changing religions or becoming agnostic or athiest

Lizzy · Guru

changing religions or becoming agnostic or athiest

CoffeeQueen · Guru

RE: changing religions

Supafly · Guru

I was raised Methodist, switched to Presbyterian and then finally converted to Catholicism.

I have a kid free house right now and am trying to clean house, but will be back later this evening and would be willing to answer any questions I can!

Lizzy · Guru

CoffeeQueen wrote:

what ya want to know?

I was raised Catholic and am now Episcopalian.

can you tell me a little why you changed? (you can pm me if you want - i will keep it private) also, are there any inconsistencies between the two and how did you reconcile that? for example, do catholics believe one thing and episcopalian believe something TOTALLY different?

(as you can see, I am not incredibly familiar with either)

Lizzy · Guru

Supafly wrote:

I was raised Methodist, switched to Presbyterian and then finally converted to Catholicism.

I have a kid free house right now and am trying to clean house, but will be back later this evening and would be willing to answer any questions I can!

thanks, laura! I just repsonded to melissa that it might be easier if you wanted to pm me.

I edited the origiina post also.

apies · Guru

RE: changing religions or becoming agnostic or athiest

Juni · Guru

I will try and sit down later and PM you. I converted from Catholicism to the LDS Church. My husband was raised in the LDS church and currently does not believe. I am wavering if it is true atheism or agnostic, I really don't know. I will PM you later.

Lizzy · Guru

apies wrote:

liz, i was "raised" catholic if you can call it that. we were more christmas and easter people in my immediate household. i consider myself agnostic now.

when i was going through my confirmation classes, they showed a video where they explained that at your baptism, your godparents accept jesus on your behalf and your confirmation is your chance to accept him yourself.

it was a major eye opening moment for me. i realized that i had no faith and did not believe and was not willing to put my name on something that i felt so strongly against.

of course my mom freaked, but i think that over time, she realized that she did not instill the faith in me that she hoped i would develop on my own.

lmk if there's anything else i can address.

thanks april!

Lizzy · Guru

Juni wrote:

I will try and sit down later and PM you. I converted from Catholicism to the LDS Church. My husband was raised in the LDS church and currently does not believe. I am wavering if it is true atheism or agnostic, I really don't know. I will PM you later.

thank you, jen! I would be really interested in hearing about your experience.

Supafly · Guru

Well, I always wanted religion in my life, even as a kid, it was something I knew I wanted, even though I didn't really understand why. We went to church every sunday for a long long time, in fact, my mom and dad were in charge of the choir.

Something happened at the church-there was some sort of scandal, but IDK what it was exactly-something about the pastor doing something. And then we got a new pastor, a woman. My parents stopped going after that. They had been close to the previous pastor, and I think they felt betrayed or something. Anyway, this was around the time I was to be confirmed, and I wanted to do it, so I walked to church myself every Sunday morning-got ready to go while everyone else was still asleep.

But of course, after a while as a teenager, you get tired of going to church alone, and I barely knew anyone at the church outside of my parent's friends. So I stopped going. I always felt something was missing, but didn't really put it together then-the years when I stopped going were my worst years behavior wise too.

When I was in HS, a junior I think, a couple of friends of mine were talking about a church trip to go skiing, and they invited me to go. That kind of opened the door, and I started going with them to their church on Sundays-a Presbyterian church. I enjoyed it, and their family (whom I had known for a long time) was very welcoming to me and took me every week. We had youth group, and it was nice to be part of a community again. It was a nice place to be-lightweight and not terribly thought provoking, but enjoyable.

When I went to college, I stopped going. I didn't enjoy chapel at my school, and for me personally, I have to feel inspired or moved or something in order to keep going to church. Well, there was that and the fact that I was partying a lot.

