Overcame Faith Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 This is especially for those who are going through deconversion now and those who are recently deconverted. But it's also for all those who wish to think about the bigger picture involved in deconversion. When I first deconverted, my thoughts were almost exclusively about Christianity. I thought of things like whether I was sure I was correct in my new conclusions that the religion is not true. I also thought a lot about how to get past the hurt, pain, disappointment, and anger. The issue of what values I held were also important. But as time has passed, I have begun thinking of something else. That something else is whether there is a larger meaning to that enormous step that I (and you) have taken by rejecting that which I (we) so strongly believed to be true. I think there is. It all comes down to truth. What I have learned is that truth cannot be determined solely by what others tell you or what they fervently believe to be true. It cannot be determined by what others classify as holy books, the word of god, scriptures, gospels or any of that. It cannot even be determined by what people believe to be divine revelations, miracles, alleged prophecies, or "gifts of the Holy Spirit." Neither do inward feelings of what we may think is the transcendant love from a god whom we feel loves us so much that he would perform some act (like sacrificing his son) so we can be with him. I have learned something I did not expect to learn about truth, and it was one of the most difficult lessons of them all. The truth can be painful beyond what one can imagine. Or it can be exciting and majestic to behold, making the one who gains possession of even a tiny sliver of it feel as grand as the most glorious galaxie. And it can be neutral. I have learned that no one can know how they will react to the truth before they learn it. We may think we will react a certain way, but until we know the truth, our reaction is uncertain and can be totally surprising. What all of this has done for me is to help me to question everything, and I mean everything. On issues that make a difference to my personal life, the way I live, the social, political, or moral decisions I must make, I do not accept what others proclaim as the truth without thinking them through for myself and doing my best to independently understand the reasons that lie behind what we believe and why we believe them. So what is the extended meaning of our deconversion? It is that we have all learned one of the most painful lessons in all of life. We have learned firsthand that we are capable of being fooled and accepting that which is not true as truth. And that puts us way ahead of others because we managed to pull ourselves out from under the heavy burden of a religion that is all consuming and even crushing to free ourselves and embrace that from which others hide their faces in fear. We came face to face with the truth and accepted it and all the consequences associated with it. To that I say, hallelujah!!!! And here's another truth I have learned and the last one I will leave you with for now. We were all slaves while we were Christians, but not the slaves to the religion or the religion's god, its so-called holy book, its rules and regulations, its clergy or its members. Rather, we were slaves to ourselves and our own toughest taskmasters. When we freed ourselves from Christianity, we freed ourselves from our own self-imposed slavery. That's the great secret and the toughest one to come to terms with. Now I think about what other areas in my life have I savagely enslaved myself to. I'm sure there are many other areas and I begin my search for those other areas and I am detemined to rid myself of them, too. Leaving Christianity was a first and important step, but the journey to freedom is not over. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted May 10, 2012 Moderator Share Posted May 10, 2012 The truth can be painful beyond what one can imagine. Or it can be exciting and majestic to behold, making the one who gains possession of even a tiny sliver of it feel as grand as the most glorious galaxie. And it can be neutral. What all of this has done for me is to help me to question everything, and I mean everything. On issues that make a difference to my personal life, the way I live, the social, political, or moral decisions I must make, I do not accept what others proclaim as the truth without thinking them through for myself and doing my best to independently understand the reasons that lie behind what we believe and why we believe them. We have learned firsthand that we are capable of being fooled and accepting that which is not true as truth. We were all slaves while we were Christians............. Now I think about what other areas in my life have I savagely enslaved myself to. I'm sure there are many other areas and I begin my search for those other areas and I am detemined to rid myself of them, too. Leaving Christianity was a first and important step, but the journey to freedom is not over. Wonderful post Overcame! I have bolded the parts I'd like to address. Discovering that christianity is a false lie for me, was just the beginning of my 'journey'. Everything I believed about life was hooked into those holy scriptures. Now that I have accepted that I no longer believe, I reject christianity and all it's rules and regulations........ A lot of other things are changing for me now, especially my thinking about what is right for me and what is wrong..... because my whole belief system was about doing all the 'right' things the bible said to do to be accepted into god's kingdom. I didn't realize that this part would come. Now I, like you, am questioning absolutely everything I thought I believed to be true, including my personal life, the way I live, the social, political, or moral decisions I must make . My thoughts are changing daily. Giving up christianity has lead me to many more 'open doors'. Doors that I will walk through with MY truth. It can be very frustrating to decipher who you are, after many years of trying to follow a certain 'doctrine'. Someone just yesterday said to me, ''Margee, you are not the same person you were 5 years ago'' and I looked at her and said, ''No I'm not''. I'm not the same person I was even 6 months ago! I slip and slide a bit with this new 'freethinking', but I am beginning to trust my gut instincts about certain things and I feel a newer type of freedom everyday. Actually, more freedom than I have ever felt in my life!! We will see how all of this (new me) affects my future!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 Wonderful post Overcame! I have bolded the parts I'd like to address. Discovering that christianity is a false lie for me, was just the beginning of my 'journey'. Everything I believed about life was hooked into those holy scriptures. Now that I have accepted that I no longer believe, I reject christianity and all it's rules and regulations........ A lot of other things are changing for me now, especially my thinking about what is right for me and what is wrong..... because my whole belief system was about doing all the 'right' things the bible said to do to be accepted into god's kingdom. I didn't realize that this part would come. Now I, like you, am questioning absolutely everything I thought I believed to be true, including my personal life, the way I live, the social, political, or moral decisions I must make . My thoughts are changing daily. Giving up christianity has lead me to many more 'open doors'. Doors that I will walk through with MY truth. It can be very frustrating to decipher who you are, after many years of trying to follow a certain 'doctrine'. Someone just yesterday said to me, ''Margee, you are not the same person you were 5 years ago'' and I looked at her and said, ''No I'm not''. I'm not the same person I was even 6 months ago! I slip and slide a bit with this new 'freethinking', but I am beginning to trust my gut instincts about certain things and I feel a newer type of freedom everyday. Actually, more freedom than I have ever felt in my life!! We will see how all of this (new me) affects my future!! It's one hell of a journey and your journey has been wonderful to witness. You have thrown it all out there for us to follow with you and for that, I thank you. It is true, as you say, that one does not realize that something new would come with the questioning about everything. The way I see it is that I know I am capable of being fooled. But that's a win because knowing I am susceptible to it (like everyone else is), I can be on guard, step back, and invoke the same thing that allowed me (and you) to leave Christianity behind. I look forward to continuing to follow your journey, Margee. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted May 10, 2012 Super Moderator Share Posted May 10, 2012 Good post. What has had the most impact for me long term is the realization that I can take care of myself - I always did but previously gave credit to an imaginary thing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 What has had the most impact for me long term is the realization that I can take care of myself - I always did but previously gave credit to an imaginary thing. So true. I can remember so clearly giving god credit for so many things that that imaginary being had nothing to do with (thankfully). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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