As I said last time I am pausing my series about whether or not there is a god(s). A podcast that I have been listening to has had a few shows that have pointed out how difficult it is for someone to lose their faith if they don’t know how to move on from that. That made me think about a comment to one of my most aggressive posts and some words from a college buddy that I’ve read. I am starting to think that at least a few of my Christian readers may be having their faith shaken by some of the things that I have pointed out.
This has also gotten me to think about how difficult the process was for me, yes I know that seems odd that it didn’t come to me sooner since it was less than four months ago that I launched this blog with a series on my horrific loss of faith and had a podcast interview that dealt with that process. So I’ve been thinking about what I did right and what might have made the transition easier for me, and that is what I’ll be focusing on now.
Today I’m only going to address two points.
First, keep an open mind. You may be wrong. Your old ideas may be wrong and your new ideas also might be wrong. Every great discovery anyone has made in any field has been the product of someone accepting the possibility of being wrong, then admitting to having been wrong for many years.
Second, and probably more importantly, hang on to the old until you’re ready to move on to the new. I had several periods of time where I had given up my faith, but I continued to live the same life I always had. I kept going to church, I maintained the same lifestyle, I continued to read the Bible, I even continued to teach Sabbath School classes, preach sermons, and give worship talks. From the outside it seemed as if nothing had changed.
One of the greatest fears people have about the possibility of losing their faith is where to find their moral grounding. You know what, the morals you’ve lived by have gotten you this far, even if they’re based on a lie they’ll get you through until you can figure something else out. Feel free to let a few things go once you’re sure they aren’t needed, but don’t throw the whole thing out.
Next time we’ll look at some of the tools for examining your doubt.
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I was raised a conservative christian and lost my faith in my early teen years. My deconversion had nothing to do with "worldly" influence or a desire to not think there was a god. I was so "protected" from outside influences that I had never even seen a text book on evolution and I rather liked the idea of living in heaven forever. My loss of faith came from Noah's flood. When I would look at a mountain I would wonder how it got their. I could never imagine how the geological formations we see today could have been formed in less than 10,000 years, and involve a big flood. On the other hand, it was pretty easy for me to imagine how how natural erosion processes over millions of years could produce exactly what I was seeing. This set off a domino effect as, one by one, I rejected a lot of the ideas I had been taught about reality. (As an aside, the idea of the earth coming about by striclty natural process was seeded in me by a creation Vs. Evolution video I saw at church. The creationists didn't make any sense to me so I started thinking about it on my own.)
I was an atheist before I had ever met another atheist. At the time I was taught that atheists where as horrible as Hitler and homosexuals. This put more fear in me than anything Dustin has described in his deconversion. Only after I got to college did I realize that the majority of scientists don't believe in Noah's flood. Instead, scientists conclude that the earth came about by natural processes over millions of years, just as I had.
Which brings me to my point. It is terrifying to give up Christianity. After all, people think their doubts are the Devil trying to steel their soul. Since my deconversion I have debated many intelligent people on the topic of theism. What I have noticed is that completely rational and intelligent people will become dumb as a brick if they are confronted with the irrationality of Christianity. I used to think it was because the people I was debating where idiots, but now I think they are scared. People will exhibit massive amount of cognitive dissonance in order to cling to their irrational Christian beliefs. Dustin, I think some posts on managing the fear of deconversion could be quite helpful to a lot of people.
BP
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Very well said. I will do my best to address the fear factor. Hopefully you'll continue to help me out with that.
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I was raised a conservative christian and lost my faith in my early teen years. My deconversion had nothing to do with "worldly" influence or a desire to not think there was a god. I was so "protected" from outside influences that I had never even seen a text book on evolution and I rather liked the idea of living in heaven forever. My loss of faith came from Noah's flood. When I would look at a mountain I would wonder how it got their. I could never imagine how the geological formations we see today could have been formed in less than 10,000 years, and involve a big flood. On the other hand, it was pretty easy for me to imagine how how natural erosion processes over millions of years could produce exactly what I was seeing. This set off a domino effect as, one by one, I rejected a lot of the ideas I had been taught about reality. (As an aside, the idea of the earth coming about by striclty natural process was seeded in me by a creation Vs. Evolution video I saw at church. The creationists didn't make any sense to me so I started thinking about it on my own.)
I was an atheist before I had ever met another atheist. At the time I was taught that atheists where as horrible as Hitler and homosexuals. This put more fear in me than anything Dustin has described in his deconversion. Only after I got to college did I realize that the majority of scientists don't believe in Noah's flood. Instead, scientists conclude that the earth came about by natural processes over millions of years, just as I had.
Which brings me to my point. It is terrifying to give up Christianity. After all, people think their doubts are the Devil trying to steel their soul. Since my deconversion I have debated many intelligent people on the topic of theism. What I have noticed is that completely rational and intelligent people will become dumb as a brick if they are confronted with the irrationality of Christianity. I used to think it was because the people I was debating where idiots, but now I think they are scared. People will exhibit massive amount of cognitive dissonance in order to cling to their irrational Christian beliefs. Dustin, I think some posts on managing the fear of deconversion could be quite helpful to a lot of people.
BP