How I became religion-free

sent in by undeceived12

I was 16 when I went to this church which was supposed to be a church that helped and provided spiritual support to people who didn’t have it.

It all went well (at first). I received Jesus and like a little kid I started to follow a life that not only was a very hard life to live, but an almost impossible one. I read my bible, prayed, and had a relationship with God, or so I thought. I imagined that my walk in the path to Jesus was going well until I started to see some things that were going on in the church. I saw many things that led me to believe that the pastors were stealing from the people, but as a good Christian, I kept my mouth shut. More and more I was convinced that the pastors were only looking for money. As the weeks went by the preacher would ask for money every single week, on top of the ten percent supposedly established by God.

Right…

Well, he (the pastor) made up tons of excuse: the church needs funds to pay this...to pay that… People, including me, would give blindly. As time went by we started seeing that that youth pastor, which by the way is a lazy ass good-for-nothing idiot, started to get better stuff – brand new car…well, two new cars, one for him and one for his wife, which was the pastors daughter. He had the most expensive cell phone and cell phone plan; he was constantly buying very expensive things from the mall, and was always showing it off to the rest. Not long did I have to wait until he announced that the Lord had blessed him and that he gotten a new house.

People started to wonder where the money was really going, and I got fed up with all of the asking for money. It got to a point where they asked for money in big amounts, ($300 - $400) from each person and claimed that god had sent them to be blessed and that they were the chosen ones. They said that a servant of god was not to live like a normal person, but a rich one.

Oh yeah, and the rest of the people who had nothing to eat, let them die hum?

Well I got really fed up and started to ask questions. No one would answer anything and everyone would always say not to worry about anyone but myself. Well I spoke to other people about that issue and they all felt the same as me. One of the leaders asked the pastor for a report of the finances, and all hell broke lose. The pastor called him a sinner and so many other things.

That’s when I knew I had to speak out.

I spoke to other people, and without anyone saying anything, we left the church. About half of the people left, and not because I spoke out about having things set straight, but because they were tired of being always asked for money.

Now the pastor of the church blames me and my family and other members for the loss of half his congregation. He reacted in a way that Jesus was not reflected at all.

Now I’ve learned that religion is just a money-making scam, and that they take advantage of people who are looking for something to hold on to. Now I see everything with logic and not with "spiritual eyes". The emotion that religion gives you only lasts for so long, for some it’s a short period of time, for others it’s longer, but it will soon pass.

Meanwhile, preachers are still taking money from desperate people, and are getting rich off of other peoples hard work.

joined: 16
left: 19
was: Christian
now: Agnostic/Atheist
converted because: In search of a better life
deconverted because: It's a big lie told by preachers to get money.
email: undeceived12 at hotmail dot com

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