Question

[G Alan]

Hi everyone.  First of all I want to be honest and let you know that I am a Bible believing Christian.  I did not join this forum with the intentions to attack, debate, or belittle anyone. I expect the same treatment, please.  I am doing a personal study on the topic of apostasy of the Christian faith. Some believers think that a person of Christian faith can choose to not follow Jesus.  I do have my own beliefs about this subject of which i will not discuss.  I do personally know of one person who kind of turned away for a period of time , but eventually returned to the faith.  I am here to ask if there are any of people who were a bible believing, Christ following, Christian who chose to "walk away" from that belief.  If so, how long were you a follower of Jesus and why did you abandon that faith?  What is your belief now?
Thank you so much for your time.
G.

Well, I'm late to the party, as usual.  Been busy.
But I think I'm the sort of atheist you're looking for.  I was raised Southern Baptist, parents went over to Pentecostal, attended a Pentecostal school.  Bible inerrancy, saved and sanctified, set apart, speaking in tongues, all of that.  I was made to memorize a Bible passage every day and quote it before dinner every night.  We attended two church services every Sunday and choir practice/Bible study every Wednesday night, plus other activities.  In college I did some comparative religion studies.  I have played organ for churches all of my life - in fact, I still do.  I called myself Christian for over 40 years.  
   I have listened to Bible readings and many thousands of sermons.  And I got to a point where I heard various readings and found them unbelievable, often ignorant, and sometimes simply evil and immoral.  Bible inerrancy was the first to go, obviously, as I quickly got to the point where I had to relegate the book to the fiction section - it's clearly a bunch of ancient myths and fantasies.  I have Catholic friends who revere the Bible as a historical document that contains pearls of wisdom given by god - I cannot see it as such.  
   I'm a studious type of person, always reading from multiple sources, and studies in cosmology and archaeology added to the mix.  I simply do not see enough evidence for any sort of creator deity, and certainly not a personal one.  If proof of such a creature should ever be found (without the need for any literature or human mouthpiece) then I will, obviously, change my stance.  But for now - I do not believe that any deities, angels, devils, spirits or ghosts exist.

Hello drfuzzy. Yep you are the sort of atheist i am looking for. Thanks for responding.
Do you know what made your parents go from Southern Baptist to Pentecostal? Were you exposed to speakimg in tongues? Was there anything in particular that you heard during those readings amd 1000's of sermoms that made you stop and say " yep this is it, i do not believe" ?
One more for now.... when you say inerrancy was the first to go.... do you mean you see actual error in the bible or inconsistancy in the bible?
Thanks you for your post.
Also i want to make sure you know as well that i am not here to convert or preach to anyone.