Recovering Christians

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Cathar1950
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Recovering Christians

Post #1

Post by Cathar1950 »

Recovering Christians.
I don’t know where I am going with this but I thought I would run it by my fellow former Christians and see what you think and what if any might be a good topic along these lines.

Former Christians or recovering Christians, do you really ever get over it?

It is like a recovering addict or alcoholic, it is a lifetime battle. It has affected you and shaped your mind. Even after you break the habit it still haunts you with patterns of thought and behaviors that can act as triggers any time. If you are an alcoholic, can you control it or do you have to avoid it? The medical establishment as loosely defines an alcoholic; “you are an alcoholic if you have problems and you drink”. I think it has something to do with insurance. It seems that might be true of a Christian “if you have problems and are a Christian you’re an addict”(concept and wording needs work). You would think that with the claims Christians often make about God, the world and redemption they should not have problems otherwise what would make their existence any different that non-Christians with no claims? If Christ defeated the powers then what is going on? Is this just imaginary?

I remember as I was working on a therapy license that many of the addicts had issues and problems that were not being addressed by “just say no” or quitting.
Like many believers they keep their problems even after they quit their substance addiction.
Only they seem to be in denial about it or so disassociated that they can’t see them.

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The Persnickety Platypus
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Post #2

Post by The Persnickety Platypus »

My story is almost the exact opposite.


After my time as a Christian I began to realize that I was never actually religious at all; rather, I was in perpetual denial (To please my mother? To resist admiting intellectual fault? I really don't know). When the walls of my faith came crashing down one day, it felt kind of like I was experiencing my true self for the first time.

So liberating. I have been happier ever since.

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Cephus
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Post #3

Post by Cephus »

I never really had that problem. I rejected Christianity because I finally looked at it in a way I never had before, I rejected faith being sufficient for belief and once I started expecting religion to stand up to fact, that's when the whole house of cards fell down. There's no question that I really believed when I believed, but it really didn't take long once I gave it up to stop having any "symptoms", for lack of a better term, of religion. It's like saying "God, strike me down if you exist" and then having that momentary twinge of fear that it might actually happen. There was a short period of time when I'd feel guilt or fear, but that passed quickly and I don't give it a passing thought anymore. I know nothing is going to happen.

God, strike me down.

ZAAAAAP!

Heh, just kidding. :)
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There is nothing demonstrably true that religion can provide the world that cannot be achieved more rationally through entirely secular means.

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bernee51
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Re: Recovering Christians

Post #4

Post by bernee51 »

Cathar1950 wrote:Recovering Christians.
I don’t know where I am going with this but I thought I would run it by my fellow former Christians and see what you think and what if any might be a good topic along these lines.

Former Christians or recovering Christians, do you really ever get over it?
I'm not sure i would call myself a 'recovering christian'. My upbringing was as a catholic. I rejected this internally very early in the piece (around age 7 or 8) and publically in my mid teens. I feel as if I have been an atheist all my life.

People do become addicted to a lifestyle and that is very much an aspect of religion. They get support, meaning and legitamacy from their involvement. Addicts of all types are often avoiding using their addiction to avoid issues within their life.

Could this be true of the religious?
"Whatever you are totally ignorant of, assert to be the explanation of everything else"

William James quoting Dr. Hodgson

"When I see I am nothing, that is wisdom. When I see I am everything, that is love. My life is a movement between these two."

Nisargadatta Maharaj

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ManBearPig
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Post #5

Post by ManBearPig »

Yeah I feel like that. I bought into the whole thing entirely and sincerely, being the wise old age of eight. Then after fifteen years I started getting honest with myself...

Honestly, I miss a lot from it: lots of people who will automatically befriend you because you're like-minded, lots of hope, and the solace you feel knowing the big guy up there is watching out for ya...

So if you can manage the cognitive dissonance, it's a real hoot! O:)

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Cathar1950
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Post #6

Post by Cathar1950 »

ManBearPig wrote:Yeah I feel like that. I bought into the whole thing entirely and sincerely, being the wise old age of eight. Then after fifteen years I started getting honest with myself...

Honestly, I miss a lot from it: lots of people who will automatically befriend you because you're like-minded, lots of hope, and the solace you feel knowing the big guy up there is watching out for ya...

So if you can manage the cognitive dissonance, it's a real hoot! O:)
Welcome ManBearPig I just used Southpark as an example and it involved "ManBearPig" that Al Gore was warning others.
Some one said that Jesus was 100% God and 100%human and I said that is impossible even for God. That would make him 200% of a total and the sums of the parts can't go over 100%.
I miss some of it too and it is not just beliefs.
I can still go to church and sing and hang out with my believer friends. Sometimes I do. Some are still very old and good friends.
Some have moved a little my direction over the years just from their own reading and involvement. Like the Jews their sense of community can be strong point and helps them out during crises. That does not make them any more correct then any one else.

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ManBearPig
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Post #7

Post by ManBearPig »

Wow ManBearPig is something of a trinity, isn't it? I didn't realize that! Though to be clear, three halves, and not three wholes.

A very moderate Christian invited me to his church very recently...maybe I should take him up on that...

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k-nug
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Post #8

Post by k-nug »

My experience was rather positive. I feel like I can accept the truth in anything now. I can still get a warm fuzzy feeling If I let myself think about God as if he were real, And I do not have any bitterness about the experience, since there is no God, there is nothing to be bitter about. But I do not have any recovering alcoholic type feelings, more like, awakening from a deep sleep.
My version of Genesis.
At first there was symmetry. Then something broke.

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Cathar1950
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Post #9

Post by Cathar1950 »

Welcome k-nug.
We "Americans" USA, tend to have a personal involvment with our religion.
You will often hear it reflected in things like" I have a persoanl relationship with Jesus". Some even refuse to think of Christianity as a religion.
But I have always had a more social conception or community idea of religion that I felt was often overlooked.
Old ways are hard to change but they do.
I still sometimes think in Christian terms. It was part of my culture and upbringing even if I have grown or moved on.
I might say I am happy that I some how aquired a Jewish ook at Christianity at an early stage and community is still very much apart of my "spiritual" life.
Even my concept of God seems to follow an organic or social relationship.
I also see it as art or poetry and a human expression that extends our imagination.
Whitehead said that the purpose of reason was to promote the art of living.

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Hangover

Post #10

Post by Skepticologist »

I've got to admit to certain nagging leftovers from my 40+ years as a practicing fundamentalist Christian. I left Christianity, as well as organized religion, behind almost 20 years ago, so such flashbacks are relatively rare now but I still experience them from time to time.

I'm new to the forum and have enjoyed reading the experiences of others who have gone down a similar path. I also explored some of the other major religions following my departure from Christianity, but concluded after a couple of years that all of them contained at least a few beliefs that required the proverbial "leap of faith" in order to accept. Looking back, I don't think I ever made the leap of faith that is required to fully embrace Christianity. There were always disconnects that held me back. I simply put off confronting them for way too many years.

Upon reviewing the definition of agnosticism a couple of years ago, I finally realized that's exactly what I had become. Ask me if there's a God, or a heaven, or a hell, and I'll tell you that I just don't know. And I don't anticipate any new metaphysical or scientific discoveries during the balance of my lifetime that will provide the kind of logical evidence I now require as a basis for my beliefs.

It took some time to get used to the idea that I'll very likely never have the answers to life's questions that organized religion purports to offer. But I predict I'll go to my grave having lived a much happier and more fulfilled life than I would have if I'd accepted a belief system that made no sense to me.

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