by Mike McClellan The Questions What was your "born-again" and spiritual experience? What caused you to leave the born again fundamentalist religious persuasion? What were the questions you had? Are those the only questions? Perhaps they can be explained How does one "discern" the "things of the spirit" as taught by most born again Christians? Where has your quest for spiritual truth led you? Why don't you forget about logic and knowledge? Just place your faith in God and His Word What are your spiritual beliefs now? Any advice for those who have similar feelings and questions? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What was your 'born-again' and spiritual experience? I was saved' in 1960 after my father died. His death brought home the fact that one day we all face death. I was devastated by his loss and began to be concerned about my own soul. I had an intense interes...

OPENING NOTE: It’s important that I note a couple of things about my family and myself because it says a lot of how I came to freethought. The first is that though my mother is very much into the Lord, she is the one who ultimately gave me the gift of skepticism. She has never believed in palm readers, fortune tellers or anything of the sort and always obliged me the opportunity to research what it is that I believe in before I chose it. She has never forced me nor my siblings to accept anything that we didn’t wish to accept. She never browbeat me with a bible and scripture; it was just a silent way of life for us. She does believe that churchgoers are on the high end of moral values and encourages Sunday worship and works in the church as a way of life. She is a BIG BELIEVER IN THIS! (I can understand that) I don’t think that she would be all of that surprised to hear where I am right now. Hurt, but not surprised. They expect anything from me. The second thing is that I have be...

I don't remember the exact time I lost my faith. I am sure many reformed Christians can give you a date but with me, it was a process and a very slow one at that. As early as I can remember I went to church, I stared vacantly at Sunday school teachers every morning and let my mind wander. My mother dragged my brother Grant and I to just about every Presbyterian Church in this city trying to find a church that was "Right for her." I can't even remember most of the churches names but I have lots of memories of playing with other children at church functions and gatherings. As a young child I was never concerned with god or Jesus, I believed in them but I never really gave them much thought... As much as I believed in god and Jesus, I hated church with a passion. I used to hide under my covers when I was little and hope my mother had overslept and I would have the incredible good fortune to spend my Sunday morning watching cartoons. In my mind I have dozens and dozens of...

Received Monday, January 21, 2002 Hi David - your website's very moving; I shall read some of the ex-Christian books. I too got caught up in the charismatic thing; I was training to be a Bible translator when my father died very suddenly of cancer. I was blamed by my church for not having enough faith to allow God to heal him. I left the church and left Christianity about a year later. At about the same time time a close friend was raped by a member of her church; he reached the elders before she did, told them they'd been having an affair but he now repented, and she was kicked out of the church for fornication. They screwed so thoroughly with her head that she wasn't able to go to the police because they made her think it was her fault. I spent a few months exploring what I really believed and ended up a Pagan and more specifically a witch, but that's another story. I've healed sufficiently in the intervening years to now become involved in interfaith discussions...

by Spider Monkey Long, rambling, un-PC, and extraordinarily snarky, but hopefully worth the read. The drama started in 1995, when I was 13. My father had "found the lord" that summer when I was staying with my grandparents. Being the naïve, sheltered child that I was, I had squashed out my initial doubts and began believing the xian propaganda about the loving biblegod and his abilities to change people. Before the saga began, I had had limited experience with the Southern Baptists during vacation buybull school. I was a loner, an outcast among my peers, and I wasn't getting along with my parents. During this time in my life, I was often suicidal and depressed. I was happy that I would finally become part of a loving church family…. Was I ever wrong. I had the feeling that something was wrong early on. I was expecting a miracle to transform the short-temper and impatience of my father. Instead, he became more punitive, arrogant, and hypocritical. My brother...

by Harry Hi Everyone! I became a 'born again Christian' early in life, being baptized in an evangelical American Baptist (ABC) church in 1974. I became very active in it- youth group, volleyball, choir ( no, I can't sing, but I was in it anyway!), the clown ministry to nursing homes, retreats, etc. I went to contemporary Christian concerts ( Andre Crouch and the Disciples, Larry Norman, Petra, Phil Keaggy, Steve Taylor, etc, etc.), an inter-denominational group with a weekly singing and Bible study- we also went to concerts, retreats, and so on. I went to Christian coffeehouses, other events, and other churches for fellowship and teaching-to 'fellowship' and learn, not to church hop. Anyway. Skipping ahead a bit- I tried to convert LDS/Mormon missionaries at the ripe young age of 17, but after an extended period of time, I was baptized as a Mormon at the age of 18, in 1981 after going through the missionary discussions twice, film strips and talks with other Mormons...