Calling all religions...conversion questions?

ok I have read all of the answers,and I agree with many. For years,i struggled with the bible,and god. As many Wiccans have,i too prayed for the christian god to love me and "save ' me. I never truly felt saved.

My father was a methodist minister,who later became and athiest.

I didn't realize it at the time,but that set the precedence to which I later questioned my beliefs.

I had a white bible,given to me by my gramma.

What i felt was important,and confused feeling important,with feeling the truth in christianity.

I doubted my whole life,and went from church to church,from religion,to religion.

I felt condemned,vile and guilty while being a christian.

It wasn't til I met with a Wiccan,who lead me to discovering Wicca,and although he mislead me,with reading "To Ride a Silver Broomstick",it gave me a peek into Wicca and lead me to realizing what I already knew: I was not vile. I was not guilty of anything,and I certainly was not condemned of anything.

I was mormon for awhile,and when i stood up and asked the bishop," Why should I feel guilty for what some mythical woman,named "eve," did? She was dumb enough to bite into the apple, let her burn for what she did,not me."

I was politely but firmly asked to leave the church,and not come back.

That was my "foot in the door" of Wicca.

I wanted to follow my heart, but felt guilty for not believing in the christian god,as was how i was raised.

You'll find,alot of us Wiccans were where you are at now. Questioning their native beliefs and knowing that is not where they wish to be,and trying to make a left shoe fit on a right foot.

We are left outcasts,even among our own,until we make a stand,and say " I know where I belong,and it isn't among sheeple."

You are thinking for yourself and that is good. I believe in a God and a Goddess,and other gods and goddess,as well.

I am a Solitary Ecclectic hedge/Kitchen Witch.

It had taken me years of trying to fit in and accept that I was simply not good enough for the mytical christian god.

Finally, as I was sitting at the computer on day,i heard this little voice whisper in my ear, "Why feel guilty for something that does not exist? Why continue to believe in something that you have no faith in,or do not believe in anyhow?"

That day was Oct. 6th,,2007.

I seriously knew,without a doubt,that I was not meant to be agnostic or even a christian. I never had the belief nor did I have the faith to believe in a christian god that I for years,doubted his existence.

I know where you are at: we've all been there.

Even the christians question,and then they get their belief,and their faith.

I've never had that "knowing" beyond a shadow of a doubt. I doubted.

Now,you know where i've been. I hope I gave you some clarity.

1) When i have such thoughts and feelings about Christianity (and none of them very good, trust me), does that mean i already have my foot halfway out the door and on my way to a new path of thinking?

That was my experience. It was a series of small changes that added up over time. Church is a reinforcing experience; it's there to reinforce your beliefs, your sense of community, etc. Over time I found little things about church to be more frustrating or irritating as they stopped being close to my own beliefs and opinions (and as I realized how unacceptable voicing alternate ones is).

2) for those of you who converted to another religion / spiritual view : was it easy for you to give up what you use to believe? If it was difficult for you, how did you overcome it?

It's easy, in a sense. By the time I really thought about it, I was really far away from what the church taught. But I went from Christianity to atheism, and at a fairly young age, so I couldn't speak to the difficulty of switching religions.

3)What belief system do you follow (if you feel comfotable sharing) and what made you make such a life changing decision as to become what you are?

Again, I didn't stand up one day and say "I'm an atheist now". Every week seemed to bring some little new thing into my view - the untenability of a literal translation, the senselessness (in my opinion) of the figurative beliefs of liberal churches like the one I grew up in, the lack of any difference in morality between believers and nonbelievers I was aware of, etc.,etc. It was more realizing "I don't believe in a god, and not only that, I haven't for some time".

Good luck with your search. I found Wicca to have pretty much all of the same problems that my native Christianity had, with the possible exception of the hidebound traditionalism. Perhaps your experience will be different.

1. You are practically out the door.

2, When you grow up a certain way and believing a certain way, it is never easy to convert to another religion or spiritual view or nothing at all. You will have doubts for a while. They will go away eventually. I went from being raised a conservative and devout Hindu to an atheist. It took me at least 10 or so years to finally become an atheist. You are always questioning yourself in the beginning. I read a lot, debated, argued, studied other religions and viewpoints and I realized they were all the same baloney.

3. My only belief is "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". It sounds very cliche but if you treat people with respect and kindness most of them will respond the same way to you. I don't need a religion or god or gods to do that. I can do it on ,y own. I am not expecting a reward or a special place in some imaginary place. I do it for my own satisfaction.

You are out the door and now begins your journey as a "seeker". Read about Wicca , Buddhism , shamanism, anything you want . Don't feel guilt. I didn't leave Catholicism with disrespect, I just stepped away. That is how I did it. So now is your quest to find what makes sense to you in this universe. When you find it you will feel the energy and you will know what you need in your life. Meditate, walk in the woods, study your dreams. Look at life the way you want to. You are truly free. I found Wicca to be for me. I feel truer to myself. I have a stack of books to help me get here. With Wicca I can believe in reincarnation, magick, and a new found love for Earth and the universe. There are many more reasons. Enjoy your journey as a seeker and you will eventually find what your looking for. Many Blessings! I'm Happy for you.

