Has religion made you shun Christianity?

Hello all :p
I have a question that maybe someone can realate to.I was rasied Mormon.I was never very informed about other religions until I got old enough to find out for myself.Now that I am trying to learn I feel like Mormonism never even gave me an accurate depiction of Christianity. I no longer claim the Mormon religion and I feel like I got ripped off in a sense.I feel like most of my life was too devoted to learning The Book Of Mormom and not The Bible. So of course now I have a hard time understanding the Bible and I have major doubt in any religion.

Can anyone relate to feeling like their supposed Christian religion has made them less Christian? I am not starting a debate on Mormonism, It has benifited many of my friends and family . But I would like to know if this has happened to others that may hay converted to other religions or shun Christianity because of a previous experiance?

Thanks,
Tara :wave:
 

seebs

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Originally posted by Delia

Can anyone relate to feeling like their supposed Christian religion has made them less Christian?

I was made very uncomfortable with the church by some Lutherans when I was growing up. There are a lot of pretty awful people who are Christian, and it's *hard* for me to be associated with them. When Fred Phelps sends people to cheer at funerals, *I* have to live with the knowledge that, in most people's minds, I'm part of the same belief system he is. When Oral Roberts said that God wanted $8M or He'd take Oral Roberts away from this world... *Christians* were the ones seen as money-grubbing liars.

Other religions rarely give me as much trouble with my faith as our home-grown problems do.
 
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BioPooka

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During my life I've been burnt by people professing to be loving christians more often than I've felt they have had a positive impact on my life. Or at least their negative actions seem to outweigh their positives.

My aunt who only ever calls me now to spout Bible verse and won't speak to me any other way because I study scence that involves evolution. The same lady kicking her 15 year old son out of home because he didn't want to attend church anymore. The three so called devout christian guys from my school who beat the stuffing out of my freind because he was gay. Stuff like that.

Nice religion in theory but fro what I've seen of how people act when its the only part of their lives makes me avoid it.
 
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Thunderz7

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Delia,
I grew up Methodist (United Met. now),the same happened to me as to you. When I started to seriously search the Bible and visit other churches, I found much that the Methodist never mentioned. I now attend non-denominational churches and consider myself anti-denominational.

T7
 
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Julie

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Has religion made you shun Christianity?

Religion never led me to a saving knowledge of The Lord Jesus Christ. It rarely does cause religion is man made.
The Truth comes from Gods Word.
You can't make yourself a Christian, its done on the inside and manifested on the outside.
Just my 2$.
Julie :pink:
 
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Delia,
I understand a little bit how you feel. My wife went to a church for a couple of years that claimed to be a christian church. Without going into specifics she now thinks that all church's are bad. After 3 years of dating and 2 years of marriage we are just now talking about starting to attend church on a regular basis. She still thinks that all churches are corrupt but I'm hoping that we can find a good church that truly follows Jesus so that she can see the love he has to offer. Don't give up hope. "and the truth shall set you free."
 
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Julie,
I just had to respond to your thread. What a wonderful and sweet person you seem like. I have to say that I am a bit surprised though. I to am a former Mormon and yes, I do understand about the consistant study of the BOM. Anyway, you are started down the "right" path. Learning about the different christian denominations will help you decide where you would like go.
I wish you luck in your search, as for me, I do not follow church doctrine, just the Bible. I do attend church but am not a member of it's body, just a member of Christ's church. To me that is all I need.

You will be in my prayers as you continue your search.
 
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:clap:
Thanks! All you guys are awesome :hug: and Biopooka I love your response.I feel the same way.My grandmother is a great lady but all she ever says is how I am not living a good enough lifestyle to her Mormon standards.And is not very understanding. Yet with all her judgements she is still a great Christian in her eyes. I guess all I can do is focus on the positive,I can take all I know and try to learn more to make a better decision in my life on my faith all in time. ;) Keep the posts coming!
 
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seebs

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Originally posted by BioPooka
During my life I've been burnt by people professing to be loving christians more often than I've felt they have had a positive impact on my life. Or at least their negative actions seem to outweigh their positives.

My aunt who only ever calls me now to spout Bible verse and won't speak to me any other way because I study scence that involves evolution. The same lady kicking her 15 year old son out of home because he didn't want to attend church anymore. The three so called devout christian guys from my school who beat the stuffing out of my freind because he was gay. Stuff like that.

