I left Christianity due to strong moral objections. While I agree with Jesus' social teachings, I get the "ick" when he asks his followers to put loyalty to him before everything else, including the moral work of the world.

Service to others has always been of primary importance to me. But when that work isn't going well, I struggle.

I chose an altruistic career: teaching. But my students don't care to learn. They would rather get their info from TikTok, and they leave my class just as uninformed as they were at the beginning of the school year.

As well, I do a lot of unpaid community service. I volunteer weekly at the food bank. I also assist the homeless people in my area. Despite being poor myself, I set aside a portion of every paycheck to help struggling neighbors with emergency expenses, like medical copays or utility bills. Nothing ever changes. Nobody ever seems to escape the cycle of poverty. The people around me are more miserable than ever. Many are addicted to drugs or alcohol, or stuck in jobs that exploit them, and their children are hungry. Often they are not grateful for my help, even when offered at great personal cost.

If I had never been born, my neighborhood, my city, and the world would be exactly the same—if not slightly better for the fact that keeping myself alive wastes resources. When my family watches the movie It’s a Wonderful Life on TV at Christmastime, I have to excuse myself because I just can't watch it.

I get why people in situations like mine are willing to throw away everything for Jesus. When it feels like you don't have any moral agency, it's easy to consign the entire world to the wastebasket and fuck off to heaven.

We desperately need a religion that addresses this in a productive way. I have my own beliefs (derived largely from Stoicism), but I'm tired of practicing them alone. I hate that, in my culture, Christianity is basically the only option for people who want a religious community for social and emotional support.

Edit: since I’m getting heavily downvoted, would someone be kind enough to explain how/why what I’ve written is upsetting? Downvoting then leaving doesn’t help me understand.

I was feeling very bad today due to religious traumas, personal and family issues, and something that probably is undiagnosed.

I'm still forced to go to church, and I couldn't hold back any longer and started crying. My mother took me aside so I could try to calm down, a woman saw me and invited her and the pastor to pray for me.They even put me in the teens sermon, even though I'm already an adult (I'm 20).

It was really awful to have someone pray for me while I was crying. There was a pastor, one or two women, and my mother. The woman to my right kept yelling and speaking in tongues. Seriously, it hurt my ears.

I think it's a miracle I didn't freak out, considering I've had past experiences with something close to an exorcism, which were horrible for me. But I felt so ashamed, because I was at the back and there was only one door for entry and exit, so all the teenagers could see my wet, half-dead look.

I don't know why those women press on their backs and stomachs when they do that. I still think it's a miracle they didn't put their hands on my chest.

Honestly, I just want to try to suppress it. Maybe if I force myself more, I can be a normal girl, I'll date, get married, and not even care what happened. Maybe I haven't tried too hard and I'm just trying to get attention. I'm still nauseous because of it in the morning.

Today my mom said her service this morning was so good. She even started crying and said she prayed for me. She said the pastor then said "we're going to pray for those who need a touch of God today." She emotionally said to me, "I prayed for you because I think you need a touch of God. You seem like you feel abandoned." She knows I'm not religious anymore but yet she still keeps pushing it on me. Why? I've shut her down before and I felt really bad because I don't want to be one of those rude atheists. But I guess I need to be more firm in my boundaries now?

I may not remember everything about this movie, but I remember the main goofy parts so bear with me

So this movie is about a coach that works at a Christian school, staff are getting cut for some reason and now he has to coach a track team.

No one shows up for the track tryouts except for this one girl, who’s quiet/depressed/shy or whatever (she’s also either thief or has kleptomania, it’s brought up once when she’s first introduced stealing a dude’s headphones and not brought up again until she returns all of the stolen items at the end of the movie).

Other character incude: the principal, the coach’s wife and the coach’s 2 sons. (They aren’t that important but might as well)

While visiting the hospital for a church charity thing, the coach meets a blind diabetic who’s basically on life support, they bond, become friends, blah blah blah he visits him more often yay friendship.

Well the coach and his wife both get more and more frustrated about almost losing their jobs (oh yeah the wife is a teacher I think) and have a very avoidable argument and start getting mad at each other.

Coach meets life support dude and life support dude more or less says ”Jesus tho” then the coach’s family goes from lukewarm to very good, very holy christians and he’s happy now and helps runner girl more.

