RE: For former Christians only, why did you leave your faith?
January 11, 2023 at 11:50 pm
(This post was last modified: January 11, 2023 at 11:51 pm by Fake Messiah.)
(January 11, 2023 at 1:31 pm)tjdisc Wrote: Truth. Jesus' teachings are truth. They hit me hard - very impactful. I am a sort of seeker of truth - so in a way eventually I found Him (or perhaps more accurately He found me).
I don't see how Jesus' teachings are the truth. For example, in Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus tells people not to store up for material things on earth, which seems ridiculous because followers of Jesus want nice houses and cars as much as anyone else. If they have the money, they accumulate TVs, jewelry, decorative items, gadgets, and a host of other "indispensable" consumer products. Just look at a wish list on a bridal registry for a Christian couple.
Are you any different than that? Do you live in voluntary poverty or do you accumulate things?
Jesus also taught lots of other ridiculous things, like that men should cut their hands off if they masturbate - so have you amputated your hands? Have you plucked your eyes out after looking at women? If not, then how do you find Jesus' teachings to be truthful?
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
