I have recently been asked by a few forum members if I am considering returning to my Christian faith. The question comes in response to me making mention of my having participated in some church groups recently. As a brief recap, I will remind anyone who may recall my intro thread of my de-conversion about 4-5 months ago, and I will add that I am more certain about my decision with each passing day, and I have no regrets for ditching my Christian faith. I suspect that the question arises less from me mentioning my mere involvement within the aforementioned groups, and is more founded in response to the content of my posts concerning the specifics of said participation. When I first de-converted, I was very angry at the church, and several humans within the church. My own post history on this forum is a testimony in itself of how vehemently I attacked Christians of all stripes solely for the reason that they had faith. My involvement within this forum has exposed me to many angry people (and has exposed the depths of my own capacity for hatred). I realize that tone and manner are lost online, but there is no escaping the obvious level of animosity directed toward theists on this forum. I have made some comments, posts, and entire threads where my sole purpose was to bolster my own bigotry, and to have my attacks lauded by other atheists. It has only been recently that I've begun to see things differently, and even now I am aware of amends that I must make to entirely purge myself of this divisiveness. I attribute my ‘awakening’ to my time here on this forum, and also to my participation in the church groups I sometimes attend.
I went to one particular group for two years, and I know the people there well. Originally, I went back to spend time with my Christian wife and my friends in the group - I have no interest in the subject material other than the wisdom sometimes contained therein. Then, as time went on, I began to find that I could impart a certain humanistic flavor of my own within the group, and I found a way to inject reasoning into the context of the conversation. I found that I was capable of answering biblical/moral/life questions with humanistic reasoning, and I also found commonalities the faith has with all of humanity, and I've begun to focus on those things. People in the group say they’ve missed me (I left when I first de-converted), and that they are very pleased to see me coming back to the group. Some people have commented that I seem much more sanguine and readily available to offer wisdom and support. They have commented that my attitude and composure are softer, warmer, and more open. In kind, I have come to see these humans as beings not unlike myself, and very much in need of understanding, and a sense of being loved and accepted, and of belonging. These people share the same struggles in everyday life as I, and the main difference between us is not our faith, in, and of itself, but our everyday responses to life in general. I see much more that I have in common with theists, than ways in which we differ. I for one, have no need to respond to life considering any sort of god, and I don’t have any interest biblical in fantasies, but I can understand why someone else would want to be different, and feel the need to conjure answers from the darkness. Other than my wife, only two people in the group know I’m an atheist. My atheism, within the group, has afforded me the opportunity to demolish the ill-formed opinions and ideas of what atheism is among some theists within the group. I intend to continue participating in the group until every last person in the group observes a commonality that I can address, sans the religious dogma. I am excited by what we have in common, and the dividing line is getting increasingly thin from my perspective. Now, all I need to do is love these human beings the way I’d wish to be loved - with consideration, kindness and respect.
Feel free to comment, bash, suspect, reject, ignore, agree, whatever. All opinions are welcome. I'm looking forward to continuing to evolve into the best human being this one life will allow, and I'd be a fool to disregard all considerations. Thanks for reading
fff
I went to one particular group for two years, and I know the people there well. Originally, I went back to spend time with my Christian wife and my friends in the group - I have no interest in the subject material other than the wisdom sometimes contained therein. Then, as time went on, I began to find that I could impart a certain humanistic flavor of my own within the group, and I found a way to inject reasoning into the context of the conversation. I found that I was capable of answering biblical/moral/life questions with humanistic reasoning, and I also found commonalities the faith has with all of humanity, and I've begun to focus on those things. People in the group say they’ve missed me (I left when I first de-converted), and that they are very pleased to see me coming back to the group. Some people have commented that I seem much more sanguine and readily available to offer wisdom and support. They have commented that my attitude and composure are softer, warmer, and more open. In kind, I have come to see these humans as beings not unlike myself, and very much in need of understanding, and a sense of being loved and accepted, and of belonging. These people share the same struggles in everyday life as I, and the main difference between us is not our faith, in, and of itself, but our everyday responses to life in general. I see much more that I have in common with theists, than ways in which we differ. I for one, have no need to respond to life considering any sort of god, and I don’t have any interest biblical in fantasies, but I can understand why someone else would want to be different, and feel the need to conjure answers from the darkness. Other than my wife, only two people in the group know I’m an atheist. My atheism, within the group, has afforded me the opportunity to demolish the ill-formed opinions and ideas of what atheism is among some theists within the group. I intend to continue participating in the group until every last person in the group observes a commonality that I can address, sans the religious dogma. I am excited by what we have in common, and the dividing line is getting increasingly thin from my perspective. Now, all I need to do is love these human beings the way I’d wish to be loved - with consideration, kindness and respect.
Feel free to comment, bash, suspect, reject, ignore, agree, whatever. All opinions are welcome. I'm looking forward to continuing to evolve into the best human being this one life will allow, and I'd be a fool to disregard all considerations. Thanks for reading
fff
