LoneRanger Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Hello all, I'm glad to have found this place, and I was raised in the Bible Belt in a small congregational church. I began to study the Bible at an early age, simply because I was naturally studious. At the age of 14, I began to have doubts because of a high school classmate who told me that my church was dead upon my telling her what our worship services were like. I did not understand her at the time. Someone invited me to join the high school Christian club, and I instantly made friends. I noticed discrepancies between what I observed among my high school friends, and what I observed at church. I had literally no friends at church. I was teased. I was gossiped. I was hurting there, but when I was with friends at the Christian club in high school, I was welcomed. I was accepted. However, I had been taught Sunday after Sunday that these very people who were being loving to me were not God's people because they did not go to our church. I bought every study Bible that I thought had accurate information. I dissected the Scriptures insofar as my Christian faith would allow. I came up with arguments refuting the congregational church teachings, with scriptural backup. I was convinced that I was in the wrong church. I was not convinced that Christianity had it all wrong. I moved away from home after graduating from the university. I stopped going to church. Experience is life's greatest teacher. My experience taught me that Christianity does not have the corner on morality or truth. I joined a book club, a raw food club, and I began to volunteer for the animal shelter. Though I had come to a final conclusion about Christianity as it is practiced today, I still had questions about Jesus Christ. I have heard it said among the nonreligious that we do not make unfounded claims about what we do not know. That is intellectual honesty at its core. It's still unnerving for me to say that I don't know about what will happen after I die, and learning to live in the moment is key to dealing with that. I spend time reading about what the world is really like. I'm currently reading Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species. Life outside of church walls is real life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunny49 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Hey there! Welcome! I agree that life inside the church isn't real. Christians, in my opinion, supress a lot of natural human behaviour for the sake of creating a bunch of "perfect" clons. Marlene WInell also said that people who leave christianity experience the "fish out of water" feeling cause they practically lived like in an incubator. I agree the experience is the best teacher. They are all just a bunch of manipulators and control freaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeasabird Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Welcome to Ex-c. You're right about experience. The real life simply holds much more explanatory power than the religious life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted December 20, 2011 Moderator Share Posted December 20, 2011 Welcome LoneRanger to EX-c. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I enjoyed reading it. Isn't real life an eye-opener?? Like a good friend of mine says: ''life without god is no picnic either!! You hang out with us.......We understand everything you are going through! Best of everything to you, on your new journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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