What made you become Christian or religious in general?

[Vareiln]

Jack Chick converted you? I'm surprised, if only because, well, Jack Chick.

I read the tract and I learned about Jesus Christ and that we are saved by Faith alone.

According to Scripture, that's not true, and is, according to the older branches of Christianity, a piece of Protestant heresy.

[Neu Preussische Republik]

I suppose to go along with the general theme here, I am no longer a Christian, and am fully irreligious, so I shall explain myself.

I was born into a fundamentalist Baptist family, and I've grown up going to strictly Baptist churches, the kind that preaches King-James-Only "Full bible and nothing but the bible" nonsense, so as to prove themselves hypocrites when they conveniently ignore the story of Elisha and the children making fun of his baldness, and many others like it.

So I was indoctrinated from a very young age, and I grew up a Creationist Fundamentalist Conservative; I fully supported whatever Republican candidate was on the platform, even though I knew nothing about Politics; I fully supported the outlawing of homosexuality, recreational substances, the war in Iraq, etc; I also wholeheartedly believed that Evolution was nothing more than propaganda made by Satan himself to lead the masses to lies and make them all have sex with goats and horses, and drink all night before doing drugs and becoming gay people.

So I went on like this for quite a few years, until I turned 13, and regretfully, I became an "atheist", solely for the purpose of "rebelling" and acting "cool" on the internet. This of course did not last long, as I "rediscovered my faith" sometime when I was 15, and I went on being one of the most devout Christians I would know, in many cases being even more devout in my faith than everyone else around me, to the point of genuinely fearing for their salvation.

Anyway, only just recently had I stumbled across videos on Youtube from things like the Atheist Experience, which I took an odd intrigue in, and from there it just played domino effect on my entire world view and belief structure; From there, I ended up visiting many websites dedicated to evidence to support Evolution, simply so I could understand more about it, and I very quickly concluded that I had absolutely no idea what Evolution was, or how it worked... And I concluded that these pastors and youth ministers whom I had put my trust in all my life had no idea what it was either, because everything I knew about Evolution I had learned from them.

After I had a firm grounding in the understanding of things like Abiogenesis, Natural Selection, Sexual Selection, Mutation Selection and so on, I really begun my journey through disproving the Bible, learning many, many stories in the Bible which I had never heard before in my life, learning how many of the "prophecies" in the old testament were never prophecies, or were completely unfulfilled, even many of the prophecies for the Messiah.

Anyway, to summarize, I've always thought myself a fairly intelligent person, in fact I've often thought myself quite intelligent, and I've always had a fairly critical thought process about most things, remaining skeptical and asking for proof in most deals, but I never bothered to question my faith until this point very recently. And once I did, I can say the results were less than satisfactory, as I found there to not only be a lack of factual, evidential proof backing the bible, but I found there to be more evidence opposing it.

[Lenciland]

I want in, too!

The Miso faith is a welcoming faith, unless you're one of those Chougou miso people, then you can die heretic!

Yay what are the rights of passage Great Elder Miso!!?
I have found our holy book
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso

[Vareiln]

No one expects the NS inquisition.

Especially not to be run by a Jew.

And the other a Luciferian.

[Jiyumin]

I come from a fairly secular household, so I'm was never a die hard believer in religion. Though I still am Jewish.

[Bombadil]

The Miso faith is a welcoming faith, unless you're one of those Chougou miso people, then you can die heretic!

Yay what are the rights of passage Great Elder Miso!!?
I have found our holy book
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso

I haven't tied down all the details yet, suffice to say giving me money is going to be a major part of it.

[Menassa]

I read the tract and I learned about Jesus Christ and that we are saved by Faith alone.

Scripture says otherwise.

I posted my story a few pages ago.

[Vareiln]

I come from a fairly secular household, so I'm was never a die hard believer in religion. Though I still am Jewish.

Reform, I presume?

[Lenciland]

Yay what are the rights of passage Great Elder Miso!!?
I have found our holy book
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso

I haven't tied down all the details yet, suffice to say giving me money is going to be a major part of it.

Yes all my millions to the great Miso Elder Bombadil. Should we give you a special title like the Great Miso and maybe we should start a region for this.

[Menassa]

[...]


After I had a firm grounding in the understanding of things like Abiogenesis, Natural Selection, Sexual Selection, Mutation Selection and so on, I really begun my journey through disproving the Bible, learning many, many stories in the Bible which I had never heard before in my life, learning how many of the "prophecies" in the old testament were never prophecies, or were completely unfulfilled, even many of the prophecies for the Messiah.
[...]

Aye, although that shouldn't make you not Christian... while the idea of 'dual-prophecy' wouldn't be enough to convince your average person as it's not in the Bible... it's still a pretty good thing to fall back on?

[Blasveck]

I suppose to go along with the general theme here, I am no longer a Christian, and am fully irreligious, so I shall explain myself.

