Why I left Christianity and embraced more heathen ways

I could make all sorts of reasons that appeal to the logical part of people, but, let's be honest here: spirituality isn't exactly the most logical thing on the face of the planet. To my mind, that's a good thing.

Anyway, the most important factor for me was that Christianity was just too simplistic for my taste. Life isn't that black and white, not nearly so simple, so the concept that the spirit world and God was really quite simple was just too much for me to believe.

Another major thing that did it for me was, and I don't know how to say this without offending some people, but I didn't really want to shove my sins onto another person. I want to pay for my sins, take responsibility for my own actions.

As for the risk factor supposedly involved in such an attitude, I wagered that no being who spawned a hippie like Jesus could possibly be so cookoo for cocoapuffs that I'd actually be put in a burning pit of fire for eternity. And if I am, then God is a schizophrenic, so I might as well do what I believe to be right than trying to tow the line.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


How can you claim you left christanity when you say clear and simple you didn't believe in the first place. Just looking to troll?

reply to post by Evanzsayz


Where did I say I didn't believe it in the first place...

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
I want to pay for my sins, take responsibility for my own actions.

As for the risk factor supposedly involved in such an attitude, I wagered that no being who spawned a hippie like Jesus could possibly be so cookoo for cocoapuffs that I'd actually be put in a burning pit of fire for eternity. And if I am, then God is a schizophrenic, so I might as well do what I believe to be right than trying to tow the line.

...and therein lies the problem.
Isaiah says that "all our righteousness is as filthy rags", while Romans says that "there is no one who does good, not one". The whole point of Christ's sacrifice was that you and I are utterly incapable of paying for our own sin. The Bible paints pictures of this throughout: Adam and Eve clothed themselves in leaves; God took the life of a lamb to cover them with skins. Abraham was called to offer his own son; God substituted a ram... and so on.

And herein, too, lies the difference between Christ, and world religion. Only in Christ does God reach out to man. All religion works in the opposite direction - man's desperate attempts to reach out to God. These attempts, however, are doomed to fail, because God is so far beyond all that we can think and know. This is why Jesus said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life - no man comes to the Father except through Me." - because only in Christ does God reach out to man, only in Christ can the inherent problem of sin be dealt with, and only in Christ can man reach out and touch, and be touched by, God.

and on the 8th day,man created sunday shopping to show us that man has more power than god now,and we can buy beer on our day of rest!!!

Your biggest mistake was saying that life is not black and white. It is!

What you did was mix it together and it was brown and grey and then you lost the plot.

Life is black and white. It has been that way all my life. It is easy to see and easy to manage. But if you compromise on your beliefs and if you cross the lines, then you are that warm person that gets spat out.

I don;t think you 'left' Christianity, I think you compromised and had to leave. Just a thought because others I've said this to have got themselves together afterward..... and I can say I was nearly where you were once but someone opened my eyes to the fact God hadn't moved... I had.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


My appreciation grew as I read your post. Excellent.

I must say I agree with everything you said. I have various reasons for "leaving" Christianity and religion altogether, but many overlap with yours. Religion gives us a simple explanation of why we're here, what we're supposed to be doing here, how we should live while we're here and where we're going after we leave here... All of that is explained to the followers of the various religions.

But real life is not that simple. The directions are not written down in a book. There is no manual for raising kids and none for living this life we have. Of course, each religion claims they have a book that has these answers, but... if each religion has the answers, why are they always fighting? Why haven't they learned how to live any better than the rest of us? The majority of people belong to some religion or another and they still do their best to destroy the planet on which they live... I don't believe their books are very good because they obviously don't work.

So, I, too, embraced the heathen life. As you said, I now take responsibility for my actions and my life instead of blaming something outside myself or claiming "God's will". I also take credit for when I work hard and have great results. I am more giving, more understanding and accepting of people who are different and I'm much less judgmental. I am happier than I have ever been without the thought of some malevolent being on the lookout for me to mess up.

We don't know what happens after we die and I really don't care. I'll see when I get there. But the fact that 80% of people already think they know is a bit of a hindrance to true discovery.

reply to post by Awen24


Being tortured in a lake of fire isn't enough to rectify me lying or stealing a candy bar. That is a concept that, frankly, makes me think that God is a schizophrenic.

My biggest beef with Christianity is that I highly doubt that god would give people only one life and based on that single short life send you to heaven or hell for an eternity.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


What you do not understand is that Jesus really is God. He is the same today as he was from the beginning and he does have his judgements. What you also do not understand is that when the jews rejected him at Mt. Sinai, they broke his covenant with him before Moses ever came down with the law.

Does he love you? Certainly so. Will he punish you? Definately, he was no hippie. When he went into the temple and saw the money changers and money lenders in the temple he kicked over the tables and whipped them, and the Pharisees who insulted the Holy Spirit he damned for eternity and then began preaching in parables in public so that those pharisees could not gain understanding and be saved.

When Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and the church when they were confronted about selling off all their property as they promised but then tried to keep a little back for themselves for profit and lied about it, he struck them dead for lying to him and they were buried that day.

The Nicolaitans preach that you have an unlimited license to sin and be licentious and perverse without repercussions. Jesus did not do away with the law and the prophets, he manifested them into himself and he became the living law.