My Turn :)

[Totallyatpeace]

What denomination of the Christian Faith were you part of?

 

And what did they teach you was the requirement of becoming a Christian?

 

 

 

 

Tap

[☆ TexasFreethinker ☆]

I was a Southern Baptist.

 

According to them, the requirement to become a christian is to become convicted in your heart that you need to be saved, then to ask Jesus to become your personal savior - to ask him to take away your sins and to accept his forgiveness.

 

Does this differ from what you believe TAP?

[Ouroboros]

My parents were Pentecostal, so that's were I started

7 yr old, gave my life to Jesus, Pentecostal

11 yr old, learned how to speak in tongues

20 yr, got into Word of Faith

30 yr, moved to US, joined some local church, I don't remember denom.

38 yr, de-converted

 

Pentecostal: to become Christian, confess Jesus as your Lord, he will renew your heart and you're born again. All your sins are forgiven, and you don't have to do anything more. But in your actions it will show how converted and serious you are.

 

Word of Life, I would say it's the same, but stronger on that if you're saved, it should show in your actions and speach.

[Lokmer]

I was a non-denominational reformed Christian.

 

In order to be a saved, I had to confess and believe that Jesus is Lord who offered salvation for all who would accept it, acknowledge that I was in need of it and unworthy of it, and accept the gift. Luther's classic "Justification by Faith."

 

Since I grew up with a historically-oriented understanding of Christianity, I believed that in order to call myself a "Christian" (apart from being saved) I had to be able to honestly affirm at least one of the historic creeds end to end.

 

-Lokmer

[Vigile]

Ok, I'll break the ice.

 

Mom's parents were Assembly but they were too legalistic for her so I started off in a Nazarene church. During my first year of university I attended a Bible Baptist church, which told me that my Nazarene baptism was no good since the Nazarites don't believe in eternal security. I left over the legalism and the fact that they couldn't agree to disagree. I then spent several years church hopping, but my last church before I gave up all together was a non-denominational community church.

 

I don't really feel like going over the precepts of salvation requirements. They were the usual I'm sure; saved by grace, believe on christ and you're saved, bible is HS inspired, etc...

[Reach]

First of all, non-denominational Protestant.

 

At the age of 15 my mother moved us to a church which had a female pastor whose husband had divorced her. (I'm adding that information to supply doctrinal hints to that church's beliefs.) She had grown up in a Pentecostal church so we were a charismatic church which believed in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with "the evidence of speaking in tongues." Believed in the five-fold ministry which was the "restoration" of the apostle and the prophet to the church ministry of pastor, teacher and evangelist.

 

To become a Christian? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, which encompassed the standard doctrines of Virgin Birth, Incarnation of God in man, Crucifixion, Bodily Resurrection and Return. Salvation by faith, evidenced in works as an outflow of spiritual maturity.

[Dio]

I was raised Roman Catholic, so receive the sacraments, be good and no mortal sins unless you go to confession afterward. If the good you did outweighed the bad, you'd go to purgatory for awhile. If you died wearing a consecrated brown scapular, you'd go to heaven no matter what. Belief in Jesus was in there somewhere.

 

As an adult, I swam through various streams of fundamentalism, which boiled down to what Texasfreethinker said, but there were various things you had to do to prove your sincerity, such as tithe, go to church, pray, study, witness, speak in tongues (during my pentecostal phase), hold to the correct theological doctrines (during my xian reconstructionist phase), etc.

[Caretaker]

My mother tried raising me Catholic.

 

I can't really recall what they were trying to teach, because my mind was pretty much elsewhere most of the time. I remember some stories, though. I went to CCD when I was young, but I drifted away from that around 6th grade to pursue my relatively newfound interest in mathematics.

[pandora]

Raised Roman Catholic, did the sacraments through Reconciliation and attended CCD. Didn't really have a concept of the saved and unsaved, I felt there was more of a focus on God in general, with the focus on Jesus and Mary being of a slightly different flavor. You were supposed to be good, ask for forgiveness at communion and confession if you screwed up, etc...

http://www.stjudeindy.org/

 

In middle school, went to my friend's baptist church. They drilled in the concept of the saved and unsaved ad nauseum, and so I was convicted that I wasn't saved to I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour because I was a sinner, and I repeated the sinner's prayer. The confession of faith required for salvation was very similar to the Nicene Creed. They preached eternal security too. They didn't like my Catholic baptism, but they never forced the issue of immersion. (Couldn't find the website...)

