Hello all

[Stargazer95]

My name is Katrina, and I am well on my way out of Christianity. I'm not quite there yet - it's still a journey, and I'm open to returning if the evidence goes that way. But I think my exit is inevitable, hence why I'm here lol

 

Some background. I was raised in a strong Christian home and was "saved" at the age of 8. For most of my childhood and teen years I just kinda went through the motions and hadn't really made my faith my own. At 18 I re-committed my life to Christ and started taking it more seriously. Shortly after that I discovered apologetics, and loved it. It brought me a lot of joy to know that my faith didn't have to be blind, but could be backed up with evidence and arguments. And so I embraced it wholeheartedly. 

 

A couple of years ago I became friends with a Muslim who challenged me on a lot of things. Really pushed me and forced me to admit to myself that a lot of the answers I had been given were not adequate. There were a lot of holes and problems with the bible and Christian doctrine in general. My thinking also started changing on things like hell and original sin, and I found that I could no longer accept that billions would go to hell for a sin nature they had not chosen, and the only way to escape was to believe in one particular religion out of many possible options. I feel like the game has been rigged from the beginning, and the majority of the time, not in our favour. And the concept of eternal suffering for finite sins is absolutely horrific and makes me sick to my stomach.

 

I'm coming to the conclusion that the bible is a very human book. The authors had no knowledge of modern science, and conflicts are obvious (Genesis for example). The God of the bible is petty and cruel (e.g. Numbers 31 and the slaughter of innocent little boys). And there are various other errors, contradictions, and problems that to my mind, have not or cannot be answered adequately. All in all, the bible reads exactly as you would expect for a book of its time. There's no indication of any divine fingerprints here at all. 

 

Anyway. The reason I joined this site is because I don't want to make this journey alone. I know it will be difficult and painful, and so it's good to be able to connect with people who have made similar journeys. So that's my story and it's nice to meet you all

[♦ Fuego ♦]

Welcome Stargazer95! Yes, it is a human book, entirely made-up. Here and there are enough bits of "nice" to make people think there is something divine behind it, but the bible god is not nice at all, even though he demands that we be. That's rather like an abusive husband always blaming his wife for things while demanding praise and adoration.

[MOHO]

Welcome @Stargazer95

 

Once you understand that the Bible is a collection of literary works and not history, and obviously written by humans, sans ANY input from ANY godlike being, the whole doctrine of Christianism falls on its ugly face. 

 

Hope you hang around and read/write some more.

 

     - MOHO (Mind Of His Own)

[Geezer]

Welcome aboard, I'm glad you found this site. I think it will be very helpful for you. 

 

You said, "I'm open to returning if the evidence goes that way." I've been a student of Christianity and the Bible for more than a decade now and I have found no such evidence. I have, however, found an enormous amount of evidence the proves the Bible is not literally or historically true. Dr. Bart Ehrman's books or YouTube Videos would be a good source for that information along with Dr. Robert M. Price. 

 

Leaving Christianity is a difficult and lengthy process for most people, so you might want to prepare yourself for that reality. 

[TruthSeeker0]

Welcome! We have a chat room on Discord as well if you would like to join.

[Stargazer95]

1 hour ago, TruthSeeker0 said:

Welcome! We have a chat room on Discord as well if you would like to join.

Yeah that would be great, thanks 

[RealityCheck]

On 9/17/2018 at 8:40 AM, Stargazer95 said:

 

I'm coming to the conclusion tha the bible is a very human book. The authors had no knowledge of modern science, and conflicts are obvious (Genesis for example). The God of the bible is petty and cruel (e.g. Numbers 31 and the slaughter of innocent little boys). And there are various other errors, contradictions, and problems that to my mind, have not or cannot be answered adequately. All in all, the bible reads exactly as you would expect for a book of its time. There's no indication of any divine fingerprints here at all. 

 

Welcome to the site, your story is further confirmation to something that I've known for a while.  The most potent tool for deconversion is not the "world" as normally preached at the pulpit, it is the bible itself.  Not many Christians actually read or it but rather depend on a pre processed version of it's contents by a pastor.  Other believers claim that they've read the whole book but only glossed over it.  If Christians tool your approach, the percentage of atheists (or in your case, on your way out of the faith) would be much higher.  I look forward to further conversations regarding the topic.

[Tsathoggua9]

Welcome aboard! I enjoyed reading your story. I hope you get all the help that you need from all the friendly people here at our site.

[Stargazer95]

Thanks everyone!

[Stargazer95]

3 hours ago, RealityCheck said:

The most potent tool for deconversion is not the "world" as normally preached at the pulpit, it is the bible itself.

 

I agree completely. Unfortunately, I suspect that very few Christians are willing to read the bible without blinders on. And when it comes to, for example, violence in the Old Testament, they'll say something like, "But that's the Old Testament, it doesn't apply anymore". I wish people could see the bible as a whole and judge it as such. 

