Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If you were accepting Christianity on blind faith and had never actually considered the tough questions, I'd think you were probably never actually a Christian. My guess is that you were living in a religious lifestyle, probably quite serious about going to church and being a good person--but you missed the whole point. You weren't living in faith--trust in Christ alone.
Honestly? I think it's good that you thought about those questions--and decided to think seriously about it. We have too many people in our churches today that are only there because it's comfortable and they feel good about the Sunday morning experience. If you don't want to be there, just stay home.
The Bible knows of no such thing as a "former Christian". John wrote that if you were of us, you wouldn't have left. The fact that you did shows you weren't.
I'm sorry but I LOATHE the arrogance of replies like this. I can't speak for the other poster, but this is a response I get all the time when I tell people about why I left Christianity. It really makes me want to kindly tell that person to f**k off, you don't know me and you don't know what I went through. To question that I was ever an "actual" Christian reeks of ignorant arrogance and if anything validates that I made the right choice to leave Christianity in my mind. If you're truly serious about bringing people like myself back into the fold then I will tell you questioning the authenticity of my personal background is insulting and doesn't work.
You mean, like a church being founded, and 4 accounts of his life being written down....along with dozens of letters of correspondence between the people in the church?
That's akin to me claiming my daughter is god, and then presenting a letter from my wife and my parents, and my wife's parents as "proof."
I'm sorry but I LOATHE the arrogance of replies like this. I can't speak for the other poster, but this is a response I get all the time when I tell people about why I left Christianity. It really makes me want to kindly tell that person to f**k off, you don't know me and you don't know what I went through. To question that I was ever an "actual" Christian reeks of ignorant arrogance and if anything validates that I made the right choice to leave Christianity in my mind. If you're truly serious about bringing people like myself back into the fold then I will tell you questioning the authenticity of my personal background is insulting and doesn't work.
I wonder how many Christians who use this "Not a true Scotsman" ploy realize how arrogant and insulting it is? I think one of the motives behind it's use is to give those that use it a feeling of "I'm a better Christian than you are", because it certainly does nothing to draw people back to the fold....It does just the opposite.
You mean, like a church being founded, and 4 accounts of his life being written down....along with dozens of letters of correspondence between the people in the church?
I think the poster in which you are replying to said "outside of the bible", where are these 4 accounts of his life being written down, along with dozens of letters of correspondence between the people in the church, found outside of the bible?
Philo, who was a contemporary of Jesus doesn't mention him in any of his writings, yet, Philo writes allot about Judaism, now Jesus being a Jew and his political stance at the time would have made Jesus the subject of many writings, yet, none can be found.
If you were accepting Christianity on blind faith and had never actually considered the tough questions, I'd think you were probably never actually a Christian. My guess is that you were living in a religious lifestyle, probably quite serious about going to church and being a good person--but you missed the whole point. You weren't living in faith--trust in Christ alone.
Honestly? I think it's good that you thought about those questions--and decided to think seriously about it. We have too many people in our churches today that are only there because it's comfortable and they feel good about the Sunday morning experience. If you don't want to be there, just stay home.
The Bible knows of no such thing as a "former Christian". John wrote that if you were of us, you wouldn't have left. The fact that you did shows you weren't.
Ah...the "I'm going to analyze why you left the faith" stage. lol
Theo, this is but 1/4 of my story. You see, I grew up IN a very conservative society (the Caribbean) and became a Christian at age 14 (the old "remember thy creator in the days of thy youth" jazz and all that). I RE-COMMITTED myself to the faith at age 22 long after I passed through college and was WELL versed on the skeptics questions and had a very good grasp as to what Christianity was while also being a AVID bible reader (lexicons, concordances, bible dictionaries, etc). Over the course of those 22 years, I went from Catholic to Baptist, to Pentecostal Holiness (strict, legalistic, condescending, brimstone and hellfire) to sublime, worshipful and tranquil to out the door. So please, if you THINK you understand ex-Christians and think we are what YOU think we are or what you thought we got wrong or did not do right, you might want to re-think your positions.
Ah...the "I'm going to analyze why you left the faith" stage. lol
Theo, this is but 1/4 of my story. You see, I grew up IN a very conservative society (the Caribbean) and became a Christian at age 14 (the old "remember thy creator in the days of thy youth" jazz and all that). I RE-COMMITTED myself to the faith at age 22 long after I passed through college and was WELL versed on the skeptics questions and had a very good grasp as to what Christianity was while also being a AVID bible reader (lexicons, concordances, bible dictionaries, etc). Over the course of those 22 years, I went from Catholic to Baptist, to Pentecostal Holiness (strict, legalistic, condescending, brimstone and hellfire) to sublime, worshipful and tranquil to out the door. So please, if you THINK you understand ex-Christians and think we are what YOU think we are or what you thought we got wrong or did not do right, you might want to re-think your positions.
Thank you!
I'll stand by my statement. As I said--by your statement above, you were a very active, involved church going person who appeared to be trying to figure things out. I'm sure you're a very nice person. But you didn't know Christ.
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthGAbound12
I'm sorry but I LOATHE the arrogance of replies like this. I can't speak for the other poster, but this is a response I get all the time when I tell people about why I left Christianity. It really makes me want to kindly tell that person to f**k off, you don't know me and you don't know what I went through. To question that I was ever an "actual" Christian reeks of ignorant arrogance and if anything validates that I made the right choice to leave Christianity in my mind. If you're truly serious about bringing people like myself back into the fold then I will tell you questioning the authenticity of my personal background is insulting and doesn't work.
I think the poster in which you are replying to said "outside of the bible", where are these 4 accounts of his life being written down, along with dozens of letters of correspondence between the people in the church, found outside of the bible?
Philo, who was a contemporary of Jesus doesn't mention him in any of his writings, yet, Philo writes allot about Judaism, now Jesus being a Jew and his political stance at the time would have made Jesus the subject of many writings, yet, none can be found.
The Bible contains that. Why would you have any reason to doubt it, other than you just don't want to? It's a remarkably dependable set of texts.
I'll stand by my statement...I'm sure you're a very nice person... But you didn't know Christ.
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
LOL...If I gave you $1 for every time I used that passage to debate the "once saved always saved" crowd back in my Christian days, you would be a very rich person. Yes, I KNOW that argument. I used to use it to tell backsliding Christians the same nonsense. EVERY single argument you make in this thread now and from here on, I used to use it. You're preaching the choir and you're not revealing anything profound to me or nothing I never used or heard so try again.
While you're at it, you might want to throw in the passage from Peter's Epistle about the dog returning to his vomit too. For good measure. Oh, don't forget about the "Sower and the Seed" argument too.
The Bible contains that. Why would you have any reason to doubt it, other than you just don't want to? It's a remarkably dependable set of texts.
ROFL!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