1) You're outta the door already. You still unconsciously cling to Christianity, but when you realize the doctrines don't make sense and start disliking it, you're effectively already out.

2) I felt residual guilt. My recovery was sudden, I went through an epiphany at around age 12 (took me some years to recover), and I stopped feeling guilt altogether. Once free from that mental parasite and its twin Fear, I fully recovered from Christianity.

3) I converted to Heathenry at the age of 14, formally professed at 15 to the exclusion of other faiths, and consecrated my life to Odin's service at age 16. Working on becoming a godsman (priest) now (age 20). Since the very start of reading about Asatru, I knew it was THE perfect religion for me. The values, the vision of the deities, the openness and absence of dogma in theology, the relationship with gods, kin, and brothers of the faith... Everyone single detail clicked perfectly in place. I've been a heathen ever since.

1) You already have your whole body out of the door. To actually understand and disagree with what is being said, you are thinking for yourself.

and they hate that.

2)I was raised a Catholic. I was going to become a nun. But one day, I was reading the bible and I realized that the God I was going to marry myself to was nothing more than a genocidal, homicidal, petulant child. I finally understood what my mother had said when she told me that god was not perfect. It was fairly easy for me to turn elsewhere.

3) I am a Solitary Nocturnal Wiccan. As silly as it sounds, I was researching for a long time, but it finally hit me when I was visiting The Denver Museum for Science and History(I think that is what it is called) any way, they had an Ancient Egypt exhibit. They had this beautiful Statue of Sekhmet. When we walked into the room, my little niece, who was about 13 months at the time, became silent in front of the statue and I could feel her presence, she was there. The same happened when we came upon the statue of the Lord Anubis. I knew that this was a path that I wanted to follow more closely.

May the Goddess help you along your path. and if you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Wow. I can barely type right now. What you have described here is what I have been feeling for years. I felt a temporary pull to the church, but it never lasts. At first I thought I was being drawn to the Catholic Church, but then I started to go to Masses and it didn't feel right. I had been to Catholic, Pentecostal, Anglican, Non-Denominational, United and Luthern Churches and none of them really did anything for me. I was more drawn to the Anglican Church, but even then I lost interest in a year. I too looked around and that feeling just evaporated and I realized that I was in the wrong place.

This is my view on things in order of your questions:

1) I do think that it means you are on your way out, although if in the end you go to another faith, you are still free to change your mind on that too. The glory of being a human - the ability to choose. I don't think that there is any problem with exploring other faith options. The Anglican priest who baptised my neice nailed this on the head - he said today I baptize this infant as an Anglican, but when she becomes of age to reason she is free to choose whatever denomination she feels drawn to. I know he was refering to the realm of Christianity, but still, he had sense in his words. Sometimes Christianity just doesn't work out for all. Given all the different religions in this world, it cannot be the only "true" religion. I think God wants us to worship him, I don't think he really cares how. And I think the Godess figure got the cheap end of the stick back when the Catholic Church absorbed everything...although that is better left for another discussion I think.

It is rather disconcerting having that foot out the door into the unknown though...I think that by finding like minded people in this world, it will ease the transition.

2) I too am drawn to Wicca. It is not easy to give up what has been ingrained in me since birth. My mother was Ukranian Orthodox and so even though she was not practising, she still raised me with "Catholic" views. I think if she were still alive that she would see the sense in Wicca...she believed in reincarnation, that I do know.

My family is all Christian, hell my father in law AND step mother in law are BOTH ministers with the United Church of Canada!! Thankfully my husband is not religious - agnostic at best - and he doesn't care what religion I am as long as I am happy and don't go preaching to him.

3) The main reason for the conversion was realizing that I was not a true Christian - that I do not believe in the Jesus of the bible. I believe Jesus was a man, but I do not think he did all that is claimed. Too much time has passed since the bible was written and too much has changed in this world.

Too many people have died in the name of religion and I can't fathom how anyone would choose to follow or dare kill another human in the name of God. They should be ashamed of themselves - I don't care what religion - any of them, all of them. It's become an excuse to get away with evil - God will forgive me...argh - makes me so mad...sorry!! Ranted a bit there...

I am so tired of being preached at. Go ahead, be a Christian, but don't quote scripture and tell me I am going to hell because I think there is a Goddess and I don't believe in your Christian creation of heaven and hell. Isn't this earth like hell already - what could honestly be worse?

My apologies I am off on a tangent again, I get off course, sorry. If you would like to talk to me, please let me know as I am more than willing to talk to you.

I am not sure what kind of research you have done, but I found Scott Cunningham a good writer, his book Wicca for the Solitary Practioner was very enlightening to me.

Good luck in your journey, may you find peace in where ever your spiritual journey leads you.

answer: 1) yes, mostly likely you're more than halfway out the door. That's not a bad thing.

2) yes but some residual guilt remained for a number of years. I got over it by educating myself as to where Christian beliefs came from and why they needed to push the guilt. No offense to others - there are wonderful Christians and some good denominations.

