PollyD

Hi folks. I am 42, and have in the last few months admitted to myself and to others that I just can't pretend to keep christianity swallowed any more. I have informed people close to me that I no longer consider myself a Christian.

I'm betting my experiences with Christian family and friends are common, so I'm here looking for support. I do have 3 friends left but that's roughly the extent of my support system.

Thanks for being here.

Og

Yeah. I (and others) share your frustration that the essential human experience in western religion has been reduced to either accepting a myth as literal fact (missing the forest for the trees) or rejecting it wholly as false (thus throwing the baby out with the bath water).

Welcome, Metta, and Namaste.

George

Welcome,

As Og says what you're going through is not only common but a sad reflection of the state of our society. Christianity is uspposed to be about love and acceptance but the only people they seem to project that onto is the less fortunate financially. They seem to really enjoy giving to the needy perhaps because it makes them feel good about their own status.

But when it comes time to accept someone who disagrees with them they forget all their christian teachings and you either become the enemy or someone they pity, again so they can feel good about themselves.

A prime example is how they treat a person that chooses a different spiritual path than them the same way they'd treat a person coming out of the closet as gay. Without respect for their feelings or beliefs. Just telling them they will be punished and that they will pray for them.

Unfortunately, though again they are supposed to be the gatekeepers of love and acceptance, it is you that will have to teach them tolerance. Trying to prove your decision to tehm as the right decision might prove to be a bit difficult at first so you may perhaps want to focus on just proving to them that it hasn't made you a bad person.

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The An-Jel

I made the decision when I was 15. It was extraordinary for me because I had asked what an anti-neutron just four years ago was. I didn't take a Physics point of view I took a philosophical view. I thank my step father for that because he had seen things and can see things naturally more than any man I have ever known. He doesn't think about it, I as a child of a flawed society had to, he guided just by standing on the Earth and asked the question: What Is Real! It answered and I have been looking for the real answer ever since. Welcome to the Real World PollyD!

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Fire Legion

Always remember to remain compassionate and tolerant of other faiths, even if they do not grant you similar liberties. Then those who discarded you will not have any moral argument as to why they stopped being your friends.

I'm lucky in that I don't live in a place where I'd lose friends and family over my beliefs. Ridicule and insults is the worst I get for my agnosticism.

PollyD

Thanks for the replies y'all. An-Jel, do you have a link you can point me to so I can read up on the anti-neutron? I'm guessing it's going to be something on the subject of how life can exist without intelligent design?

Drengler

Hi PollyD,
I can relate to what you are experiencing, my 4 sisters and mother are all JW's. I am the only one who went to Uni, have many athletic achievements and I am supporting myself financially through Uni. Still, I will always be viewed as the "worldly son/brother" the one who left the straight and narrow, left to go to University and play sports!

I wish you all the best PollyD, I am new as well to this forum but I already appreciate reading the various posts by all the free minds here.

luvcntsaveyou

you and are in the same boat i am a former christian

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The An-Jel

Antineutron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Close enough!

It's really about examining what is really going on you know. The Universe has it's own amazing things that make the Earth look rediculous. What humans have to discover like I did I think is how to follow the path where God may or may not be discovered. In other words, just figure out what the truth of the purpose of what the Universe is. The question I asked helped me to start asking the right questions and free me from societal tyranny. The Anti-Neutron was ok for me as a guide.

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"And let there be Light!" said the Blind man.

Life is simple, people make it complicated - Basilisk

Nulli Expugnabilis Hosti - Royal Gibraltar Regiment

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