Why Did You Believe?

[Antlerman]

On an anthropological study note, I notice that all the responses thus far have been a mixture of "Cultural/family conditioning" and "I was feeling bad/vulnerable and religion was the answer." I find it interesting that NO ONE came to Christianity during a time of strength, by themselves - no external prodding, and having logically determined that it was the Truth™. Very interesting indeed.

Ahh Mr. Grinch it's you! I like the point you raise. Maybe this should be a topic unto itself? Why do conversions happen when things are bad, and the light of truth isn't so bright as to overcome even the best the world has to offer?

[Piprus]

I was just a young kid at the time, and I was scared I would go to hell if I died. Especially when the preacher kept hammering that "death can come at anytime, and then it's too late!"

 

Thankfully, my fundieism didn't last for long. By the time I was in my mid-teens I thought most of that fundamentalist line was nonsense.

[AStandAloneComplex]

I was also brainwashed from birth. I also didn't know anyone who wasn't xtian until I got into high school. That's when I started to question things and realized what bullshit it was.

 

That is a really good point Checkmate.

[R. S. Martin]

I am just curious to know if it worked with your mother. Did the relationship improve?

BTW, the rape thing really sucks! Not only violated but also shunned and misunderstood? Geeezz!

 

Nope. It never worked with my mother. I failed miserably at being an extension of her, and she let me know it. She was a right royal critical bitch up until I got married and moved out at 22.

 

The relationship improved after I moved out and stopped putting any effort into it. It's not too bad now, but it's extraordinarily shallow. And she's still a critical bitch, though less so now.

 

Yeah, the assault thing totally sucked ass. But, in retrospect, I'm not surprised at all that I wasn't believed. My mom was convinced that all teens are uncontrollable horny spawn from hell, so my "having sex" just proved it to her.

 

Gwenmead, I don't mean to pry where I have no business so feel free to ignore this. In case you want to respond....

 

I see no mention to a father. Only a mother. And she accuses you of being a whore. Perhaps she was projecting her own "sins" on you? Esp. since there is no mention of other siblings. I realize we don't exactly give a full portrait of our lives in these posts so there may have been a second mating of your mother and ten kids for all I know. But it does make me wonder....

[Lycorth]

When you were a Christian, why/how did you become a Christian in the first place?

 

Me, it was all I knew. Mom took my sister and I to Sunday school class when we were little and was told what to believe, no questions asked.

 

 

But then I grew up.

 

Ditto. Except that I was born and raised Catholic, and hence never had Sunday School. But I was sent to Catholic school when I was younger and attended K-12. It was all I knew, until I began exploring other religions in my teens.

 

It took me till 27/28 to finally give it up

[R. S. Martin]

I cut this one because, in addition to other things, it was way too long. I probably should not be posting on this thread. I checked just now and I can't delete it anymore so I'll make it brief.

 

I went through the motions of believing for a good forty years because I was born into a culture where not believing was not an option. The consequences of not accepting the faith as it was taught to me were unthinkable but my brain could not buy the stuff. In addition, it's very difficult to prove whether the religion is right or whether my brain is right. After nearly half a century I got into a position where I could see over the top of the box and get out.

 

Had I been treated decently I would probably still be there.

[Mythra]

I was evangelized by some very skilled "vessels of the Lord" when I was 22 yrs. old. I rode the religious rollercoaster for 27 damned years.

 

Thank God I didn't spend my entire life wrapped up in it. It was waste enough as it is.

[Max]

Pile me on the just-brought-up-with-it heap, too. My parents were religious, and my mother took me to Sunday School and church every Sunday. I learned there that everyone who didn't believe what they taught were evil scum, so I toed the line.

 

I sort of desparately clung to it through my teen years because I was an unpopular, poorly socialized geek without any real friends, and it was just something to cling to.

 

I struggled to hang on for years after I started to seek the chinks in the armor to avoid hell. But I eventually had to admit to myself that I was faking it.

 

Especially when the preacher kept hammering that "death can come at anytime, and then it's too late!"

 

Yeah, that part really had me freaked out, too. I think I cried myself to sleep every night when I was six out of the fear of hell. What sort of a person scares a little kid like that?

[Lizard]

My parents were not religious. In fact, they moved away from family partly due to the religious nature of paternal family.

 

My older sister bought the bullshit first, when she married. Good ole southern Baptist style.

 

I was 20, far away from home in a town where I knew no one and was terrified. So..I decided to go to church. Ended up in a little independant charismatic style church with 10 members. Those folks were messed up! I discovered I was pregnant, and one couple wanted my baby!!

 

23 years later, many churches/denominations later..and the internet.. and I realized what crap it all was. That was 3 years ago.

 

Through those years though, I wasn't always the "faithful believer". I went back and forth on it, but luckily, my children were not overly influenced by my times of fundyism.

 

So, again, it was a low point in life..and the need for "someone, anyone" to make things better..

[MeiPassion]

I believed because I was basically forced to. Not something I really wanted to do.

[dulce]

Married into it when I was 27. Learned real quick to convert or be shunned. After 7 years decided I didn't give a shit anymore and left.

[HoustonHorn]

I started going to church so I could spend Sundays with my girlfried - we're married now. The entire time I felt that I didn't really fit in, but couldn't explain why. Then, during a Lord's Supper when I was sitting at the back with the other non-members it hit me - I was still a visitor to this church that I'd been going to for about 6 months. The next week I went up, said I wanted to be baptised, and joined up. Suddenly I felt like I belonged.

 

We got married at that little church a few months later, but moved across town so we changed churches. At the new church we started leading a Sunday night class and I felt that I needed to know more about the big guy since I was "obviously" being led to teach this class. So I started reading parts of the Bible that weren't given to me by the church. Once I got out of the verses that I was supposed to read I really began having problems with the Bible and Christianity. I discovered that once I took the Bible out of the mix, there really isn't any proof that God is God and Christianity is the "one true" religion.

 

I actually got roped in to a committee at the new church, but only went a couple of times. We had moved farther away and were planning on finding a new church anyway. Good timing for me, I went to the new one a couple of times as I was backsliding (damn, I love that word) and then just stopped going.