My Turn :)

[Guest MalaInSe]

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.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I was a Southern Baptist too, and this is also what I was taught.

 

Ren

[Lanakila]

I started out as a fundamental Baptist, and later joined a few Southern Baptist Churches.

 

I was taught that you needed to believe on Jesus as your own personal savior, repenting of your sins, and turning from them, and asking Jesus to forgive you. I believed this repenting and asking Jesus to be your savior would allow the Holy Spirit to come in, and he would change you. But then I was taught and expected to change and I did. This change was supposed to be evidence of salvation, but really anyone can make the same changes in their life if they choose to. But, who in their right mind would want to give up everything fun.

[Cerise]

What denomination of the Christian Faith were you part of?

 

I was Baptist. Went to Calvary Baptist Church.

 

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

 

Basically to believe in the risen status of Jesus Christ and love God. We also had a catchy song that kind of explained the requirements of the faith:

 

I believe in Jesus.

I believe he is the son of God.

I believe he died and rose again.

I believe he paid for us all.

And I believe he is here now,

Standing in our midst.

With the power to heal,

And the grace to forgive.

 

Okay...maybe it's not that catchy.

 

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

 

I made a prayer that wasn't answered.

[Guest MalaInSe]

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

Tap

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It didn't make sense to me when I examined it. My main issue with it was probably the concept of suffering. I'm not sure if you know that I was also a missionary. I went down to Mexico and worked on an Indian Reservation and a couple of the orphanages. I saw a lot of suffering. I remember that there was a woman that had a cancer that was eating away her face. Incredibly disfiguring and she had no medical access at all. We went down there once and found out that one day she had simply walked away from the Reservation to go out into the desert and die.

 

I couldn't understand the purpose of suffering, and I could find no reasonable explanation for it in the Bible. My church tried to explain it as a trial, something to prove devotion to God or as a sort of "tempering experience" that made us better people. However, I couldn't understand why that was necessary when God was omnipotent. An omniscient God would, first, know our hearts and needed no trials. An omnipotent God could create us perfect, without the need for suffering, in fact, such a God could create us sinless, thereby eliminating Hell. He could have created Adam and Eve without the flaw that led to their fall, or the garden without the talking snake.

 

Because of these things, God appeared to me as a sadistic god, doing nothing more than pulling the wings from flies. A God that loved us, and that had the power to end our suffering, would have. I could not reconcile the senselessness of that God with what I thought God had to be. Therefore, I stopped believing in the Christian God. It took me many years though to get over the fear of hell, even though I didn't believe I would go there or that it existed. I was so afraid that I was wrong, but I couldn't believe. Eventually even that hell-fear subsided.

 

So you can see why I sometimes appear hostile to the idea of Christianity. Ultimately, for me the power and intentions of the Christian God boiled down to threats and suffering and meaningless pain, the very things I tried to fix when I was a missionary.

 

You should know though that it is possible to do good without being a Christian missionary. I have put in hundreds of hours as a pro bono domestic violence advocate, and I worked with the homeless after deconverting. Those things that were meaningful to me, and are to you, are still meaningful after deconversion.

 

Renee

[Mr. Neil]

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

 

Incoherency. The fact that the universe behaves as though no god exists. Even when considered practically, God's existence wouldn't have solved anything, because either way, you still have something that is uncreated.

 

[Guest JP1283]

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.

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.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wow Quick, Serbian Orthodox! I don't hear that often. We're part Serbian/Yugoslavian as well...my mom and uncles were baptized Seriban Orthodox. They had it shoved down their throats their whole lives by my grandparents (who later become Jehovah's Witnesses ) That's why mom never had us kids baptized anything; she left it up to us to decide what was best. Anyways, carry on!

 

JP

[Fweethawt]

What denomination of the Christian Faith were you part of?

I was raised in the Catholic Church.

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

The regular Catholic stuff. You know, the rituals, the sacraments, confessions, and all of the repetitive prayers and stuff.

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

I walked away from Catholicism once I was out on my own and able to explore other denominations.

[♦ ficino ♦]

I got saved via the Assemblies of God. Then I became Calvinist, later Catholic. IN answer to TAP's question about once saved - always saved:

 

Assemblies were Arminians, believed Christian life starts with sinner's prayer, then you could fall away

Calvinists - believed Christian life starts with God implanting faith in you. Children of believers are "covenant children" with influences of grace but still have to have faith implanted by special grace. Can't fall away.

Catholic - Christian life starts with regeneration at sacrament of baptism. If you as an adult believe before you're baptized, you'd be OK if you suddenly died. Catholics don't talk about "getting saved" in this life. Talk about being in a state of grace or not ater baptism. Can fall into mortal sin and thereby out of grace.

