Guest confused2501 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Hello everyone, I am still not denounce my christanity yet, but I am thinking about it a lot. I have a very long story with alot of twist, but I will save that for later down the line. I have been raised in the church my whole life. I am a 27 year old black male. My father is a preacher and my mother an evangelist. My brother is also a preacher. I have always been very out spoken and never was afraid to go against the norm. For so many years I have had questions about the bible, but I have always gotten you have to just believe, that is why it is called faith, but when you are younger you just go along with what they say. I will get into more details later on. I do believe in a creator and I thnk the bible is a very wise book that can be used to enrich your life if you want it too. I don't think it should be used to make other people do what you feel they should do. I don't think the bible is the word of (GOD) but I do think it was written by wise men that understood logic for there time. I know a lot of people look at human being as the thing that proves a creator or not a creator, but for me human beings do not make me thing there is a creator. To me looking at the different animals, plants and trees and just the things around me make me believe there is something out there. I don't believe there is a hell, and I have questions if there is a heaven. I do believe that we have the abibilty to make this world into what we want it to be. I think when we learn to love people for who they are not what we think they should be we can make the world a better place. I thnk we are so busy trying to make everything the same. imagine all the plants, animals, and trees all the same, wouldn't this world be boring. have to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Broke Free Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Hi Confused. Many people who come here are in the same place that you are. This is a very good place to be for a ‘questioning mind.’ Read the stories of others who have made the journey from religion to reason. Ponder your reasons for coming here in the first place. Are you being ‘pushed’ from a place of comfort, or are you ‘seeking’ answers that you cannot find in faith? The answer to that question often determines who shall find comfort here and who will leave to seek the shelter from where they came. Welcome to ExChristian. IBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Welcome Confused, I hope you will spend some time here on the site, and learn and give your input too. We have members covering the whole range from Christian to hard core Atheists. So join the debates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 Hi Confused! Hans forgot to mention deists, Buddhists, pagans, skeptics, belly-dancers, Wiccans, and bunny worshippers. Anyway, welcome! There's a lot of great information and ideas here that'll be sure to interest you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artur Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponymic Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 Well the best thing you can do is hang around here Confused, it should certainly help sort some issues out for you. Of course the hardest thing is it sounds like much of your social life & family life revolves around the church. To what extent, I don't know. But I do know it's usually the prime factor for most Christians who are afraid to give up Christianity. Because by becoming a non-believer, there's a chance you could lose many of those connections. All I'm willing to say about that right now is this: If you do end up becoming a firm non-believer, just weigh the balance of following something you don't believe to be true against the life you'll have to lead if you stay and follow a lie for your whole life. Hopefully clarity will come quickly (and it should if you hang around here), and you will be able to make swift, confident decisions regarding your path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibby Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Welcome Confused. Just to let you know that I and the others here have been where you are, so we understand. The worst thing for me to bare was the people who I loved in the church seeming to have no concept of me being a person genuinely looking for my own path and simply not believing anymore. It was always the Devil or demons who were somehow leading me somewhere. Looking back I now realise it was absolutely right for me for my further growth as a person. In fact if it wasn,t for the love and care of non-christian friends I might have not made it. Great to realise that their are no sinners and saints.......just people. Take care mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Hans forgot to mention deists, Buddhists, pagans, skeptics, belly-dancers, Wiccans, and bunny worshippers. (Skeptical Norse pagan Buddhist bunny-worshipper waves hi) Welcome, Confused! "I do believe that we have the ability to make this world into what we want it to be. I think when we learn to love people for who they are not what we think they should be we can make the world a better place." Wise words... If we figure out how to do this we may not solve all of our problems, but without this we don't have much of a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest confused2501 Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 thanks everyone for your words of wisdom. i am trying to get my life back together, after some hard times. I have learned that if you want something in life you have to work to get it. I think one thing that we are taught in the church is too wait, and i have never been that type, but when I started to wait things went wrong. I don't know if I will ever completely leave the church, because I think the church can do a lot if the motive is right. If it is out to upbuild people and communities then I am all for it. I am more at peace now then I have ever been. I have learn to accept who I am, the good the bad and the ugly. I am a man that speaks his mind. My fellow church members knows my feelings. i really don't know where this road will lead me, but if this is how self love feels then I am all for it. this moment is all I can speak for, tomorrow or next month might be different. on thing I have learned to take one day at a time, because the future is not promised to none of us much love to all may peace and self love endure to the end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofspong Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Keep in mind, confused2501, that while your "good book" does have many good stories and moral lessons, it is still