submitted by Rob
Humans needs are shelter, food, social life, spiritual life, financial life, mental health, love, faith.
Conveniently there is a Christian church on almost every street corner in America as it would seem; and they all claim to be the only true way to balancing the human needs we all have.
At early childhood I attended a evangelical church. The scheme that drew me to the church was that my neighborhood friends went to "Vacation Bible School."
At about age 12 I seriously began to question my existence, human condition, and reality. I discovered "Newage," thought. I did this in parallel to Christianity.
At about age 13 I went to confirmation camp, before becoming Baptized. At the camp I asked one of the pastors, about what the afterlife would be like. He mentioned that he would travel through a tunnel looking at loved ones forever! I dropped my jaw after hearing this statement, as I remembered the bible saying us Christian would live in a "New Jerusalem brought down to earth from heaven."
I ended up getting baptized having not known or comprehended the entire Jesus biography, or have ever even read the entire Christian bible. I dabbled in the occult in seasons, while still in ignorance of a lot about Christianity.
I later had met a man that was Atheist for more than 20 years. He died; went to hell; Jesus took him out of hell, and is now an ordained Christian minister in Cincinnati. This man's experience brought be to a Baptist church looking for answers. Before becoming a regular at the Baptist church, a pastor from the Evangelical church I went to, told me, that the "Devil," did not exist and was not in the bible," I dropped my jaw at this statement also. That was the last time I visited my old childhood church before becoming a regular at the Baptist church.
The Baptist church was not able to help me understand the ex-atheists near death experience. Though there were good people at this church, they believed the bible word for word.
I was told at this Baptist church that the bible was the living word of God. I would occasionally open the bible, thinking that every verse I read was what God wanted me to read at that moment. Sometimes the pastor would look at me awkwardly at this notion. But WHY? They say God talks to us when we read the bible. If God did not talk to me when I read a specific verse as I opened the bible, then the bible is based on wishful thinking and hypocrisy. I came to the conclusion that when I read the bible it felt as though I was reading the verse that God wanted me to at that time, was merely reading and thinking what I wanted to be thinking.
A pagan friend enlightened me that near Death Experiences are based on Cultural orientation. I had even had the ex-atheist whom had a Near Death Experience, confirm that he also believed it is fact that we are by-products of our culture.
I also learned that our belief are ways of getting feedback from God.
Well I quickly outgrew the Baptist church, and have committed my life to seeking my own horizon.
Name: Rob
Sex: Male
City: Fort Thomas
State: KY
Country: United States
Became a Christian: Less than 10 years old
Ceased being a Christian: 22
Labels before: Evangelical and Baptist
Labels now: Pagan, Agnostic
Why I joined: Ignorance
Why I left: Outgrew and matured beyond Christianity
These testimonials were published between January 2001 and February 2010. To view recent posts, go to The Main Blog at ExChristian.Net