Want to Believe Again?

For members of the "Former Christian" usergroup

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Have you unconverted but want to reconvert?

Yes
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29%
No
15
71%
 
Total votes: 21

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ElCodeMonkey
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Want to Believe Again?

Post #1

Post by ElCodeMonkey »

I once believed in God. It was a good time. I no longer believe in God for various reasons. I will not believe blindly but I do want to believe again. Anyone else in the same boat? What holds you back?

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McCulloch
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Post #2

Post by McCulloch »

I once did. I'm not so sure anymore. Sometimes the thought of the end of my existence is scary.
ElCodeMonkey wrote:What holds you back?
Nothing holds me back. As I have pointed out to many believers, belief is not an arbitrary choice. I cannot choose to believe in God any more than I can choose to believe that fairies inhabit my garden.
Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
First Epistle to the Church of the Thessalonians
The truth will make you free.
Gospel of John

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ElCodeMonkey
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Post #3

Post by ElCodeMonkey »

Well, if you see pixie dust in your garden regularly and have heard reports of seeing the fairies, and you know you're in a fairy tale and not real life, then I would "believe" that the fairies are in my garden. Without the evidence, I obviously couldn't simply "choose" to believe it, I either would or would not. Of course, if I still believed for whatever reason and I couldn't back it up, I wouldn't hold it out as truth.

What I mean to be asking, is if you actually WANT to believe (since it obviously is not just a choice as you mentioned), what things (such as lack of pixie dust) prevent you from coming to the conclusion that God exists again, etc. Or, perhaps put a different way, why did you stop believing?

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Cathar1950
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Post #4

Post by Cathar1950 »

I wanted to know and understand. I still wrestle with the concept or concepts of God or even gods as I was influenced by Whitehead and Hartshorne and Process Thought it left me with what I consider a beautiful vision of the inter-connective nature of reality and the importance of memory. I found myself becoming a non-dualist. I think I simply moved on and outgrew the superstitions. Nonsense is nonsense even if it comes from sacred writings. I recall my experiences as a believer and still have a fondness for the many traditions and rituals and what can only be called religious experiences as psychology, sociology and anthropology studies have described but they are as real to the believers as the books on my shelves and they were as real to me. If I lived at other times I might have been a mystic or a heretic but would probably preferred a life of reading and contemplation just to avoid getting burned. Chances are I would just have been fodder for some roving “Christian” army in need of supplies or a piss boy.
Myths and stories or opinions of those that have vision or caught up in their dreams do not seem to me to be the “Word of God” and I don't think Jesus need to be raised from the dead to make an impact, if he even existed or who ever he may have been. Certainly I can't bring myself to think of Jesus as God and find the idea that any King of the line of David as an adopted “son” plausible as it seems to have been a common enough practice by many ancient subjects of their rulers. I find the “Law” to ritualistic and nothing more then the work of humans attempting to create social unity usually for some limited group of leaders or tradition yet find myself at odds with Paul largely because of his crazy ideas that often look rather self serving at best. Or models of God are often projections. Yet I still sing hymns and even find myself in prayer which might not be anything more then reflection and meditation created out of years of habit. I remember falling and breaking my arm and calling out for help from God only to apologize to God for the vanity, as if he had nothing else to do and my stress was somehow so great he could drop his lack of care for all those suffering from some malady or another to come to my aid.
So if I feel like it or there is something special going on I don't mind going to church and even enjoy the friends I have there.
The first few centuries of Christianity had many views and even traditions about the hero.
I can understand Jesus as a model for the Kingdom or even a model for human compassion provided you leave out much of other's takes and most of the writings.
I once has this silly notion that because of some unspecified sin God let me learn that the of the sacred writings were man-made so I couldn't believe like a child, even though it wasn't true, and thus damed to hell. Of course this crazy notion is often promoted in the writings themselves.
Indoctrination and belief are not easily dismissed or countered by the believer. It is like looking at the faults of your parents as an adult, missing the illusions of youth.
I remember the Church camps I went to has a child and have nothing but found memories and would love to go back as I recall with fondness my years at a small “Christian” college in my youth, I still have life long friends from there. At this point I can no longer go back nor is it that desirable as I have enough to study that which I enjoy, my Religious History, but I still have fond memories.