Anyway, after college, I was dating Bill. I had never fully dealt with my past issues (probably still haven't when it comes to my dad), so we had a LOT of discussions about God and religion back then. By that point in my life, I had pretty much abandoned religion of any kind. I was just too upset about things in my own life and I couldn't see how God fit into them. There were a lot of tears while Bill and I sat out on his little deck for hours talking about all of this stuff, and it moved me how steadfast he was in his beliefs. I had always assumed that was because his parents were such strict Catholics and he was basically forced into it or brainwashed, because from everything my dad had every said, no one who was Catholic actually believed in that "crap." But when we actually talked about it, I found out that he had struggled with his own faith as well. During his college years, he did a lot of soul searching and came back to Catholicism and the faith he had grown up in.

I made the choice then that I wanted to find faith as well too. Bill never pressured me into becoming Catholic-he just wanted me to find a religious home-and his parents were fine with it too. So I tried going to church at a few places, including Bill's family's church. There was a priest there at the time that I just fell in love with (not like "in love" obviously, lol) and I really found myself enjoying mass. I liked the message, and for me, while I didn't know the various parts of mass, I felt something comforting in the rituals that only a few years ago I felt were mindless and silly for people to just stand there and repeat every week. Also, I know this is an oddity, but I also enjoyed that for the most part, we Catholics stick to ourselves, and you never feel like you have to hang around and chat. Everywhere else I had gone, there was not only the service, but also coffee and donuts before, and people hung around and chatted after. I mean, some of the Catholics do that too-you *can* be social if you want to be, but it isn't expected, and I felt safe in that. It feels like a very internal religion to me, and that is exactly what I wanted.

There are some things I don't believe in though-which I attribute to having not been raised in the faith. I don't buy into Original Sin, and I don't have the Adoration of Mary thing either. Not to say I don't appreciate her, but it isn't the same for me as for some cradle catholics. Obviously, there is the birth control issue as well as abortion-things like that. So I am not technically a good Catholic, but I very strongly feel that ALL religions have there issues. Maybe there are more in the Catholic faith, but there are also more good things for me than bad. My mindset is that religions are man made, but the faith behind the religion is what is important.

Ok, this is ridiculous in length, so I hope it has been a bit helpful!!!

Lizzy · Guru

Supafly wrote:

Well, I always wanted religion in my life, even as a kid, it was something I knew I wanted, even though I didn't really understand why. We went to church every sunday for a long long time, in fact, my mom and dad were in charge of the choir.

Something happened at the church-there was some sort of scandal, but IDK what it was exactly-something about the pastor doing something. And then we got a new pastor, a woman. My parents stopped going after that. They had been close to the previous pastor, and I think they felt betrayed or something. Anyway, this was around the time I was to be confirmed, and I wanted to do it, so I walked to church myself every Sunday morning-got ready to go while everyone else was still asleep.

But of course, after a while as a teenager, you get tired of going to church alone, and I barely knew anyone at the church outside of my parent's friends. So I stopped going. I always felt something was missing, but didn't really put it together then-the years when I stopped going were my worst years behavior wise too.

When I was in HS, a junior I think, a couple of friends of mine were talking about a church trip to go skiing, and they invited me to go. That kind of opened the door, and I started going with them to their church on Sundays-a Presbyterian church. I enjoyed it, and their family (whom I had known for a long time) was very welcoming to me and took me every week. We had youth group, and it was nice to be part of a community again. It was a nice place to be-lightweight and not terribly thought provoking, but enjoyable.

When I went to college, I stopped going. I didn't enjoy chapel at my school, and for me personally, I have to feel inspired or moved or something in order to keep going to church. Well, there was that and the fact that I was partying a lot.

Anyway, after college, I was dating Bill. I had never fully dealt with my past issues (probably still haven't when it comes to my dad), so we had a LOT of discussions about God and religion back then. By that point in my life, I had pretty much abandoned religion of any kind. I was just too upset about things in my own life and I couldn't see how God fit into them. There were a lot of tears while Bill and I sat out on his little deck for hours talking about all of this stuff, and it moved me how steadfast he was in his beliefs. I had always assumed that was because his parents were such strict Catholics and he was basically forced into it or brainwashed, because from everything my dad had every said, no one who was Catholic actually believed in that "crap." But when we actually talked about it, I found out that he had struggled with his own faith as well. During his college years, he did a lot of soul searching and came back to Catholicism and the faith he had grown up in.