filled with extrememly questionable material, namely the atrocities commited by the so called benevolent god, as well as downright nasty and unfair laws, supported by your very deity. Sure, the church can do good. Ive seen people who've had an arguably better life because of it. I was very much like you once; but i realized that i only accepted my faith because it was brought up in a christian home; i blindly accepted christianity, because it sounded good in theory, and i had never bothered to truly question it. It was when i began to question the bible, to read its passages for my self, to see the very evil contained in the so called "good book" that people just casually skim over.... It was then I realized in order to accept christianity, I would have to condone the evils commited by that god, the unfair rules, the bigotry and hatred he allowed. I chose not to accept it. Keep going to church if you'd like, its your choice. Just remember, if you stay in the church, you must also accept the evil that blatenly written in your bible...dont pick and choose the good verses, and casually "forget" the bad ones, just like every other christian does. Realize, and acknolwedge the bad verses exist. Otherwise, you'll just be like every other drone out there who blindly accepts what they are told. You seem like a smart guy. Don't let your feelings for the church hold you back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosingMyReligion Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Hello, I am new to this website as well(I submitted my testimony under my real name, "Todd."), and I could really relate to your posting Confused. I too am a young (24) African American male from a fundamentalist Southern Baptist background. The past year, as far as my faith in Christianity goes, I feel my religion slipping through my fingers like grains of sand. I still try and grasp onto anything that seems tangible, but the more I learn and the more I grow the more I realize that this particular faith does not pertain to me... Grant it, I am still a thiest. I do, honestly, believe that there is a benevolent animus that set the wheels of evolution in motion. Whether it is a he or she or merely a wondrous force, I don't know. I just believe that there something more...It may not be a tangible concept, but I believe that it exists. I do believe in God, life after death, reincarnation and etc...Minus all the dogma and ritualism. I guess I am moving into the realm of being a new age spiritualist...Which is great. I believe the afterlife to be more than just going to heaven and strumming on a harp, singing hymns. I hope heaven isn't as dull as preachers make it out to be... With that said, I honestly do not know if Christianity is for me anymore. And I can tell you that I never thought, for a minute, that I would EVER, EVER, type the former sentence...A few years ago you could not have convinced me that Christianity wasn't the only true way to god. Now, due to my sexuality(I'm gay), my inquisitive mind(the bible has too many contradictions, fallacies, and stories so epic that they are just too good to be true), and all of the hypocrisy of the people in church. I get sick of people making fools of themselves "witnessing" for Christ in public parking lots. I get sick of Christian arrogance, believing that ONLY christians goto heaven and everyone else is destined for hell... And I get sick of being lambasted for being gay. I did not choose to be gay. It was just the way I was born and I don't want to change it. Part of me is willing to let my religion go...But the other part of me, which I know is conditioning after spending 22 years in church, is so afraid of dying and going to hell. I am so scared that if I give up my faith I may die and wind up in hell on a technicality! That is so damn absurd, and I want to cringe for writing it...But that is honestly how I feel. It feels like I am deprogramming myself after being in a cult all my life. Infact, I am SURROUNDED by Christianity. I can't go anywhere without being around some vestige of it. The phony people with their phoney smiles and etc get on my nerves...Because the religion preaches nothing but hate under the guises of love and redemption. Grant it, the bible is great literature(minus all of those pesky plotholes) but as a book to base your life upon is absurd. I feel that I can continue to be a fine, upstanding, moral person without having to goto church. I am a joyful individual.I still have all the same hopes and dreams...and I don't think I would want to praise a god that would condemn his own children to an everlasting inferno just because they exercised their freedom of choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Ethel Rakem Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 There's a reason that faith is referred to as a shield. A shield is what you hide behind when you have nothing with which to fight. Welcome to ExC. Hey, that's awesome! Mind if I use it? Hello Confused! I hope you find the answers you seek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raphael Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Welcome Confused ~ I've only been here a few days and my heart goes out to all of you. Alot of these folks have helped me decide that I am not an ex-christian, but I do not agree with alot of christian teachings. I will never deny Jesus, but I left "the church" 15 years ago and I will never go back. I think the bottom line is that if that way of life is right for us, we must know on a personnal basis. Just don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Have you asked Him to prove Himself to you, rather than looking for confirmation thru men? Losingmyreligion ~ Consider this...When I knew there was a good God, but didn't see Him in the teachings of the church system; I began a search 5 years ago that lead me to a massive amount of writings called The Lost Books that sheds a whole new light on things. I found so may answers. They have a website of the same name (.com.) Alot of these books came out of tombs in Egypt in the 50's and since have been translated and published. What I don't get is that alot of the links are to Theology Institutions, yet the "good" stuff has not been preached! Maybe it really takes a seeker to find them, or maybe now is the time for them to be revealed. My best to all of you ~ Raphael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Hi Confused Welcome here. Although I have left the Faith, I have a Christian article for you. I think it is relevant in your situation. Reality. Issue 33: Fowler, Faith and Fallout, by Andrew Pritchard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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