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ElCodeMonkey
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Post #5

Post by ElCodeMonkey »

I tried going to a church not too long ago. I really couldn't stand it. It was one of those rather boring churches with one of the same messages you hear all the time. Nothing new. Couldn't sing along to the music or nothin' 'cause it would seem awefully hypocritical of me. Needless to say, I didn't go back again. I was rather disappointed as well that no one even tried contacting us. I even specifically wrote on the guest sign-in thing that I didn't believe. Now, from a Christian standpoint, why would I write that? Why would I be in the church if I didn't believe? Perhaps I was searching. Maybe someone should have talked to me! :P. Oh well.

Even if I were to believe in God again, I'm not sure I could find a church that wouldn't be ignorant enough to believe the Bible is NOT 100% infallible. I don't understand why Christians even try to uphold that as truth. It doesn't even make sense. It's like arguing that 2 + 2 = 5 just so your math problem of 3 x 3 = 9 looks correct. Notably, it's not even necessary to prove the first to explain the latter. It's not NECESSARY for the Bible to be 100% accurate for the stories to be true. People make mistakes and people are perfectly capable of taking what's good and spitting out the bad (As Paul tells us to do). So why not DO it?

I would like to believe in God again because it certainly gives purpose in life, a sense of security, and a joy that is yet uncomparable to anything save for maybe being married to the best wife in the world and having the two cutest kids alive and hearing them laugh and seeing them smile. Not to mention, there are GREAT values within Christianity that I would like to pass to my kids. And it makes it easier to pass on morals to think that there's someone WATCHING you. I just don't want to be labeled as one of the bigots and closeminded idiots that so many Christians portray. I don't even want to be associated with them. Plus, the whole God idea just doesn't make sense to me too.

I've often thought of faking belief for the sake of raising my kids in a better environment while still preventing them from being tards. Then, when they're older, tell 'em I don't really believe and they can choose what they want :P. Kinda like Santa Clause to make you be good for presents. Only, it lasts longer :-)
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Negachrist
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Post #6

Post by Negachrist »

No. It would be like taking a step backwards into ignorance.

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Re: Want to Believe Again?

Post #7

Post by Andre_5772 »

ElCodeMonkey wrote:I once believed in God. It was a good time. I no longer believe in God for various reasons. I will not believe blindly but I do want to believe again. Anyone else in the same boat? What holds you back?
I wish I could believe again. For me, the religious impulse starts with gratitude for the sheer fact of my existence and how beautiful the world is. It would be nice to have someone to thank for that.

What holds me back is a whole lot of stuff, but primarily the problem of divine hiddenness, and the problem of religious confusion (with so many conflicting religions, what chance do I have of finding the right one?).

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Post #8

Post by severusinfurs »

No, I don't have any real desire to return to Christianity. The beliefs I held as a young child were based on ignorance and a fear of upsetting anyone by asking probing questions. I'm glad that I have moved past that stage. What matters to me is truth, and I think truth is evident and doesn't require "belief", which is fragile.

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Post #9

Post by OnceConvinced »

Wow ElCodemonkey. I have definitely been in your shoes there and I'm hearing you about the stuff about sense of purpose and security. Those are big things. Those are the things I miss. And the idea of eternal life. It does make you want to believe again.

Yeah, in some ways I wish I could believe again. But to do that, I'd have to wipe out everything I've learnt in the last few years. I also think I'd have to have some reasonable evidence to prove that God is there and Jesus is all he's cracked up to be. Even a sense of his presence would go a long way for that matter! Personally I don't think I'll ever get that and as the months roll on I become more and more convinced I was right to leave the faith.

I think though that compared to six months ago my desire to believe again is not as great. The longer I spend looking critically at Christianity and the bible, the more I find it unbelievable.

Society and its morals evolve and will continue to evolve. The bible however remains the same and just requires more and more apologetics and claims of "metaphors" and "symbolism" to justify it.

Prayer is like rubbing an old bottle and hoping that a genie will pop out and grant you three wishes.

There is much about this world that is mind boggling and impressive, but I see no need whatsoever to put it down to magical super powered beings.


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Post #10

Post by msmcneal »

Would I ever want to believe in Christianity again? No, not at all. However, sometimes I do think that I'd like to believe in SOMETHING again. The idea of a god, spirituality, the sense of well-being, the sense of purpose, the sense of awe at the world and the universe, and having something to attribute that to, the idea that there's something out there bigger than us, who's in control of everything, and that, in the end, everythings going to be ok. These are things that I really liked about religion, and that I sometimes think I'd like to go back to. However, the nature of reality and logic keeps me from doing so. I see no logical or rational reason to do something like that based on what I've been learning recently. It's a nice idea, and I think that's one of the reasons why I'm agnostic, but for now I don't really see that happening.

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