 

After that, I went to an independpent christian church. They are a conservative split off of the Disciples of Christ (a more mainline denom). They do not resemble their parent denom in any way and they claim to be non-denominational because they have no national leadership. Salvation was pretty much the same except they had an obsession with immersion adult baptism. I wasn't "saved" because I wasn't immersed immediately after my confession of faith. My Catholic baptism didn't count. Things like drama productions, cool Bible school topics, ice cream at youth meetings, and large gymnasiums were also very important to this church. Tithing as well was very important, even children were encouraged to tithe. Officially, their version of salvation was much more complicated than the Baptists:

Faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior (Acts 16:31).

Repentance toward Christ and from sin of the world. (Luke 24:46-68).

Confession of Christ as Lord before men (Romans 10:9-10).

Baptism into Christ for the remission of sin (Acts 2:38).

Growth in Christ to full maturity (Ephesians 4:13-32; Colossians 3:1-17)

 

http://www.southportheights.org (check out the "Just Beyond" musical.. notice they never address what people feel like if their loved one is in hell??)

http://www.thecreek.org (this church considered the former lesser and often gossiped about the "issues in leadership," such as getting a new pastor every few years, a couple of split offs)

 

Edit:

The following churches I attended after my phase of serious doubt had begun. I went to a United Methodist Church, a Jesus Metropolitan Community Church (gay church, my roomie was gay), and a Disciples church. My heart wasn't really into Christianity at this time, so I didn't pay attention to the salavation messages.

[Totallyatpeace]

“Does this differ from what you believe TAP?“

 

TFT~

 

It’s very similar, if not the same. My purpose in asking the question is for my own understanding. I have been taught my entire Christian life that once you are saved, you can never lose your salvation. I have also been told that a True Christian (where’s that little trademark symbol?) would never walk away from their Faith in Christ.

 

I agreed with that up until recently. As a Christian, I believe the Word of God to be true but I also know the testimony of some here and cannot deny that salvation can be reversed. Most have even said that THEY are the ones that gave it back. They simply didn’t want any part of it and returned the gift. Some have said that they sought him and felt they were ignored by a God that didn’t want them

 

I guess my next questions would be--- what was the main or central reason you walked away?

 

 

Tap

[quicksand]

1) Baptized Serbian Orthodox. Confirmed Lutheran.

 

2) Doubly saved as I was required to believe and that Grace was given by god.

 

Left? I was always skeptical really. One to many claims that went by unsubstantiated or just conflicted with everyday common sense. I was in 6th/7h grade.

 

I can PM you the details if you like.

 

I have also been told that a True Christian ... would never walk away from their Faith in Christ.

Nice and rather vicious that is. Head off skepticism at the path. So much for faith, if a wiff of knowledge can shake faith that easily.

[Ouroboros]

I walked away, or rather lost my faith, when I realized that the definition of good is a relative term. To say God is good is not the same as what we consider good. To me love is the greatest gift of all, but when God loves me less and love my family less than me, then why should I trust him?

 

So many bad things happened to my family, wife and kids, that I got to a point (after a lot of prayers over many years), that I could only see that I loved my family so much, and it hurt so much so see them suffer, and God didn’t help, no, if he exists, he made it worse even.

 

I would pray for help, and I got the opposite in answer. I needed money to give my kids food, I would be footed with higher interest rates and higher taxes and new implemented fees and so on. And the accident 8 years ago was basically the start of my doubts, but I tried to keep my faith for 8 years.

 

These things would just keep on coming, it never ended, until one day I just crashed and said, “God, now I’m gone, I lost my faith, only you can give it back, just do something to prove to me that you exists.” And I’m still waiting…

 

My de-conversion was not only logical, but also emotional. It was a combination of both. I needed a better belief system to trust, and there was none, expect logic and reason. So my belief today is in philosophy, and I’m agnostic, but currently hold an atheistic viewpoint. If God ever give me something that is undeniable a token from him, then I might reconsider, but if he exists, he knows where I am, where I live, and what I need, and what I’ve prayed for over the years.

 

The ball is in his corner, I did what I could.

 

My faith is just … gone... like gone with the wind… poof.

