How Long Have You Been Out Of Christianity?

[Guest Wisko]

Almost 8 years, but the last "conversion" was short-lived. I've had some interesting post-backslide experiences that are somewhat spiritually related, and have some pretty powerful ammo to blast the fundies, given the opportunity.

[GraphicsGuy]

Well, it's only been a month since I officially said I don't believe anymore. However, it's been five months since I really started questioning things...although I've questioned certain aspects of what I believed over the last 15 years.

[NearlyInsane]

My deconversion process was also long & painful. It was about 9 years ago, tho, when I first identified myself as an atheist & really drew a line in the sand. There hasn't been a moment of confusion or wavering since.

[GraphicsGuy]

There hasn't been a moment of confusion or wavering since.

 

Blessed relief, isn't it? It seemed like my Xian walk was nothing but confusion and wavering...now there's none. Peace of mind that was supposed to come from the Holy Spirit and I found it without him.

[Former Follier]

Peace of mind that was supposed to come from the Holy Spirit and I found it without him.

Beautiful, isn't it?

[GraphicsGuy]

Beautiful, isn't it?

 

Like a walk in the park by comparison...

[Llwellyn]

I grew up as the child of missionaries in Africa. I was raised as a Christian, and thus my first thoughts were already informed by the Christian mindset. As I was growing up, I was always looking to learn the "right" answers, which meant the answers that sprung out of this worldview. But by the time I was 25, I saw that I was not making a smooth transition into aduthood. Certain Christian ideas about "hell," sex, and God were contaminating my thinking and inhibiting my development. I started to go crazy by these thoughts and it was causing me so much grief. Slowly, I came to realize that it was Christianity that was stunting my emotional development.

 

It was a very slow process of deconversion. I investigated other forms of Christianity -- like Quakerism and Eastern Orthodoxy -- to see if any of them were functional. They weren't. A 'moderate' or 'universalist' form of Christianity is not stable in the long run. I deconverted from Christianity on June 29, 2005. That is also the date on which I converted to Platonism. So, I guess that I have been out for 25 months -- that is 2 years. I haven't gotten the terrifying ideas of hell out of my mind yet though. I think that is going to be a life-long process.

 

I am happy to be alive. I am happy to be here with you. Love and peace!

 

[freeman]

Had many doubts, but made my de-conversion as a senior while attending a Catholic high school some 25 years ago. Happily a deist, without ID during that time period. Lived and let live until the 2004 elections. That is when I came out of the athiest / deist closet and told everyone that I was not a christian. I sought like minded indiviuals and found this sight in Feb. 2005. That is when I made my first post in the main blogs. Mostly I read, but get my feathers ruffeled and I cannot help but make a comment!

[michie_s]

After 12 yrs I left a extremely fundie church in Dec 2004 because I did not want to start another year going through the torture. I attended a more "liberal" non-denominational church until 2006 as it seemed like so much freedom compared to where I was at.

As my faith waned I attended gradually more and more liberal churches until June 2007 - when I decided that I'd had enough and I could no longer pretend to believe. I was tired of fighting my doubts that god existed with the old walking by faith not by sight argument. So it's been just over 2 months since I fully de-converted. And I'm loving it!

[SWIM]

Been out of it about 30 years now. Of course I am doomed to hell according to most of my relatives... oh well...

[Guest Nanten]

I de-converted two years ago, when I was sixteen. I still haven't "come out" to anyone in my family yet.

[Insanity personified]

I started to have doubts in January of 2005 after reading about how christianity is essentially pagan.....then it blosomed from there and I left my religion on June 5 2005 (I celebrate every year )

[SWIM]

You will see in some of my posts I say "been religion free for 30+ years". I am not sure how accurate that is though, I cannot recal EVER believing it in my soul. That's why I cannot really argue with a fundie that says "You never were a true™ christian. They are most likly right in that assumption.

 

I have *believed" in other things though, and believing almost allways leads to disappointment.

 

Now? I don't take anything too serious. I have stopped believing, instead I speculate and theorize. Is (this or that) true? Dunno, but I will think it over and offer a few possiblities. This is my response nowadays. And it's fun! I don't like "locking" my mind. Belief is like a lock, it puts a halt to speculation.

 

What I have observed in life is that most things appear in a constant state of change. Why should our beliefs then stagnate in an enviorment of change? Truth might be TRUE regardless of a person's belief or disbelief, but being open to speculate, you can hit upon truths and go a step further, you can extroplate theories on things related. Faith and belief are like big stops signs to a freeform thinker.

 

I don't like stop signs... (looks at his stack of traffic tickets)... lol just kidding...

 

 

[Thunder 34]

Its about to be 10 months sometime this December.