I made the choice then that I wanted to find faith as well too. Bill never pressured me into becoming Catholic-he just wanted me to find a religious home-and his parents were fine with it too. So I tried going to church at a few places, including Bill's family's church. There was a priest there at the time that I just fell in love with (not like "in love" obviously, lol) and I really found myself enjoying mass. I liked the message, and for me, while I didn't know the various parts of mass, I felt something comforting in the rituals that only a few years ago I felt were mindless and silly for people to just stand there and repeat every week. Also, I know this is an oddity, but I also enjoyed that for the most part, we Catholics stick to ourselves, and you never feel like you have to hang around and chat. Everywhere else I had gone, there was not only the service, but also coffee and donuts before, and people hung around and chatted after. I mean, some of the Catholics do that too-you *can* be social if you want to be, but it isn't expected, and I felt safe in that. It feels like a very internal religion to me, and that is exactly what I wanted.

There are some things I don't believe in though-which I attribute to having not been raised in the faith. I don't buy into Original Sin, and I don't have the Adoration of Mary thing either. Not to say I don't appreciate her, but it isn't the same for me as for some cradle catholics. Obviously, there is the birth control issue as well as abortion-things like that. So I am not technically a good Catholic, but I very strongly feel that ALL religions have there issues. Maybe there are more in the Catholic faith, but there are also more good things for me than bad. My mindset is that religions are man made, but the faith behind the religion is what is important.

Ok, this is ridiculous in length, so I hope it has been a bit helpful!!!

oh no...this has been so helpful!! Once I start putting the paper together, i may have some more questions for you as it will take me awhile to process all of the information.

thanks again, laura

SerenityNow · Veteran Member

I converted from agnostic to Christian. I have no denomination.

I had a father who was a Sunday School teacher and an atheist mother. I stopped attending church at 9. I was almost (but could never be sure) an atheist. In my mid-twenties I was still lambasting God and Jesus with a fervor that would make a Christian mourn. I would debate against religions in college with the poor students who had a ministry.

So the change happened when a Jehovah's Witness bought a dresser at my mom's garage sale and left a large booklet about 10 question about God. I was going potty and read it the next day. Um, yeah. The seed of God was planted while going potty.

It answered a lot of questions, and for my annoyingly logical mind, I started investigating further. Surprisingly to me, and most of my friends, I realized that God was more likely than not. Then the bigger question for any real philosopher is then the nature of said God (as it is pretty easy to imagine a higher being or power). The nature of God was discovered in the New Testament. As I read it, and the Bible twice cover to cover, I learned that what I thought about religion was wrong, and that there was GREAT news. And the idea that Jesus didn't rise from the dead seemed more ridiculous than if he didn't. And if he did, then that was the nature of God, and that meant there was no choice but to believe.

I wish my parents had more to do with it, but they didn't. Probably because my father was raised atheist and found God as a teen and wanted the same for me, to search Him out on my own. I was never baptized until I chose to be at 26.

Juanita · Guru

SerenityNow wrote:

I converted from agnostic to Christian. I have no denomination.

I had a father who was a Sunday School teacher and an atheist mother. I stopped attending church at 9. I was almost (but could never be sure) an atheist. In my mid-twenties I was still lambasting God and Jesus with a fervor that would make a Christian mourn. I would debate against religions in college with the poor students who had a ministry.

So the change happened when a Jehovah's Witness bought a dresser at my mom's garage sale and left a large booklet about 10 question about God. I was going potty and read it the next day. Um, yeah. The seed of God was planted while going potty.

