Please post Your Deconversion Story.

[Davros of Skaro]

I do not have a story, because I read the NT (some of the OT) as a child, and rejected it as illogical.

Keep in mind that I am very open to life after death, but ancient Man had no idea what they were writing about nor had any Divine guidence in my opinion.

The strongest deconversion for me was that the "Lochness Monster" is not an aquatic Reptile, but I am Agnostic on it being a large eel.

Share your struggle, and hardships breaking away from the Religious Faith.

Thank you................

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[/media] Edited January 21, 2014 by davros of skaro

[green_dude777]

The biggest 'deconverter' for myself was actually reading the bible instead of listening to everyone else (priests, nuns, bible 'thumpers', doomsdayers). Granted, I was only giving it merit because of these people and their interpretations.

A big moment in all of this reading that really turned me skeptical was meeting with a mega church follower in Toledo, Ohio. He had come into my store looking for a tape recorder with varying speeds, so he could decode the 'prophecy' that was given to him by a preacher. This guy was speaking in tongues, and he was going to decode it.

I met with him, and thought we were going to have a discussion, with each asking questions and we would put our minds together to figure it out. Where my method was to use two minds and the book to figure out some of the more difficult passages and chapters, his was just letting the 'holy spirit' tell him. He literally told me he had all the correct answers, because god was telling him right then and there in his head via the 'holy spirit'. When I asked that I had a feeling that was different, and how is his feeling any different, I was dismissed as not being guided by this 'holy spirit'. He spoke in tongues on command (it was all just him making up sounds and rolling his eyes back). He also refused to hang out with non believers.

[Davros of Skaro]

*snip*

LOL! Thanks for the story.

The funny thing is from what I get from the Epistles is that "Speaking in Tongues" is really a foreigner that speaks another language.A Church goer that speaks his/her tongue interprets for them when they have questions, or translates the Sermon to their Tongue.I did not research this, but that is what I got out of it, but I forget what Book it's out of.

So someone correct me if I'm wrong, but "Speaking in Tongues" is a Church visitor talking another Native language, and not the fake stuff you see today.Then again the special Wine was probably spiked?

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[/media] Edited January 22, 2014 by Daughter of the Nine Moons
removed redundant quote

[Daughter of the Nine Moons]

Posting as a reminder

'Spirituality vs Skepticism' board guidelines Please always respect the beliefs of other members - the bashing of specific religions, countries, races or belief systems is strictly disallowed. Several of the topics in this section cover some sensitive areas and it is important to respect the views of others; this means no flaming, no flamebaiting, no trolling and no personal attacks. We must also ask that members do not use the forums to promote or 'preach' their personal spiritual beliefs to others.

[+Paranoid Android]

Would it be against the spirit of this thread to share my deconversion from Deism as I came to realise the truth of Christianity?

[eight bits]

PA

Would it be against the spirit of this thread to share my deconversion from Deism as I came to realise the truth of Christianity?

Must be, right? The topic is first-hand reporting about change of religious opinion. I'd enjoy reading your story. And if the thread takes off, it would be interesting to see whether changes had things in common, independent of the "direction."

[White Crane Feather]

Mine was a gradual deconversion. As a teenager I was a pretty strong bible thumper as the result of an involvement in a specific church. As I got older and into college I started studying Asian philosophy and world religions and was introduced to real critical thinking by some good professors and I could not deny the fact that I just simply did not believe in the dogmas of Christianity. The Christian answers were unsatisfactory and the elitism attitude of middle eastern religions turned me off. I was an atheist for a time, until I kept going with critical thinking and learning about other things, then I became more of an agnostic as I realized atheism is only built on a little more solid ground than theism, but ultimately not by much. Experiences and seeking taught me that I actually did believe in something I just realize that I have no way of knowing the exact nature of it. Thus now consider myself an agnostic theist. My experiences tell me without a doubt there are "higher" powers, I just don't think I have the capability to truly understand.

