Did you become an atheist or did you change to another Christian congregation, or maybe even another religion like Islam or Hindusim?

I tried to be agnostic for a long time. Maybe I still am just a little bit.

I don't know what I am. I guess I would be closest to agnostic mostly because the only real truth is that NOBODY knows what is out there until we die and find out or cease to exist.

I got involved in new agism for a while. I was big on Eckhard Tolle, I still think he says some cool things. I read some other books in the new agism.

I still wanted to be spiritual, but quickly realized that the bible really isn't reality, and isn't a good moral basis either.

So I just dropped the whole things. Now I'm atheist.

Garments, the bible, the book of Mormon, Jesus and joseph Smith all got kicked to the curb at the same time for me

I never really thought about it. I already thought other christian religions were just wrong and could instantly see them as only Mormon-Lite. I was briefly fascinated with Buddhism because of some friends, but I began drawing very clear comparisons to the whole Mormon method of operation to Buddhism as well, and all of a sudden all religion looked the same to me. Same cake, different frosting.

All I knew was that getting out of the Mormon church was the best thing that ever happened to me. I felt no need to replace it. To me it was like having a tumor removed. You don't think about what to replace it with, you are just glad its gone.

Many years later, I realized that evolution had left me with all that I needed. I worship Eva Lucien.

I did not lose my faith. I replaced misguided belief with knowledge.

releve Wrote:
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> I did not lose my faith. I replaced misguided
> belief with knowledge.

So the TBM said.

What?

Tibetan Buddhism, Bahai Faith, Quakers, United Church of Christ (Congregational), various Christian churches, including fundies ... yada yada ad nauseum.

Now agnostic. Took me more than 30 years post-Mormonism, to get to the realization that it is all myth. But as Joseph Campbell says, just because something is a myth, does not necessarily mean it's a "lie."

As Dagny states below, "Then I studied world mythology and realized the role it plays for humans. I realized why humans create religion in nearly every culture to give them center, meaning, and value as a group."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2013 01:01PM by Senoritalamanita.

I continued to believe in Jesus (the nice one from the Four Gospels) for a few weeks or months, but that soon dissolved. My belief in God lasted about a year or so. Now I'm an atheist with lots of open-ended, unanswered questions, and I'm a-okay with that.

I'm still trying to figure that out. I believe I'm somewhere between deism and pantheism. I posted close to the same question yesterday and I liked the answers. You don't necessarily need to have a label on your belief system. I believe in a higher power, I'm not sure what that is but I'm comfortable with that.

Christianity fell apart for me after I discovered that Mormonism is a sham. I just don't understand how a God of order could possibly be at the head of the Christian world. Also, I don't believe in the need for a savior. That concept just doesn't make sense now.

quickman Wrote:
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> Did you become an atheist or did you change to
> another Christian congregation, or maybe even
> another religion like Islam or Hindusim?

It is an interesting question, always interested in what prompts the question.

Was some time ago escaped, that time was the start of a journey, an evolution, which continues today, completely unwilled, unplanned, a bit like the autumn leaf carried by the mountain stream to who knows where.

In flavor somewhat like:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aT7a-cu0w1c&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DaT7a-cu0w1c

The only thing (that can think) that keeps it going is knowing I know nothing, wanting to know, and not concluding that whatever happens to be before me at this moment is "the answer"

Don't know what to call it.
And if I name it, the journey stops.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2013 01:59PM by zenjamin.

It was a long process for me. I did due diligence over a few years.

At first I assumed that Mormonism was just a crock and that the Bible was as advertised. So I started going to Christian churches to find the one for me.

Then I actually listened to what they were saying and started studying the Bible in earnest with no bias.

The detective skills kicked in. It was all about faith and interpretations of what is good and what is in the Bible.

Then I looked at the religions of the world. I thought Buddhism had some values I admired but I found all kinds of nonsense there as well.

Then I got kind of new agey for a while. Some "power" in the universe or vague connectedness or such seemed the next step for me. Once again, the I realized everyone was just making things up.

Then I studied world mythology and realized the role it plays for humans. I realized why humans create religion in nearly every culture to give them center, meaning, and value as a group.

Then I considered myself plain old agnostic, which I still am. I simply don't know. The reason I am also an atheist is that I don't harbor any beliefs that there are gods. I don't make a claim that there IS NOT a god (although it is so implausible that I consider gods in the same category as invisible pink unicorns) So, I am an agnostic atheist.

(You can't always make a 100% claim about proving a negative. Although I'm 99.9% sure there are not invisible pink unicorns, I can't prove it. So, I say I am agnostic to avoid putting myself in the position of proving something unprovable.)

For me the journey was in books. If a book is "inspired by God" you can dismiss it as mythology.

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine: This short book will outline the issues with the Bible and Christianity. Paine was called a dirty little atheist for simply stating the obvious. It's in every library.

Demon Haunted World by Sagan: This book helped me evaluate what I will accept for standards for claims and truth. It has a bologna detection kit. It will help you understand that faith is not reliable and how science, as flawed as it is, is self correcting and the best mechanism we have to align our knowledge with reality.

I have found other ways to express my awe of the universe and my place in it. Religion is the attempt of people to do that in groups and pretend they are averting death.

Good luck as you find your spiritual home.

It was a long process the ended with Pagan/Wiccan.