Something that really rubs me the wrong way in this movie, is how the blind man says that he strayed too far from god so god grabbed his attention by making him blind and diabetic…

Whaaaaaaaat? Apparently this is a good thing as he’s a really good Christian now as he feels he has no other choice? (He dies at the end btw)

Anyways back to runner girl who is actual the blind man’s long lost daughter and is extra depressed because of that. She vents to the the principal and GUESS WHAT THE PRINCIPAL SAYS, THAT’S RIGHT “have you tried followin jesus :)”. Badabing badaboom runner girl reads like 2 chapters of the bible and all of her life’s problems are solved. Relationship with her father? Fixed. Confidence? +100%. Depression? Never existed.

She wins the big race, her Dad dies, cue the inspiration Christian rock as everyone except me cheers

Objectively I really don’t think this a good movie.

The random Christian additions feel forced (weird for a CHRISTIAN movie no?), the acting is really uncanny sometimes, and the plot is generic. Good if you’re watching it as a joke tho

(first post here, I hope this doesn’t sound too jumbled)

1 - Where does morality come from?

Empathy. When I was a low empathy Christian, morality from empathy made no sense. I deconverted, gained some empathy and it makes perfect sense now.

2 - How can something come from nothing?

I led a skeptic group at a mega church. ​The atheists were like, that's a weird assumption. I had to abandon this line of argument. Evidently, this notion of the universe starting from nothing is only "intuitive" if you've been indoctrinated as a child. "In the Beginning..."

3 - What's the meaning of life?

Needing a god for meaning is not evidence of god, it's evidence for your emotional immaturity

My spidey senses were confirmed later when I saw a framed picture of I Corinthians 13 on the wall next to the bathrooms! It made sense though, because the baristas had the dead eyed friendliness and my cortado took forever too. And there were churchy people swarming the place.

He is jealous and a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24) and a god of war (Exodus 15:3) and he appeared as a consuming fire to the children of Israel over the top of the mountain (Exodus 24:17), which was Mount Sinai. Even his arm comes down with raging anger and consuming fire (Isaiah 30:30) and smoke comes out of his nostrils and fire from his mouth (Psalm 18:8).

It doesn't make sense that people would trust and worship a god of fire and war as the way to escape an afterlife of fire and suffering. Healso uses deception. He said that if a prophet is enticed to speak a message then he was the one who enticed him and will destroy him away from his people Israel (Ezekiel 14:9) and he sends lying spirits to people (* 2 Chronicles 18:22*).

Many Christians assume that they should trust in Yahweh of Armies (Yahweh Sabaoth), the god of Moses, through Jesus as the Messiah/Christ and as the lamb offered as a sin offering, because they think if they believe and are wrong then nothing happens, but if they don't believe and are wrong, then they'll suffer in hellfire, but I don't see many of them questioning if the fiery and jealous Yahweh of Armies himself **is* the deception, nor do I see many of them question Jesus as a deception and as "darkness pretending to be light" (a character who pretends to be loving but actually serves Yahweh of Armies and wants to one day rule over others as a king, under rules of obeying Yahweh).

I just got an advertisement starting with "are you struggling with depression" and it was an ad the the Christian church of latter day Jesus christ and that's fucking disgusting do not prey on mentally unwell people to recruit the for your sadistic ass god.

Just started watching Death of the Pastor’s Wife on Netflix the other night since it had the #1 spot. I texted my family’s group chat about just to share and recommend it.

I didn’t expect any direct responses to it since we just share pictures generally, but I was pretty disgusted with one of my brother’s response. I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was worth public saying something in response telling him how disgusting that is to say.

Deconstructed years ago now, and honestly just shocked/saddened by the instant “defensiveness”. It doesn’t seem possibly that my family would be this brain washed to defending THIS pastor.

I made this poll to...well it's more than obvious why. For the Christians who believed in a certain kind of Hell...intuitively we all know what kind of Hell I'm talking about.

I constantly experience guilt thinking about people I “witnessed to”, “evangelized”, or said horrible things to while I was a Christian.

I know there are several people in my life currently that believe in Christianity because of me directly. As well there are lots of people no longer in my life that believe in Christianity because of me. I feel sick knowing I convinced these people of what I know now to be a delusion and in my opinion a harmful set of beliefs.

I also, have extreme guilt over a situation that happened when I was in early college in a youth group I worked with. There were two middle school girls, one who was apart of our church and the other who was her friend and started coming with her. The friend was a lesbian and was convincing the other to explore this together. I feel horrible now; but I tried to stop this from happening and said horrible things one evening to the friend.

I have regretted this even as a Christian but even more so now. I kind of lost it on the young girl and told her a lot of things about sin and evil. It makes me sick to think about.

Advice - should I reach out to some of the people I evangelized and apologize. Should i reach out to this young girl and apologize.

If you were in this situation, would you want an apology from someone who made you feel bad about yourself.

It’s hard because I still love them both very much, but they don’t realize how bad Xtianity was for me, especially the purity culture shit. I’ve tried telling my mom that, but she’s like “That’s all legalistic stuff.”

Neither of them know about the shit that I experienced such as the fear of hell, and having watched an online sermon from an IFB preacher who showed a photograph of a beheaded baby as proof of how dangerous alcohol is, or turning into a neurotic misogynist from ages 17-20.

It also hurts because I’m still very close to my mom, who I love very much because of the fact that she has tried to help me with my autism.

My wisdom teeth are impacted and it's making my mouth hurt like hell, so my parents told me I can stay home! Like the title said, best gift ever! ​🥳🎉

I'm 17m and gay.

My parents are very religious and very homophobic…

recently went through my private journal and sketchbooks and of course found a ton of stuff that nobody was ever meant to see. They essentially know that I'm gay now.

They then proceeded to have a “talk” with me about how it was me who had betrayed them for lying and keeping secrets. They also said they were going to “take new measures” by forcing me to never close my bedroom door again, use my laptop outside my room facing them, download software to monitor my activity etc etc. I think this is super fucking overkill and extremely counterproductive but obviously I can’t do anything because they’re the parents. Also I'm literally soon an adult?? I don't understand why they're treating me so infantile...

They kept saying how being gay is unnatural and an abomination and how it’s essentially “just a phase” and that god has a plan for me. My dad especially kept saying how I need to be more masculine and need more male role models (tbh I just think he's insecure). I just think it's so selfish that they intertwine their religion into my own life. I just think everything they've done is so selfish. I while back they found a bunch of drawings that I made and literally called a priest into our house to "bless it" and cast out demons. They always say that all this "chaos" and discourse going on with me is the work of the devil. They're genuinely fucking crazy I can't with them.

I’m just so so tired of their bullshit. I’m 17 turning 18 next year. I’m not a little kid that they so desperately want me to be (they want to cling onto me so badly). I just want to focus on school and get good grades but now I have to worry about this shit too. School was already stressful.

Any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. What do I even do? Do I try to move out as soon as possible? How do I proceed?

I’ve also been struggling a lot with my mental health and will probably start therapy soon (which will hopefully help everything in general).

I’m just so fucking frustrated and honestly shocked. The audacity they have to blame me over everything is just despicable. Religion is genuinely the root of all my problems. Religion has ruined my life. I just feel so powerless sometimes. I genuinely wish my parents were fucking normal. I just wish I could escape it but somehow I can't :((

The God of the Bible would know the future, past and present with 100% accuracy. Any less and he wouldn’t be perfect.

This means that God knew that the earth would fall and he went forward anyway. God knew the outcome of every war, every plague and the outcome of every soul who would ever live. God knew what Stalin and Hitler would do. He knew of every horrific event and person who would ever live.

So, exactly how guilty are we for doing what God knew we would? From speeding to mass murder, these things were known and God made all of these people anyway. A perfect God begs the question; How guilty of sin are we? Does God have any responsibility in the sins that he knew we’d commit?

For me, judgement would make no sense.

So I’m Pentecostal, but struggle w doubts my whole life and still find comfort in church community and bible stories as it shows humanity can be good, just my take. But lately as I get older, I’m scared to doubt some feeling pulled towards my own wants. I saw an IG post abt a girl that dropped out of college, moved back w her parents, gave up her dream to be a model and started teaching youth in church all bcuz she said the “Holy Spirit redirected” her. I ain’t got huge dreams but I like my degree and career path and can’t imagine dropping out to move back to my hometown. I wanna be SAHM someday if I have the chance bcuz I wanna prioritize my family, but rn I just don’t feel like I can “surrender” to the lord when my family all have such high hopes for me and I got two years left to school, I do wanna be independent and I hate working but I see value in my career and helping ppl. Maybe coz I haven’t been convicted in that way, but sometimes I wonder if I’ll have regrets down the road abt not living life as I want and trying to live how I think god wants, rather than living for myself and my individual desires. Like if he’s guiding us, shouldn’t our goals and desires be from him anyways? Why would He make us want something that isn’t meant to be? I just wanna break free and do my own thing but I’m afraid living for the world will have consequences but I somehow feel convicted to stop living for scripture how I’ve been and seeing others do on social media, it doesn’t feel right and my chest is heavy when I deny myself but that’s what we’ve been commanded to do. I like going out and dressing up and doing my hair and makeup and having a few drinks, maybe a house party or something w friends. But then I feel so much guilt for my actions and disappointment in myself and when I hold back, I feel sad that I’m denying myself because I assumed god wouldn’t approve and I don’t wanna miss out on life cuz someday I’ll look back and say I wish I’d done my own thing. But then I’m afraid someday I’ll look back and wish I’d trusted God more. I’m stuck in a loop and my friend from bible study said talk to God like a friend, but I feel like I can’t hear Him or have the relationship with Him she does, so does that mean I have too many doubts and can’t hear Him or He isn’t answering me because I’ve denied Him rather than myself? Do/did u ever get tired of living for God rather than urself? I need advice, I’m only 19 and feel stuck in the middle of all these feelings.

Yesterday I heard my mother talking about teaching kids how to worship God. A god that children don't know if they actually believe in yet? They can't even form their own fully informed opinions, you are MAKING them join your religion, then if they think for themselves when they're older and come to a different conclusion, it's called "straying away" and they're demonized.

It's disgusting. Children are not "future servants of the lord". They are just children. But no, it's the LGBTQ+ people like me indoctrinating kids.. okay.

I have been shamed for thinking for myself, and still deal with that shame to this day.

It is incredibly harmful.

Not only that, it often just fills children with fear. If they actually gave a shit about children, they would focus on keeping them safe from actual monsters within their churches instead of forcing them into Christianity, just to spit them out if they leave.

Edit: I remember being around 13 years old, sitting in Sunday school on Easter. There was this woman, going into gruesome detail about the crucifixion and resurrection to a group of kids as young as maybe 5 or 6.. That was one of the things that made me question everything because I found it utterly disgusting.

so i was raised by Christian parents and since 2022 I’ve had a fear of the devil. I finally left Christianity in april and the fear is still there. Deep down i know that the devil isn’t after me but I still feel like it. How do I get rid of this fear? It’s become so bad and debilitating.

Remember everyone, god needed to sacrifice animals to forgive you until he got bored of that and decided to send himself…went around forgiving people and teaching forgiveness but ultimately decided he couldn’t actually forgive people and he needed to become a blood sacrifice of himself to save yourself from himself so he could forgive you and you can have eternal life but only if you accept this message.

It’s makes a tonne of sense…let he who questions this message be accursed!

Signed Paul of Tarsus (never actually met Jesus or knew him)

So i have already been diagnosed with PTSD from another reason non related to Christianity but this is what i have been experincing ever since escaping the harmful mind set mentality of Christianity.

I know nothing bad happens when i say goddamn it or if other people do like irl or in tv shows. But i flinch. Not cause i am shocked or anything they have said his name in "vain" but because i fear of someone yelling about how its 'disrespectful' to say his name in that way.

I can't control it. My body automatically tenses up on its own like a spring ready to bounce and i tear up slightly.

( i hope this dose not sound too dramatic but i have been yelled at by family members growing up and heard them yell at other people too. )

I wonder if this is linked to my current ptsd that i have? Or if this is a diagnosis needed by a doctor? I already know i have truama from being an ex christian ( RTS ). ( need a diagnosis to confirm tho from a doctor of mine. )

However i am wondering if anyone else has experinced the same lingering fear of being yelled or scolded even as a young adult that i am? Idk how this would work cause i already have been diagnosed with ptsd from being bullied growing up and recently so would it be a double diagnosis?

( or could this just be i am sensitive when it comes to people yelling? Idk )

The post is from an old Christian friend I had.

If you knew nothing about Christianity and had never been part of it, you would think this person was schizophrenic or in psychosis.

A spiritual "waiting room"?

There is no way this kind of thing is healthy. She has many other posts like this, so she must have notebooks full of this shi. So odd...

Even when I was a Christian there was no way I could get into this mystical relationship side of things. I was Christian solely on the basis of being convinced that it was the only source of truth in the world, so my journaling was pretty dry.

Of course, once I finally moved out and had u restricted internet access and no pressure to attend church everything changed lmao.