Admin webmdave Posted April 18, 2007 Admin Share Posted April 18, 2007 Sent in by Chris I was born into a Christian family, which also believed in the Book of Mormon, but was adamantly opposed to the Mormon church and their "wayward" beliefs (go figure). Eventually I came to see that the Mormonism was a hoax, and was able to reject the portion of my beliefs that stemmed from the Book of Mormon. Part of this realization was a result of my wife's influence in my life. Recently I've also come to realize that most (if not all) of Christianity is also a hoax. After about a year's absence from going to church and Bible reading, I recently opened up my Bible to read through the Book of John. I was shocked at how much nonsense I read that day. I had absolutely no desire at the time to believe that Christianity was false, but after reading that and many things since then that opened my eyes, I can't rationalize my beliefs through the Bible. It just doesn't work. Either the God "of the Bible" exists, and had allowed a false, misleading, and/or misinterpreted Bible to come into my hands, or the God "of the Bible" doesn't exist. I can't believe in something just because a bunch of dead men said it was so, and a bunch of people living today say that all the leg-work of proving their claims has already been done and I should just have faith. I can't do it. There is just too much nonsense in the Bible to believe it in its entirety. If I could I would start living my life without Christianity. I have a big problem though. My wife believes in it, and there is absolutely no way she will deny any part of her beliefs. Seriously, no way. Period. She would sooner kill herself than question her beliefs. I kind of understand that thinking myself because I went through a couple months of planning my own suicide and almost going through it. With her, however, it's much more difficult. I cannot reason with her and show her that things may be different than what she has always believed. It will literally crush her not to believe it all. I told my wife a few weeks into my loss of faith that I was questioning things, and we had a few really tough weeks after that. We both became (and both still are) very depressed. The only reason that we're maintaining now is that I've found some Christian teachings that I respect and will always hold as truth, because they are "good" teachings. I've also found a church that is led by a "good" pastoral staff that truly cares about their congregation. I really respect them, even though I can't believe everything they teach. This respect for the teachings and the church appears to my wife to be a regained faith in Christianity as a whole. She doesn't understand and probably never will understand how I truly see things. I'd like to think that I could be wrong, but I know her too well to risk trying to bring her out of her beliefs. She will lose all hope in life. I hope to find a way to make at least one of us happy, either my wife or myself. I think I know what I need to do in order for us both to live healthy lives, but I cannot see how it's going to work out. I think we need to get divorced, and break off all communication with each other. Then she can go on with her life and I can go on with mine. I know this will be extremely tough on both of us though. Has anyone out there had a spouse who refuses to change their beliefs, and had to decide whether or not to divorce? If so, do you have any advice for me? To monitor comments posted to this topic, use .http://exchristian.net/testimonies/2007/04...ty-is-hoax.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cerebral Stasis Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Though the Bible was written by scores of people over thousands of years, filling it with conflicting stories and quite a bit of jibberish, most of it is still based on good moral founding. Perhaps you could keep the "idea" of the Bible, but reject the "message", if you get my meaning. In other words, continue to rely upon the moral code that is dictated therein, if so you desire, but simply feel free to ignore messy details about a deity who controls one's morals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Harley Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Though the Bible was written by scores of people over thousands of years, filling it with conflicting stories and quite a bit of jibberish, most of it is still based on good moral founding. Perhaps you could keep the "idea" of the Bible, but reject the "message", if you get my meaning. In other words, continue to rely upon the moral code that is dictated therein, if so you desire, but simply feel free to ignore messy details about a deity who controls one's morals. We talking about the same book here... the one finalised at the 19th Ecumenical Council, in Trento? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cerebral Stasis Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 I am referring mostly to the concepts of thievery, murder, etc. being bad, which, in any stable society, they are. I'm not saying that the actions that has been based off it is on such solid moral founding, but, at the core, there are lessons to be learned. True or false as it may be, the Bible does have many lessons in morality and philosophy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Harley Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 I am referring mostly to the concepts of thievery, murder, etc. being bad, which, in any stable society, they are. I'm not saying that the actions that has been based off it is on such solid moral founding, but, at the core, there are lessons to be learned. True or false as it may be, the Bible does have many lessons in morality and philosophy. Murder ranks 6th on the list of 'not to dos'... not overly 'moral'... expedient certainly. I like the law about tassels best... followed closely the sideburns thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cerebral Stasis Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Unless I'm mistaken, there's also a law in the Bible about not planting different crops in the same field. Whether that is some deeply-hidden homoerotic reference, or whether it is literal, I cannot say. Innuendo is definitely the Bible's forte. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Harley Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Unless I'm mistaken, there's also a law in the Bible about not planting different crops in the same field. Whether that is some deeply-hidden homoerotic reference, or whether it is literal, I cannot say. Innuendo is definitely the Bible's forte. Not to mention not mixing fibres... there's also the 'digging a hole to crap in' rule... The only way one can get anything moral out of the book is to head into the book with your morals already intact and excavate the bits that match. I've one is in a moral vacuum, there's more killing of others with God's mandate than anything... seconded only by the maltreatment of women, who are almost universally secondary in the sight of the LORD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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