It answered a lot of questions, and for my annoyingly logical mind, I started investigating further. Surprisingly to me, and most of my friends, I realized that God was more likely than not. Then the bigger question for any real philosopher is then the nature of said God (as it is pretty easy to imagine a higher being or power). The nature of God was discovered in the New Testament. As I read it, and the Bible twice cover to cover, I learned that what I thought about religion was wrong, and that there was GREAT news. And the idea that Jesus didn't rise from the dead seemed more ridiculous than if he didn't. And if he did, then that was the nature of God, and that meant there was no choice but to believe.

I wish my parents had more to do with it, but they didn't. Probably because my father was raised atheist and found God as a teen and wanted the same for me, to search Him out on my own. I was never baptized until I chose to be at 26.

This is EXACTLY they way I want my girls to be. While I believe without question in God and all that goes with that, and while I'm raising them to be Christian, I will not force them to be baptized until they WANT to and understand what it means.

I want them to have the same thing that God gives us: free will. While I hope and pray that they choose him, I won't force them to do or believe anything they don't.

Regarding the blue: That's one of the reasons, when asked, I advise people to start reading the bible in the New Testament. Once you do and you find the true nature of God, and you go back and read the Old Testament, you see how it all fits into place..just like pieces of a puzzle. Which is amazing considering the Old Testament talks about stuff that happens in the NT, and was written WAAAYYY before the NT was. Pretty awesome smile

Juanita · Guru

Supafly wrote:

Well, I always wanted religion in my life, even as a kid, it was something I knew I wanted, even though I didn't really understand why. We went to church every sunday for a long long time, in fact, my mom and dad were in charge of the choir.

Something happened at the church-there was some sort of scandal, but IDK what it was exactly-something about the pastor doing something. And then we got a new pastor, a woman. My parents stopped going after that. They had been close to the previous pastor, and I think they felt betrayed or something. Anyway, this was around the time I was to be confirmed, and I wanted to do it, so I walked to church myself every Sunday morning-got ready to go while everyone else was still asleep.

But of course, after a while as a teenager, you get tired of going to church alone, and I barely knew anyone at the church outside of my parent's friends. So I stopped going. I always felt something was missing, but didn't really put it together then-the years when I stopped going were my worst years behavior wise too.

When I was in HS, a junior I think, a couple of friends of mine were talking about a church trip to go skiing, and they invited me to go. That kind of opened the door, and I started going with them to their church on Sundays-a Presbyterian church. I enjoyed it, and their family (whom I had known for a long time) was very welcoming to me and took me every week. We had youth group, and it was nice to be part of a community again. It was a nice place to be-lightweight and not terribly thought provoking, but enjoyable.

When I went to college, I stopped going. I didn't enjoy chapel at my school, and for me personally, I have to feel inspired or moved or something in order to keep going to church. Well, there was that and the fact that I was partying a lot.

Anyway, after college, I was dating Bill. I had never fully dealt with my past issues (probably still haven't when it comes to my dad), so we had a LOT of discussions about God and religion back then. By that point in my life, I had pretty much abandoned religion of any kind. I was just too upset about things in my own life and I couldn't see how God fit into them. There were a lot of tears while Bill and I sat out on his little deck for hours talking about all of this stuff, and it moved me how steadfast he was in his beliefs. I had always assumed that was because his parents were such strict Catholics and he was basically forced into it or brainwashed, because from everything my dad had every said, no one who was Catholic actually believed in that "crap." But when we actually talked about it, I found out that he had struggled with his own faith as well. During his college years, he did a lot of soul searching and came back to Catholicism and the faith he had grown up in.

I made the choice then that I wanted to find faith as well too. Bill never pressured me into becoming Catholic-he just wanted me to find a religious home-and his parents were fine with it too. So I tried going to church at a few places, including Bill's family's church. There was a priest there at the time that I just fell in love with (not like "in love" obviously, lol) and I really found myself enjoying mass. I liked the message, and for me, while I didn't know the various parts of mass, I felt something comforting in the rituals that only a few years ago I felt were mindless and silly for people to just stand there and repeat every week. Also, I know this is an oddity, but I also enjoyed that for the most part, we Catholics stick to ourselves, and you never feel like you have to hang around and chat. Everywhere else I had gone, there was not only the service, but also coffee and donuts before, and people hung around and chatted after. I mean, some of the Catholics do that too-you *can* be social if you want to be, but it isn't expected, and I felt safe in that. It feels like a very internal religion to me, and that is exactly what I wanted.