[quinntar]

The problem I foresee is that as religion falls we do not have that comfy spiritual backstop that we used as a gap filler to curb us from going nutz. Tiss why we are becoming such materialistic & narcissistic A hole's. I mean if there is absolutely no meaning at all, then fuck me I can do the fuck I want. I can throw my natural instincts & incantations to be a team player to the wind.

 

There's always something more, remember that well.

[sdelsolray]

2 hours ago, quinntar said:

The problem I foresee is that as religion falls we do not have that comfy spiritual backstop that we used as a gap filler to curb us from going nutz. Tiss why we are becoming such materialistic & narcissistic A hole's. I mean if there is absolutely no meaning at all, then fuck me I can do the fuck I want. I can throw my natural instincts & incantations to be a team player to the wind.

 

There's always something more, remember that well.

 

I'm not quite sure whether you are being sarcastic or not.  Assuming you are not, please speak for yourself and not others.  Numerous folks who have abandoned various religions and related dogma lead quite purposeful lives, have a low level of materialism and narcissism and are not A holes. 

[quinntar]

5 hours ago, sdelsolray said:

 

I'm not quite sure whether you are being sarcastic or not.  Assuming you are not, please speak for yourself and not others.  Numerous folks who have abandoned various religions and related dogma lead quite purposeful lives, have a low level of materialism and narcissism and are not A holes. 

Yes very correct, I was in a mood last night. But my post has meaning too, it's just I look around me and more and more people are abandoning themselves to a flutter of want. They're sucking up as much raw material as they can before they bite the big one.

 

Anyways.

[◊ DestinyTurtle ◊]

Welcome, @Stargazer95! I think it's super courageous to be able to admit to yourself about the Xian perspective on the bible and questions people have been explicitly trained not to think too much about. Cudos and I hope this website proves helpful to you!

[Hierophant]

@Stargazer95

 

I highly recommenr listening to "The Human Bible" podcasts by Dr. Robert Price. I guarantee that after listening to a few of those podcasts, you will see the Bible completely different.

[Stargazer95]

20 hours ago, TinMan said:

@Stargazer95

 

I highly recommenr listening to "The Human Bible" podcasts by Dr. Robert Price. I guarantee that after listening to a few of those podcasts, you will see the Bible completely different.

 

Oh, good. I listen to podcasts quite a lot anyway, so that would be great. Thanks for the suggestion 

[Joshpantera]

On 9/17/2018 at 8:40 AM, Stargazer95 said:

I'm coming to the conclusion that the bible is a very human book. The authors had no knowledge of modern science, and conflicts are obvious (Genesis for example). The God of the bible is petty and cruel (e.g. Numbers 31 and the slaughter of innocent little boys). And there are various other errors, contradictions, and problems that to my mind, have not or cannot be answered adequately. All in all, the bible reads exactly as you would expect for a book of its time. There's no indication of any divine fingerprints here at all. 

 

Welcome Stargaer95! 

 

You seem to have stumbled into the big insight. Not a divinely inspired set of contradictions and errors. A clear product of the times. There's more, too. We get into issues of how the famous fulfillment's of prophecies are never the case. The evidence of evolution of the mythological characters over time, where what we consider a character now was greatly different from the outset before they were added more and more attributes and characteristics. It goes on and on. 

[Jesus]

Home run with this post! Every word was so effective and to the point. Not even sure how you did that in so few words. You’re obviously highly intelligent. In my opinion, full deconversion isinevitable for you. Good for you!

[Stargazer95]

3 hours ago, Aaron81 said:

Home run with this post! Every word was so effective and to the point. Not even sure how you did that in so few words. You’re obviously highly intelligent. In my opinion, full deconversion isinevitable for you. Good for you!

 

Thanks @Aaron81 

That means a lot! 

[Lerk]

On 9/19/2018 at 12:25 PM, Stargazer95 said:

 

I agree completely. Unfortunately, I suspect that very few Christians are willing to read the bible without blinders on. And when it comes to, for example, violence in the Old Testament, they'll say something like, "But that's the Old Testament, it doesn't apply anymore". I wish people could see the bible as a whole and judge it as such. 

 

Welcome!

 

Yes, what I never realized when I was a believer and considered myself to be a good Bible student, was that my studies were always trying to find out what the god expected of me. I never studied it to find out if it was true! The fact that it wasn't what it was purported to be was something I stumbled upon, and when I started down that trail it took me only a month to completely deconvert.

[Stargazer95]

38 minutes ago, Lerk said:

Yes, what I never realized when I was a believer and considered myself to be a good Bible student, was that my studies were always trying to find out what the god expected of me. I never studied it to find out if it was true!

 

Well that's to be expected. Every Christian automatically assumes that the bible is true and that there are no reasons to question it. At least until they start finding those reasons.