Nice religion in theory but fro what I've seen of how people act when its the only part of their lives makes me avoid it.

As a central part, it's good, but when love of religion keeps you from appreciating God's creation... then it's not so good.

If you get a chance, you could perhaps pass my apologies on to your friend, on behalf of Christianity? Many of us are horrified by the way Christians treat gays.
 
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Coming from a religious background, I can say that it definitely interefered with my relationship with God. If you didn't look, talk, dress, and act the way people in church felt you should, you were not Christian. The church today has done what the Pharisees did thousands of years ago. They lost fellowship with God and substituted lists of do's and don'ts in it's place, as though they could fool God into thinking they knew what He wanted from them and were doing it. We've been taught how to behave and what to avoid if we're to please God. What we haven't been taught well enough is how to connect with Him.
 
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Guys, it is better for us to see for our self the Word of God... If you do not understand about it.... Go and see the pastor or the elder of the Church. They should be able to provide with sufficien information about Christ and the rest about the Word....

Bible is God-breathen-Word... so therefore no lile is found in it and it can be trusted 100%.... A Church is a place where we can be provided the knowledge and understanding of growing more in our Lord. When a Church cannot provided what we desire... dont blame the church, we all are still under construction from the Lord......

God has given us the intelectual to be able to think for ourselves and even in the bible, the first gentile worshipped the God of Israel even he do not know Him so well. In our conscious mind, we know what is right and wrong... So, just settle down with a church and if they can't make you grow, you grow them out of you. Teach them, through the Word of God. I think all will listen if they obey the WOrd.
 
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Cadillac

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biopooka said:
During my life I've been burnt by people professing to be loving christians more often than I've felt they have had a positive impact on my life. Or at least their negative actions seem to outweigh their positives.

My aunt who only ever calls me now to spout Bible verse and won't speak to me any other way because I study scence that involves evolution. The same lady kicking her 15 year old son out of home because he didn't want to attend church anymore. The three so called devout christian guys from my school who beat the stuffing out of my freind because he was gay.

Biopooka, if you can look, one of the threads that I started was "Is knowledge a sin?" My answer to that was definitely yes. Those goons that beat up on a gay guy were full of knowledge and did a lot of good deeds. But because the knowledge came with no wisdom and good deeds came with no love, they felt morally superior and became vane and self-serving. That is why they beat up on him. That is why you were burned by these "Christians" who understood the whole "God" thing as a business contract that intied their hands to do anything as long as(fill in the blank here).

Good deeds, morality and knowledge without wisdom and love alone make you vane and egotistical. One must never forget that
 
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tocis

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Sorry to interrupt the flow of this thread, but what am I to think about the subject, which really means "has religion made you shun religion?"?

Dictionary.com's definition of "religion":

  • Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
  • A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
  • The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
  • A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
  • A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
Unless we want to employ a very weird and uncommon definition of the term, christianity is a religion too. So what does the subject question mean? ;)
 
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BioPooka said:
During my life I've been burnt by people professing to be loving christians more often than I've felt they have had a positive impact on my life. Or at least their negative actions seem to outweigh their positives.

My aunt who only ever calls me now to spout Bible verse and won't speak to me any other way because I study scence that involves evolution. The same lady kicking her 15 year old son out of home because he didn't want to attend church anymore. The three so called devout christian guys from my school who beat the stuffing out of my freind because he was gay. Stuff like that.

Nice religion in theory but fro what I've seen of how people act when its the only part of their lives makes me avoid it.

Bio, there are people who profess Christianity ... and there are people who are Christians. In this case we see typical professing to be Christians but there isn't an ounce of love in their bodies.
I've seen this happen over, and over again. It's happened in my own life. But, it never turned me off Christ as I knew in my heart He would never have approved of their actions. They seem to forget the Parable Of The Good Samaritan.
Where there is love, joy, peace, truth, humility in a person - there is God.
Christians haven't the power to turn anyone from Jesus because true Christians are Held is His Hand, and nobody can pluck them out.
Am mortified reading what you said. I am so sorry you have seen this side of "christianity".
That is not christianity at all.
 
