What made you lose your faith?

[BCRanger10]

What made you lose your faith? If you had previously believed in and practiced a religion regardless of what it was - but then you later on stopped believing in it, what influenced it?

Don't just say "I realized it was all a bunch of stupid fairy tales". How and why did you come to that conclusion? Was there a specific event or series of events? Here are some things for consideration...

• Was it scandal, hypocrisy, and corruption among the ministers or your coreligionists? Was it the past sins of or evils committed by it? Was it the presence of seemingly unchecked evil in the world?
• Were you pressured by friends or family members? Was it the loss of a friend or family member (death, separation, divorce, "falling out", etc.)?
• Were you overwhelmed by personal sins of which you felt you couldn't be forgiven? Did you simply not understand your faith? Were you poorly educated on it?
• Did you ask for something in prayer, but it was not granted to you?
• Did you become too busy with work or school? Was it leaving your home environment for the first time and not having the same community or support system that you had before?
• Were you upset because it wouldn't embrace your view of the culture ("get with the times", "modernize", etc.)?
• Did its texts contradict itself, nature, etc?

These are the answers I'm looking for here. So, what made you lose your faith?

Scandal, hypocrisy, corruption, and evil

Poor formation and instruction

Away from community because of work or school/Unfamiliar environment

Pressure by family or friends/Personal tragedy

Disagreed with teachings

Contradictions

Other (please explain)

[TheUniqueOne96]

I just started to think about it more deeply, because I realised that it's obviously a big deal, I mean if you believe in an afterlife that's greater than this, then surely it should be a big deal & it's perfectly reasonable to think about it a lot, because it just doesn't get any bigger than that.

When I started to think about religion, I looked at the main aspect of it, god, because he's like the ultimate thing that makes everything and put us into that situation.

Plus, I have a tendency to always look at things from other people's side & have always understood that I'm biased & what I mean by that is that I were raised to believe in one specific religion, when there's so many out there and somehow mine is right & everyone else's is wrong and they're going to hell.

To me, it feels like some people who are born & raised to believe in any specific religion, will almost try to convince themselves that their faith is, like how does that defy logic & make everyone else wrong and you can't always judge other religions based on what you've heard about them, because people could say the same about your own, because there are at least a few of them that have bad reputations.

Ultimately the above combined with me believing that god put us in a position to fail, are the reasons why I don't believe in it anymore, though I do understand that I haven't studied all of them, as well as the ways some can be interpreted, so I'm not ignorant enough to assume that there's no chance of any of them being true.

Some might say 'us humans screw ourselves over, because we abuse our free will', yeah well who gave us this free will, KNOWING full well that we'd abuse it & ultimately go to hell, suffering the worst possible fate? Is this what god wanted? If no, then why is Mr All-Powerful and All-Knowing, doing something he doesn't want to do? How much shit would a person get for poking a hornet's nest and then getting upset about getting injured, but when God himself, with those amazing attributes does it, it's okay? A human doesn't always know everything before hand. If he does like to punish people however, then he's just sadistic and deserves to be called a devil, I mean he did create the latter after all anyway & shouldn't we love god's creations? The devil tempts you into doing bad things and then punishes you in hell fire that god decided to throw you in anyway. It sounds like he's doing god's dirty work, hardly the bad guy, especially considering god could just end him like that.

There is a counter argument to the 'god put us in a position to fail', where heard I've heard people say that when god created us, he gave us a choice between being an angel & being a human. The differences are, the human being has free will & therefore is a superior creation to the angel, because they have a choice over whether or not they obey god & them choosing to do so, is far more impressive than the angel, because the latter doesn't have a choice & can ONLY obey god. Then, god apparently wiped our memories, which is why we don't remember, but apparently will on the day of judgement, so we 'choose to be here'. Despite that, did we choose to be put in a position where we'd know we'd make the wrong choice, did we ask to be brought into existence at all, knowing the worst possible fate could await us, once we're dead, because on top of their being countless religions out there, how can you say for sure which one is true, because even if you were to narrow it down to Islam and Christianity, there's like countless ways you could interpret them, with some Muslims, says these other Muslims aren't 'true believers', as well as some Christians, so there's no certainty with what's right and what's wrong, especially considering there's more than just these two religions. It's fair to say we won't know 100% until we're actually dead, but I feel like it can come across as ignorant to say one thing is right & everyone else is wrong, especially if you haven't studied it.

