Why I am No Longer a Christian

[liveyoungdiefast]

I was raised by moderately devoted and well intentioned Roman Catholic parents and went through my early adolescent years in a Lutheran-Christian middle school. And of all the religious messages one was repeated almost daily: That faith in God, or from a more fundamentalist view, the Holy Spirit inside of you, is what created all of your love, compassion, caring, empathy, and humanity, it's what got you through the toughest of times without falling apart. This is what I was indoctrinated to believe.

 Then I went to a public high school, and there were still plenty of Christians, but also many non-Christians as well. And I had a small circle of close friends I made, all of these friends were nonbelievers. And every time I was in need, they reached out to me selflessly and unconditionally. They showed me love and caring every single time. And after I had taken it all in, my whole world view was just shattered. They don't believe, and yet they are such amazing people. They had all of the qualities which religious people actually liked to copyright in a way, by saying it's 'the Christian way to act'. What was I supposed to think now? Meanwhile I realized everyone suffered the same. The Christians and atheists had the same issues with depression, the same issues with anger and sadness. It was all the same. Love was human, suffering was human. Secular people were loving on their own, they suffered on their own, and they helped themselves recover on their own. And that would mean God really was never there. And why would God create a universe and a people he had no stake in anyway? Why would God feel the urge to send himself to suffer and 'die' as if he couldn't change his own rules, as if he couldn't be unconditionally forgiving. Mothers don't let their unknowing and ignorant babies crawl into fire yet God does? Mothers don't look at their child's first 'mistake' as an impurity, they don't even remember it the next day? Our human love is better than that.

 You want to deconvert someone? Just show them how basically human love and compassion are, it changed my whole world view. For the better.

[Will]

I love reading posts like this. They make me feel content.

Thanks very much for sharing.

[Ihateyoumike]

That's a very good point. As for me, the thing that stands out as the main thought that lead me to atheism was being told that if I didn't follow the rule of the catholic church, I would be going to hell. When I found out just what a small percentage of humans have ever lived had been catholic, I realized the vast majority of humanity would be damned to hell simply for believing in a different religion. That alone was enough for me to begin questioning religion as a whole.

[Twiddler]

That's a very good point. As for me, the thing that stands out as the main thought that lead me to atheism was being told that if I didn't follow the rule of the catholic church, I would be going to hell. When I found out just what a small percentage of humans have ever lived had been catholic, I realized the vast majority of humanity would be damned to hell simply for believing in a different religion. That alone was enough for me to begin questioning religion as a whole.

Exactly, the whole thought of me being a really great person throughout my entire life but having a different belief on how life originated would send me to burn in hell for all eternity was the first thing that ruled out religion for me.  God, on the other hand, was ruled highly unlikely to me after I thought about just the logics of the what a god would have to be.  Omniscient, all-powerful, all-knowing, and loving?  I smell BS.

And to the original poster, I'm glad you were able to come to such a conclusion by seeing that other non-believers were good people.  It's the best way in my mind.

[Kodanshi]

Hi liveyoungdiefast, glad you feel that way and could see more widely than you did previously. This particular excerpt from your post feels very pertinent to me:

Why would God feel the urge to send himself to suffer and 'die' as if he couldn't change his own rules, as if he couldn't be unconditionally forgiving. Mothers don't let their unknowing and ignorant babies crawl into fire yet God does? Mothers don't look at their child's first 'mistake' as an impurity, they don't even remember it the next day? Our human love is better than that.

Beautiful. I’ve always cited human love as superior to the Judaoâ€"Christianâ€"Islâmic deity’s love since parents would never subject their children to eternal torture simply for disagreeing with them.
Here, have a

[Kylyssa]

Great points Liveyoungdiefast!  Human love is superior to the love of the Judeo-Christian god's in many ways.  

I remember reading the passage in the bible wherein god asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac when I was somewhere around nine or ten.  My first thought was that a real father would tell god to go screw himself, no matter the consequences.  The way the god in the bible behaves, I can't imagine that people think they are serving a loving god rather than an evil god.  Just read about Jephtah.  

What loving god would put up with that crap?  A loving god would have failed Abraham on his test.  What, you would kill your son because I asked you to?  Stupid cowardly prick!  Only demons ask for human sacrifices!

[BigJoe]

Great points Liveyoungdiefast!  Human love is superior to the love of the Judeo-Christian god's in many ways.

And far more honest and real.

When a nonbeliever is kind, you know it's a true, real quality; where as when someone of religious faith is kind, I sometimes wonder whether it's as a result of their faith, and whether they feel they have to be kind because it's the Christian thing to do...

[Lilbeth]

Great points Liveyoungdiefast!  Human love is superior to the love of the Judeo-Christian god's in many ways.

And far more honest and real.

When a nonbeliever is kind, you know it's a true, real quality; where as when someone of religious faith is kind, I sometimes wonder whether it's as a result of their faith, and whether they feel they have to be kind because it's the Christian thing to do...

I agree, Big Joe......a truly kind heart does not fear punishment or hope for reward.......I trust this more, also........I also wonder how a professed kind heart would be able to turn a blind eye to so many things...sometimes......Kindness is innate and not acted out........and if it is acted out....with time....it shows its true self.....

[Sophus]

Our human love is better than that.

You could not be more right. Thanks for the post.