After reading some of the other stories on this site, I've found that my story is basically the same as most others, so I won't bore you with all the details. Basically, I stopped believing in christianity because of other christians. It began when I started questioning the bible's various contradicting views, and started watching the discovery channel a little more.

Before, when a religious topic would come up in conversation, I would obviously defend the christian side, even studying various creationsist articles and later citing them. But when I started to question some of the very fundamentals of the faith, I suddenly found myself seeing the debate from the other side. Of course, I read everything I could find on the internet concerning opposing views. I was very surprised to find tons of information on biblical errancy, being that I was told from the get go that no biblical passage contradicted another.

Anyway, over a period of months I guess I slowly lost faith. Then one day, any beliefs I may still have had were winked out. A conversation came up concerning christianity and for the first time I was truly seeing things from outside. I could not believe how silly some of the things my friend was saying sounded. It all boiled down to "I'm right because I am", and "The bible/My preacher says it so it MUST be true" type stuff. In retrospect, I can't believe how long I actually went before my eyes were open, and I wince at some of the things that I did, or didn't do, or how absolutely guilty I felt (things done with girlfriend/boyfriend anyone?) about some of the most logical, truthful, and natural things in the world.

Well, that's my story, pretty basic, I know. I truly admire how people on this site can open up and share. It pains me to think that the reason most christians out there won't go down the path of truth is because it is a lonely, scary path to take. However I know now that (true) happiness and purpose are what lie at the end of that path.

By the way, I've read it in a bunch of stories, and I feel this myself. It seems that after this type of liberation I suddenly feel very compelled to travel the world, where I had absolutely no interest before. I couldn't really explain why, except maybe that I have a new respect for all sorts of beliefs and ways of life, now that things aren't all one sided.

Well, thanks for reading

Brian

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