BipolarBomber
New Member
I grew up as an Independent Baptist. I was deeply religious. I was in a "leadership role," in my church's youth group. I knew my Bible pretty well and understood the concepts of Fundamentalist Christianity, which is what we were. My Christian friends would usually go to me for "spiritual advice" or questions about the Bible. I was extremely devout, so much so that after High School I enrolled in a Fundamentalist Bible College because I felt God had "called" me to become a Pastor. I was at this college for one semester before giving up my faith.
I am now nonreligious and I am certain I will never again become religious. However, it angers me quite often to see the drivel that comes from Christians about how there is, "no such thing," as an ex-Christian. I have deemed this as what I like to call the infinite loophole. Before High School, when I "knew" that I was saved, I went through a tough time in Middle School. During this time I cried and begged for forgiveness from this God fellow and would repent of my "sin." I did this frequently as I wanted to be right with God. I became "certain of it," by my High School years when, as I said, I became spiritually active.
It is utterly dishonest and inhumane for Christians to tell me that there is no such thing as an ex-Christian. Yes, I know your Bible says it doesn't exist, but I believed the exact same thing as you. I thought as you did, worshiped like you did, witnessed as you did, I believed it fully and sincerely, I had repented, and on more than one occasion gave sermons and lessons to my church on various Christian topics. I believe the most common reference Christians use to purport this lie is the verse, 1 John 2:19 which reads, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
However, I will argue that there are far more verses to defend my claim that I was indeed a Christian (John 3:16, etc.) than the single verse that says that no one has ever left Christianity. They purport this lie and claim that there are no ex-Christians because it gives them a foothold. It lets them say that they have experienced what you're going through, a life without Christ, and that if you only knew how great being a Christian was you would know too!
There are only two things I can say to this claim. First, my life as a Christian while generally good and fulfilling, was shallow. I looked down on nonChristians, often. I pitied them, I did not see them as fellow man. Beyond that I was constantly trying to impress this God fellow and was ashamed of my "sin" every time I did something wrong. Before I became very religious I was an extremely confident child, I was happy with myself. After my devotion I began having some serious self esteem issues, which persist to this day (though they have improved, quite a lot). I am much happier without religion now, even though my family and many friends seriously disagree with my choices.
Secondly, I really want to write an Unholy Bible. Mostly because I want to include one verse in it that basically says there are no such thing as ex-Believers and that everyone who is not a nonChristian now was never a nonChristian to begin with. I think that'd be pretty funny, and quite adequate to parody their position.
I am now nonreligious and I am certain I will never again become religious. However, it angers me quite often to see the drivel that comes from Christians about how there is, "no such thing," as an ex-Christian. I have deemed this as what I like to call the infinite loophole. Before High School, when I "knew" that I was saved, I went through a tough time in Middle School. During this time I cried and begged for forgiveness from this God fellow and would repent of my "sin." I did this frequently as I wanted to be right with God. I became "certain of it," by my High School years when, as I said, I became spiritually active.
It is utterly dishonest and inhumane for Christians to tell me that there is no such thing as an ex-Christian. Yes, I know your Bible says it doesn't exist, but I believed the exact same thing as you. I thought as you did, worshiped like you did, witnessed as you did, I believed it fully and sincerely, I had repented, and on more than one occasion gave sermons and lessons to my church on various Christian topics. I believe the most common reference Christians use to purport this lie is the verse, 1 John 2:19 which reads, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
However, I will argue that there are far more verses to defend my claim that I was indeed a Christian (John 3:16, etc.) than the single verse that says that no one has ever left Christianity. They purport this lie and claim that there are no ex-Christians because it gives them a foothold. It lets them say that they have experienced what you're going through, a life without Christ, and that if you only knew how great being a Christian was you would know too!
There are only two things I can say to this claim. First, my life as a Christian while generally good and fulfilling, was shallow. I looked down on nonChristians, often. I pitied them, I did not see them as fellow man. Beyond that I was constantly trying to impress this God fellow and was ashamed of my "sin" every time I did something wrong. Before I became very religious I was an extremely confident child, I was happy with myself. After my devotion I began having some serious self esteem issues, which persist to this day (though they have improved, quite a lot). I am much happier without religion now, even though my family and many friends seriously disagree with my choices.
Secondly, I really want to write an Unholy Bible. Mostly because I want to include one verse in it that basically says there are no such thing as ex-Believers and that everyone who is not a nonChristian now was never a nonChristian to begin with. I think that'd be pretty funny, and quite adequate to parody their position.