[Dark_Grey]

Much like White Crane Feather, I maintained a strong faith during my teenage years. But, also like WCF, I got older and started asking the questions I was too afraid to ask as a youth;

"Who really wrote the Bible?"

"Did Jesus really exist?"

"What makes Christianity the one true religion when they all claim the same?"

Gradually, as life got busy, careers began and new relationships formed and before long I just didn't have time for church or reading the Bible. Initially it saddened, me until I realized it also did wonders for my perspective. For the first time in my life, I was looking at religion from the outside in. I was finally seeing it the way my peers did. (The same peers I used to look at with pity, thinking "that poor lost soul...doesn't he even know how to be saved like me?") Now I felt empowered and betrayed.

I felt betrayed by the Church, my sunday school teachers, my parents...how could they lead me on for so long? Why did they continually discourage me from reading about the history of the Bible, or dismiss any critical questions my young mind could conjure?

I still struggle with my conflict of faith almost daily. I attack Christianity with a passion now because I am afraid: I am afraid because if it's wrong, it means I have been led to believe a lie that consumed precious years of my life. So many nights praying earnestly for answers, so many days feeling utterly worthless for indulging in normal, instinctive teenager behavior. It was supposed to make me feel empowered, but instead it burdened me with guilt and shame.

It has been said that if you are strong in your faith, you should have no problem with entertaining ideas that try and disprove it. If that is the case, I am now the bloody pope.

Thanks.

[Davros of Skaro]

Would it be against the spirit of this thread to share my deconversion from Deism as I came to realise the truth of Christianity?

I wish you would give the whole unedited story, so type away as you see fit.

Conversion stories are welcome, but please outline it in the first line to avoid confusion.Thanks

[Doug1029]

When I was in grade school, Bible stories were actually taught in public school (Plymouth School, Plymouth, Ohio) by the same person who taught my Methodist Sunday School class. Why they thought I needed a double dose is beyond me. They were taught as if they were established fact and beyond dispute. In high school I had perfect attendance at a Presbyterian church. My deconversion began slowly with the observation that most people, including preachers, didn't actually do the things their faith would have required of them.

In college, I went to a fundamentalist "rally" in which the speaker claimed the world was about to end and he had several "Bible" verses that proved it. I wrote down the references: Two didn't exist. And five more were complete misquotes. Anyone who knew the Bible would instantly recognize the man as a fraud. I began to wonder if all fundamentalist preacher-types were as badly informed as that guy was. I checked and found some more.

I also read "The Philosophy of Humanism" by Corliss Lamont - sort of a Ten Commandments of Atheism. Eight of those resonated with me. Later, I discovered that all eight were in the "42 Principles of Maat" from ancient Egyptian literature. Lamont suggested that atheists and theists work together when they had common goals, but I was unable to locate a church that didn't have a knee-jerk revulsion at the thought of working with an atheist. Anyway, I tried atheism on for size - it didn't fit.

Then I met two rabbis. They knew more about Christianity than any two people I have ever met - and didn't believe a word of it. If two people this knowledgeable didn't believe the one-and-only true religion, how secure could that religion be?

When my daughter, a pedestrian, was struck by a car and crippled for life, I had an awful revelation: the universe doesn't care. No god looked out for her that day. Then I started asking which god was looking out for people who were killed in that Amtrack accident in Louisiana. Over 100 people killed. Some survivors thanked their gods for looking out for them, but none ever realized that if god were on the job, there wouldn't have been an accident in the first place.

Then I started reading the Bible, hoping for an answer to WHY. But there wasn't any. Just legends. So I started investigating what the evidence actually has to say about Moses, Jesus and others in the Bible, including all those Bible stories I had heard in grade school. The answer I got was mostly that there isn't much evidence, certainly not enough to support any of Jesus' miracles and barely enough to suggest that he ever existed. Moses, on the other hand, has four historical prototypes - people who so closely fit the biblical description that one has to conclude that the story is about them. But four? How do four people become one? The folklore process is how. Simple conflation.