[TheUniqueOne96]

Look at the state of the world too, so much bad shit going on, horrible forms of discriminations, whether it's due to race, religion, gender and yet that's nothing, compared to the way god discriminates, in a far greater way, because this world's punishment isn't enough.

I've also heard an argument, that good non-believers will be rewarded in this world, but not in the next one, so they'll basically have a good life & then get punish, how amazing (!) and I highly doubt that throughout the history of people, all good non-believers have had some amazing life, some have most likely suffered like shit in this one, which is nothing compared to what's waiting for them once they die.

A final argument I've heard, is that 'as long as you're a good person, you'll go to heaven anyway'. Well, doesn't that defeat the purpose of religion anyway, lol, because if it turns out to be true, the you're safe anyway & isn't that what it's all about, I mean who would spend their whole life following religious rules, if nothing happens once we're dead anyway, too all? This also begs another question though, is my definition of a good person, the same as religion's definition of a good person, because based on what I've heard (I could be totally wrong about this though), religion has issues with things that I don't e. g. sex before marriage, homosexuality, polygamy, none of which should be anyone else's business, but some may see as sinful.

[TheUniqueOne96]

Sorry, I got told a few times that my answer was too long or short, so I had to break it up.

[Wade8888]

1) God is not required to answer the prayers of a sinner, except a prayer of repentance/salvation.

2) God is not required to answer selfish prayers. at all.
"God give me the hottest possible wife!"
"God help me win the lottery!"
Rather you should pray something like, "God help me find the wisest and most Godly available woman to marry."
"God help the poor in such and such country worse off than the U. S... and show me where I can donate $100 to be the most effective."

3) God is not required to help you solve problems you created for yourself, especially through prior disobedience. Through Grace He can forgive you, but just know it's Grace.

4) God does NOT answer prayer "in the name of Jesus", as Jesus was a false prophet. "God is not a man... neither the Son of Man..." (Numbers 23:19) There are times where He may make an exception anyway, but I really don't know how to explain that yet at this point in my life, except to chalk it up to "Grace", and for you "Christians" Everything in the Torah was already by Grace, according to Moses, so no, Jesus death on the Cross didn't add anything to God's ability to forgive sins or answer prayers.

[desidoll]

I used to be devoted and not so much now though I still believe a little. The reason is because He seems to favor some people for mysterious reasons and ignore those who actually need His help. I have seen this happening so many times in my life. He is never fair to everyone. He has His chosen children and nobody can change that.

[Agape93]

Brought up Catholic. I stopped believing because it made me feel suffocated and stifled. That I was worth less than men. Not to mention the hollow pageantry without results perplexed me for a while. But after opening my mind to other beliefs, I found one that makes good sense to me.

[BCRanger10]

"Worth less than men", how?

And what do you mean by "Hollow pageantry"?

[Agape93]

can't be priests or anything meaningful. Our place is that of subservience because we are blocked from meaningful positions that are held by only men.

All the gilded crosses, conclave, etc. the ceremonies are just pageantry. They don’t mean anything other than base symbolism.

But that’s just what I took from it all. That’s how I see it.

[BCRanger10]

If you don't mind my asking, what's the worst thing about not being able to be a priest? How do you see the priesthood?

[Agape93]

We can’t teach anything. We can’t perform exorcisms or anything of the sort. If it’s not important, why would we be barred from it?

[BCRanger10]

Okay. So then that brings me back to the second question in my previous comment. How do you view the priesthood? What is your understanding of the priesthood? What were you taught about it?

[Agape93]

Priests in my eyes, are teachers and spokespersons for the gods/goddesses they worship. To me and to my beliefs, barring half the population from being such because of merely gender is abhorrent. One should be barred from it based on knowledge of material as well as ones character.

[BCRanger10]

Would I be correct in assuming that you went to Catholic schools growing up?

[Agape93]

Nope thankfully

[BCRanger10]

Did you have any kind of religious education and formation growing up? Youth groups, catechism classes, etc?

[Agape93]

Just youth group and my parents home educations regarding religion. Needless to say it was suffocating.

[BCRanger10]

What were you taught about the priesthood?

[Agape93]

That they administer the 7 sacraments, provide pastoral care, give religious education and oversee the sick. Or do you mean my religions priests/priestesses?

[CarneConChile]

It was the Paradoxes. Because being "good" in terms of the faith set you up precicely to fall into the cycle of being "bad" and requiring a savior, etc. When in actuality it is impossible to escape self interest without ceasing to exist. Either for " Good" or "bad" both are determined from the "self" which is refered to as bad in my religion and culture. Really leaves me at a complete loss and no understanding of anything.

Also the people that stormed the capitol believed the conspiracies for the same exact reason I believed my religion. As in : Believing they were right and the others were wrong, that the truth would come out and the others would be proved to be wrong and you as right. and then you would live ina utopia. Really made me see it all as the same sort of trick used again and again.. By religions, cults, trumptards. And this devalued what I believed in, leaving me at a loss. Should I behave in what I see as an animal? I think yes

[OfDeath]

When I was a very young child I believed in God. As I got older I began to see a pattern. I noticed that science seemed to erode the claims of religion but for some reason religion never erodes the discoveries of science. Then I started to think rationally about various aspects of existence and came to the stark realisation that God is nothing but a figment of human imagination and is not needed to be invoked ever when ruminating on the larger questions.

[Jackblue]

A few things. I got tired of all the severity of the old testament. I remembered such things from the Bible as Joshua not being able to beat the iron chariots of the Canaanites of the plains, and when Israel and Judah's armies were repulsed by the Moabite king, not because they were sinning, but because the King of Moab sacrificed his son.

[mrkdvsn]

As a kid, I basically just went to church on Sundays and participated in saying grace before dinner, because it was what the rest of my family did. As I got older, I just couldn't see the reason to continue going to church, as it just seemed pointless.
Then as I got into my 40's, I started to return to my faith, which also coincided with my acquisition of conservative values. And I've never looked back.

[MCheetah]

Other: I turned 11 and realized how f*cking stupid this all was, and how much it contradicts each other. Was formerly Christian, now agnostic.

[monkeynutts]

All of the above. History really makes obvious that religious institutions are dodgy and or outright evil institutions. It’s where most of the nutjobs go. Piety and fanaticism, causes conflict. All I can say is thank god for rock n roll.

[worldscolide]

I voted the first one, but it was more than that. I was in foster care most of my childhood, a few places were Uber religious, and used religion to beat me and drug me. Fuck that

[strateguy632]

people leave for reasons other than refutation

[RyanK9b]

Knowledge.
The pure logic of how the world works and the Unlogic of religious people.

[BCRanger10]

What are you defining as "unlogic"?

[RyanK9b]

Their beliefs in higher power that somehow moves them. Or guides them. Doctors that healed her family members but thanking god for the miracle.

[BCRanger10]

What's wrong with believing in a higher power? What's so illogical about it?

[RyanK9b]

That they think that their own actions was not controlled by them. Or something on earth made possible by another human somehow created by god.

Their general Distrust in their own abilities

[BCRanger10]

Where do you get that idea?

[OddBeMe]

All the above plus logic and easy access to information.

[BCRanger10]

Logic. Meaning what exactly?

[OddBeMe]

Logical fallacies like special pleading and confirmation bias.

[kkirk4442]

Fortunately, I have not lost my faith.

[Alexandrubaschet08]

Just want to see the result

[havingfun101]

Love me or I'll burn you forever ultimatum

[JesterRose]

I reached the age of reason.

[In_Trance]

I started asking questions

[BCRanger10]

About what specifically? And what kind of answers did you get?

[In_Trance]

Answers that didn't satisfy my curiosity.
Like, why does God allow children to starve in third world countries, allow the greed of capitalism, yet he's greatly concerned with what two people do in the bedroom outside of wedlock?

[BCRanger10]

And what kind of answers did you get to those?

[In_Trance]

Funny thing is nobody has a valid response for that. if you believe in something you should reasonably be able to explain most aspects

[Jersey2]

Nothing has.

[jahaims]

Never had it

[Anonymous]

Thinking for myself