There are some things I don't believe in though-which I attribute to having not been raised in the faith. I don't buy into Original Sin, and I don't have the Adoration of Mary thing either. Not to say I don't appreciate her, but it isn't the same for me as for some cradle catholics. Obviously, there is the birth control issue as well as abortion-things like that. So I am not technically a good Catholic, but I very strongly feel that ALL religions have there issues. Maybe there are more in the Catholic faith, but there are also more good things for me than bad. My mindset is that religions are man made, but the faith behind the religion is what is important.

Ok, this is ridiculous in length, so I hope it has been a bit helpful!!!

That's so funny, the way you worded that, lol.

Supafly · Guru

Juanita wrote:

Supafly wrote:

Well, I always wanted religion in my life, even as a kid, it was something I knew I wanted, even though I didn't really understand why. We went to church every sunday for a long long time, in fact, my mom and dad were in charge of the choir.

Something happened at the church-there was some sort of scandal, but IDK what it was exactly-something about the pastor doing something. And then we got a new pastor, a woman. My parents stopped going after that. They had been close to the previous pastor, and I think they felt betrayed or something. Anyway, this was around the time I was to be confirmed, and I wanted to do it, so I walked to church myself every Sunday morning-got ready to go while everyone else was still asleep.

But of course, after a while as a teenager, you get tired of going to church alone, and I barely knew anyone at the church outside of my parent's friends. So I stopped going. I always felt something was missing, but didn't really put it together then-the years when I stopped going were my worst years behavior wise too.

When I was in HS, a junior I think, a couple of friends of mine were talking about a church trip to go skiing, and they invited me to go. That kind of opened the door, and I started going with them to their church on Sundays-a Presbyterian church. I enjoyed it, and their family (whom I had known for a long time) was very welcoming to me and took me every week. We had youth group, and it was nice to be part of a community again. It was a nice place to be-lightweight and not terribly thought provoking, but enjoyable.

When I went to college, I stopped going. I didn't enjoy chapel at my school, and for me personally, I have to feel inspired or moved or something in order to keep going to church. Well, there was that and the fact that I was partying a lot.

Anyway, after college, I was dating Bill. I had never fully dealt with my past issues (probably still haven't when it comes to my dad), so we had a LOT of discussions about God and religion back then. By that point in my life, I had pretty much abandoned religion of any kind. I was just too upset about things in my own life and I couldn't see how God fit into them. There were a lot of tears while Bill and I sat out on his little deck for hours talking about all of this stuff, and it moved me how steadfast he was in his beliefs. I had always assumed that was because his parents were such strict Catholics and he was basically forced into it or brainwashed, because from everything my dad had every said, no one who was Catholic actually believed in that "crap." But when we actually talked about it, I found out that he had struggled with his own faith as well. During his college years, he did a lot of soul searching and came back to Catholicism and the faith he had grown up in.

I made the choice then that I wanted to find faith as well too. Bill never pressured me into becoming Catholic-he just wanted me to find a religious home-and his parents were fine with it too. So I tried going to church at a few places, including Bill's family's church. There was a priest there at the time that I just fell in love with (not like "in love" obviously, lol) and I really found myself enjoying mass. I liked the message, and for me, while I didn't know the various parts of mass, I felt something comforting in the rituals that only a few years ago I felt were mindless and silly for people to just stand there and repeat every week. Also, I know this is an oddity, but I also enjoyed that for the most part, we Catholics stick to ourselves, and you never feel like you have to hang around and chat. Everywhere else I had gone, there was not only the service, but also coffee and donuts before, and people hung around and chatted after. I mean, some of the Catholics do that too-you *can* be social if you want to be, but it isn't expected, and I felt safe in that. It feels like a very internal religion to me, and that is exactly what I wanted.