At any rate, I now have several atheist friends and have been discussing the issues with them. Most don't seem to know any more about the Bible than some religious posters on UM, but others make divinity school graduates look like ignorant buffoons.

Then I heard a story about a young cub reporter, just out of college. He was working at a metropolitan daily when news of the Johnstown Flood came over the wire. The editor looked around to see who he could send to cover the story and the only candidate was the young reporter. Reluctantly, the editor sent him. Three days later, the cub reporter wired his first story home, written in the ornate prose of a college English class: "God sits on His throne of Imperial splendor overlooking the valley of desolation which is Johnstown..." The editor didn't wait and replied: "Never mind flood. Interview God."

So that's where I am - waiting for an opportunity to interview god. And god doesn't seem to be forthcoming.

Doug

Edited January 22, 2014 by Doug1029

[Dark_Grey]

So that's where I am - waiting for an opportunity to interview god. And god doesn't seem to be forthcoming.

Doug

Thanks for sharing - that was a good read

[Davros of Skaro]

When my daughter, a pedestrian, was struck by a car and crippled for life, I had an awful revelation: the universe doesn't care. No god looked out for her that day. Then I started asking which god was looking out for people who were killed in that Amtrack accident in Louisiana. Over 100 people killed. Some survivors thanked their gods for looking out for them, but none ever realized that if god were on the job, there wouldn't have been an accident in the first place.

Sorry to hear about your daughter.

This is off topic, but I have seen accidents all over that I do not see as accidents, but carelessness of drivers.

[Davros of Skaro]

Much like White Crane Feather, I maintained a strong faith during my teenage years. But, also like WCF, I got older and started asking the questions I was too afraid to ask as a youth;

"Who really wrote the Bible?"

"Did Jesus really exist?"

"What makes Christianity the one true religion when they all claim the same?"

Gradually, as life got busy, careers began and new relationships formed and before long I just didn't have time for church or reading the Bible. Initially it saddened, me until I realized it also did wonders for my perspective. For the first time in my life, I was looking at religion from the outside in. I was finally seeing it the way my peers did. (The same peers I used to look at with pity, thinking "that poor lost soul...doesn't he even know how to be saved like me?") Now I felt empowered and betrayed.

I felt betrayed by the Church, my sunday school teachers, my parents...how could they lead me on for so long? Why did they continually discourage me from reading about the history of the Bible, or dismiss any critical questions my young mind could conjure?

I still struggle with my conflict of faith almost daily. I attack Christianity with a passion now because I am afraid: I am afraid because if it's wrong, it means I have been led to believe a lie that consumed precious years of my life. So many nights praying earnestly for answers, so many days feeling utterly worthless for indulging in normal, instinctive teenager behavior. It was supposed to make me feel empowered, but instead it burdened me with guilt and shame.

It has been said that if you are strong in your faith, you should have no problem with entertaining ideas that try and disprove it. If that is the case, I am now the bloody pope.

Thanks.

If you have children? Will you tell them that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and only through Jesus can one have salvation?

[Doug1029]

Would it be against the spirit of this thread to share my deconversion from Deism as I came to realise the truth of Christianity?

Can't hurt. Let's hear what you have to say.

Doug

[Doug1029]

Sorry to hear about your daughter.

This is off topic, but I have seen accidents all over that I do not see as accidents, but carelessness of drivers.

True. In my daughter's case, it was inattentive driving. The driver was paying attention to her crying baby and ran a red light while speeding. She paid a $25 fine for lack of insurance. The ambulance ride cost me $750. The total bill, low for this kind of accident, was $305,000.

Doug

[Davros of Skaro]

True. In my daughter's case, it was inattentive driving. The driver was paying attention to her crying baby and ran a red light while speeding. She paid a $25 fine for lack of insurance. The ambulance ride cost me $750. The total bill, low for this kind of accident, was $305,000.

Doug

:<

I know a Women that lost her daughter entirely from a drunk driver.

