[Ellinas]

I'm unsure whether you are telling us your story or asking for a vote on which of these read better.

 

Personally I have no view.  For what audience do you intend the final version?

 

What's the relevance of the 30th of August?

[viocjit]

Ellinas , I'm asking you (forum's members) to vote. The audience that will have the pleasure to read the final version will be the Free-thinker community (Agnostic , Apatheist , Atheist , Deist Ignosticist etc...) and religious communities in the whole English speaking world over internet.

 

The relevance is 30th August because I published it 30th June. Two month to answer make that I will have the possibility to receive 3 or 4 answers.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

Welcome to the forum.  It's your story; tell it the way you think it should be told.  That's my suggestion, anyway.