[zefferus]

I got out of detox on july 7th 2005. Thats when it occured to me that my imagined faith and countless prayers hadn't done anything to change my circumstances. I realized that I'd better rely on myself and real human help if I wanted stay clean and sober. Recovery meetings were disappointing because of the heavy emphasis on a higher power, and make no mistake, they were definitely refering to God. Fortunately I found a few non-believers in the program and got some rational advice on how to do the deal. Anyway, I'm still clean, still heathen and getting stronger as time passes.

[no-one]

I think it's about 2 years for me although I stopped going to church regularly when I was 13 (am 26 now) I did still believe in *something* for a long time and tried to go back to church in my early 20s. I even got married in church. Fortunately I was old enough to understand what it was all about then so I quickly decided it was a total crock and eventually decided that I didn't believe in anything.

[2Bornot2B]

The whole house of cards began to fall in January of 07 (for a complete version of what happened, read "Religion made me sick."). I think that I realized that I did not believe in the bible as the word of god, the bible god, and that I was no longer a Christian sometime in July of 07. I am still like some others wondering about whether hell is waiting, etc. I consider myself a deist although more recently I would add an agnostic tag to that. Well, I am a lot happier now than I ever was as a Christian and that was going on 12 years. Cheers!

[blueheron]

Out of xianity at age 31, but wavered back and forth about there being some kind of god/afterlife, etc. until recently, and I'm 34 now.

[MultifariousBirdLady]

For over 15 years. I'm not exactly sure how many. Probably something around 18.

[MultifariousBirdLady]

I deconverted from Christianity on June 29, 2005. That is also the date on which I converted to Platonism. So, I guess that I have been out for 25 months -- that is 2 years. I haven't gotten the terrifying ideas of hell out of my mind yet though. I think that is going to be a life-long process.

 

Dealing with the fears of hell and demons were the worst things I went through after leaving. Believe me, it does get better!

 

 

BTW, it would be fun to talk about Platonism sometime.

[DoubleDee]

I'm trying to think when I had the "ah ha" moment when I admitted I was out altogether. I believe that was beginning of '04 and I joined this site in March of '04 so that was probably around the time I admitted it to myself. Then I went back in July of '04 and was out for good in Nov '04. So it has been a little over three years of being consistently out and not going back, but it should have been closer to 4.

Well Madame M

I'm so glad you stayed out for good this time. I remember your public announcement, however, I remember it happening in June of 04. I believe you posted here about it on my birthday. Um yeah I was shattered. Not really but It did have a lasting impression on several of us.

[hereticzero]

I haven't been in church since 1999 but continued with a ministry, and I officially quit and resigned around 2004.

 

See ya'll in hell. I'm bringing beer and the devil's weed for everyone!

[bellsybop]

Right about 6 months. Still going through some changes, especially with the Christmas thing, but doing great!

[♦ nivek ♦]

Rationa Recovery

 

Rational Recovery webpage

 

Folks,

 

For those of you who would like *something* to help with 'whatever', Rational Recovery is a decent program that won't require your 'buying a saint' to work with.

 

This has been a cool, long thread. New folks who have added in on it recently, feel Welcome to ExC, your presence is appreciated.

 

k, gettin' my 25 year pin soon,FL

[Redbeard]

I finally had my "it's all bullshit" moment about a month ago, shortly before finding this site. I believed there was a god and Jesus, but it never seemed to jive with me for some reason.

 

From birth, I attended church three times a week until I was 18. During this time, Xianity was pretty much second nature to me since I had been constantly exposed from such a young age, and this turned out to be a good thing I think. It was stuck more in the back of my mind rather than the front, like many that convert when they are able to actually understand it, and even then I was skeptical. I never lived the Xtian life and never really wanted to. Everyone from my church and even in school (minus a few that are still friends) looked at me as an outcast because I was a metal head.

 

I was basically guilt-tripped into finally being baptised when I was 16, and I really just did it to get everyone to shut the fuck up and get off my back. Even then, I was basically ashamed of it for some reason, and ended up refusing to do my part in helping during worship service.

 

After moving off to college, I attended a church for about a month until the final straw landed. I came into church one morning to learn that our preacher had been caught fucking his secretary in his office, all while he was supposed to be doing marriage counceling for her and her husband. I found it all hilarious for some reason, so I got up, walked out, and never went back, and would only go to church if I was back home for a holiday or something.

 

Unfortunately it wasn't until a short time ago that I became interested in the origins of Jesus and Xtianity. I think we all know what I eventually learned, and that was that. I felt empty for about a week, but got over it all with very little work. Only one of my friends even knows about it, and even he doesn't know the whole story. He's basically gone in the opposite direction of me, and is very active in his church now, so we just leave it out of our conversation.