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Goodbye Jesus

I'm An Atheist, And An Ex-christian


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Hello, I'm new here. I'm 22. I admitted my atheism 3 months ago.

 

I wasn't raised in a religious home. No one in my family is a Christian. I became a Christian at around the age of 14. I had many friends and other people that I knew who were Christians and I would go to church with them. I read some Christian theology and it made sense. Before that, I had always believed in "something spiritual" out there, but not anymore.

 

Sometimes I can't believe how easily I got suckered into Christianity. I was also going through depression and I thought Jesus would help. Now I'm facing the problems I have on my own.

 

After I became a Christian, I read apologetics and it solidified my faith. I also read other Christian works...C.S. Lewis, William Lane Craig, Paul Tillich, Marcus Borg, and several more.

I look back at it...now it seems like reading all of those intellectual Chrisitan works seemed like a hobby.

 

Around a year ago I read more and more and my faith crumbled. I eventually realized I don't believe anymore and the only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism.

Sometimes I still want to believe, but I can't. I'm afraid of Hell even though I don't believe it exists. I read articles by "top" Christian apologists about the ressurection, etc....and I wonder "what if they are right?". Why are they putting so much effort into researching the ressurection of Jesus?

 

Anyone here VERY into apologetics when you were a Christian? What's your opinion on them now? Can you refute their arguments? As ex-Christians...do you believe we should?

Couldn't the same methods and amount of study done on Jesus be done with other figures?

 

I now just wake up every morning and try my best to face the world fair-and-square without the blinders of faith. My relationship with my family has changed because I don't believe they are "spiritually mistaken" or some bullshit like that. I've become more skeptical about everything and I am in awe of the universe.

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Hey, welcome to ex xians.

 

Don't worry about the fear of hell and the feelings of "what if they are right", they will go in time. It might help you to read some books like The God Delusion (that helped me a lot) or The End of Faith.

 

Also stick around here, it's a great site full of like minded people :)

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Apolgetics tend to fall into four broad categories

 

1) Bible says it, I believe it, end of conversation

2) Special pleading, specious complexity arguments and a restatement of Pascal's wager

3) Some form of circular logic

4) Bad history and even worse science

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Hi Inhabitant,

 

The fear of hell is like an ankle biting dog that just won't let go easily. We have all gone through having thoughts of "what if they are right?". It's normal. The more you educate yourself and learn, the more the fear will go away. It just takes time.

 

Welcome to reality and Ex-C.

 

Taph

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Hell messes with me now and then. Then I remember that it isn't something that I believe in. It's just something that was used as headgames. Trust in your self.. and not in fear. You're not alone, but I'm understanding where you're coming from. I'm not atheist, I'm deist and believe in some kind of larger energy.... regardless.... I would never in a million years believe that what created me would eternally punish one single one of us. NEVER. What kind of creator is that? Find your inner peace.

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Sometimes I can't believe how easily I got suckered into Christianity. I was also going through depression and I thought Jesus would help. Now I'm facing the problems I have on my own.

 

Most of us were "suckered" at some point. Some of us got out and then got sucked back in. A lot of us suffered and/or still suffer from depression.

 

You are stronger than you think. If Xianity ever did make you feel better just remember that the real strength came from you in the first place.

 

Welcome, you'll find lots of support here...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Inhabitant,

 

I also am an Ex-Catholic. I didn't choose Catholicism, I was born into it. Belief wasn't my choice either. I was brought up in belief.

 

Belief in Hell is one of the hardest things to let go of. Fear keeps me from just letting go.

 

I've found Ex-C very helpful, the people here are very supportive.

 

There is alot of information here in reading posts from those that have been through what we are going through that are very helpful. We're not alone.

 

Welcome to Ex-C.

 

Kerry

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Apolgetics tend to fall into four broad categories

 

1) Bible says it, I believe it, end of conversation

2) Special pleading, specious complexity arguments and a restatement of Pascal's wager

3) Some form of circular logic

4) Bad history and even worse science

 

 

Hello Inhabitant! Welcome to ex-c!

 

The above is pretty accurate, but I would point out that probably THE most common arguement is "pascal's wager" which is basically this:

 

If the bible is wrong and you believe, no harm no foul, if it is true, then if you don't believe, you "risk" hell.

 

This sounds oddly logical on the surface, that is why it is used so often. But the arguement is not only foolish, it can apply to any religion. In order to be "covered" on the pascal bet, you need to join ALL religions, and some (many) are exclusive, meaning you can't have more then one religion and be covered.

 

But all in all I would say pascal's wager is their most common defense.

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Hi there and welcome,

 

I was "saved" at 21, and was deconverted at age 37. For the first 6 years or so of that I was rabid for Christ, got married, went on missionary trips, tried to convert everybody, even became Deacon and was asked by my Pastor if I might want to be an elder. Ironically, I had still only read the New Test., and most of Genesis, Psalms, etc. I sort of always "knew" that at a minimum the OT was "not literal" or something. Anyway, six years in I decided to read the OT straight through every word no matter what. I was never the same. When i learned how primitive and disturbing Jehova really was I was essentially in total shock. I buried my head in the sand and decided to just work and mkae money and try to be a good father and husband. I was still "Christian" in name, went to church, etc.

