wanderinstar Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 I'm curious about your Christian experience while you were a Christian: - What denominations did you try? - What excuse can you give for being fooled? - Did you become more Christlike at all? - Did you experience anything spiritual? - And anything else... Also if you still are a Christian or have switched to some other religion I would be curious about that too. - Anglican(3 years), Presbyterian, Catholic, non-denominational fundies (5 years), Church of Christ and Assemblies of God(7 years). Total of 15 years. - I am a spiritual seeker, but what led me to christianity was a 'perfect storm' in circumstance at age 21. My anti-christian boyfriend dumped me, my christian best friend love-bombed me, I was clinically depressed (and possibly bipolar) and had a dream where I saw Jesus and was flooded with assurance of his love and that he was THE truth. All I wanted was the truth but I was naive enough to believe I would know it when I saw it or felt it, rather than rationally assess all information. - Unfortunately in some ways yes. I was always a compassionate, caring person who had strong values due to my (non-christian) parents influence and thought that christ was like that but better. Instead by following christ I became extremely judgmental and controlling. All I wanted was to please god and be a good person; pity the bible is such a bad example to follow. - Almost all the time. Mostly the warm fuzzies while praying or singing worship. but I also often had spiritual warfare dreams with angels and demons fighting for my soul. I really believed this was happening. most of these experiences could be explained by nightmares or sleep paralysis (dreams lingering into waking life for a few minutes after waking up) but I also saw 'evil' spirits when wide awake so I amped up the praying, blood-pleading, deliverance ministry and culling of possessed objects in my home. Yes, thanks crazy fundy church for exacerbating my mental illness. - While I met some wonderful people and had some comforting spiritual experiences being christian nearly destroyed me by masking and pissing of the bipolar disorder I have. Now that I have been able to shed that craziness I am enjoying exploring the universe, and my own heart without fear. i am still a spiritual person, and also very curious, but I am very cautious about what I believe is true or real. Still exploring all rational options but very close to being an atheist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerk Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 I'm curious about your Christian experience while you were a Christian: - What denominations did you try? My parents took me to a variety of churches until we landed at the church of Christ Still using little-c for "church of Christ", I see! I always hated that. It isn't grammatically correct. I'm sure it came from a sermon in the 1950s and people misunderstood the point. Question: were you "non-institutional"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 I'm curious about your Christian experience while you were a Christian: - What denominations did you try? - What excuse can you give for being fooled? - Did you become more Christlike at all? - Did you experience anything spiritual? - And anything else... Also if you still are a Christian or have switched to some other religion I would be curious about that too. I was born into evangelical christianity but I went to a few catholick services with a friend, and my best friend went to a non-denominational charismatic church filled with all the BS you would expect in that kinda place. I spent most of my time at that wacko church and my own evangelical lutheran congregation. My excuse was I was a child and evolution programmed me to trust and believe whatever my parents and the adults they trusted told me. The older I get though, the more I question if I ever really believed. I started to question when I entered puberty, which was the opposite of my friends, who seemed to get more into it. My catholick friend, for instance, would genuflect when he entered the chapel and would say a short prayer when we sat down, and I remember thinking I wish I was able to do stuff like that without feeling stupid. I actually envied my faithful friends when I was still in school, cause I thought they knew something I didn't, even though I had been looking for a few years by then. I became more christlike after I broke out of the church completely, ironically. I didn't truly see that we are all in this world together until I was gone a few years and began reading science. I had my most spiritual experiences after eating mushrooms and spending the night on the beach or camping in the woods. I never had anything that would even come close to those experiences while in church. Church never held any relevance to my life, it was like watching the evening news with my dad. I once thought I had invented my own religion that was a mixture of my own thoughts on life and "The Force" from Star Wars. I later studied Buddhism and realized Lucas ripped off Buddhism for his Jedi beliefs. I considered myself a Buddhist for awhile, but no longer. I do however, feel it is one of the more workable and relevant religions we currently have. In every day parlance, I call myself an Atheist, because it describes me accurately. But on its deepest level, I am truly an Agnostic because I realize I do not know shit. However, being an Agnostic does not mean I am open to any metaphysics, deism, polytheism, etc. If anything like a god exists, it is much bigger than anything humans have ever dreamed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilith666 Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 I'm curious about your Christian experience while you were a Christian: - What denominations did you try? - What excuse can you give for being fooled? - Did you become more Christlike at all? - Did you experience anything spiritual? - And anything else... Also if you still are a Christian or have switched to some other religion I would be curious about that too. I started in a Reformed Baptist church, and then later moved to a non-denominational evangelical church. I didn't leave the Reformed Baptist church out of any disagreement though; I simply moved to a new city. What excuse can I give for being fooled? As I've stated on another thread, the closest thing to an excuse I can give is to say "I was being a douchebag" by ditching my family's religion and converting to Christianity. It was never a matter of the supernatural truth claims, though. Despite being a professonal scientist, I've never had most of the objections others have reconciling supernatural belief and scientific fact. I can believe in a supreme God, and in people who perform supernatural acts without any trouble. Ultimately my problems ended up being personal, and later theological. I guess I could also attempt to excuse myself by saying that I don't practice religion based on whether it's true or not, but based on what effect it has on my life. Did I become Christlike? For sure! I bought into teachings on mercy, forgiveness, etc. Really these were things I already believed, so it was pretty easy. I did try my best to emulate Jesus, and it was out of love rather than fear of hell. Of course I also became more Christlike by embracing his teachings that people burn in eternal hell for failure to submit to him. So I suppose I became more like Christ at every level. I didn't really experience anything especially spiritual. But again, I was never looking for magic tricks (e.g. faith healing, miracles, etc.). Since leaving Christianity I've returned to Hinduism, which I grew up with. If you were a douchebag for leaving Hinduism, then so are many of us here for leaving Xianity. We were raised in that. Good for you if your family's religion works, but everybody should figure out on their own what is good for them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopardus Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 - What denominations did you try? Non-denominational then Eastern Orthodox. Had some experience with many others but those are the long-term ones. - What excuse can you give for being fooled? Same as anyone I guess; I wanted it to be true. Of course I did study apologetics and was pretty good at it. I wanted solid reasons to believe. - Did you become more Christlike at all? Well I never did any miracles, or threw anyone out of a temple.... I did try to be a better person. I'd say I had some success but lots of failure. - Did you experience anything spiritual? Don't know what that means. Supernatural? NO. A sense of peace? Yes, at times. - And anything else... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viocjit Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 - What denominations did you try? Cafetaria catholicism (WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING IT) , esoterical Christianity , Looking for the right denomination. - What excuse can you give for being fooled? I had many confirmation bias and I was convicted that God choiced me to do something of important for humanity. - Did you become more Christlike at all? I don't really understand the meaning of "Christlike". - Did you experience anything spiritual? Yes but I prefer the word psychological. - And anything else... Read more here : http://www.ex-christian.net/topic/59043-an-introduction-and-a-testimony-in-progress/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrGuitar Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 My reply is that now I know it was all a load of crap the answers are irrelevant Its like asking me what color outfit I pictured the Tooth Fairy wearing...who cares? Th only issue somewhat relevant in a way is why i was duped my answer hey I was young and dumb I dont have to be perfect now or then the whole use of the word excuse sounds prosecutorial I dont have to offer anyone any "excuse" I dont answer to anyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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