Kaactus Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Is it possible for someone to start doubting Christianity and looking into the bible and finally strengthen their belief more than ever? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedah Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Deconversion is the result of honesty. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JordanRiver Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Yes...totally! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I can imagine that a morontheist might start doubting and become a moderete/liberal christian. Obviously these people would rarely turn up/stay here, so I won't dare to estimate how common this might be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Yes, that is possible. Simply reading the Bible is no guarantee of deconversion. Where reading the Bible contributes to a deconversion is when someone is finally able to read it without the blinders of faith and by disregarding the "instructions" for reading the Bible provided by various churches. For example, when seeing that there is one genealogy for Jesus in Matthew which is totally different from the one in Luke, Christianity teaches that one is for Joseph and the other one is for Mary. However, once you learn to read that and see that these two Gospels DO NOT say one is for Joseph and the other for Mary, then we learn the truth that was always there - they are both for Joseph and are contradictory and say that Joseph had two different fathers. That cannot be true. From there, many other severe problems that will suddenly come into focus. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaraOlive Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I've known some doubters who really doubled down afterwards. In my experience they often find an outlet that's within Christianity involving some kind of minutia or rule following. One guy I knew had a very religious family and wasn't the kind of person who rebelled, and his response to serious doubts was to go to seminary. He's still professing to be a hardcore Christian, but has a totally directionless life now. My father doesn't have an "experience" of god even though he's one of the most faithful Christians I know (reads Bible and prays every single day), so he focuses a lot of energy on Conservative politics and apologetics - I think partially to mask how he doesn't feel the presence of god. I've known some who either didn't like the rules of Fundamentalism or found Fundamentalism to be uncompassionate and unloving, so switched to liberal or nominal Christianity, but would never give up the idea of some god. But most of these people were either not smart or not intellectual and always went off their feelings instead of being interested in looking into whether Christianity was rational, logically consistent, backed by facts, ect. (I also know a lot of deconverts who had a big problem with how unloving Christianity or at least some parts of it are and also had an interest in examining truth claims). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDFree Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Is it possible for someone to start doubting Christianity and looking into the bible and finally strengthen their belief more than ever? LOL, when I started having doubts I asked a preacher to help me read the Bible to quash these doubts and got a total knockback from them, so I will never know the answer to that question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Is it possible for someone to start doubting Christianity and looking into the bible and finally strengthen their belief more than ever? LOL, when I started having doubts I asked a preacher to help me read the Bible to quash these doubts and got a total knockback from them, so I will never know the answer to that question. That's like asking a bartender to help you quit drinking! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MadameX Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Do some strengthen their belief after questioning and then reading the Bible you ask? I would suspect that is the road travelled by apologists and some fundies. Note the mental gymnastics well practiced by these believers, the selective and unconventional interpretation of words and history, and the cherry picking and rationalizations. Weekly Bible study sessions involve plenty of 'fellowship' and reading tea leaves, I mean, reading Bible passages and twisting them into commentary on contemporary topical events such as the latest mass-shooting event in America, war in Syria, whatever you want, it's in that Rorsach test called the Bible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted September 22, 2013 Moderator Share Posted September 22, 2013 Is it possible for someone to start doubting Christianity and looking into the bible and finally strengthen their belief more than ever? Yes it is sweetheart..... In order to remain a believer, you must first turn a blind eye to what the whole book is saying right from the start of Genesis. If you 'cherry pick' the very best verses and throw all the other horrible stuff away, you can 'strengthen' ANY belief..... *hug* 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voice Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 There's also the possibility of side-stepping from christianity to another faith with less inherent doubt. You could call it de-conversion, but I would think of changing faiths a re-conversion. I think of de-conversion as growing out of one faith and not side-stepping into another, rather, beginning new and discovering the world and the self at ground level where all the faiths are like the fertilizer for new growth and the air is fresh, new, clean, unpolluted with any doctrine at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Is it possible for someone to start doubting Christianity and looking into the bible and finally strengthen their belief more than ever? Sure. When I was a Christian I had favorite parts of the Bible that I read over and over again. Christians have the Bible mapped out for which parts of the Bible build their faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Is it possible for someone to start doubting Christianity and looking into the bible and finally strengthen their belief more than ever? Ask this question on a Christian forum. I'm sure the answer will be yes. I think it depends on what you want to find when you start looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Is it possible for someone to start doubting Christianity and looking into the bible and finally strengthen their belief more than ever? Yes, because we are all different. James Fowler's book "Stages of Faith" goes into great detail describing all the various stages a person can go through while attempting to validate their faith. Many, but certainly not everyone, walk away and become non-believers. Those that don't tend to make adjustments in their beliefs though. It would be rare for a person that develops doubt to continue in their faith without making some changes. And even after making changes that is no guarantee they won't leave the faith later on. Once doubt sets in it must be resolved. http://www.amazon.com/Stages-Faith-Psychology-Development-Meaning/dp/0060628669 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerk Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Is it possible for someone to start doubting Christianity and looking into the bible and finally strengthen their belief more than ever? As a Christian you're taught that if you have doubts, you have a problem and you need help, so the first time a person realizes they doubt something in the Bible they may very well seek help from someone who they hope will help them lose that doubt, rather than from someone who will help them to see the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaactus Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 Guys thanks for all your sweet replies. As an all time atheist, I want to pay respect to you all, because I know deconversion needs intelligence/honesty/courage. Starting this thread was totally out of curiosity, but I'm surprised to see so many serious and brilliant answers. I have read every word of your posts although I can't quite get those bible stuff Thanks again, and best wishes to your future life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 A few talking critters, a boat holding a million animals built by a 600 y.o. man, lounging in a whale stomach, a pregger virgin, zombies in Jerusalem, water walking. What's to doubt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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