There are some things I don't believe in though-which I attribute to having not been raised in the faith. I don't buy into Original Sin, and I don't have the Adoration of Mary thing either. Not to say I don't appreciate her, but it isn't the same for me as for some cradle catholics. Obviously, there is the birth control issue as well as abortion-things like that. So I am not technically a good Catholic, but I very strongly feel that ALL religions have there issues. Maybe there are more in the Catholic faith, but there are also more good things for me than bad. My mindset is that religions are man made, but the faith behind the religion is what is important.

Ok, this is ridiculous in length, so I hope it has been a bit helpful!!!

That's so funny, the way you worded that, lol.

I hope I didn't offend with that!!! I don't mean to!!!

Lizzy · Guru

Juanita wrote:

SerenityNow wrote:

I converted from agnostic to Christian. I have no denomination.

I had a father who was a Sunday School teacher and an atheist mother. I stopped attending church at 9. I was almost (but could never be sure) an atheist. In my mid-twenties I was still lambasting God and Jesus with a fervor that would make a Christian mourn. I would debate against religions in college with the poor students who had a ministry.

So the change happened when a Jehovah's Witness bought a dresser at my mom's garage sale and left a large booklet about 10 question about God. I was going potty and read it the next day. Um, yeah. The seed of God was planted while going potty.

It answered a lot of questions, and for my annoyingly logical mind, I started investigating further. Surprisingly to me, and most of my friends, I realized that God was more likely than not. Then the bigger question for any real philosopher is then the nature of said God (as it is pretty easy to imagine a higher being or power). The nature of God was discovered in the New Testament. As I read it, and the Bible twice cover to cover, I learned that what I thought about religion was wrong, and that there was GREAT news. And the idea that Jesus didn't rise from the dead seemed more ridiculous than if he didn't. And if he did, then that was the nature of God, and that meant there was no choice but to believe.

I wish my parents had more to do with it, but they didn't. Probably because my father was raised atheist and found God as a teen and wanted the same for me, to search Him out on my own. I was never baptized until I chose to be at 26.

This is EXACTLY they way I want my girls to be. While I believe without question in God and all that goes with that, and while I'm raising them to be Christian, I will not force them to be baptized until they WANT to and understand what it means.

I want them to have the same thing that God gives us: free will. While I hope and pray that they choose him, I won't force them to do or believe anything they don't.
Regarding the blue: That's one of the reasons, when asked, I advise people to start reading the bible in the New Testament. Once you do and you find the true nature of God, and you go back and read the Old Testament, you see how it all fits into place..just like pieces of a puzzle. Which is amazing considering the Old Testament talks about stuff that happens in the NT, and was written WAAAYYY before the NT was. Pretty awesome

Jen....I am most interested in this "while I believe without questioon in God and all that goes with that". This is the direction my paper is focusing on...people who have deeply held religion and then change or lose it.

For you, can you think of anything that would lead you to abandon your religion? Can you understand when others do? How is it perceived in religious circles when people convert?

tia!!

Lizzy · Guru

SerenityNow wrote:

I converted from agnostic to Christian. I have no denomination.

I had a father who was a Sunday School teacher and an atheist mother. I stopped attending church at 9. I was almost (but could never be sure) an atheist. In my mid-twenties I was still lambasting God and Jesus with a fervor that would make a Christian mourn. I would debate against religions in college with the poor students who had a ministry.

So the change happened when a Jehovah's Witness bought a dresser at my mom's garage sale and left a large booklet about 10 question about God. I was going potty and read it the next day. Um, yeah. The seed of God was planted while going potty.

It answered a lot of questions, and for my annoyingly logical mind, I started investigating further. Surprisingly to me, and most of my friends, I realized that God was more likely than not. Then the bigger question for any real philosopher is then the nature of said God (as it is pretty easy to imagine a higher being or power). The nature of God was discovered in the New Testament. As I read it, and the Bible twice cover to cover, I learned that what I thought about religion was wrong, and that there was GREAT news. And the idea that Jesus didn't rise from the dead seemed more ridiculous than if he didn't. And if he did, then that was the nature of God, and that meant there was no choice but to believe.

