Madie Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 hello, just curious how many of you deconverted from an independent fundamental baptist church. can you please share your testimony with me. i'm a new deconvert and need about all the supprt i can get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exbeliever Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Madie, I'm not exactly from the background you describe (my fundamentalism involved John MacArthur and The Master's College), but I know Ed Babinski (a skeptic writer) and he has compiled a list of former Bob Jones' University students who left fundamentalism (though, not necessarily Christianity in all cases). http://edward-t-babinski.blogspot.com/2006...l-hits-his.html Hope that helps some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonHorn Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 The church I was "saved" at was (well, it still is) an American Baptist Association church and was pretty fundamental. Next church was also ABA, but a little more liberal. It was not 100% white. Seriously, the first church actually had to have a sermon that black people could go to Heaven too. Then we went to a Southern Baptist which was more modern. I only went there a few times as I was nearing the end of the Christian part of my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franciscan Monkey Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Hey, Madie, I am going to try to find the time to post my deconversion story in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I was a member of two different fundamental independent KJV-only Baptist churches from age 11 to 31. I went to a Christian school affiliated with one of those churches, and went to college at Bob Jones University. I eventually left Baptist churches for a Calvary Chapel where I attended for 5 years or so. I deconverted a little over a year ago when I finally realized that the Bible just could not be the Word of God. Apart from the initial "I can't believe that just about everything I believed in has been false" shock, it has been surprisingly easy process for me. I think that this has primarily been due to the following reasons: 1. I have never been real emotional anyway. 2. My wife deconverted shortly after I did. 3. None of the rabid fundamentalists in my family have found out yet (most notably my Mom & MIL). I am not sure what encouragement I can give you, but you can ask me any questions you want. The thing that is most comforting to me is that I now know the truth. Respectfully, Franciscan Monkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crunk Bishop Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Madie, I'm an ex-fundy Baptist, straight from Bobby Jones' Locker! My testimony is posted over in testimonials: "Working out my own salvation with booze and laughing" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtdude Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Hi madie, I'm from a Conservative Baptist background (see my extest here http://www.ex-christian.net/index.php?showtopic=8531). We were not KJF-only, but pretty much pre-trib, no-tongues, "our way or the highway" baptists! Welcome to the site. So are you the totally alone in this? Have you told your family? What has brought you to decide that christianity just doesn't add up for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sage Nabooru Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Hah, the KJV thing always makes me crack up. My Lutheran church didn't practice it. Why does it seem that when some religious document or dogma is found to be lacking, the fundies cling to it and insist on it like never before? Even if it were only a minor issue before? It seems after the KJV was exposed as one of the worst-translated Bibles in history, churches began preaching its sole authority over all other versions. It's just really strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizard Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 I only visited an IFB once..and that was quite enough for me! However, at the end of my stint, I was an admin at an IFB website. I ended up being banned from there..go figure To me, that was easier to leave than the more moderate/liberal denoms. Not sure what I can offer in the way of help though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanakila Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I was an Independent Fundamental Baptist who attended Bible college at Baptist Bible College in Springfield MO. I was a pastor's wife/chaplains wife, and when we got liberal we went to Southern Baptist Churches. My deconversion is also in the testimony section of this forum. Feel free to pm me with any questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beowulf Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 To me, that was easier to leave than the more moderate/liberal denoms. That's often true. Sometimes the more extreme a denomination is, the easier it is to recognize how erroneous they are. Doesn't mean it's any easier to leave, though. I'm amazed to see how many ex-BJUers are here. BJU is right in my back yard, so I have to put up with the Jonesies and their politics regularly. However, we have an even more extreme version of IFB in my town. Tabernacle Baptist Church is on the west side of town, and thinks that BJU is too liberal. This group is KJV only, with literalist view of the Bible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorena Rodriguez Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I started in a very fundamentalist Baptist church in South America. Founded by American missionaries, the church was very strict. Speaking in tongues and clapping when singing were no-no's. Then I came to Canada and got to know more progressive churches: North American Baptists, Baptist Fellowship, Menonite Brethrem, and E. Free Churches. Once, while looking for a church, my DH