 

The funny thing that happened about EIGHT years later was my oldest child, who had just got baptised, started asking me some questions about God abd the Bible. The thing that struck me was that I realized, if I give him the "correct" evangelical answer to these questions, I would be misleading him, because I DO NOT believe the answers. It was a real eye opener for me when an 8 year old was asking me questions about God, with obvious pain is his heart. One time his mother made him go read the Bible in his room. Because he is a good kid, and smart he actually did, and went to the OT. One time he came to me to ask a question about God ordering the Israleites to stone a disobedient son to death. It's funny. Because when you look at these things for what they really are, there is no denying or explaining it all away. Jehova (the fictional god) is an evil bastard. I already knew the earth was billions of years old, that Adam and Eve was a story, that the tower of Babel was silly, Jonah, on and on, HOWEVER, now I was looking at how disgusting the bastard was. Again, I had had this experience 8 years earlier already, and in hind sight that was probably the true point of deconversion for me. However, I truly and openly deconverted about 2 years after this experience with my son. (During the 2 years I already had given up on Hell, considered the OT to Bull SHit, but still tried to hold onto a liberal Jesus.) The difference was I read a studied dissenting views, and the works of Ex-Christians during this time. I'm 41 now. I completely and openly and outwardly renounced Christianity 4 years ago.

 

The main reason I am responding to you is because of the fear of Hell. Rest assured it is truly amazing that it goes away so completely. I was TERRORFIED of Hell when I was an early believer. I was afraid of it several other times. However, when I deconverted, at first, that most afraid of it I was. I thought how ironic that the only thing an evangelical teaches can save you (faith) was now IMPOSSIBLE for me. However, learning how much the Bible truly contradicts itself, how evil the fictional Jehova is, learning about pre-Christ God stories like Mithras that mirror him completley, learning about where Hell came from originally, all helped the fear go away. Also, using my brain helped me realize how stupid it all was. (Hundreds of millions of people "thinking" and "talking" to him, he supposedly hearing all of us, and being out side of time, the fact that he never really answers any prayers, the fact that there are literallu thousands of different kinds of CHristianity becaus the Bible is so confusing, the fact that most Christians spend most of their time defending their version of Christianity against someone else's version of Christianty.

 

All this to say that everntually the fear of Hell evaporated for me, and I still am totally surrounded by fundamentalist Christianity. If you have the ability to separate yourself from it entirely, do so. Many of us don't have that option. You have realized a very important thing long before many of of the rest of have. You have a long, wonderful life ahead of you. A life where you will not be dividing the world into imaginary "brothers", imaginary "sisters", and imaginary "non-brothers"and imaginary "non-sisters" who do not have the imaginary "Holy SPirit" in them that you imagined was in you making you so different than them. You do not have to feal an "imaginary" army of "demons" ready to devour you or an "imaginary" satan. You do not have to teach your children that "imaginary" "Monsters" (demons) are trying to get them, and most of all that there is an imaginary "Hell" a place of neverending sufferring. You do not need to fear something so evil and stupid, and more importantly will never need to terrorize an innocent and defenseless child yoy may have in the future with such horror. The fear of Hell evaporated for me. The anger is a different story, but I am working on that! :-)

 

Hello, I'm new here. I'm 22. I admitted my atheism 3 months ago.

 

I wasn't raised in a religious home. No one in my family is a Christian. I became a Christian at around the age of 14. I had many friends and other people that I knew who were Christians and I would go to church with them. I read some Christian theology and it made sense. Before that, I had always believed in "something spiritual" out there, but not anymore.

 

Sometimes I can't believe how easily I got suckered into Christianity. I was also going through depression and I thought Jesus would help. Now I'm facing the problems I have on my own.

 

After I became a Christian, I read apologetics and it solidified my faith. I also read other Christian works...C.S. Lewis, William Lane Craig, Paul Tillich, Marcus Borg, and several more.

I look back at it...now it seems like reading all of those intellectual Chrisitan works seemed like a hobby.

 

Around a year ago I read more and more and my faith crumbled. I eventually realized I don't believe anymore and the only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism.

Sometimes I still want to believe, but I can't. I'm afraid of Hell even though I don't believe it exists. I read articles by "top" Christian apologists about the ressurection, etc....and I wonder "what if they are right?". Why are they putting so much effort into researching the ressurection of Jesus?

 

Anyone here VERY into apologetics when you were a Christian? What's your opinion on them now? Can you refute their arguments? As ex-Christians...do you believe we should?

Couldn't the same methods and amount of study done on Jesus be done with other figures?

 

I now just wake up every morning and try my best to face the world fair-and-square without the blinders of faith. My relationship with my family has changed because I don't believe they are "spiritually mistaken" or some bullshit like that. I've become more skeptical about everything and I am in awe of the universe.

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Anyone here VERY into apologetics when you were a Christian? What's your opinion on them now? Can you refute their arguments? As ex-Christians...do you believe we should?

Couldn't the same methods and amount of study done on Jesus be done with other figures?

 

I don't know if I qualify because I'm not sure what apologetics are. I'm on the home stretch of doing a Masters degree in theology, but we don't use the word apologetics. I've read a number of theologians, including Tillich. Not sure that I understand anyone all that well, but I liked Tillich because he was more humane than some others and actually made some sense.

 

Since you are asking how to refute the Christians, I would like to ask how they ever make sense to you in the first place? For me Christian theology does not hang together.

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