Greetings, ex-christian here.

[J0SH]

My name is Josh, and I am an ex-Christian. Christianity had been a highly unpleasant experience for me when I first discovered the doctrine of eternal torture for all non-believers (No one deserves a fate of being tortured for an eternity, the punishment must fit the crime, and all crimes are finite, no matter how terrible they are) and I was psychologically tormented for about a year trying to rationalize the nonsense in the bible while being afraid myself to leave the faith out of fear of Hell even though I hated the religion so much, so brainwashed was I into the religion that it was difficult to let it go. Anyways, I'm doing well now, more or less. I am glad to be here, a lot of interesting and fascinating individuals to knock around ideas and debates with, I think I will be enjoying  it here. 

[kaziglu bey]

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your liberation from the tyrannical brutality of Christianity. I think you will find this a good place to discuss your anti-religious views. Here's a few links you might find interesting: Skeptic's Annotated Bible
God's Death Toll in the Bible

That's right, in the Babble, where numbers of dead are given, they add up to 2.5 MILLION people killed by God. But he loves us, don't worry 

[Nick]

Welcome Josh, rational thought leaves no guilt.

[J0SH]

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your liberation from the tyrannical brutality of Christianity. I think you will find this a good place to discuss your anti-religious views. Here's a few links you might find interesting: Skeptic's Annotated Bible
God's Death Toll in the Bible

That's right, in the Babble, where numbers of dead are given, they add up to 2.5 MILLION people killed by God. But he loves us, don't worry 

Thank you. Indeed, I have past been to both of those websites, and another good one showing the atrocities of God is www.evilbible.com I have directed a few Christians to these websites in hopes that they would find reason to leave their ancient religion behind but to no avail; I was called an "Enemy of God and a friend of the Devil" by one person and "A blind idiot who was never truly Christian to begin with" by another. It saddens me that even logic seems to go over the heads of many Christians. They may have been as brainwashed as I was when I was deep into the religion, but that's no excuse for continuing to blindly follow the religion when you plainly see for yourself how psychotically evil God is portrayed in the Bible. I still cannot understand why they would still continue to worship and love such a God despite all the evidence of his sickening behavior, that evidence being the Bible itself! They still call God "Loving!" It baffles me to no end. Having never actually read much of the Bible myself, I stuck mostly with just going to church, and the preachers never mentioned the barbaric nature of God. Curious myself one day, I decided to delve deeper into the book, having prior never getting past the book of Genesis, and discovered myself in shock the atrocities God was capable of. I was raised Christian, my family never being completely devout or fanatical, and didn't have a strong attachment to the religion until I was older.

[Andy S.]

Welcome Josh,

Welcome.  I've been on this forum for about a week and I've learned a lot and was shown a couple of great links.  My journey is almost the same.  It differed a little because I was picking apart the bible (textual and biblical criticism) seeing if this book could really be the revealed word of God.  I was never scared of Hell really and I think it was because I never truly believed in the doctrine.  Like you figured out, it just didn't seem logical.  However, the straw that broke the camels back was truly asking myself if I could worship the God of the Bible. 

If you don't mind me asking, was your family cool with your decision?  Are you and atheist now?

[Jag]

Hi J0SH, welcome!

I can relate to your story. It took years for me to let go of the hell doctrine - I knew I didn't believe in God, but still thought I was going to hell because I didn't believe in God - until I was FINALLY able to see just how f'ed up that thinking really was. Conditioning works, and religion is all about conditioning believers to follow a certain set of "rules" without question. A lot like military training, come to think of it.

People believe all kinds of stupid things, and they tend to dig in deep if those beliefs are questioned, or if given evidence that their beliefs are wrong (see the huge thread titled "please validate your belief in your god" for a fine example of fingers-in-ears-hollering-la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you in action). Too much of one's identity can get caught up in beliefs about external things, and no one likes having their world-view challenged.

Most of my (birth) family has become more devout as we've gotten older - I'm the only one who went the other direction, although one brother hasn't gone all fundamentalist so far. My parents and siblings don't know of my atheism, and I don't see that changing anytime soon - maybe after my parents pass, but not before. My mother would be devastated and I'm not willing to do that to her.

[J0SH]

Welcome Josh,

Welcome.  I've been on this forum for about a week and I've learned a lot and was shown a couple of great links.  My journey is almost the same.  It differed a little because I was picking apart the bible (textual and biblical criticism) seeing if this book could really be the revealed word of God.  I was never scared of Hell really and I think it was because I never truly believed in the doctrine.  Like you figured out, it just didn't seem logical.  However, the straw that broke the camels back was truly asking myself if I could worship the God of the Bible. 

If you don't mind me asking, was your family cool with your decision?  Are you and atheist now?

Hi Andy, no I don't mind you asking at all, to answer your questions; no, they didn't care. I was lucky in this regard because those in mainstream religions who have family who are very religious are sometimes treated very negatively by their family if they leave the faith, and in the worst cases, disowned. My family deems themselves to be Christians, but they aren't  very religious. To answer your second question; I am Agnostic. I asked myself the same question if the God of the Bible was worthy of worship myself, many times, and the conclusion I came to was absolutely not. I'm also curious about how your family took it, are they believers and did they take it well?