and I went to the most fundamentalist church I've ever seen in Canada. After the service, the pastor's wife approached us: "How did you like our service?" she asked. "As you may have noticed, in our church, women don't speak during services because that's what the bible says." Then she told us that the KJV was the only valid version of the Bible and that women didn't wear pants in their church. My response was: "That's funny. How come you don't cover your heads, too. Paul said that women should cover their heads or else they should shave [their heads]." The woman turned around and the conversation ended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crunk Bishop Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 yeah, once in my fundy high school I was having a good spirited argument in class with my Spanish teacher (also the preacher's wife). i quoted 1 Timoth 2:11-12 "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man." and she just said "well that's just not the way it is," and she didn't get angry... maybe the defintion of "man" was pliable in her interpretation, but it was also common in the church for women to teach adult sunday school. in the Southern Baptist church I attended as a youngster (before I was 12), they allowed women to be deacons for a brief time in the 70's because the old man deacons had died off, but once some new men had repopulated the church they relinquished their titles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorena Rodriguez Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 in the Southern Baptist church I attended as a youngster (before I was 12), they allowed women to be deacons for a brief time in the 70's because the old man deacons had died off, but once some new men had repopulated the church they relinquished their titles. It sucks, doesn't it? At the Evangelical Free church I attended, all the men were called PASTORS. The woman that led the music program was called MUSIC DIRECTOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beowulf Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 But of course not - couldn't stand to have a female "Minister of Music", could they? I had a friend with that title at a Southern Blabtist Church. His wife had an affair, so the fired HIM. I guess since he couldn't keep his house in order, he wasn't good enough. I believe he deconverted after that experience, but I haven't heard from him in ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J Thomas Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 I have been in the process of deconverting from Fundementalist conservative Baptist belief for the past couple of years. Its still a painful process. http://www.exchristian.net/testimonies/200...in-my-soul.html Best regards Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crunk Bishop Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 Beowulf, I'm originally from Spartanburg. my Christian high school, Westgate Christian, actually plays Tabernacle in basketball. i was there a couple of times in the 1990's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beowulf Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Beowulf, I'm originally from Spartanburg. my Christian high school, Westgate Christian, actually plays Tabernacle in basketball. i was there a couple of times in the 1990's. Very interesting, Crunk. I was in a KFC in Duncan just this past week when three girls from Westgate Christian came in. All three were wearing the requisite ankle-length skirts and modest attire. I was not aware of the school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crunk Bishop Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 WCS was one helluvalame school. "Bible" class everday... fundamentalist apologetics. Creation science. Censored Western canon literature... alot of Tolstoy. they started requiring uniforms after i graduated, but while i was there i had to maintain a short haircut and wear a collared shirt with a belt everyday for some reason. girls' skirts had to be at least to the knee, but now their uniforms are longer. Speaking as a former Christian school boy, man... we loved that dress code. Everyday at lunch just about every guy had his non-food hand up his girlfriend's skirt in Jesus' name. i was a 1995 graduate and had attended there since sixth grade. Back then, there were only 150 or so students. my graduating class had 6 other students. some of the teachers i had are still there doing the same old shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Once, while looking for a church, my DH and I went to the most fundamentalist church I've ever seen in Canada. After the service, the pastor's wife approached us: "How did you like our service?" she asked. "As you may have noticed, in our church, women don't speak during services because that's what the bible says." Then she told us that the KJV was the only valid version of the Bible and that women didn't wear pants in their church. My response was: "That's funny. How come you don't cover your heads, too. Paul said that women should cover their heads or else they should shave [their heads]." The woman turned around and the conversation ended. I love that story. I'm from Canada. I wore a head-covering most of my adult life. But this was Mennonite. I did get rid of it but it was pretty tumultuous and took years. I still wear the traditional dress. When I started wearing my hair open people couldn't get over how pretty it is. This made me wonder whether it might not be a sin to keep such beauty covered up. Just one more of my ways to counter the attacks from the religious hemisphere of my brain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acolyte Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 My parents claim to be non-denominational, but I think my Mom is essentially IFB. It hurts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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