I figured that if one religion turned out to be pigeon crap, they probably all were. There are thousands of religions, and thousands of other religions have died out, and yet thousands more may be invented in the future. Why would any one of them be true? And why would it be one of the religions of today instead of one that has died out or not yet been founded?

I can see the benefit of having a community in which to worhip, or share goodness and values that you believe in. Unfortunately most are too messed up. I don't believe god has shown his/her/its way to one certain group, and expects everyone else to figure which group that is, and join up with it. Truth is everywhere. I do pray/meditate/throw my thoughts and desires out to the universe, and feel like it opens me up to a positive power.

Great points. IF you are looking for a church, you pick the one that aligns itself the closest to what you already believe, so that is not a search for truth, that is a confirmation of bias to your own preconceived notions.

And another reason people want a church is just good old fashioned "safety in numbers." That is why the mormons stress their supposed astonishing growth and fudge the numbers.

Truth IS everywhere. I couldn't agree more.

I tried to stick to Christianity- but I couldn't find a church that I agreed with. When people ask now, I just say I'm agnostic but I don't really know what I am.

By the time I was eleven or twelve I knew Santa Claus wasn't real, the Easter Bunny wasn't real, and the Tooth Fairy wasn't real. Not too long after that I realised God wasn't real either. I can't say I lost my faith because I never had any really...

I applied the same standards of evidence to all religion that I applied to mormonism. Therefore, I'm an atheist.

When I lost my faith in JS, I could do nothing other than leave the lds. If JS was false and the BOM his creation, the church itself is also a fraud. Unlike others here, I lost my so called testimony but didn't lose my faith in Jesus Christ and in God. If anything, my faith in Christ grew stronger without the mormon filters. It took some time to realize tscc fosters the relationship to itself, whereas other churches cultivate a closeness to God. That may sound semantical but the difference is vast. I ended up in a traditional protestant church, with my faith, but without JS or any mormon trappings.

Once I dropped my belief in Mormonism, I continued to believe in Christ and changed my opinion on certain topics, enough so for me to consider myself a Christian (and no, Mormonism doesn't count as Christian in my opinion). The critical thinking that led me out of tscc didn't stop there, however, and a number of weeks later I saw myself questioning those beliefs too. I eventually found myself unable to believe in Christianity.
This is fairly recent for me, so I'm still in the process of thinking and searching for something, if anything, that resonates with me. It'll be a lifelong search, I'm sure.
Thanks for asking :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2013 02:48PM by msp.

When I left the church I offered up one last prayer. In that prayer I noted that my entire life I had been told how much Heavenly Father/Jesus loved me. I told whoever was listening that the "just have faith" thing wasn't working for me. I would require more. And if Heavenly Father/Jesus loved me as much as I had been told, there shouldn't be a problem.

So, I stated that in order for me to "return to the fold", a physical visitation would be necessary. I figured since they could appear to treasure seeking, rock reading, teenager marrying Joseph Smith, then they could appear to me. I didn't half nearly as much baggage as Bro. Joe. They would also need to be accompanied by my parents, sweetheart, and any other deceased friends/relatives of their choice that could testify to me of the truthfulness of the gospel. If such a visitation would cause my death...so be it. If not, then I would spend the rest of my days wandering the earth bearing my testimony.

It has been 15 years since that last prayer. No visit = No belief.

Agnostic first-- and then eventually I tried out different faiths including Buddhism. Now I consider myself spiritual, but I don't feel the need to belong to a religion or congregation.

Actually I have been studying translations of ancient Sumarian tablets. It has given me new perspective on religious concept as a whole and my thinking is changing.

As long as you don't say the world is run by repitilian overlords from the constellation draco who genetically engineered humans to mine gold or some nonsense like that, MORE POWER TO YOU!

DEISM! CHECK IT OUT! Deism dismisses nothing. it questions everything!

I found my faith when I left the church. I have more faith now. Of course, I have no clue what I beleive but I sure know what I don't beleive.

I left Mormonism and joined the ONE TRUE RELIGION.

I invite you all to discover the things that I have discovered.

Send me an email and $100 and I shall reveal the mysteries of the universe to you too.

Buddhism

I started out Christian until that house of cards crumbled too.

When my house of cards fell, it wasn't just my belief in mormonism. It was any belief in any religion whatsoever.

If there is a God, I don't know about him and therefore I couldn't care less about him.

What's the word for "whothefuckcares-ism?" Whatever that is, that's me. Nobody has it figured out, but lots pretend to. I don't wanna waste my time speculating.

That makes you an apathetist. :-) Don't know and don't care.

I've been atheistic-agnostic since I was a kid. I do however have a great interest in the historical & cultural impact of religions on the world.

I lost my faith after nearly 50 years of blind obedience when I participated in a self awareness training and found many flaws in the way I perceived the world, and myself. As I opened up my mind to new possibilities, the old beliefs began to drift away as reasoning and evidence proved them to be the past and of no value now.

11 years later, I am an agnostic/atheist with a serious inquiring mind as to where the value in life is found. Don't misinterpret this to mean I have NO VALUES, just that values are adjustments as the relativity to them modify with age and scrutiny.

Christianity has vaporized in the mist along with Santa and the other urban legends our culture has nourished for generations. I find myself embracing an ancient Zen mondo:

Seeker: "If you follow any way, you will never get there; and if you do not follow any way, you will never get there. So one faces a dilemma."

Hisamatsu: "Let the dilemma by your way!"