[docyabut2]

After years of studying relgions I`m to the point of not believing much. but Jesus said God is a force of love and that the only thing that keeps me going.Where`s there is love there is God.

[docyabut2]

After years of studying relgions I`m to the point of not believing much. but Jesus said God is a force of love and demonstrated it, thats the only thing that keeps me going.Where`s there is love there is God,and I do see it every where, even in all the tragedy.

Edited January 23, 2014 by docyabut2

[+Paranoid Android]

I wish you would give the whole unedited story, so type away as you see fit.

Conversion stories are welcome, but please outline it in the first line to avoid confusion.Thanks

It depends on your point of view, doesn't it? I was once a Deist, now I am not. I deconverted from Deism. But I'll try and share my story later. I should have access to a laptop later today, which will be much quicker then using my phone.

[Davros of Skaro]

It depends on your point of view, doesn't it? I was once a Deist, now I am not. I deconverted from Deism. But I'll try and share my story later. I should have access to a laptop later today, which will be much quicker then using my phone.

Do not concern your self over points of views, and take your time.

Edited January 23, 2014 by davros of skaro

[XenoFish]

Christianity turned me into a bitter self-righteous jerk. I began to think because I was "saved" I was better than everyone. Then I had a lot of bad stuff happen in my life and not one prayer was answered, there was no light at the end of the tunnel and I almost committed suicide. A friend stopped me and showed me the self-empowering art of magick. Which did more positive benefits than christianity had. It taught me that I had the power to change my life, to get my head in the right place and win. Christianity taught me to be a sheep ready for the slaughter. God wasn't going to save me, I'd have to do that myself. Now magick is fading and I realize that I've always had the power to change my life.

Only the strong of will survive.

[Awake2Chaos]

I was raised Christian....not by my parents, but by a neighbor who was very close with our family. They had 3 kids, and since my mom and dad worked late hours, I stayed with them a lot.

I was 'saved' at age 5.

I struggled with it for a long time....I had strong faith, then I'd 'stray'...then I'd go back. I osillated. In my early twenties I started researching conspiracy theories, history, ufos, psychic phenom. That mixed with my own expierences just lead me break away. Jesus may (or may not) have existed. But the belief system is recycled, you can't get around that.

I basically researched the faith out of myself.

[Mr Walker]

LOL! Thanks for the story.

The funny thing is from what I get from the Epistles is that "Speaking in Tongues" is really a foreigner that speaks another language.A Church goer that speaks his/her tongue interprets for them when they have questions, or translates the Sermon to their Tongue.I did not research this, but that is what I got out of it, but I forget what Book it's out of.

So someone correct me if I'm wrong, but "Speaking in Tongues" is a Church visitor talking another Native language, and not the fake stuff you see today.Then again the special Wine was probably spiked?

[media=]

[/media]

The tongues spoken were decipherable languages which were understood by groups of people not individuals. No point in them otherwise. In biblical terms all gifts of the spirit are useful and serve a productive purpose Your explantion is very close but in Christian terms the spirit allows a non speaker to understand and decipher/translate the language of another speaker in say chinese, even if they normally cannot speak chinese. It is a miracle (miraculous gift of the spirit like healing) not a mundane translation.

[Davros of Skaro]

The tongues spoken were decipherable languages which were understood by groups of people not individuals. No point in them otherwise. In biblical terms all gifts of the spirit are useful and serve a productive purpose Your explantion is very close but in Christian terms the spirit allows a non speaker to understand and decipher/translate the language of another speaker in say chinese, even if they normally cannot speak chinese. It is a miracle (miraculous gift of the spirit like healing) not a mundane translation.

Oh of course.I keep forgetting the power of the Spirit.

[quiXilver]

I was raised evangelical/charismatic christian and believed the adults around me implicitly.

Around junior high I got tired of having my questions answered with flawed logic or dodged all together, so I started reading the bible for myself.

That was the end of that...