[pandora]

There was never a moment where I said I didn't want the gift anymore. It was just a point where I knew that I couldn't claim to be a Christian given what I believe to be true about history and science. In the beginning, i would have given anything to be able to say that still accepted the gift, and in a way I do, but only as a conditional thing... it isn't a black and white belief and it is totally contingent on God's nature. They may have come out differently than I actually meant it to, but I can't think of any other way to say it.

 

The central reason for my walk away from the faith was my study into the historical Jesus and the in depth study of other religions (not just learning about them, but spending a semester on each one and experiencing them as much as I could as well). After it became clear that the Christ of faith and the Jesus of History could not be reconciled, I gave up. The "historical facts" of the Christ of faith were in direct opposition to what I saw as the Jesus of history. After I became comfortable with these ideas, the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak was the conviction that Christian theology doesn't make sense PERIOD. Blood sacrifice and atonement, jealous God who will send thinking people to hell for not thinking the right thing, etc....

[pandora]

1) Baptized Serbian Orthodox. Confirmed Lutheran.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oooh... we have an ex-Orthodox on here! I think you should expand on your understanding of Christianity as an Orthodox because I don't think many realise how different they indeed are.

[Celsus]

I was Baptist until around 22, when I began attending the Presyterian Church. I confessed ny sins and accepted the death and ressurection of Jesus and accepted him as lord of my life, and as propitiation for my utter depravity. The reasons why I walked away are detailed in my anti-testimony.

 

Bruce

[☆ TexasFreethinker ☆]

I guess my next questions would be--- what was the main or central reason you walked away?

Tap

In my case I walked away because I stopped believing. I began to apply the same requirements to a belief in gods that I applied to all other aspects of my life and realized that there was no reason to believe in the supernatural.

 

In other words, there was no one to save me, and nothing to be saved from.

[NimbusBirdMgp]

* 1969 (14 years old) Reformed Presbyterian

* Then a High School of others had invitations to ...

* Some Charismatic ? Disciples Of Christ Group

* Abba House = Calvary Chapel affilated members at this First Baptist

& Maranatha Concert Groups and Jesus Movement Groups.

* Multi- Non-Denomination with Kathryn Kulman Penticostal

* Some Denominations that shared Hal Linsys (Sp?) Late Great Planet Earth & Jews For Jesus Groups

 

* 1972 In the Navy (17 years old)

* Protestant

 

* 1973 In the Navy

* Assemblies Of God

* 1974 In the Navy

* The Neighborhood Church Port Of Call

 

* 1976 United Methodist

* 1977 Assemblies Of God

* 1979 Assemblies Of God

[Ouroboros]

Nimbus,

 

I’ve heard Kathryn Kulman too, several times.

I think it's "Hal Lindsey", never heard him preach, but read several books by him.

[I Broke Free]

TAP

 

I joined the Mormon Church at the age of 16 and was a member for only two years. The requirement for being a Mormon was the belief that Jesus was the Son of God (They did not believe in the Trinity Doctrine) AND that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

 

If you believe that a True Christian would never walk away from their faith, then my experience will not damage that conclusion. I did not join to become a Christian; I joined in the hopes that they would make me heterosexual. I failed on both accounts.

 

IBF

[quicksand]

Oooh... we have an ex-Orthodox on here!    I think you should expand on your understanding of Christianity as an Orthodox because I don't think many realise how different they indeed are.

To tell you the truth, I don't even remember Pandora. It was so so so long ago. Very long ago. Before 3rd grade (I'm 34 now) and all I can really remember is some lessons in the Serb language and that this Jesus guy died for me and that communists were bad people cause they didnt like Jesus. I remember kissing Father Dragan's hand on the way out and playing around the confessional. And the incense. Hmm such a great smell.

 

However, many orthodox are much more grounded in their pagan roots and are not as literalist as their Protestant breathren. Although, feast days are supposed to be observed for respective Saints etc, and that only certian books may and can be read. St. Sava (a brother to King Nemanja) was the first Archbishop of the serbian church around the 13th century. The great schism happens, and what do you know, we get our version of the pope along with "our" brothers, the Greeks. Serbs also follow the Gregorian Calendar (like the Greeks) and both likewise priests have funny beards and clothes. Also, the miracles are preformed behind the screen (whatever it is called) and the magic happens. And the everything is sung during service. I remember the singing too. The early service at St. Sava (which has a killer Fish Fry on Friday's btw) is sung totally in Serbian. Verse, Chorus. Pretty neat. Imagine a bunch of atheist singing about philosophy? lol.