I was born into a fundamentalist Baptist family, and I've grown up going to strictly Baptist churches, the kind that preaches King-James-Only "Full bible and nothing but the bible" nonsense, so as to prove themselves hypocrites when they conveniently ignore the story of Elisha and the children making fun of his baldness, and many others like it.

So I was indoctrinated from a very young age, and I grew up a Creationist Fundamentalist Conservative; I fully supported whatever Republican candidate was on the platform, even though I knew nothing about Politics; I fully supported the outlawing of homosexuality, recreational substances, the war in Iraq, etc; I also wholeheartedly believed that Evolution was nothing more than propaganda made by Satan himself to lead the masses to lies and make them all have sex with goats and horses, and drink all night before doing drugs and becoming gay people.

So I went on like this for quite a few years, until I turned 13, and regretfully, I became an "atheist", solely for the purpose of "rebelling" and acting "cool" on the internet. This of course did not last long, as I "rediscovered my faith" sometime when I was 15, and I went on being one of the most devout Christians I would know, in many cases being even more devout in my faith than everyone else around me, to the point of genuinely fearing for their salvation.

Anyway, only just recently had I stumbled across videos on Youtube from things like the Atheist Experience, which I took an odd intrigue in, and from there it just played domino effect on my entire world view and belief structure; From there, I ended up visiting many websites dedicated to evidence to support Evolution, simply so I could understand more about it, and I very quickly concluded that I had absolutely no idea what Evolution was, or how it worked... And I concluded that these pastors and youth ministers whom I had put my trust in all my life had no idea what it was either, because everything I knew about Evolution I had learned from them.

After I had a firm grounding in the understanding of things like Abiogenesis, Natural Selection, Sexual Selection, Mutation Selection and so on, I really begun my journey through disproving the Bible, learning many, many stories in the Bible which I had never heard before in my life, learning how many of the "prophecies" in the old testament were never prophecies, or were completely unfulfilled, even many of the prophecies for the Messiah.

Anyway, to summarize, I've always thought myself a fairly intelligent person, in fact I've often thought myself quite intelligent, and I've always had a fairly critical thought process about most things, remaining skeptical and asking for proof in most deals, but I never bothered to question my faith until this point very recently. And once I did, I can say the results were less than satisfactory, as I found there to not only be a lack of factual, evidential proof backing the bible, but I found there to be more evidence opposing it.

Y'know, just to point this out, your whole 'process' seems quite similar to mine, save for the third paragraph.

Never really hated gay people, as much as my parents tried to instill in me to do so.

[Lenciland]

I suppose to go along with the general theme here, I am no longer a Christian, and am fully irreligious, so I shall explain myself.

I was born into a fundamentalist Baptist family, and I've grown up going to strictly Baptist churches, the kind that preaches King-James-Only "Full bible and nothing but the bible" nonsense, so as to prove themselves hypocrites when they conveniently ignore the story of Elisha and the children making fun of his baldness, and many others like it.

So I was indoctrinated from a very young age, and I grew up a Creationist Fundamentalist Conservative; I fully supported whatever Republican candidate was on the platform, even though I knew nothing about Politics; I fully supported the outlawing of homosexuality, recreational substances, the war in Iraq, etc; I also wholeheartedly believed that Evolution was nothing more than propaganda made by Satan himself to lead the masses to lies and make them all have sex with goats and horses, and drink all night before doing drugs and becoming gay people.

So I went on like this for quite a few years, until I turned 13, and regretfully, I became an "atheist", solely for the purpose of "rebelling" and acting "cool" on the internet. This of course did not last long, as I "rediscovered my faith" sometime when I was 15, and I went on being one of the most devout Christians I would know, in many cases being even more devout in my faith than everyone else around me, to the point of genuinely fearing for their salvation.

Anyway, only just recently had I stumbled across videos on Youtube from things like the Atheist Experience, which I took an odd intrigue in, and from there it just played domino effect on my entire world view and belief structure; From there, I ended up visiting many websites dedicated to evidence to support Evolution, simply so I could understand more about it, and I very quickly concluded that I had absolutely no idea what Evolution was, or how it worked... And I concluded that these pastors and youth ministers whom I had put my trust in all my life had no idea what it was either, because everything I knew about Evolution I had learned from them.

After I had a firm grounding in the understanding of things like Abiogenesis, Natural Selection, Sexual Selection, Mutation Selection and so on, I really begun my journey through disproving the Bible, learning many, many stories in the Bible which I had never heard before in my life, learning how many of the "prophecies" in the old testament were never prophecies, or were completely unfulfilled, even many of the prophecies for the Messiah.

Anyway, to summarize, I've always thought myself a fairly intelligent person, in fact I've often thought myself quite intelligent, and I've always had a fairly critical thought process about most things, remaining skeptical and asking for proof in most deals, but I never bothered to question my faith until this point very recently. And once I did, I can say the results were less than satisfactory, as I found there to not only be a lack of factual, evidential proof backing the bible, but I found there to be more evidence opposing it.

