Jon Curry

Anybody here remember me? I used to spend a lot of time here back around the year 2000 and 2001. I vigourously defended Christianity at the time. Just thought I'd drop a line real quick and mention to anyone that might remember that it's over now. I've rejected Christianity. It really all came crashing down about a year ago. It was very painful. Friendships are now strained. The family is struggling. But I'm still alive, and maybe I'd have to admit I'm happier now. Not that happiness is the reason for my change. Far from it. In fact it was miserable for a long time. But it has gotten better. Even better than before.

Inerrancy is what got me. For me it was always my greatest fear. I knew the standard Christian explanations for basic problems. I accepted the explanations knowing that even though they didn't sound all that plausible, they were possible. And given that Jesus rose from the dead and that he claimed the Bible was perfect (at least the OT), I would give the benefit of the doubt to the Bible. If Jesus is raised from the dead, everything he says must be right. The Bible must be inerrant.

The resurrection was the safety line I held to to salvage inerrancy. But holding to that ended up being my downfall. The problems with inerrancy never stopped mounting. Finally, after years of struggling, I gave it up. But what about the safety line? Everything Jesus said is right, because he is raised. If I give up I have to admit Jesus was wrong. But he can't be wrong. How can a man that predicted his own death and resurrection, and then proved himself right by actually rising from the dead, how can he make a mistake? He can't. But he did. There was only one way to reconcile it. In fact Jesus was not raised from the dead.

You guys really screwed me over here. I never would have walked away without this website. I never would have bought skeptical books. But since it was free I was willing to look at it. I had the truth, so there should be no reason for me not to look at all sides. I would never pay for such material. I wasn't going to support such things. But I would look at the free stuff. Then I was sucked in to the discussion forums. There are some intelligent people here. bd-from-kg stands out. That guy scared the hell out of me. I'd cheer him on when it came to abortion or the death penalty, but when he touched on evolution or Biblical criticism, those are things I was afraid to view, because I knew what he was capable of. But I wouldn't allow myself to run away from it. I read it. I read Richard Carrier, Farrell Till, Dan Barker. I still wasn't buying books by the way. Just the free stuff so I am prepared to refute it. Didn't work out that way. And here I am. Friendships ruined. Family relationships threatened.

But it seems it is the truth though. What else can I do? It's not all bad. At least I'm saving tithe money.

Naruto

Congratulations, and welcome back to II.

fromdownunder

Hello Jon, yes I do remember you ( I was away from here for five years, and only recently returned). Welcome back.

Norm

Malachi151

Hi Jon,

Where are you from? I ask to see if you are in an area where I know of skeptical social groups, etc.

I would like to recommend that you find some groups to join and socialize with. Here, in South Florida, we have two excellent organization, one called Atheists of Broward County, which is a social group that meets once a week. We usually have about 10 to 20 people per meeting, and we just meet in a Pub for beer and/or food.

I am also a member of CFI, the Center for Inquiry, which is a great organization, but they don't have groups everywhere.

Here is info on CFI: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/

The good thing about CFI is that its an international organization that has funding, and they mission involves ethics, helping the community, as well as investigating and education.

One thing you can do is look on Meetup for an Atheist Meetup. I would recommend this even if you are not an atheist, simply because the Atheist groups tend to be the biggest and most successful. You could look for a deist group, or a secular humanist group, or an agnostic group, etc., but I think you will find that such groups rarely if ever meet.

http://atheists.meetup.com/

I also recommend that you read my article on Jesus and the origins of Christianity. If you have already read what you say you have then some of this will not be new, but I think I sumarize some of the more common points and add some new info, as well as presenting a lot of images that really drive the point home.

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/ar...jesus_myth.htm

Thank you for telling your story, and I wish you the best of luck. I must say that I never was a believer, nor is my family very devout, so I don't face the issues that you do, but there are plenty of other people who have similar stories and you should probably seek some of these people out for support.

I must also say that my grandparents are Christians and I simply don't discuss the subject with them, and I have always remained respectful of individuals' religious beliefs, i.e. I never discuss the issue unless someone wants to discuss it with me.

I have a godmother, BTW, since I was baptized Catholic, and she is a great person whom I love and send cards to for every holiday, including religious cards. I bought my grandma a book on Pope John II last Christmas. What I am getting at is that you don't have to compeletly give up your family and traditions because you understand that the fact that the Bible isn't a perfect word from God.

noah

Hi Jon,

I'm glad you stayed with it and forced yourself to look at the "other side". It takes a lot of courage and strength to do you what you did. I admire you for it.

I think someone like you could use some help at some point. There are a lot of resources online for those who leave the faith and make that difficult journey back to reason and common sense. You are not alone.

Here's some excellent support sites for you:

ExChristian.Net

ExChristian.Net forums

Losingmyreligion.com

The Ex-Christian Webring

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Leaving Christianity

And last but not least you should also check out James Buckner's Tough Questions for the Christian Church

All the best!

noah

Julian

[MOD]
This thread seems more like a secular lifestyle issue to me. I am sending it there, although it may eventually travel somewhere else.

Julian
Moderator BC&H
[/MOD]

Richard1366

It is the compilation of the bible which bothers me the most. Many different gospels were written, virtually all many decades after the life of christ, I would doubt that any of the writers were even alive during the time that they wrote about. Then humans selected which of these gospels should be included in this bible..similar to publishing a book of short stories from a variety of authors. Who were the authors? What was their source of the information they wrote? I don't really believe any of it, it's kinda like comparing "The West Wing" to what's really going on in the White House.
At least the koran was supposedly written by a single person.

jaded_revenge

Just another congrats mate, hope you enjoy this new perspective Jon.

Queen of Swords

Hi Jon,

Deconversion doesn't feel at all pleasant at first. But like having a decaying tooth extracted, you're going to be better off in the long run. I'm sorry to hear about the impact on your family, though. Feel free to unburden yourself here, and welcome back to the board.

Bright Life

Congratulations!

You've shaken free of fear and superstition. Do take advantage of the support groups. From what I've seen, they really help those on the mend from Jesitus.