Why I Am No Longer a Christian
Ruminations on a spiritual journey out of and into the material world
| I have found it a rare occurrence to come across a
Christian evangelist (living in the United States, evangelists are
almost always Christian) who does not have serious misunderstandings of
my beliefs and the reasons for them. Typically, they approach me
thinking that if only I would read the Bible with an open mind, or be
open to God, or experience God the way they have, I would certainly
understand. Or, when they hear that I’m a former Christian, they
typically conclude that I must not have been a real Christian, that I was not taught the true understanding of God, or that there must have been some sort of
tragedy to make me angry at God. Or perhaps I am just an evil person and
I have chosen to serve evil. Or they believe that no one can really be an atheist, that deep down I must know God exists, and
rather than actually not believing that God exists I must be actively
rejecting God and all He stands for. But in doing so, they fail to
address me. They are not talking to me, but to their misunderstanding of
me. So my hope is that this essay will give Christians, and theists in
general, a better understanding of how at least one former theist came
to be a former theist.
This is also for anyone who has had, or especially for anyone who is currently going through, a deconversion process, to have a story of someone else who has gone through it. Having gone through it myself, I know it can be an emotionally and psychologically painful process, but I can say that, for me at least, the rewards of my journey have been more than worth it. |
My Life as a Christian
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