Y'know, just to point this out, your whole 'process' seems quite similar to mine, save for the third paragraph.

Never really hated gay people, as much as my parents tried to instill in me to do so.

Hey I feel the same as you about gay people. Except I believe that in this day and age gay is the way.

[Neu Preussische Republik]

snip

Y'know, just to point this out, your whole 'process' seems quite similar to mine, save for the third paragraph.

Never really hated gay people, as much as my parents tried to instill in me to do so.

Believe it or not, it was because I became Libertarian and eventually Minarchist that I am the way I am now.

I begun realizing how horribly authoritarian the Bible was, but I tried to reconcile my faith and my political and economic views.

[Kistan]

I was raised Catholic, and just finished going through a two-year period of skepticism. In the end, I decided that while popular religion's claims may not be entirely true, there's no reason to doubt that there could by beings that exist on a higher scale of awareness/existence/power than us.

EDIT: That doesn't mean a god or gods, just beings that are 'divine' or 'semi-divine' from our point of view.

[Utceforp]

I haven't tied down all the details yet, suffice to say giving me money is going to be a major part of it.

Yes all my millions to the great Miso Elder Bombadil. Should we give you a special title like the Great Miso and maybe we should start a region for this.

I'm in as long as I get to be the Missiah.

[Vareiln]

-snip-

Y'know, just to point this out, your whole 'process' seems quite similar to mine, save for the third paragraph.

Never really hated gay people, as much as my parents tried to instill in me to do so.

I kind of was, but never to an extreme, so thankfully that faded fast.
Hated and was afraid of transpeople though. A tad ironic, no?

What's also interesting is to hear the common experiences of those who grew up in Christian, mostly conservative, households who are now atheists of some sort.

[Vareiln]

Yes all my millions to the great Miso Elder Bombadil. Should we give you a special title like the Great Miso and maybe we should start a region for this.

I'm in as long as I get to be the Misoyah.

Fixed.

[Lenciland]

Yes all my millions to the great Miso Elder Bombadil. Should we give you a special title like the Great Miso and maybe we should start a region for this.

I'm in as long as I get to be the Missiah.

No there is no Messiah only the Misoiah and that is the Great One. Bombadil and I am his prophet.

[The Land Fomerly Known as Ligerplace]

Y'know, just to point this out, your whole 'process' seems quite similar to mine, save for the third paragraph.

Never really hated gay people, as much as my parents tried to instill in me to do so.

I kind of was, but never to an extreme, so thankfully that faded fast.
Hated and was afraid of transpeople though. A tad ironic, no?

What's also interesting is to hear the common experiences of those who grew up in Christian, mostly conservative, households who are now atheists of some sort.

Like the 60's kids who became Reaganites?

[Neutraligon]

Y'know, just to point this out, your whole 'process' seems quite similar to mine, save for the third paragraph.

Never really hated gay people, as much as my parents tried to instill in me to do so.

I kind of was, but never to an extreme, so thankfully that faded fast.
Hated and was afraid of transpeople though. A tad ironic, no?

What's also interesting is to hear the common experiences of those who grew up in Christian, mostly conservative, households who are now atheists of some sort.

For me the reason I see that happen over and over again is that in fundamentalist Christian groups, people are not allowed to question. The problem is, it is pretty much human nature to question things, which kinda breaks the whole system.

[Utceforp]

I'm in as long as I get to be the Misoyah.

Fixed.

I was trying to work in a "Miso" pun by replacing the E in Messiah with an I, but your idea is better.

[Kistan]

No there is no Messiah only the Misoiah and that is the Greta One. Bombadil and I am his prophet.

From the Lord of the Rings books?

[Menassa]

I kind of was, but never to an extreme, so thankfully that faded fast.
Hated and was afraid of transpeople though. A tad ironic, no?

What's also interesting is to hear the common experiences of those who grew up in Christian, mostly conservative, households who are now atheists of some sort.

For me the reason I see that happen over and over again is that in fundamentalist Christian groups, people are not allowed to question. The problem is, it is pretty much human nature to question things, which kinda breaks the whole system.

Nothing like us eh?

[Vareiln]

I kind of was, but never to an extreme, so thankfully that faded fast.
Hated and was afraid of transpeople though. A tad ironic, no?

What's also interesting is to hear the common experiences of those who grew up in Christian, mostly conservative, households who are now atheists of some sort.

Like the 60's kids who became Reaganites?

I'm not fully familiar with their experiences, admittedly.

[The Land Fomerly Known as Ligerplace]

I'm in as long as I get to be the Missiah.

No there is no Messiah only the Misoiah and that is the Greta One. Bombadil and I am his prophet.

Misoyah Heathens, there is only the one true Ass.

Lo, for his prophet Andy Kaufman came down from on high, to show the ways of the troll.