Introductions

McCulloch · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:12 am Post subject: Introductions

Raised in a Christian family: Not really. Father a humanist, Mother a liberal Christian. Religion not given much importance in our household.
Denomination when converted to Christianity: church of Christ.
Other Denominations: Mennonite Brethren, Baptist, Church of the Nazarene, Alliance Church.
Departure date: mid 1980's
Other spiritual paths explored: Wicca, Unitarian Universalism, Feminist Spirituality
Current beliefs: Atheist Humanist

Atheist · Post 11: Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:37 am Post subject: Santa

McCulloch,

Your Does Not Believe in Santa forum is one that I have been contemplating. I've always thought it was fun for kids to think these things for awhile. At best maybe they can learn first hand how a large group of people can conspire to make you believe anything. However, I concede that I have been wrong about other things in the past so I may be wrong about this as well.

I will follow the discussion on this topic and consider all points of view.

Absurdism · Post 12: Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:05 pm Post subject:

My father passed away when I was 5, we moved from Italy (US army brat) to Pennsylvania, where my mother in a weakened state of mind (she was only 28, my father was 27 when he died) was visited by 2 Mormon missionaries. At 8 I was baptized a Mormon and even went to the temple., I never really wanted to go, even though at the end most of my local extended family was Mormon. I moved out on my own and thought I would look for the 'answers to life' Rolling Eyes

and find them in my 20's. Long story short, I thought I found God, I read the bible (well the NT) start to finish, and got saved as an Assembly of God christian. This is a full gospel sect, so the next step of course was the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

I thought that this was the most important step I would ever take in my spiritual life. I did not do this at church, I did it in my apartment, alone. I had studied the bible like I have never studied anything, wanting to be worthy in God's eyes for this tremendous gift. I prayed for and thought I had received, the gift of the Holy Spirit. I was beyond overjoyed. I was as committed as one could be I guess. I had absolutely no doubt that Jesus was real, that I was saved, and that I was going to heaven.

Due to conflicts in the Bible, the lack of any two-way communication from God, a picture I saw once of the different denominations of Christianity, a lack of consistency with all things God related, and a hot girl, over a period of 2 years I was finally able to declare my freedom from the Great White Lie.

Funny thing is, even after rejecting the Holy Spirit and all things God related as garbage, I still can 'speak in tongues'. I still do it every once in a while. It's kind of like a reality check. Makes me laugh.

Brother's Keeper · Post 13: Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:23 am Post subject:

I was raised in the Southern Baptist religion, although I never formally joined a church until after high school. I've also attended churches from the Assembly of God, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Foursquare denominations.

I started drifting away from religion when I saw some of the rampant hypocrisy going on, and although I admire some Christians for having the guts to stick with it, these days I'm more of an agnostic than anything else.

Buddhist · Post 14: Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:27 am Post subject:

My father is agnostic most likely boardering Atheist and my mom is a methodist Christian. I was raised the latter but never felt like I had to pick one over the other. The church I want to was very friendly and open-minded as are my parents. When I entered high school I started having a lot of questions about Christianity and I wasn't really getting any answers. I became agnostic for awhile then started studying buddhism a bit then paganism. I call myself Pagan now or "Buddha-Pagan" though my faith is really my own borrowing mostly from pagan and zen-buddhist philosophies as well as some from Native American, Alchemy, Chaos Magick... I still even follow many of the teachings of Christ such as love your neighbor and turn the other cheek(or at least I try to Very Happy

).

Absurdism · Post 15: Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:14 pm Post subject:

Raised in a Christian family by grandparents ...
Moved back with parents at age of 7 , they were not as religious .
Was into Christianity for a little while , became interested in mythology [Greek , Norse] .
Joined Satanism 5 years ago [nominal] .

I am naturally rebellious , so Christianity was definitely not for me .

Absurdism · Post 16: Fri Dec 26, 2008 6:19 am Post subject:

*Raised in a Christian family: No. Mother was an agnostic spiritualist, step-father was an agnostic Christian.
*Denomination when converted to Christianity: Free-Will Baptist
*Other denominations: Trinitarian Pentecostal, Southern Baptist, IFB (Independent Fundamentalist Baptist), Eastern Orthodox, United Methodist, I even looked into Mormonism
*Departure date: It's been ongoing now for the past three years
*Other spiritual paths explored: Buddhism, Wicca, Islam
*Current beliefs: agnostic fatalist
*Why I left: Where to begin? I realized that it was illogical and irrational to keep believing things that did not match up with reality. I also realized that Christianity was, for lack of a better phrase, "one big lie". I spent the better part of my life studying anything I could about Christianity. I studied it's history and theologies, the different denominational doctrines, I taught myself Greek and Hebrew, and the more I learned, the more I realized just how confused I was. I began to look into those things that detractors claim, but I was too indoctrinated to even think about. I realized that Christianity was more Pagan than anything else, with a hearty splash of Zoroastrianism, and had little to do with Judaism, from which it supposedly came. I realized that the Bible was full of errors, that apologists could not logically answer.

k-nug said:

Bard · Post 17: Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:57 am Post subject:

Raised in a Christian family: Yes, a very active non-denominational Christian family, my mother is a Children's Minister and my father is now one of the Church elders.
Denomination when converted to Christianity: Specifically none
Other Denominations: Lutheran/Presbyterian
Departure date: 2005 or thereabouts. It was a process that took a few years.
Other spiritual paths explored:
Current beliefs: Pagan Druid

Accepts Correction · Post 18: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:46 pm Post subject:

I was raised evangelical so i had the whole speaking in tongues people prophesying etc. But one thing i had going for me was my dad he always was into science not that he had any formal education but he was a bright man. I suppose I left christianity by just not going to church. I still didnt really want to question it for fear of damnation. But eventually that wore thin and I realized there was just not enough there to merit belief at least not the belief that most christians blindly proclaim today.

My current belief is Agnostic.

Accepts Correction · Post 19: Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:19 pm Post subject:

Raised in a Christian family: Yes.. Still am.. And I can't celebrate any Satanic holidays or do any rituals because I live in a Xian home. I live only with my mother. She is not TOO Christian/Spiritual, so I may be able to explain her my beliefs and to make her understand that Satanists aren't evil.

Denomination when converted to Christianity: Baptized Orthodox

Other Denominations: N/A

Departure date: 2008

Other spiritual paths explored: Spiritual Satanism

Current beliefs: Spiritual Satanist

I was never forced to go to church, but I kept going because I wanted so. I always prayed, but I never got the answer to my prayers, and I never got any help from "God" and the Nazarene.

As I said, I hope I will be able to admit my beliefs.

Agnostic · Post 20: Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:38 pm Post subject:

Raised in a Christian family: Yes, an extremely religious family. My parents are leaders in their church and Christianity shapes every conversation and everything they do.

Denomination when converted to Christianity: "Non-denominational"

Other Denominations: None

Departure date: May 2009

Other spiritual paths explored: Unitarian Universalism, Buddhism, Wicca

Current beliefs: Agnostic and searching

Why I left: There was no tolerance for dissent or asking questions or having doubts. I was not "experiencing" God the way other people seemed to be experiencing him in their lives. I had a lot of guilt because I had these doubts and because I was (according to them) a horrible sinner for being bisexual. I started reading the Bible more carefully and questioning on my own and determined that I just didn't like what it had to say anymore. If God exists I expect that he/she/them is/are more open and accepting than what I experienced in this group and some others I visited. I can't contemplate a God that would punish people for not worshiping it according to a specific, narrow set of rules that can never be really confirmed as being the right ones until it's too late.