Salutations, all!
Hi! I'm Alyson, former Apostolic Pentecostal Sunday School teacher, youth leader, and all-around Bible thumper.
The story of my deconversion is a long one, but suffice it to say about three years ago I found myself without a church to go to. I decided to be a good Christian in the meanwhile and keep studying and praying on my own, until I could find a new church.
Nothing will deconvert a Fundie faster than actually reading the Bible.
Within those onionskin pages I found not the "God of Love and Forgiveness" I had been told for 15 years I was worshiping. I found a douchebag who tortures his most devoted followers, then tells them to torture other people. In Jesus, well, he had a pretty good sense of humor and a few good stories. I blame all the deity stuff on, well, the Christians who wrote the stories down a hundred years later, and rewrote them over the next 1500.
And then I had to come to a decision. If Biblegod wasn't working for me, I'd have to find a god that did.
It took an embarrassing amount of study in everything from neopaganism to Baha'i before I decided that if there really is a god, I'd have found it by now. It was a short jump from there to "Yeah, there's probably no god, and here are a lot of good reasons why."
Anyway, it's been about four years, and now I'm just looking to replace the one major loss felt when renouncing religion - that is the loss of a closeknit community of people with like interests.
So, here I am! Nice to see you, nice to be seen, and hope to have lots of fun!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jason Ward on -
Alyson,
Firstly, love the hair, quite beautiful. I have a question, if you were a Sunday school teacher, did you not read the bible before and during this point and hence notice all the unpleasantness? I'm sure it's a long story, just confused on that point you can give the "Cliff Notes" version if you like. Losing god has been for some quite a convulsion of the senses in that at once feeling free of the shackles of faith, though pleasing, leaves one at times, missing that faith be it the concept of an ever watchful loving god and that of the social benefit of the community. Does this fairly well describe your conversion? Welcome by the way.
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Permalink Reply by Stephen B Boudreau on -
The one thing you can do to fill the loss you feel is to think of yourself as your own guiding light. We all have the will power and need to be good people, get up every day and go to work, treat others with respect and help the less fortunate. That for most people is good enough to get by day to day.
It is my personal opinion that many people who are religious need some form of guide and a reason to live and be prosperous.
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Permalink Reply by Ann on -
Welcome. I am new here too.
I know what you mean about the bible. This past year I decided to really study the bible. I didn't grow up Christian, but my husband is a non-practicing Catholic who still believes in the bible, so I decided I would give it a chance. Big mistake.
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