(December 14, 2009 at 3:08 pm)chatpilot Wrote: My life changed alot when I left the church. I was once an extreme fundamentalist and literalist when it came to biblical interpretation. Although, I knew about parables and allegories within the scriptures the historical tales were considered true no matter how rediculous for example: the tale of Jonah and his living inside a big fish for three days and nights. I lived my life always looking for ways to please god, my life was never my own. I worked towards being as Christ like in my life as humanly possible. Because I dealt alot with demons and exorcisms I fasted once a week and prayed constantly.
God to me was my heavenly father and at the same time I feared him greatly. I wanted to please him at all times. But the greatest fear of all was the fear of going to hell and constantly thinking to myself: "if I died suddenly right now at this moment would I be worthy to enter into gods kingdom"? I wanted to make sure that my heavenly father was pleased with me at all times. And those times when I faltered in my faith I can honestly say that the fear was great and the guilt was unbearable. I only watched xtian programming on television, heard xtian music on the radio, and talked about Jesus everywhere I went. I preached at home, work, on the train, in the streets, you name it.
When I finally began to pull away from my former life and was able to justify my experiences through science and other disciplines I felt a release like no other. I felt free from what I now call spiritual oppression due to my extreme religiosity. I don't regret leaving the church and feel the my life is better for it. I don't feel a need for god and feel like I have my head out of the clouds and my feet planted firmly on the ground.
Fascinating, sounds like you were really in the deep end. Glad you managed to swim your way back to the surface
What were the most common techniques you used for evangelizing? Did you often try to guilt people into Xtian faith or approach them from a good-news perspective?
.