I wish my parents had more to do with it, but they didn't. Probably because my father was raised atheist and found God as a teen and wanted the same for me, to search Him out on my own. I was never baptized until I chose to be at 26.

thanks kate for the insight from one who converted to religion. This is an interesting observation that I highlighted. can you expand on it?

also, this is somewhat unrelated to my paper, but I see that your mom is an atheist and your dad is a christian. As a christian, how do you reconcile the thought of an afterlife with your mother? (the reason I am askiing is that my dad was an atheist and I still struggle with his death, ie. the thougtht that he is not in Heaven, ya know? It is tough.

Jennie · Guru

I don't know if I can help or not.

I was raised Pagan, for lack of a better word, as a child. I became Wiccan at age 13. And not Wiccan in the sense of the movie The Craft. Lord knows that's about as fake as a tanning bed tan. I went through life not knowing if there was a God or if there wasn't. Pretty much a lost spirit, if you will.
I did go to church with a friend of mine when I'd stay the night with her growing up but I never believed. It was a Methodist church. I never felt that power, ya know? That feeling that when you step in the doors it screams, "This is me." Never.
When I met DH he was Mormon. He had converted from an atheist household to appease his ex-wife who had switched from being Catholic to Mormon for personal gain. Anyway- when I wandered across DH he had pretty much fallen off the Mormon bandwagon and was not doing so well. Two of his neighbors were Mormon missionaries. We became good friends and they sought to have me baptized into the Church. I did everything they asked but one thing- I refused to move out of the apartment. I explained that if I did I'd have nowhere to go, nowhere to live. I had no job. DH was supporting us while I found work. I couldn't do it. I quit smoking, drinking, drinking coffee just to be with DH b/c I thought that its what DH wanted. He said something about getting married in the temple and I thought that if he was going to marry me I had to be Mormon too- even if I didn't believe in it.
My family freaked and thought it was a bad idea.
It never came to pass. I never joined the church and DH stopped going b/c he stopped believing.
So Sundays were spent worshipping at, as he calls it, Saint Mattress. We slept in and lazed around.
We were both very lost. There was a blood drive at the Lutheran church around the corner from us. I got the dates mixed up and we wandered in on the wrong day. Met with the pastor and attended service the next day. Not bad, not bad. Still didn't have what I needed. There wasn't that feeling that I belonged. We took the membership class, Colin was baptized there, I was baptized there, we were confirmed as members. Our attendance was shotty and we were ignored and left alone. No one talked to us. No one wanted anything to do with us. We had major issues with the congregation. Not the pastor. He's a wonderful man. We kept trying. It wasn't until the last Sunday School class I attended back in August that I told DH that everything they stood for I was against. And everything I stood for they were against. And I was told I had to change. But I couldn't change what was in my heart.
A friend of mine said that if I wasn't happy and didn't believe as they did then I shouldn't go anymore. And I don't. I started attending an ELCA Lutheran church and that's it. The moment I walked in the doors I had the feeling that that is where I belong. The people are amazing. The pastors are wonderful. And I feel such a feeling of peace and at home-ness.

We now attend every Sunday service, Sunday School, and Wednesday classes as well as the 10 minute mini-service on Wednesdays. We've only missed two services- I was sick and Colin was sick. Other than that, we wouldn't miss it for the world. I love going.

My family is still not keen. My grandparents are thrilled that I attend church. They don't care what denomination it is. I'm going and that's what matters.
My mother looks down on it and doesn't understand why. She won't talk about it and doesn't acknowledge it. And when I mention something that happened at church Colin-wise (something funny he said or did) she rolls her eyes and acts like I'm being stupid.
I don't.
I don't feel stupid.
I still retain much of my Nature-loving habits. I carry a fondness for Nature and all creatures. I think twice before lashing out at someone in anger and try a little kindness instead. I still love the Nature I live in and worship it as a creation of God's given to us to care for. But I still think there's a little Magick left in the world and its okay too.

