Has anyone found/rediscovered faith/religion in an unorthodox way? Would you mind sharing how?

[KatieMarieJ]

Hi all,

I've name changed for this as I know just how fruit loopy it might make me sound.

I just wondered if anyone would be willing to share their more unorthodox routes into believing in something?

I'm not talking about stuff like christened as a child or cultural expectations, missionaries at the door or marrying into a new faith. I'm talking about stuff that's blindsided you really into something new, or reminded you of something old.

K :)

At Christmas about 8 years ago things were really tough and we were pretty skint and just not in a good place. One of the dc was given a leaflet at nursery with a list of local Christmas services on it. We decided to take the kids to “show them the real meaning of Christmas” as presents were fewer that year. And I just really met with God in that Christmas Eve service, and there was so much love in the church that night, and it was the first step on a road to becoming a Christian.

Babdoc Thank you for sharing that. Please feel free not to answer, I'm only asking because I'm interested, I'm not doubting your experience. If possible, (I know words can seem inadequate with these matters) can you explain how you felt it was a male presence?

If you don't mind me asking, I have several questions about your experience.

I was a rabid scornful atheist of the Dawkins variety

What exactly do you mean by that?

At that lowest point in my life, with everything else stripped away, I had a direct encounter with God.

How do you know it was god?

I was aware of His presence within me

In what way were you aware?

and He was not only infinitely compassionate towards my loss

How was that conveyed to you?

He actually took my pain and sorrow and suffered it Himself instead.*

How do you know he suffered?

I think God is here all the time, with us and around us, but we are so absorbed in the distractions of life that we don’t tune into Him.

How could I tune into him? And what benefits would that bring me?

The church doesn’t teach that babies are born with any fault (neither mine nor others as far as I know) but that we are born with an inborn tendency toward sin. So we are born already having an over reach and misdirection of our natural (and when correctly channeled, sinless) emotions - anger, fear, lust etc.

I think you'll find that many Christians believe that all humans are born in sin. Born sick and commanded to be well. It's the same as the divinity issue. A classic technique of controlling vulnerable and/or gullible people by convincing them that they have a problem and then offering the cure with open arms. It's frankly disgusting.

The idea of sin is laughable. Again, it's a controlling technique. Here are things you MUSTN'T do or you will burn in hell for eternity (or similar threat). The biggest problem is that Christians can't even agree on what things are sins and what are not.

I don’t think we need to be told we have a problem, it seems blindingly obvious to me. I was brought up without Christianity (my parents are wiccans) but I found the story of the fall extremely relatable - by far the most relatable part of Christian thought - long before I went in for any of the rest of it. I am always falling short of what I want to be and I’d still rather aspire high than lower my expectations to preserve my self-esteem.

The only question for me was whether or not there was any hope of a cure.

I don’t recognise the characature of a list of rules to be punished by hell at all from my experiences with Christianity. Generally speaking you get the Evangelical style Christians who believe that your “works” don’t matter at all - only faith. And then you get the older style apostolic Christians (Catholics, Orthodox) who are a lot more nuanced and recognise sin as more a state of separation from God than a set of actions.

I've always believed in God. We've moved house recently-ish and got married in a lovely local church. I'd love to start attending regularly but I'd have to go by myself; DH isn't really a believer and only my youngest DC stil believes, but I don't think he'd want to come.

I'd really like to join the community of the church but worry I'd look silly/lonely there by myself. I went to the Easter service alone and it was beautiful, but everyone was with their families.

I don't know what to do.

I don’t think we need to be told we have a problem, it seems blindingly obvious to me.

For starters, this is a common sense fallacy. Just because it seems obvious to you, doesn't make true. But even then, in order for us to have a problem, we clearly need to have some purpose against which we are insufficiently prepared. But as yet, no purpose to human life has been demonstrated.

I am always falling short of what I want to be and I’d still rather aspire high than lower my expectations to preserve my self-esteem.

But just because you have higher aspirations for yourself than you have achieved, doesn't mean you have a problem and certainly doesn't therefore extend to the whole of humanity having a problem. It would be very simple for me to have aspirations of unassisted flight, for example, but just because that's never going to happen, doesn't mean I'm a failed human.

The only question for me was whether or not there was any hope of a cure.

A cure for what? The only illness in this context is one which has been invented by religion in order to offer you the cure. If you recognise that there is no illness, you have no need for any cure.

I've always believed in God.

You probably haven't. It's unlikely you burst forth from the womb with an in-built belief. I presume that you were brought up in an environment where it was imposed upon you and you just never got to a point where you have questioned the validity of the claim. But correct me if I'm wrong.

I'd really like to join the community of the church but worry I'd look silly/lonely there by myself. I went to the Easter service alone and it was beautiful, but everyone was with their families. I don't know what to do.

I really don't think it will be a problem. Churches are generally pretty desperate for attendees these days so they're likely to welcome anyone they can get.

A cure for what? The only illness in this context is one which has been invented by religion in order to offer you the cure. If you recognise that there is no illness, you have no need for any cure.

Well if you are sure you're already fine Christianity isn't talking to you, you're completely free to ignore it.

I was quite sure I wasn't fine long before I even considered engaging with Christianity so it spoke to me.

WhatsgoingonEh - Easter services are not typical services as you get more visitors and Easter and Christmas only people, so it might be worth going back to see what an ordinary service looks like. I remember when I was exploring faith again after being an angry teenage atheist and it felt very odd to be in a church with lots of families when I was on my own. I found one I was comfortable in eventually but it took a few tries. If you google Ship of Fools Mystery Worshipper you might find that some of your local churches are featured and that might help with your search. Good luck.

Well if you are sure you're already fine Christianity isn't talking to you, you're completely free to ignore it.

Except it is. Christianity is trying to tell me that there's something I need saving from. I'm just not convinced there is, that's all.

I was quite sure I wasn't fine long before I even considered engaging with Christianity so it spoke to me.

So what exactly is not fine? We're just animals living on a little planet. Do dogs need saving or curing? How about ants? Or Oak trees? Why are you any different?

Well according to Christian theology yes it’s all not fine, the whole of creation was corrupted by the fall and will be renewed at the second coming.

I don't understand why a thread specifically asking for people to share their religious experiences has attracted people who clearly don't believe, and (worse!) want to spend their time trying to talk other people out of believing.