My username is my story of deconversion

[NoMoreExcuses]

Hi everyone,
After many,many years of trying to believe and be faithful,I have finally at age 62[I know,I know!] decided that I will no longer make excuses for a sit on his butt,do nothing,non-existant God!

I have always had my doubts and been amazed at how little those who profess being Christians,including preachers and pastors,even know what scripture says! For instance the total bull of eternal torment/punishing for the lost,when there are inumerable verses in both the OT and NT that tell us "the wages of sin is death"! The bible expressly teaches man is not immortal and neither is his soul.[study the 'second death']
Then the baloney/lies every preacher spews at funerals about the deceased being in Heaven when scripture says no one has ever ascended to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven, showing they know nothing about the difference between Heaven and the Kingdom Of God,and they are ignoring everything they ever heard/read about the resurrection of the dead,and when it is supposed to occur!

I never did like the God of the OT. I loved Jesus but did not even like God,and there is no way to reconcile that sadistic egomaniac with their malarkey of this make-believe all-knowing,all-powerful,all-loving God.

I always did think there are too many instances where he was taken by surprise for a being who is supposed to know past-present and future.Then satan seems to have been kicking god's butt since the beginning and still is,but scripture tells us "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world". Yeah Right,I DON'T THINK SO!

When almost daily I see a news account of another baby/young child,abused/beaten/killed,there is no possible way to continue believing in this asinine fairytale! I will never again make excuses for this nonexistent god.

The hardest part of letting go of belief in a religion, I think,is that there is nothing else that offers answers to "why are we here,what is our purpose,is there life after death?

Even as a child of 7 or 8 I asked myself where did the first people come from and why are there people?

[Something completely different]

Willkommen!

[Minimalist]

Better late than never, NME. Up off your knees and start stomping some of the fundie assholes we have running around unsupervised on this site.

[Newfie]

Sup. ^_^

[Jackalope]

Welcome.

The hardest part of letting go of belief in a religion, I think,is that there is nothing else that offers answers to "why are we here,what is our purpose,is there life after death?

I think of it this way: Is it better to pretend to know, or admit that we don't know and try to find the answers?

[festive1]

Hello!

[Angrboda]

Lighten up. You'll live longer.

[Mystic]

The hardest part of letting go of belief in a religion, I think,is that there is nothing else that offers answers to "why are we here,what is our purpose,is there life after death?

These are just some of the questions religions tempt to answers. Others are "is there any direction/path that is best", "what is our value" "what are we" "how do we know virtue?" "how do we distinguish right from wrong" "what makes something praiseworthy as opposed to not" "what is the balance in life" "what is justice"

Of course, most people never wanted to look for the answer within, so they looked up for "wise" "leaders" to teach them, and those wise leaders never had an explanation, so mythology was made up.

At any rate, science and philosophy hasn't provided an answer to these questions either.

Wisdom is always taught to be an exalted beautiful thing to have. That is the natural instinct of humanity.

However, that is an assumption we make. We are driven by passion to find the truth, but at the same time believing the truth will be beautiful at the end.

Evolution (naturalism) explains why we developed such magical thinking but so does magical thinking.

At the end "logic" itself cannot know between belief in praise, goodness, beauty, exaltedness, and origin, and meaningless emptiness.

Neither can "passion" know.

Why we should feel connection to our past. Why we should regret actions or not. Why would we should feel pride or any self-worth.

We make a lot of assumptions. Plunge into the depths, and perhaps you will find the truth.

Will the truth be beautiful and meaningful and peaceful and pleasurable? No one can tell you. Perhaps it will be totally meaningless, void, empty.

But personally I believe we should have the courage to seek it, and sincerity of hope to find our true selves.

Remembering who you truly are, perhaps is all that the Messengers came to remind us of, and then their messages got distorted with teachings of hate and immorality by leaders who were followed and had no authority.

Just because you haven't found the answer, doesn't mean there is no way.

Just because no leaders have provided with a way, doesn't mean there is no way.

And if all holy books and religions are corrupted now, doesn't mean they were not based on primary wisdom in the first place.

"I don't know is a step"..."I cannot know" is laziness. "I hope to know and will dive in the depths to know" takes courage.

You might never know, but the journey is itself noble and better than blind following or giving up.

[jonb]

Welcome, from one old man to another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFoo5Vh8i0c

[NoMoreExcuses]

Thank you all for the welcome.

BTW, I am an old lady,not an old man,LOL!

I am in the process of reading books written by ex-Christians who no longer consider themselves believers. Just finished "Why I Became An Atheist:A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity" by John W. Loftus Fascinating reading. It made soooo much more sense than the bible!

I have several others on request on my public library and just purchased "Why I Believed: Reflections of a Former Missionary" by Kenneth W.Daniels, for my Kindle.

My adult daughter and I have discussed how it is not surprising that missionaries/Sunday Schools hand out New Testaments instead of complete bibles to prospective new converts. Because they have to con them first with the warm-fuzzies of the story of Jesus so they can hook them and hold them before they are faced with the horror of the OT God!

That is when all the ridiculous, lying excuses for God has to begin! hock: