Why Do People Abandon the Christian Faith?

by leavingwt 58 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  leavingwt

  I enjoyed reading these points. In the second list of "real reasons", it was points #2 and #3 that first struck me, after leaving the JWs.

  Why do People Abandon the Christian Faith?

  Dr. Ruth Tucker, an evangelical and a former professor at Calvin Theological Seminary, wrote a book entitled: Walking Away from Faith: Unraveling the Mystery of Belief and Unbelief. I have the book and have read it with great profit.
  
  In a 2001 lecture to the Freethought Association of West Michigan, she gave. . .

  5 myths about those who walk away from their faith .
  
  1) They are angry and rebellious.
  
  Tucker says that her studies do not show this to be the case. Rather than anger, deconverts are more likely to experience sorrow and pain when they initially depart from the faith.
  
  2) They can be argued back into faith.
  
  She says this is very rare because the person leaving the faith "has carefully and painstakingly dissected the reasons behind this major worldview change." Committed Christians do not leave their faith without a lot of thought and soul-searching. Its not something that is done quickly or flippantly.
  
  3)Doubters can find help at Christian colleges and seminaries.
  
  She didn't find this to be true.
  
  4)They abandon their faith so that they can go out and sin freely.
  
  She found no evidence for this contention. As a matter of fact, she points out that often those who do not have faith appear to be more moral than those who do have faith.
  
  5) They were never sincere Christians to begin with.
  
  She rejects this because in her research, she came "across example after example of the most earnest and devout of evangelical, fundamentalist believers who became non-theists."
  
  Evangelicals have a really hard time explaining why one would depart the faith. Most that I have encountered since my apostasy seem to opt for either reason #4 or #5. They say either I wasn't "really saved" to begin with or that a desire to commit certain sins drove me away from a belief in God. They just don't seem to be able to admit that someone who has studied the Bible carefully, and understood its teachings as they do, could possibly leave the faith for intellectual reasons.
  
  

  Tucker went on to list some of the real reasons people give for leaving their faith.
  
  1) The study of science & philosophy
  
  2) The sense of absence of any caring God
  
  3) The critical examination of the scriptures.
  
  4) Disappointment in God
  
  5) The hypocrisy of Christians
  
  6) The perception of a dogmatic anti-feminist and anti-homosexual stance of fundamentalist Christianity.
  
  In my case, I would say that it was primarily #3 and to a lesser degree #5 that led to my de-conversion. I would be very interested to hear from other apostates as to why they abandoned their faith.

  http://formerfundy.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-do-people-abandon-christian-faith.html
• 

  PSacramento

  Faith is different things to different people and as such it is its EXPRESSION that can be the issue, not the faith in of itself.

  Some Christians are asses, this is true, whatis also true is that has very little to do with their Faith or Christianity, it has to do with them being asses.

  I think that those that leave because they become disappointed in God have a valid point, IF their faith was based on God "doing something" for them.

  Science can be a counter to the way many people express their faith and their belief system, this is true of ANY faith.

  Angry and rebelious people get that way for a reason.

  Faith is not something one can get angry at or rebel at, it is not a living thing per say, that is like getiing angry at gravity or one of the laws of physics, worse actually because at least those things are "tangiable".
• 

  leavingwt

  PSac -- What responsibility would place upon religious leaders? As I read your comments, and identify with them, I see you as a very independent person, thinking for yourself. However, would you not agree that most persons never do the thinking that you've done? Which is to say that the masses are destined to become whatever the religious leaders mold them into. (I realize that we can interject God into this to control everything, but I'm just trying to be analytical, for the sake of argument.) Just wondering.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  3) The critical examination of the scriptures.
  
  For me this scripture rings true: "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free".
• 

  hamilcarr

  I haven't abandoned the christian faith, I think the NT still contains a powerful message of freedom. I've left christian organizations because of all the reasons mentioned above.
• 

  leavingwt

  Further. . .

  If a person never has a negative/abusive experience with religion, they are less likely to ever critically examine the beliefs handed down to them by their parents. This, IMHO, would apply to ALL religions, not just Christianity.

  -LWT
• 

  PSacramento

  PSac -- What responsibility would place upon religious leaders? As I read your comments, and identify with them, I see you as a very independent person, thinking for yourself. However, would you not agree that most persons never do the thinking that you've done? Which is to say that the masses are destined to become whatever the religious leaders mold them into. (I realize that we can interject God into this to control everything, but I'm just trying to be analytical, for the sake of argument.) Just wondering.

  I do not believe in organized religion, organized religion is all that is wrong with religion.

  Religious leaders tend to not want people to think for themselves and people tend to want others to do the thinking for them.

  A perfect match.

  There is nothing worng with being critical of what is wrong in a religion and if it is the heads of the religion that are wrong, it is RIGHT to point that out.

  If a religion needs an overhaul then it needs an overhaul, period.

  It falls on the individual to find God, to find their faith, faith can't be given to anyone, people must find it and be willing to receive it.

  It is our own fault for the state of modern day religion.
• 

  feenx

  I would have to say that primarily for me it was actually number 4 of the myth list. Being raised as a dub you never really learn, realisitically, about other thoughts, teachings, views, etc. It's all quite convenient that you learn all about these "false" religions FROM the ONE "true" religion. So obviously everything is skewed. And going along with every other fellow dub you of course think you simply know everything about all these other religions.

  So for me, when I got DF'd, there was a large part of me that just couldn't quite wrap my head around why I was having such issues with my religion. *laughing to myself* "my religion." I was NEVER mine. It was something forced upon me. And I couldn't stop "sinning." So for a little while I thought pretty low of myself and figured I just couldn't hack it.

  But as I lost my friends and family, and watched their behavior from a new perspective, while simultaneously watching the behavior of "wordly" people, it became quite clear that dubs in fact, in many instances, were the lesser of the moral group. Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of immoral people in "the world," but if one was to compare dubs to the rest of the world, say on a ratio basis, I bet dubs would definitely come out as having more immoral people. I noticed it most with how they treat people, even their own who are still in the organization.

  At least though they still follow the golden rule, they just all treat other like crap

  After I realized that I simply wasn't like them, I started to do my own research. And THAT is when number 1 and 3 in the real reasons category really took hold for me.

  I know there a lot of Christians on this site, so this is only a statement of my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. But to me, the teaching of Christianity has more holes than a block of swiss cheese.

  That, by far, is the main reason that I will never go back to Christianity. It was always something I struggled with growing up, the very concept of it, and now that I am an adult and have had the opportunity to look at things from a new, balanced, and open perspective rather than being spoon fed "facts" I am able to see for myself.
• 

  leavingwt

  I do not believe in organized religion, organized religion is all that is wrong with religion.

  Religious leaders tend to not want people to think for themselves and people tend to want others to do the thinking for them.

  A perfect match.

  There is nothing worng with being critical of what is wrong in a religion and if it is the heads of the religion that are wrong, it is RIGHT to point that out.

  If a religion needs an overhaul then it needs an overhaul, period.

  It falls on the individual to find God, to find their faith, faith can't be given to anyone, people must find it and be willing to receive it.

  It is our own fault for the state of modern day religion.

  In view of this, I would say that 99.9% of the population is screwed. Do you see where I'm coming from?

  The overwhelming majority of Christians are within organizations and they didn't find God on their own.
• 

  leavingwt

  feenx -- Very interesting observations. Many of us can agree with the lack of love in the WT organization. We've seen it firsthand. I'm glad you escaped and I'm glad you deconstructed the experience, so as to gain your freedom.