Oppressturbation

[brtransplant]

I did used to be a believer and a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ (including believing and accepting that he died for my “sins”) and now I am not and do not. You can define “Christian” however you like, but according to my definition - I used to be one but now I am not.

If you don't mind my asking, do you know what it was that caused you to lose your faith?

[Guisslapp]

If you don't mind my asking, do you know what it was that caused you to lose your faith?

I suspended my faith to re-evaluate whether I was really believing in the “truth” or whether I was being overinfluenced by the community I was raised in. Tried to reconsider in view of everything I then knew and what actually made “sense.”

[brtransplant]

I suspended my faith to re-evaluate whether I was really believing in the “truth” or whether I was being overinfluenced by the community I was raised in. Tried to reconsider in view of everything I then knew and what actually made “sense.”

I'd like to recommend a book to you. The title of it is Willmington's Guide to the Bible. Its author calls it an all-inclusive one-volume concise summary of basic Bible information. At almost 1000 pages, calling it concise may be a stretch, but it has been very helpful to me. I hope you'll give it a read and that perhaps you might once again be able to have faith. What have you got to lose, right?

[Guisslapp]

I'd like to recommend a book to you. The title of it is Willmington's Guide to the Bible. Its author calls it an all-inclusive one-volume concise summary of basic Bible information. At almost 1000 pages, calling it concise may be a stretch, but it has been very helpful to me. I hope you'll give it a read and that perhaps you might once again be able to have faith. What have you got to lose, right?

I appreciate the concern, but I have to be honest - I have zero interest in going back. As I have gained separation from my previous beliefs, things have only made MORE sense, and I have only become MORE convinced that Christianity (and other religions based on a God) are flawed, and in many cases, particularly Christianity and Islam, the religion does more harm than good to the world.

This is not based on a lack of understanding of Christianity - I have no shortage of exposure to this particular religion. But once I started viewing those beliefs from a distance, it became crystal clear to me that there is no god (at least of the type as we have been taught in the Abrahamic religions). These religions are anthropological time capsules (of a memetic nature) representing philosophy and knowledge of humans from at least 2000 years ago. They don’t match as well with science and knowledge of today, despite the various institutional efforts of churches to evolve the beliefs and apply them to modern issues and values.

While I don’t doubt I could practice a bit of self-deception and put myself in another self-reinforcing religious bubble community and potentially start choosing to believe again, I have no interest in walking that road, because my current knowledge has given me complete security in my honesty and integrity.