Former Evangelical Christian, wanted to be an apologist because I wanted the strongest reasons to share my faith, and ended up instead with strong reasons to give it up.Any former Christians here?
Your story reminds me of Bart Ehrman's.Former Evangelical Christian, wanted to be an apologist because I wanted the strongest reasons to share my faith, and ended up instead with strong reasons to give it up.Any former Christians here?
My track was similar. My Dad was of French-Canadian culture i.e. Catholic and actively involved in several aspects of his parish church. He took me and my brother to daily morning mass. Even though the local public school was 1 block away, we were enrolled in a parochial school 2 miles away. Our next-door neighbors were Baptists. We were forbidden to ever step foot in their church building. One day my neighbor of my same age opened the door of The First Baptist Church so I could at least take a peek.Goodness no. I was a committed Christian all my childhood. Steeped in the Baptist church since nine months before I was born. My parents sent me to private Christian schools from elementary through college.
I didn't deconvert until I was 33 (an auspicious age). The process was much like Jarhyn's. I spent time on atheist messaging boards with the intention of "befriending" them and then leading them to Christ on the sly. From the other members of that board, I was pointed in the direction of counter-apologetic works which opened my eyes to the fallacies, the lies, and the wishful thinking that propped up my religious beliefs.
There never was a more reluctant deconvert than I, but (checks notes) over two decades later I have zero regrets.
Ha haha!My Dad was of French-Canadian culture i.e. Catholic and actively involved in several aspects of his parish church.
My take on it recently is that it provided a unified temple culture that would eventually allow the Roman empire to transition from local hegemony to international hegemony without having to actually conquer anyone.I had been intrigued about why Christianity became accepted versus the current (at the time) religious practices.
According to The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (1996) it was transmitted neighbor-to-neighbor, i.e. a weekly social gathering that had not existed with the other religions.
I agree with your sentiment. In some ways fraternal organizations, e.g. the Rotary Club, The Elks, Masons etc. appeal to the desire for fellowship.
I think Jarhyn has it.I had been intrigued about why Christianity became accepted versus the current (at the time) religious practices.
To be fair some aspects of the original Christianity survived, were reborn, or were kept in secret even centuries later.I think Jarhyn has it.I had been intrigued about why Christianity became accepted versus the current (at the time) religious practices.
It's about community.
Whatever else Jesus and His disciples did, they started communities. Communities that were sufficiently attractive to the hoi polloi to survive and grow in members. Sufficiently attractive for people like Paul to start more of them outside of Judea, in the Greco-Roman world. Which also grew, while adapting to the prevailing cultural norms and beliefs.
Then, over a few decades, the original communities were destroyed. They died out with almost everything else in Judea. The Romans looted, enslaved, and generally reduced everything in Judea to rubble.
But the secularized Christian communities outside Judea continued to grow. From Greece to Egypt, from Turkey to Rome itself, these disparate communities, with their individual versions of Christianity, kept on growing. While becoming increasingly pagan, like demigods and pantheons and water into wine miracles, those Greco-Roman communities became Christianity. Because they worked. Jesus based Christian communities didn't because they were too Jewish.
By the 4th century there were enough Christians to be useful to a Roman emperor. Christian hierarchy got access to the wealth and power of being a government agency, provided they developed an "official" doctrine that suited a Roman warlord. So they did.
And now we have what's known as "True Christianity". The doctrine agreed upon by the Roman elite.
More than a bit ironic, considering it all started as an anti-Roman people's movement.
Tom
I went to Catholic schools in the 50s 60s.Goodness no. I was a committed Christian all my childhood. Steeped in the Baptist church since nine months before I was born. My parents sent me to private Christian schools from elementary through college.
I didn't deconvert until I was 33 (an auspicious age). The process was much like Jarhyn's. I spent time on atheist messaging boards with the intention of "befriending" them and then leading them to Christ on the sly. From the other members of that board, I was pointed in the direction of counter-apologetic works which opened my eyes to the fallacies, the lies, and the wishful thinking that propped up my religious beliefs.
There never was a more reluctant deconvert than I, but (checks notes) over two decades later I have zero regrets.
OMG!One feels competed to confess about something.
As is often said on the forum, Christianity is about power, fear, and control. Tne RCC has had over a 1000 years to get good at it.OMG!One feels competed to confess about something.
I so remember this.
I went to Catholic school. I only went from my last class on Friday to the church. It was all one huge building.
It was time for Confession.
I made up sins. I had to confess something, else I'd get a D or something. I dunno.
I sure as Hell wasn't gonna tell Father Schiava when I discovered masturbating. Eeew! According to my Mom, Gramma was in Heaven watching me every moment. If she didn't tell Jesus or the priests I wasn't gonna start anything.
Tom