 

I thought Purgatory actually made more sense - i.e. if you're a believer but not perfected in love by the time you die, something has to happen to bring your inner state in line with your faith. Purgatory is the place where that happens. It's not enunciated in scripture, but there are scripture passages consistent with this idea, and overall it explains things better, I thought.

 

Seems now that any type of Christianity creates more problems than it solves.

[Karl-777]

What denomination of the Christian Faith were you part of?

non-denominational "charismatic" - free since 1994

 

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

Acceptance of "Jesus" as your "personal savior"

 

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

The bible is claimed to be the "word", written by the "divinely inspired" writers of "perfect" biblegod, for whom "nothing shall be impossible". The errancy, incogruity, false prophecy, self-contradiction, lack of extra-biblical corroboration in history, archaeology or demonstration of power by believers illustrate that it is a concoction of men, and is therefore not a valid authority upon which to base doctrinal and dogmatic claims. I.E....when the bible falls, it all falls. The literalist view has been debunked over and over again here. All you have to do now is admit it, and join the ranks of the free.

 

So the big issue is that God's love can't possibly be unconditional when it includes the doctrine of hell?

An ever-burning "hell" is a fear-tactic, designed to keep the sheeple in line and enslaved by the home-made dictates and inventions of the control-mongering prelates. Infinite punishment for finite "sins" is unjust by any standard. Hell is a created by men, in the total absence of Love, Life and Light. It is a condition of the soul, not a "place".

 

....If the God of the Bible is not real, I’d really like to hear from you what the attributes of your God would be.....

Universal Sentiences of Higher Intelligent Energy and Perfect Principle, both Immanent and Transcendent in Vibratory Level and Dimension. Of course, with abject barbarism like Numbers 31 (child sex-slave trade, etc.), and other abyssmal violence allegedly sanctioned by biblegod,.biblegod can be left out of that picture, being revealed to be a construct of the primitive tribesmen that penned the OT "pentateuch" in the 6th C BCE.

 

Xtianity is a defective literalization of Pagan Esotericism, mixed in with a few similar sayings largely derived from previously extant Eastern Thought, nothing more.

 

You have my answers, dear heart. Your turn again........

 

K

[Totallyatpeace]

An ever-burning "hell" is a fear-tactic, designed to keep the sheeple in line and enslaved by the home-made dictates and inventions of the control-mongering prelates. Infinite punishment for finite "sins" is unjust by any standard. Hell is a created by men, in the total absence of Love, Life and Light. It is a condition of the soul, not a "place".

 

....If the God of the Bible is not real, I’d really like to hear from you what the attributes of your God would be.....

Universal Sentiences of Higher Intelligent Energy and Perfect Principle, both Immanent and Transcendent in Vibratory Level and Dimension. Of course, with abject barbarism like Numbers 31 (child sex-slave trade, etc.), and other abyssmal violence allegedly sanctioned by biblegod,.biblegod can be left out of that picture, being revealed to be a construct of the primitive tribesmen that penned the OT "pentateuch" in the 6th C BCE.

 

Xtianity is a defective literalization of Pagan Esotericism, mixed in with a few similar sayings largely derived from previously extant Eastern Thought, nothing more.

 

You have my answers, dear heart. Your turn again........

 

K

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The literalist view has been debunked over and over again here. All you have to do now is admit it, and join the ranks of the free.

 

Karl~~

 

Just in case there is any question........

 

 

 

I'm learning---

[Guest Slayer-2004]

What denomination of the Christian Faith were you part of?

Non denominational

 

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

 

Accept christ into your heart and ask him for forgiveness . Recognize you are a sinner and you need to be forgiven .

[NimbusBirdMgp]

... I was noticing something today. And what I now found interesting.

 

... After 10 years of struggling to make the Christian Faith have success in my life, but I didn't find that it did. I found it to be contradictive and doing a lot of suppression on my life for where I wanted it to be going.

 

... So by 1981, I was claiming Agnostic, but I couldn't say there was a diffenent No God Atheist. During my signing up into the Air Force Reserves in 1981, when they made the Dog Tags for me. I said Agnostic to them and then the Tags I got back from them said Atheist on them. I was suprised and a little perplexed about it. I still had a little fear with that word, cause by that time it was my reasoning without chatting or there being an Internet at that time. I was doing this on my own. Getting interested in Science and this Space Frontier Society, I guess reinforced some of it for me then, when I socialized with these groups of people and went to some space exhibit events and going to Edwards Air Force Base in 1982 (?) to see the 4th Space Shuttle Landing.

