I never thought I would ever de-convert from Christianity. My husband and I are both going through this process right now. Here's my story.
Like many people, I was raised in a Christian home. Wasn't allowed to read Harry Potter or watch Pokemon as a kid. Got in HUGE trouble when I was a teenager for holding a boys hand, because you know the worst thing teenagers can do is hold hands. (Fun fact: that boy is my husband now)
Anyway, I guess my de-conversion started a few years ago when I left the church I went to throughout my high school years, the church was having a lot of cult-like tendencies. My family and I switched to another church, but the cult church left me with pretty bad trust issues toward Christian leaders, so even though the new church is a good church I still couldn't[/font] connect. I eventually started not liking Christians very much and not liking being called a Christian because I didn't want to be painted with the same brush as the Christians I knew.
The big turning point was when I started watching documentaries; the first documentary being none other than “Religulous” with Bill Maher lol. The documentaries are what sparked my curiosity. Now I’m watching The Thinking Atheist and The Atheist Experience.
Even though I’m not telling anyone about these changes, I mentioned to my mom recently that I was having a few doubts. She ended up sending me this long (but loving) Facebook message about being careful what expose myself to and that googling things can do me harm because there's a lot of information out there that is wrong. She also mentioned her old friend from her youth group who started listening to things that contradicted the bible and over time she ended up with mental illness. No offense to my mom, but that is so lame to blame mental illness on secular teaching!
There's a lot of religious baggage to go through. For example, recently I was crying to my husband because my whole life I've been told that a marriage can't last without God in the center of it. We just got married a few months ago and we've been together for almost 2 years and have been friends for about 9 years. I was so afraid of losing my best friend and other half!
It's really hard to get away from the religion I was raised in. So much is ingrained in my way of thinking. It's really scary, to be honest. I've gotten passed a lot of the fear, but there is part of me that feels like I'm doing wrong. One step at a time!
Like many people, I was raised in a Christian home. Wasn't allowed to read Harry Potter or watch Pokemon as a kid. Got in HUGE trouble when I was a teenager for holding a boys hand, because you know the worst thing teenagers can do is hold hands. (Fun fact: that boy is my husband now)
Anyway, I guess my de-conversion started a few years ago when I left the church I went to throughout my high school years, the church was having a lot of cult-like tendencies. My family and I switched to another church, but the cult church left me with pretty bad trust issues toward Christian leaders, so even though the new church is a good church I still couldn't[/font] connect. I eventually started not liking Christians very much and not liking being called a Christian because I didn't want to be painted with the same brush as the Christians I knew.
The big turning point was when I started watching documentaries; the first documentary being none other than “Religulous” with Bill Maher lol. The documentaries are what sparked my curiosity. Now I’m watching The Thinking Atheist and The Atheist Experience.
Even though I’m not telling anyone about these changes, I mentioned to my mom recently that I was having a few doubts. She ended up sending me this long (but loving) Facebook message about being careful what expose myself to and that googling things can do me harm because there's a lot of information out there that is wrong. She also mentioned her old friend from her youth group who started listening to things that contradicted the bible and over time she ended up with mental illness. No offense to my mom, but that is so lame to blame mental illness on secular teaching!
There's a lot of religious baggage to go through. For example, recently I was crying to my husband because my whole life I've been told that a marriage can't last without God in the center of it. We just got married a few months ago and we've been together for almost 2 years and have been friends for about 9 years. I was so afraid of losing my best friend and other half!
It's really hard to get away from the religion I was raised in. So much is ingrained in my way of thinking. It's really scary, to be honest. I've gotten passed a lot of the fear, but there is part of me that feels like I'm doing wrong. One step at a time!
& thank you for sharing your story.