[J0SH]

Hi J0SH, welcome!

I can relate to your story. It took years for me to let go of the hell doctrine - I knew I didn't believe in God, but still thought I was going to hell because I didn't believe in God - until I was FINALLY able to see just how f'ed up that thinking really was. Conditioning works, and religion is all about conditioning believers to follow a certain set of "rules" without question. A lot like military training, come to think of it.

People believe all kinds of stupid things, and they tend to dig in deep if those beliefs are questioned, or if given evidence that their beliefs are wrong (see the huge thread titled "please validate your belief in your god" for a fine example of fingers-in-ears-hollering-la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you in action). Too much of one's identity can get caught up in beliefs about external things, and no one likes having their world-view challenged.

Most of my (birth) family has become more devout as we've gotten older - I'm the only one who went the other direction, although one brother hasn't gone all fundamentalist so far. My parents and siblings don't know of my atheism, and I don't see that changing anytime soon - maybe after my parents pass, but not before. My mother would be devastated and I'm not willing to do that to her.

Hi, thank you Jag. I can understand that you wouldn't want your parents to know of your atheism, I can imagine your mother tormenting herself with the worry of you being hell-bound had you told her of your unbelief. I think why most devout Christians refuse to see how "evil" and impossible their beliefs are, is because of fear. They fear that they will go to Hell if they stop believing, that's why they plug their ears and try their best not to listen to what you're telling them, or if they don't plug their ears will try to rationalize their beliefs in their psychopathic God. Most of these reasons are that "We should not question God.", or "God's ways are not our ways." or, one of my favorites, "God works in mysterious ways." I'm sorry you had to go through the psychological torment of the thought of Hell, I went through the same thing for a period of time. I recently came across a quote some months ago that rings true to both you and I.

"Who can estimate the misery that has been caused by this most infamous doctrine of eternal punishment? Think of the lives it has blighted of the tears it has caused of the agony it has produced. Think of the millions who have been driven to insanity by this most terrible of dogmas. This doctrine renders God the basest and most cruel being in the universe. Compared with him, the most frightful deities of the most barbarous and degraded tribes are miracles of goodness and mercy. There is nothing more degrading than to worship such a God. Lower than this the soul can never sink. If the doctrine of eternal damnation is true, let me share the fate of the unconverted; let me have my portion in hell, rather than in heaven with a God infamous enough to inflict eternal misery upon any of the sons of men."

-Robert Ingersoll, 1874

[Andy S.]

I'm also curious about how your family took it, are they believers and did they take it well?

My wife came out of the faith about the same time I did (a little before me).  I'm ready to tell my whole family about my decision but our families are close and my mother in-law is extremely religious.  My wife doesn't want to hurt her feelings so as of now I have to remain silent on the situation.

I'm anxious to confess my unpardonable sin to everyone and I wish I could throw 1 Tim. 2:11 at my wife but she no longer thinks the bible is authoritative.

I've told my 3 year old son my decision and he called me an infidel.  I have no idea how he learned that word.
I'm going to teach him how to think and not what to think.

[Tero]

The curse of atheists. Christian, Wiccan or Death metal children as teens.

Why don't they just kill themselves at the concert? They are obsessed with death after all.

Good luck with the 3 year old. You need a hobby with the kid.

[Jag]

I'm going to teach him how to think and not what to think.

Best parenting advice ever. 

[One Above All]

Welcome to the forum.

[Nick]

I'm also curious about how your family took it, are they believers and did they take it well?

My wife came out of the faith about the same time I did (a little before me).  I'm ready to tell my whole family about my decision but our families are close and my mother in-law is extremely religious.  My wife doesn't want to hurt her feelings so as of now I have to remain silent on the situation.

I'm anxious to confess my unpardonable sin to everyone and I wish I could throw 1 Tim. 2:11 at my wife but she no longer thinks the bible is authoritative.

I've told my 3 year old son my decision and he called me an infidel.  I have no idea how he learned that word.
I'm going to teach him how to think and not what to think.

Haha, funny, it is a strange word for a 3 yr old to know.

[Andy S.]

Haha, funny, it is a strange word for a 3 yr old to know.

Ha, he still doesn't speak to well though.  I could have misunderstood him.  He could have possibly said I'm "going to hell" since that sounds a lot like "infidel". 

[mrbiscoop]

Howdy.

[J0SH]

I'm also curious about how your family took it, are they believers and did they take it well?

I've told my 3 year old son my decision and he called me an infidel.  I have no idea how he learned that word.
I'm going to teach him how to think and not what to think.

Your son called you an infidel? That's too funny! I wonder where he heard that word from... he could have also like you mentioned, said "You're going to hell." Sounds like you have one smart kiddo there.  Teach him well.

[The Gawd]

Welcome JOSH!! Enjoy your time here...

I always am interested in reading how family takes the news of no longer believing. I'm glad yours and Andy's experience was rather easy (comparatively speaking), Ive heard some horror stories.

[screwtape]

Welcome, Josh