 

... But after I heard about Skeptical Inquirer and Center for Inquiry in the late 1990's and then getting access to the Internet in 1999. It was the later part of 2001 that I was searching Center for Inquiry about Atheist Groups and then I found the Infidel Guy Site. And then I found more Message Board Forums. And then it has been these last 5 years that have actually made confirmations to my doubting Christianity 20 years ago of my own.

 

... I would think the truth about life would be supported by rational confirmations as this has been doing for me and my thoughts 20 years ago. When nothing has never confirmed my Christian Faith back then in the 1970's for 10 years. But getting to hear more and more of this world of people who all are coming to the same conclusion that something isn't right about Christianity. I think says even a lot more about the truth of that.

[Totallyatpeace]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Nimbus.

 

 

Tap

[dr_funkenstein]

What denomination of the Christian Faith were you part of?

 

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

Tap

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

First off let me introduce myself to the Forums. I'm an atheist who deconverted this year. My dad is a pastor, and I used to be both a worship leader and a youth leader. You can check out My Testimony if you want.

 

Now in answer to the question posed by the thread:

1. I was a member of a Baptist Church, more specifically part of the Baptist Union of NSW (NSW is a state in Australia by the way).

2. The requirement for becoming a Christian taught to me was to acknowledge one's need for salvation and to submit myself to the authority of Christ as a means of seeking his salvation. Certainly not a free gift, although this terminology was often used, the reality was more of a sacrificial trade-off: I give my earthly life to God who in return offers eternal life and potentially heavenly authority dependent upon how I live my life from now on.

[Ouroboros]

First off let me introduce myself to the Forums.  I'm an atheist who deconverted this year.  My dad is a pastor, and I used to be both a worship leader and a youth leader.  You can check out

 

Yeah! A n00b we can tease, yay! Just kiddin.

 

The church of apostates are slowly growing. One member at a time. Neat.

[Vigile]

It was believed that all you had to do to be saved/a christian was ask jesus into your heart. (of course that was a bait and switch, because after that happened you had a whole heep of requirements placed on you or you were backsliding and in danger of losing your salvation. ) Also you couldnt' die with any sin on your heart...so if you sinned you had to ask god for forgiveness....it was like salvation maintenance.

 

 

 

Well put. It's a wonder more don't see it that way, myself included (back in the day I mean).

[Casey]

What denomination of the Christian Faith were you part of?

 

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

 

I was raised catholic and attended firstly convent school then a boarding school which was run by the christian brothers. We got an industrial strength indoctrination into the efficacy of regular attendance at mass and partaking of the sacraments as being the essential part of salvation.

 

Looking back however, I remember both the nuns and brothers (most of 'em that is) spent most if not all of their time telling us just what worthless good-for-nothings we were. It was I think a form of brainwashing designed to get recruits for their cause, the idea being to convince you that only if you went into a religious order could you really be saved and so on.

 

I was always a bit of a rebel I suppose so I didn't take to this nonsense very well at all. It didn't help that I was quite bright as a kid and had a questioning nature. The long and the short of it was that I ended up being knocked about rather a lot, until I learned to keep a Poker face. For the uninitiated, the greater part of that art in such a situation is to put on the facial expression you believe your masters want to see, regardless of how you happen to be feeling at the time. In the military that is a survival technique taught in case you are captured. There, it is called "Being the grey man", but it is essentially the same thing.

 

When I got to boarding school I found the Poker face technique to be quite de rigeur there too. The first year was an exercise in living under the rule of a man who was a highly respected headmaster but was in reality a bad-tempered uncouth bullying lout. As I write this I hope the fellow's ears are ablaze. However even though I had also learned how to live inside my head by this time, the next two years were I should say the worst of my life thus far. I was sexually abused at the age of thirteen, my eyes went bad and I just had to pick up the pieces and get on with it.

 

After I got out of school I wanted nothing more to do with catholicism, but having been indoctrinated into all that superstitious nonsense about heaven and hell and so on, I had a nagging belief there was something in it. More fool I, I know now, but I hung around the fringes of various pentecostal churches for a while, hoping for some sort of revelation and/or healing.

 

When neither of these things materialized I eventually walked away, to answer your next question. After some searching I came across this site. It was then I realized there were others who had experienced the same and in many cases worse things than I, whether mentally or physically. There were also others who had walked away because their intelligence could no longer swallow the "Greatest story ever sold". I could wish I myself had done the same earlier but better late than never as they say.

 

Nonetheless I can't bring myself to hate believers and I don't. If I hate anything it is the belief system which is the root of all the things that happened to myself and to others.

Casey

[Sokudo Ningyou]

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.

 

 

Don't forget all of the Germans.

 

Was that the church that usually holds a yearly festival and had so many problems last year? I remember going to one a long time ago for a few years on the south side, I think it was; damned nice pastries.

 

 

And I'm technically supposed to be Catholic due to my parents' marital agreement to be married in her church, but I was never baptized, never raised in the doctrine, never attended church (I think I've been in a whole total of four in my life; one Protestant, two Catholic, and one Greek), and, consequently, was able to think clearly from a young age. About the only thing I'll admit Christianity does have as a plus is a long history of lovely artwork - even if they didn't mean to inspire it. Bosch, you sly dog.

[dogmatically_challenged]

My parents are pentecostal.

 

Admit jebus is lard and get assimilated into the mindless moron cube that is the pentecostal borg collective. "Know them by thier fruits" Good works are a side affect of being possesed by jebus.

 

5 0r 6:. Gawd loves me. I love Gawd.

 

7 or so: Why doesn't Gawd talk to me or visit me? Why doesn't Gawd talk to me when I pray?

 

12 : Antie thought is was a good idea for me to study the bible in depth. Old Testament terrifies me as much as threat of hell. Started to be a pain in the ass in church by asking questons to often. I was disruptive.

 

13 Closet atheist.

 

I gota see it to belive it. And I am not closeted anymore.

[Loren]

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

Tap

 

Good grief! How long have you been on this site? How many times have we answered this? Have you read any of the testimonies? Isn't this site densely packed with many answers to these questions from many different angles?

 

It tells me a lot when a "Christian" can spend months and months on this site and be unmoved by the pain expressed repeatedly and at length or to find the doctrinal and historical issues discussed repeatedly and at length to be unimportant as matters of deeply personal moral principle.

 

TAP, these questions are insulting. Please stop screwing around. You're wasting the time of good people.

 

If you gave a shit about us or your own religion, you'd already know the answers to your questions.

[Reach]

Good grief! How long have you been on this site? How many times have we answered this? Have you read any of the testimonies? Isn't this site densely packed with many answers to these questions from many different angles?

 

It tells me a lot when a "Christian" can spend months and months on this site and be unmoved by the pain expressed repeatedly and at length or to find the doctrinal and historical issues discussed repeatedly and at length to be unimportant as matters of deeply personal moral principle.

 

TAP, these questions are insulting. Please stop screwing around. You're wasting the time of good people.

 

If you gave a shit about us or your own religion, you'd already know the answers to your questions.

Loren, as you know when we are asked these things by a brand new Christian member, we call that person on his or her laziness for not reading any of our posts before asking the same old questions we've answered dozens, if not hundreds of times. I agree these questions are insulting coming from a member of nine months.

 

I have to ask why TAP is asking these same questions again, knowing full well we've answered them over and over and over and over and over and over.

 

Surely there are more important issues we might find to discuss.

[Hero of Hyrule]

Loren, I don't agree. It's true tat TAP could have easily found out but it these questions probably help her get order to all what's said in other forum.

I thought I'd see some proof of Bible truth (The bible has a lot of true things too) and this is very different from what I expected but there might be a purpose to this you do not yet know.

 

(I now deserved some newbie bashing)

[Lizard]

I've been multi-denominational..everything from Lutheran to Baptist and charismatic. Found no real answers in any of them except one:

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Even that hardly works though..I don't know my neighbors..

 

Same requirements as everyone else..some say just believe, others say you have to do all sorts of rituals and if you don't do said rituals, you never were a believer.

 

Why I left is too long to go into here..3 minutes before I leave for work. Maybe I'll post my testimony again..its lost somewhere on the first site..

[Celsus]

TAP,

 

I agree with Loren's statements. Most of your time on ExC has been spent in "Totally Off Topic", and I wonder why you would ask questions that those of us that are ExChristians have answered repeatedly and for most, in exquisite detail? TAP, I think you are a good person, but this brings us back to one of the original issues. Why are you interested in ExChristian.net and we ExChristians in general? Why as a believer, do you spend an enormous amount of time with those that despise the belief system that you cling to, yet appear to be ignorant to the reasons we despise it?

 

Bruce

[Reach]

Loren, I don't agree. It's true tat TAP could have easily found out but it these questions probably help her get order to all what's said in other forum.

Coming from a member of nine months, the opening two questions of this thread are especially irrelevant. The reasons for our exit from Christianity, which I see as a valid question, is the question we have answered all over this site, on thread after thread after thread. I would hope that Christians have read some of these threads. I know SOIL has and he has my respect for the attention he has paid to our relating of our experiences in struggling with and departing the faith.

 

Honestly, I thought this thread was a joke when it first got started.