 

Yet, that's all I remember. I still hang out at Serb places (Milwaukee as the second largest concentration of Serbians outside of Serbia and Montenegro, Chicago with the most in the USA) in Milwaukee and have looked into its history and such.

 

I'd probably be more into the culture, but the damn church pervades everything.

[Caretaker]

Obviously, I was never devout, though in my middle childhood, the belief was ingrained. Sorta.

 

But I feel like I was never given a choice to believe. Obviously aside from the boredom I experienced, I never took it too seriously. I really started stepping out of Christianity for good just after high school, when I realized that God only served being a mythical figure to me.

 

By this time, I became a person who likes to go out and figure things out on my own. I am self-taught in computer technology and mathematics. I like to solve problems. Yet when it came to religion, I found it to be so ambiguous, so demanding, so repressive, and most importantly, so unverifiable, that it didn't seem reasonable to me to believe it to be true.

[Kryten]

I was in an independant, charismatic church which eventually became Foursquare, then a few years later switched to Assembly of God.

 

...

I guess my next questions would be--- what was the main or central reason you walked away?

Tap

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For me, it was an intillectual struggle. For 30 years I believed the bible was authored by God via His writers. I also believed that there was historical evidence (and lots of it) that Jesus actually existed. What turned me from the dark side was:

1) the realization that hell cannot be real or from God (and of this there is NO doubt);

2) the realization and acceptance that the flood and creation accounts in Genesis are not possible (way too much material to list here);

3) Jesus supposedly believed in the flood, which raises questions about him;

4) the realization that there are hundred (apparently thousands) of Christian denominations, all with different doctrine (many mutually exclusive of one another), and all derived from the same innerrant bible;

5) the discovery of hundreds of errors and contradictions in the bible-- so much so that I can use the bible by itself to prove the bible is false, thus cannot be from God;

6) the logical inconsistancies in acceptable behavior has apparently changed, for example it was good for the men of the OT to have many wives and concubines, but nowadays it is sin, therefore God changed (again)

7) the immoral behavior and pettiness of OT God is so evil that it can't really be the God I was worshipping all this time;

8) the realization that neither I nor anyone I know has really ever heard God or seen a real miracle, therefore there is no tangible evidence that a diety exists;

9) I studied the formation of the NT and discovered it was indeed written decades after the time Jesus supposedly lived, so all the talk about "eyewitnesses" was crap;

10) there really is NO evidence that Gospel Jesus ever lived. No secular records or writings, and NO Christian writings of the time (only decades/centuries later)

11) I studied the origin of Christianity and it makes PERFECT SENSE that a religion that included forgiveness of wrongdoing, no need for strict laws or rituals (such as Jewish laws or self-castration by the Attis cult), reward in the afterlife (heaven), revenge on all enemies (fiery hell), and only requirement is faith, would flourish and grow. But it still was a minority cult until it became mandatory to join the church. I don't see God or goodness anywhere in the formation of the church or doctrine and certainly not throughout history.

12) It is apparent that faith is circular. People believe because they want to.

 

That was enough for me. It comes with a cost, so don't think I took the easy way out. I risk losing my fiance, and I have lots of Christian friends and co-workers who will hate me if they find out. (My fiance already knows, but not my friends/co-workers). But I know I am correct and am not risking hell or losing heaven. If God exists and this is a test, it is more likely that the question is "Is God guilty of the acts ascribed to Him in the OT?" and I am confident the answer is no.

[Lokmer]

I guess my next questions would be--- what was the main or central reason you walked away?

 

I cared too much about it, read my Bible too much, and tried too hard to be a Christian of integrity. I spent too much time working on sanctification and helping others, on seeking God's will, and on studying the character of Christ.

 

It was only a matter of time before I saw the whole thing crumble to ashes. Christian orthodoxy absolutely cannot be justified on the basis of the Bible. The God Christianity teaches is not the God that shows up in the Bible, period. Jesus the "sinless sacrifice" doesn't exist in the Bible - he's a theological construct having very little to do with the Jesus of the gospels. And, finally, the Hebrew God specifically forbade human sacrifice and cannibalism as abominations that were to be avoided by anyone who wished to follow him. He simply could not have been behind a religion that is founded upon human sacrifice and sanctified through ritual cannibalism.

