Why did YOU start to lose faith?

[MrsSassyPants]

I was raised in church, well at least partially. And I always thought something was so wrong with me bc I lacked that "fire" that some people display in church.  I thought if I gave ten percent then god would bless me, yada yada.  I fell for some of those breakthrough television ministry shows, donate 67 dollars for 67 days of breakthrough.  You know the routine.  Well as I got older, I started doing even worse things, and I really thought something was wrong with me.  Why doesnt god Change Me??!!!??  Well, things spun out of control, and I ended up for my 3rd rehab experience, in a christian "faith based" program in Anniston, Alabama.  That was the most terrible experience I have ever had!!!  I am so thankful that I was awakened to the brainwashing of religion and church that infested me.    Post religion, I have cleaned up, gotten married, and become a productive citizen!!!  Losing my religion has been the best thing to ever happen to me.

[QueenOfHeroes]

I was raised as a Christian..I became an atheist because I started researching and thinking so I realized that the idea of God makes no sense to me.I believe that all religions were created by humans

[athletesfeet]

I was raised in church, well at least partially. And I always thought something was so wrong with me bc I lacked that "fire" that some people display in church.  I thought if I gave ten percent then god would bless me, yada yada.  I fell for some of those breakthrough television ministry shows, donate 67 dollars for 67 days of breakthrough.  You know the routine.  Well as I got older, I started doing even worse things, and I really thought something was wrong with me.  Why doesnt god Change Me??!!!??  Well, things spun out of control, and I ended up for my 3rd rehab experience, in a christian "faith based" program in Anniston, Alabama.  That was the most terrible experience I have ever had!!!  I am so thankful that I was awakened to the brainwashing of religion and church that infested me.    Post religion, I have cleaned up, gotten married, and become a productive citizen!!!  Losing my religion has been the best thing to ever happen to me.

I am originally from the Anniston, Alabama area. I have a family member that went to a similar place in Anniston and came out very damaged.

As for the OP, hard to say when I finally admitted it, but I never truly believed. I tried and fought for it, but in my heart I never really bought into it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I wasn't raised atheist, my mother tried to get me to go to Sunday School, but I was asked to not return after three visits. She gave up then. She still goes to church I think, not that she'd remember if she did.

[Sal1981]

Around when I was 13 I noticed on my 5th re-reading of the Bible that there were 2 versions of The Ten Commandments, and I asked myself (paraphrasing) "Why would God have 2 versions of The Ten Commandments? Wouldn't God get it right the first time?" It was just what got the ball rolling. After 4 years of self-doubt and fear of Hell for doubting my Christian upbringing, I finally accepted I did not believe in a deity.

As an added note, it was quite a feeling of relief that there was no celestial Peeping Tom judging my every move and even thought, and that there likewise was no Hell to suffer eternally. Plus there's a bunch of issues with the concept of living forever, even in some supposedly eternal blissful state.

[MrsSassyPants]

AthletesFeet, the place that I went to was the Center of Hope. I cant even describe to the full extent of just how awful the abuse and brainwashing is. I was taught to believe that when I got out (8 months in I was kicked out...lol) god would take me from 1 glory to the next.  And then when I actually got out, and time started moving on, and life still sucked ass, I finally started to realize that god was a bunch of bullshit. And I had just been exploited for someone else's financial gain. All the staff at that church and all involved were terrible, Terrible humans.

[MrsSassyPants]

The thick brainwashing after 8 months locked up in a church was painful to break through. The people there, I can't stress enough, were just as terrible as all other xtians in this world. Man that was awful and I'm still bitter. Lol.    But part of me is thankful, bc life after religion, has been fucking fabulous!!!

[the_antithesis]

I lost my faith when decided to stop being such a prideful asshole.

There is no faith without pride.
Faith is an act of pride.

[athletesfeet]

AthletesFeet, the place that I went to was the Center of Hope. I cant even describe to the full extent of just how awful the abuse and brainwashing is. I was taught to believe that when I got out (8 months in I was kicked out...lol) god would take me from 1 glory to the next.  And then when I actually got out, and time started moving on, and life still sucked ass, I finally started to realize that god was a bunch of bullshit. And I had just been exploited for someone else's financial gain. All the staff at that church and all involved were terrible, Terrible humans.

I don't know that place, but it sounds the same. Teen Challenge is the place my relative went. It has more adult members than teens. He went through the year long process, and is now unrecognizable. They did a number on him, and how he didn't wake up and leave is beyond me.

[Sonwinks]

I think for me it wasn't a defining moment.... Even when I was very young I always asked why??? I clearly remember being a young child thinking "if lambs and lions will be friends in heaven - what would the lion eat???" There were many incidences like that... But I started to question god's love....when someone tried to explain how blessed Job was.....my brain could not bend to accept that Job had any blessing whatsoever! I thought it was the cruelest joke possible to bestow on any human being! Since then distancing myself and reading awesome books like Godless....and seeing how intolerant the religious right is.... Has made me conclude that there is no God.

[MrsSassyPants]

Did any of yall that had faith for years, experience heartache letting go of religion? Dumb question I guess. I felt so damn foolish!! And felt like I had been tricked!!!

[EntirelyOfThisWorld]

I tried to have faith when I was younger, but it was hard work. Maybe if I hadn't asked so many questions.  Honestly, I don't think I ever really had it, in spite of being raised catholic.

[SGOS]

Did any of yall that had faith for years, experience heartache letting go of religion? Dumb question I guess. I felt so damn foolish!! And felt like I had been tricked!!!

No, I felt no heartache or sense of loss at all.  And I don't recall ever feeling foolish.  My negative emotion was just the long period of frustration, either trying to prove the god issue one way or the other, or in waiting to be shown some sign of his existence.

That period of struggle went on for so many years that when I finally let go, it was just pure relief.  I gave it an honest shot.  No Christian could judge me for not trying (but of course they do).  I endured needless frustration over an unanswerable question that a more reasonable person would have just accepted.  It was ecstasy to just accept that knowing was impossible and that I could move on.

[Krisyork2008]

A friend of mine grew up in a ridgidly Christian family, with a close knit group of families and friends all with the same belief. He was never a true believer until we were 14, at which point he got caught smoking weed with and hooking up with this girl.

His parents sent him off to a Christian teen rehab camp for the summer, and he came back a changed man. Didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't date, didn't flirt, didnt joke, didnt laugh, didnt smile. With the good comes the bad.

We remained on and off friends throughout highschool, but didnt talk much for the first few years after graduation. Then just recently, I heard that he went away to missionary school, and after 8 months of it came home an agnostic.

Now he gets paid to rockclimb all over the US, and hes never been happier.

[Thumpalumpacus]

My main emotion as I was losing my faith was fear.  I was afraid of going to hell, I was afraid of losing my bearings, and then one day I realized that no matter what I didn't believe, and that fact was not fearful at all.