I'm sorry its so long. But I'm a convert that's gone into belief, out of it, and into it again.

Alicia · Senior Member

Raised christian and not sure what I believe in now(meaning I don't know if I believe in god or not). After growing up and moving out I felt brain washed. I often wonder if I was raised by different christian parents I might still identify myself as a christian. I think I let how I feel about my mom(and how I was raised) cloud her religion. I'm having a hard time explaining this.

You should talk to my nephew. He is 15 and up until this past summer was a christian. He said he is agnostic now. It is such a touchy subject in my family that I have to tip toe around it(not even sure what they think I believe in). My nephew just stomps all over it. He gets into very lengthy, intelligent conversation about it. It is so interesting listening to someone very educated in christianity(wanted to be a preacher, was on the biblical quiz team) who has also done so much research against it.

SerenityNow · Veteran Member

Lizzy wrote:

SerenityNow wrote:

I converted from agnostic to Christian. I have no denomination.

I had a father who was a Sunday School teacher and an atheist mother. I stopped attending church at 9. I was almost (but could never be sure) an atheist. In my mid-twenties I was still lambasting God and Jesus with a fervor that would make a Christian mourn. I would debate against religions in college with the poor students who had a ministry.

So the change happened when a Jehovah's Witness bought a dresser at my mom's garage sale and left a large booklet about 10 question about God. I was going potty and read it the next day. Um, yeah. The seed of God was planted while going potty.

It answered a lot of questions, and for my annoyingly logical mind, I started investigating further. Surprisingly to me, and most of my friends, I realized that God was more likely than not. Then the bigger question for any real philosopher is then the nature of said God (as it is pretty easy to imagine a higher being or power). The nature of God was discovered in the New Testament. As I read it, and the Bible twice cover to cover, I learned that what I thought about religion was wrong, and that there was GREAT news. And the idea that Jesus didn't rise from the dead seemed more ridiculous than if he didn't. And if he did, then that was the nature of God, and that meant there was no choice but to believe.

I wish my parents had more to do with it, but they didn't. Probably because my father was raised atheist and found God as a teen and wanted the same for me, to search Him out on my own. I was never baptized until I chose to be at 26.

thanks kate for the insight from one who converted to religion. This is an interesting observation that I highlighted. can you expand on it?

also, this is somewhat unrelated to my paper, but I see that your mom is an atheist and your dad is a christian. As a christian, how do you reconcile the thought of an afterlife with your mother? (the reason I am askiing is that my dad was an atheist and I still struggle with his death, ie. the thougtht that he is not in Heaven, ya know? It is tough.

1. I couldn't understand how the Jews and Romans allowed such a major change and uprising if they could have disputed it, and they never did. I couldn't factor for mass hysteria, and there were witnesses. So, it was really in reading the history and the fact that 10,000 Jews turned their back on their heritage to follow a small group of poor people who were beaten to death when they could know for a fact if what they were following was true or not. So to me, and other reasons, it made more sense that it did happen than not. And it made more sense philisophically to believe in hope rather than not. Faith.

2. My mom converted when she almost died though I don't think she goes to church anymore. Maybe she does. I don't know enough about her life. My father is going through chemo and he was worried about me not being baptized and not going to heaven. I had to remind him that I was (he still remembers my anti-religion-God stance and forgets that I converted).

I didn't realize your paper was about changing religions or to atheism rather than atheism to belief. I can tell you why I stopped going to Sunday school/believing as a young kid through adult years. I thought that religion was just to make people feel better and it was a strange and weird story that could never happen. Nothing changed in my life to make me think that.

I feel I could get really down on God if bad crap kept happening to me. This year has been crappy, and I did sort of turn my back on God during it. I was mad that my prayers weren't being answered. Then I remembered that this life is kinda moot anyway, the bigger picture is later, and I put all my trust back in the Lord. My life has significantly changed for the better since I put my trust back, even though worse things are happening financially.