 

On the basis of my wish to honor the author of the Bible (who I thought was God) I found myself unable to accept even a single doctrinal claim of Christianity. Walking away from Christianity was, for me, an act of faith. I trusted that God is the source of truth, and that the truth would lead to him. Although I later stopped believing in God as a Real Being, I still honor the source of truth as best I can by walking in the way of truth. If there's a God behind it, hopefully my path is honoring to he/she/it. If there's not, it's still the only path I can take and still respect myself.

 

-Lokmer

[white_raven23]

What denomination of the Christian Faith were you part of?

 

I was a just plain old Christian.....going to a Free Methodist Church.

I was never a sect member of any branch. My parents never baptized me when I was little. They wanted me to make that decision when I got older.

 

Well, I got older, and we were going to the Free Methodist church near our house. Sure membership came up. When our youth group was all in high school, they started guiding us towards becoming full members of the church (there were several like me who did not officially "belong").

 

One of the requirements for membership was being baptized.

 

This gave me pause, at sixteen, the idea that you have to be dunked underwater to be eligible for membership can seem rather silly and petty.

 

And my parents were willing to do this, but only if I did it too.

 

Again, I had pause. A lot of cultural importance was riding on an act that, to me, was appearing stranger by the second.

 

The behavior of the people at my church said loud and clear that my value was based on whether or not I was a full member.....and getting dunked in a pool of cold water was the membership fee.

 

But our church didn't have a fount. I asked about this, and was told we would all use the fount at a different church, and that church's pastor would perform the ritual with us. The other church wasn't even Free Methodist.

 

Well what was the point then? Using that logic I could argue I was already baptized by every soak bath I took at home. Especially if it was witnessed by another person

 

The action itself was just too damn silly for me to justify. If baptism wasn't necessary for me to bask in the love of Jesus, be a christian, and be saved from hell.....what was the point? Why would that be necessary for membership in the church?

 

I figured Jesus's sacrifice was all the baptism I needed, and anyone who said other-wise just wanted to see me all wet.

 

 

 

And what did they teach you was the requirement of becoming a Christian?

Tap

 

They "said" all I needed was to accept Jesus into my heart.

 

But along the way, the requirements and expectations for being accepted as a christian within the community increased (see above details regarding baptism). Doubt was continually cast upon us by sermons and our youth ministers. And off we'd go, trying to make sure we were right with god to ensure we were eligible for heaven. Only to be smacked down into doubt and worry the next Sunday.

 

As I got into my college classes (majored in psychology), I soon recognized the weekly pattern matched way too many mental ilnesses and disorders. The only difference was that someone else was putting me through the emotional aerobics, and not myself. And with plenty of people in the world exhibiting and suffering from real psych problems, who the hell had the right to inflict that kind of thing on another person?

[Vigile]

I agreed with that up until recently.  As a Christian, I believe the Word of God to be true but I also know the testimony of some here and cannot deny that salvation can be reversed. Most have even said that THEY are the ones that gave it back. They simply didn’t want any part of it and returned the gift. Some have said that they sought him and felt they were ignored by  a God that didn’t want them

 

I guess my next questions would be--- what was the main or central reason you walked away?

Tap

 

Tap,

 

I'm not sure the question here is framed correctly. Perhaps for some. Speaking for myself, and several others from what I've read, I did not "give back" my salvation. I spent several grueling years searching for truth (at least 5 before I realized I didn't believe any more), determined to accept the results no matter the outcome. I went to the university, got a degree. I read countless books. I travelled and debated with people from other cultures and other countries. Finally one day I realized that I just didn't believe anymore. I didn't decide it, it just was. Before I'm accused, I was once a die hard, committed christian. I cared deeply for my friends, those of which I was afraid were going to hell. At one point I wanted to become a missionary because I cared so deeply that others hear the truth of the gospel. I prayed and sought god's will daily. I was a christian. It was because I wanted the real thing that I ended up losing my faith, not in spite of it.

 

So, to frame the question as "walked away" would not be accurate for me. I prefer "grew up" or "grew out of it."

 

I know you are asking legitimate questions so want you to know that I am only trying to provide a legitimate response. Please accept it in that spirit.