Forums

Holy shit Ag! Sorry to hear you've been hurt. How scary! Hope you have a speedy recovery and can get back to doing what you love.....churning out yummy and beautiful tasty treats. 🍪🍰🍮  And I've missed seeing you around here.

Hi Knott, welcome!  We’d be interested to learn more about you, but this is Eowynesque’s Introduction thread, so it might be better to start your own topic.  I assume by now you know that being Ex-Christian is absolutely a thing!

If, in your Christian days as a teenager or young 20 something, you had a Sunday School teacher or pastor wag his finger in your face for doing something harmless like listening to a popular music song on your radio or head phones or were caught with their records or tapes (showing my age).......YOU MIGHT BE AN EX-CHRISTIAN!

If you ever explained to a Christian why you left and they said to you, "You're focusing on men and not God" and you feel like strangling them........YOU MIGHT BE AN EX-CHRISTIAN!

I remember when I got my first cell phone. It was a flip phone and I loved it because I could play pretend Star Trek communicator.....Even though the cell phones now are like little computers, I still miss the flip phone. Hanging up was fun.

I was browsing and came across this site. Thanks for having me, I have been in other forums from time to time and my experience has been worse than when I darkened the door of the religious building.  What struck me was when I saw the name ex Christian, my first thought was; there is no such thing, so I had to take a look and I'll admit it is quite fascinating to read through. It took me a minute to sign up but I did. I don't go to a building anymore, but I have been born again since 1987. Looking forward to reading more, Thanks

Glad you are still around you sassy heathen

Hi Eowynesque!   I want to add my Welcome to all the others.  This is a great community and you can be totally yourself here.    I think you know that deconversion is a process, not an event.  The deconverting mind seems to undergo a reprogramming over a period of time and it’s important that it play out and let the faith gradually lose its grip on your mind.  Most of us have found that immersing ourselves in this community helps greatly with the process.  Not only will your unbelief start to feel more ‘normal’ but you will gain other perspectives on Christianity that will show you the many ways in which it falls down under examination.  And maybe most importantly you will be among folks who ‘get’ you and support you.    Ome measure of your progression through the deconversion process is the way you think of ‘atheism’.  Now while virtually none of us here believe in any gods whatsoever (except for the few Christian guests whom we encounter in the Lions Den), not all of us call ourselves atheists.  Most of us though would consider ourselves to be agnostic atheists, if you’re familiar with that term.  But where I’m going is this: when we were Christians and even in the early stages of deconversion, we were likely repelled by the idea of atheism and atheists.  You mentioned yourself once villianizing Hitchens - I did too!  But then at some point, somewhere after conceding that you are no longer a Christian, you concede that you have in fact become an atheist.  People have different levels of comfort with the word at that point: some of us avoid using the word, while others go get an atheist tatoo, t-shirt and bumper sticker!  Different strokes.  But my point is that when you reach this point it’s cause for both satisfaction and caution. Satisfaction because it’s a milestone that, once passed, usually makes the deconversion process feel better, more comfortable. But the caution is that as we become comfortable thinking of ourselves as atheists, we can forget what a terrifying, repulsive idea atheism is to most people, even to many irreligious people who haven’t thought things through as much.  So I wouldn’t drop the A-bomb on people outside this community - at least not for now.  Yes it’s important that more and more of us become openly atheist so the label loses its stigma.  But that’s not your job, not now.   The word can erect a solid wall between you and others, especially loved ones.  You are under no obligation to fully share your unbelief with anyone.  Many of us have found that it works better to gradually reveal our skepticism, our ‘questioning’, to those around us.  Often by the time we fully reveal our unbelief, people respond with a ‘yeah, I figured that’s where you were’.  Doing it that way let’s them see that not much about us has changed - before they realize we are unbelievers.     Sorry for being so wordy!  We’re all here for you as you continue your journey.