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Im_A

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Delia said:
Hello all :p
I have a question that maybe someone can realate to.I was rasied Mormon.I was never very informed about other religions until I got old enough to find out for myself.Now that I am trying to learn I feel like Mormonism never even gave me an accurate depiction of Christianity. I no longer claim the Mormon religion and I feel like I got ripped off in a sense.I feel like most of my life was too devoted to learning The Book Of Mormom and not The Bible. So of course now I have a hard time understanding the Bible and I have major doubt in any religion.

Can anyone relate to feeling like their supposed Christian religion has made them less Christian? I am not starting a debate on Mormonism, It has benifited many of my friends and family . But I would like to know if this has happened to others that may hay converted to other religions or shun Christianity because of a previous experiance?



Thanks,
Tara :wave:

my first experience of Christianity was within the pentecostal churches. then over time i saw other churches. my parents divorced in 1990, so it was like two different worlds in the faith. my dad was raised methodist, but became an atheist up until 1991. now he's Luthern. but his view of religion, and with the freedom my mom gave me to be me, conflicted and still conflicts. my mom favored Christianity because she was raised Baptist, but still she wanted me to be me.

so my first experience was with the pentecostal church. people jumping up and down, speaking in some unknown tounge. it didn't make sense, but i thought that was Christianity. then during a relationship i had in highschool for around 2 years, i was introduced to a new denomination. a lot more "traditional" or "strict" if you will. her father kicked one of her sisters out of the house because of her behavior, which didn't make sense to me, and i remember bringing it up to my g/f in highschool, and she didn't like how i questioned her familiy too much. her dad was also the pastor of this church, but the daughter that got kicked out usually was able to go home. so it was idiotic to me how i saw Christians act like this. then i eventually went back to the pentecostal churches, and i found out a new problem for me, the fact that i didn't and dont' speak in tounges, or prophecy as far as i know, so strength always seemed to be judged on that. you had to "enough" faith to believe and aquire these spiritual things and if you didn't, then your faith was weak, and the only strenght or encouragement you were given was words, "Just have faith." now i do believe faith is the essencse of Christianity, but there comes a point that it is used in ill meaning from other Christians. then with my father, he would use scripture to try to convince me to live with him, yet we'd always fight, and several of occasions the police had to be called, so the convincing went no where. then a certain church basing help being given to my single mom because of her record with a tax break called titheing. now i'm not against titheing, but when used wrong or whatever, don't get me started. and the help they gave was appreciated, but with the underlining reason behind it, just gave me a bad taste in my mouth, still does everytime i think about it.

then after time, i went through a dark time in my faith. found solance in a couple of churches, but my positive pessimism grew and grew towards the church and religion. didn't help when i had a fellow co-worker tell me that the devil is in me because i view it is ok to get tattoos, or hear that drinking sprite is bad because the word sprite means spirit. too many times a lot of Christians want their turn to speak intead of shutting up and listening. i'm sure that is a human flaw instead of a flaw in Christianity, but it does seem to come out with a lot of Christians because of ones' personal convictions.

so yes i truly admit that i am still a positive pessimist towards the church. it's hard getting past it and as long as i use it for good, i can't see it being any harm to my spiritual life, only room for growth and seeking a church out. now i'm not saying i experienced the worst from the church either. many people have experienced 10x worse than me, but i think we all can say, we've had our share of bad experiences with the church. but i firmly believe Christianity is based upon one life, not a bunch of individual lives :)
 
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vajradhara

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Namaste Delia,

thank you for the OP and welcome to the forum.

it is an interesting thing, when we can detach our emotions from it, which is not often easy to do.

there is a certain sense of fulfillment, in my view, that beings derive from being part of a group. i really don't think that we need to elaborate on this as we have, in my view, all experienced it.

for some beings, this experience can tend to strengthen the ego and reinforce the egoist perceptions of the being. when this happens, it can quickly lead to a stifling of the natural expression of ones response to the experience. this, in an of itself, is quite a large obstacle to overcome, though overcome it can be.

i cannot say that it was any particular religion, per se, that influenced me one way or the other. what i can say is that it was specific individuals who professed a belief in a particular religion, that influenced me away from Christianity and towards Buddhism.

my personal view is that we do a disservice to ourselves and others to view the actions of individuals as indicative of the teachings of a particular religion. even with a religion as clear and straigtforward as mine, there are beings that profess to be Buddhist, yet their actions belie their words. this is, in my view, a reflection of the individual, not the tradition which they claim to adhere to.
 
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