Why are Christians so confused?
Because I like to listen, watch, and read information that spans all kinds of thought and philosophies, YouTube is a bit confused on what to recommend to me. Is she a Christian watching Atheist content or an Atheist watching Christian content? So I end up clicking on things sometimes that I definitely disagree with. Recently a video was in my recommends about why people are leaving the faith. As you would expect from those who are still religious, it is full of misunderstandings and assertions about those who no longer consider themselves Christians.
Apparently, according to Sean McDowell and Alisa Childers, people are leaving the faith because they do not fundamentally understand that they are sinners in need of a savior. Until people can come to God admitting how broken they are, they will struggle to find a need for God. This really irked me, enough to write about it obviously. Because here is the truth. Even when I was a Christian, this idea that we are all horrible despicable sinners who deserve eternal torment for the crime of being born a human, didn't make sense to me. I was told that normal human things, like having a libido, wearing clothing that kept me cool in the summer, white lies, talking about other people, or even eating too much were things I needed saving from. No one mentioned that there are psychological reasons why people do these things, some are developmentally appropriate, and some are not unethical when done in a way that doesn't hurt people. As a teenager, I was fairly well-behaved. I spent the vast majority of my time at church, practicing my violin, and reading. I didn't even read "bad" things. I didn't get into trouble, to this day I still don't know where to buy drugs, and I didn't drink a drop of alcohol until I was legally able to. My life as a teenager was anything but sinful and yet I was told from every corner of my life that I was in fact, a sinner. That by merely being born, this so-called loving God saw me as nothing more than torture fodder. I struggled with this idea even then. What was I doing that made me so bad? Perhaps if I had one of those testimonies about being rescued from a life of drug addiction or was a mean person who bullied and partied all the time. But I wasn't that person, had never been that person, and never became that person. My "sins" were normal human behavior and the more I learned about psychology the more certain I was that the things I was feeling and thinking were normal and even healthy. In other words...I don't need a savior because there is nothing I need to be saved or rescued from. This is hard for Christians who have allowed their self-esteem to be defined by the ideas behind original sin and the necessity for a "savior". They will say, what do you mean you don't need a savior? You curse don't you? What about lying? What about being cruel to something? We've all done sinful things. Except I don't consider those things sins. Despite your religious holy book, I don't actually see those things as objectively wrong. Lying can be bad...sometimes. Sometimes it is necessary. Bot talking being someone's back sounds very righteous, but the truth is, we humans discuss people who aren't in our current in-group. Unless you are doing it in a way that will hurt them or someone else, I don't think it is unethical. So why don't these deconverted people see that they are sinners who need saving? Because we didn't need a savior in the first place. What's the heart of the question?
Sean McDowell did something called an atheist role play where he pretends to be an atheist. Finding the real issue of why people leave their faith is his goal. He uses the example of a young man, just turned 18, who said he wants to just have fun and this is the reason for him leaving the faith and being an atheist. While I seriously doubt if that story is even true, I would also posit that none of the people I have ever met who have left the faith, did so because they just wanted to have fun. That is a lie that the churches and church leaders like to tell, because it makes it look like people are leaving the church for "sinful" or selfish reasons. It leaves no room for actual deep thought or understanding. Sean McDowell believes people are leaving because we are teaching that the gospel should be fun and wonderful and then when things don't work out, that's why people leave. They leave because being a Christian is supposed to be hard and imperfect and they should expect nothing but that and shouldn't be upset when Christianity and God don't help them when they are going through crisis or transitions.
To be honest, this sounds like the gaslighting that comes from an abusive spouse. Hey, I know you are being treated badly and I've made sure that everyone hates you, but you shouldn't divorce me because you promised in sickness and in health and this is just the sickness part. But let's be honest....is this the reason people are leaving Christianity? Because being a Christian is so hard? Fuck no. When I was a Christian it wasn't that hard to be one. I live in America. No one was persecuting me. I live a luxurious life compared to most people in the world. My church had too much money and resources. Some of them had the love your neighbor part down. I left because the historicity of the Bible doesn't hold water. Some leave because the God of the Bible is quite evil and only those indoctrinated into this bullshit believe something different. He also says that this is truly the world that people want. Because we have heroes in our stories, people deep down know that they need a savior because you can seen the savior story in the stories we tell. Yeah, but what are you saying we need saved from? Sin? I don't think that people's souls need saved from anything. Ultimately, these people are just belittling the journey that people have gone on when they deconstruct their faith. Are there young people who just abandon their religion when they head off to college. Yeah, of course. They are growing, questioning, and still a part of group think. I would say many of them didn't deconvert, simply set aside regular church attendance in exchange for having fun with their friends. I don't see anything wrong with this. But it doesn't take into account the scores of people who have read all the books, the Bible, talked to their pastors, visited other churches, sought answers. It doesn't take into account the study of archaeology, history, the making of the Bible, science, demographics, psychology, sociology. In the end, these people are just like all the other Christians who just don't get it. They aren't right about why people are doing it, which means they patronize those who are questioning. Because they are sooooo sure they are right, they assume that if you were just open-minded enough, you would come back to the fold. I think the message of Jesus is okay. Not great, but not terrible. But he believed in Noah's Flood and Moses, both of which didn't happen, so that tells me that if he exists he was just a man of his time. Who knows why he did it, or if he even said the things that are attributed to him. I think a lot of the gospels were created by followers with clear agendas long after he died, but I see no reason to worship this long-dead person. Christians don't worship other gods for similar reasons. You would think they would kind of understand why someone may not be interested in worshipping theirs.
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AuthorThis is a personal, but secret, blog archiving my deconversion from a Christian to a non-believer. Archives
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