3) I became a pagan and then a Heathen. Now studying Judaism.

I was raised Christian but never seemed to fit in or understand (or believe.) I prayed, I asked, I begged, I tried for 15 years to get some kind of answer in Christianity, to make it fit. I only felt lonely and out of place. The doubts and questions weren't answered logically and I never felt "saved". I never reached the level of belief. I became an adult and kept trying with no success.

I reread the Bible, listened to preachers condemning me and saying AIDS was God’s punishment on homosexuals and studied the bible. Studying the bible did it finally. I decided that wasn’t for me. I couldn’t worship the deity in Christianity. I never found the “loving” god so I stopped trying and looked elsewhere. Alcohol didn’t work and only messed up my life so that ended quick.

I was Wiccan for 10 years and that was MUCH closer to what I was looking for but not quite it. Having gods and goddesses made perfect sense to me. Eclectic paganism had been close but not exactly what I was looking for.

I began exploring my ethnic roots (going through Native American traditions, Celtic paganism and then I found heathenism. It took 10 years before I found the deities and religion waiting for me. From the moment that I picked up a book on heathenism I knew what I had been missing. I continued reading what little was available (two good ones, a couple of miserable ones) and it was like a lightbulb going on in my head and life. Now I have that challenge, love, acceptance, and encouragement I was looking for in Christianity without the threats of hell or requiring me to change my orientation.

Heathenism sings to one’s very nature.

The Reconstruction religion is exciting because recons question everything and that's welcomed. New information is found every year that lends insight into the religion of our ancestors. Personal insight and experience also is welcome in the religion but is taken with "a grain of salt".

Everything is questioned until verified or it remains in a nebulous state in the religion.

The Northern deities don't want someone to grovel to them or turn the other cheek to an enemy. They want followers to live honorably and always question, seeking knowledge and honor the gods, one’s family, one’s friends, one’s ancestors and one’s self.

Finding one’s path in life and spirituality is half the task for some these days and mine taken me away from Heathenism and paganism after twenty-seven years.

I’m currently studying Judaism and have discovered a mutual love for learning and that its practically a requirement to question everything. I am converting to Reform Judaism with the intention of converting to Conservative or Orthodox when my living situation changes.

I do know one thing for certain, I will not return to Christianity.

Freedom, Tolerance, Boldness/Courage, Self Rule, Moderation, Steadfastness, Generosity/Hospitality, Truth, Equality/Justice, Family Responsibility/ Community, Honor, Strength, Troth/ Loyalty, Self Reliance, Wisdom

I was raised attending a church. They gave me my own Bible at an early age, & encouraged memorizing one verse per week, which I did. I enjoyed learning what they taught that was from the Bible, but, when they taught things that aren't in it, as though they are, I would stop listening temporarily . . . I had not only memorized the suggested Scriptures, but also read passages of Scripture in my spare time, which happened to show up their false teachings for what they were. . . When I was about 12yo, I quit church & Sunday school, because they began focusing on what we felt was right, instead of what God says is right. . . I began asking questions a few years later, when told some more disturbing lies about what the Scriptures teach. I was directed to ask a group of people who specialize in following what the BIble itself teaches. They answered not only the question I first had, but every one that has come up since then, 35 years ago!

This 'Christianity' you say you are so disgusted with, is none other than what Jesus Christ was referirng to when he said:

“*Many* will say to me: ‘Lord, did we not prophesy, expel demons, & perform many powerful works in your name?’ Yet I will confess to them: *I never knew you! Get away from me*, you workers of lawlessness. --Matthew 7:21-23

"You *hypocrites*, Isaiah aptly prophesied about You . . .

‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because *they teach commands of men* as doctrines.’” --Matthew 15:7,8

"For false Christs & false prophets will arise & will give great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones. Watch out! I have forewarned You." --Matthew 24:24,25 & Mark 13:22,23

In other words, you have experienced only apostate Christianity --which twists Scripture & has adopted pagan beliefs & practices-- rather than real Christianity, which teaches actual Bible truth, as discussed in:

"What Does the Bible *Really* Teach?"

http://watchtower.org/e/bh/article_00.htm {to read online;

http://jw.org/index.html?option=QrYQZRQVNlBBX {audio format

(choose the title from the, "Publication" pulldown box)

What Does the Future Hold for Christianity?

- A Sneak Attack on Christianity

- Christianity Subverted

- True Christians Shining in the Darkness

http://watchtower.org/e/200702/article_03.htm

well let me tell you something first........... you can tell I pretty much followed all the religions......... When i went to this school we had to follow christianity... before i was an hindu but now am an muslim........ before i used to go to the buddha praying place. If u want peace you might wanna change to a buddhist but my suggestion to u is not to change ur religion just practice other religions. Everywhere in the world people think ALL muslims are terrorists but thats not true. The holy quran has the answer to everything..... even the description of heaven and hell. Muslim is not a pagan type religion. The interesting part about the quran is that it has answers to questions of science.

Answer 1

I know how you feel. But i do believe you are getting a new path of thinking.................Im sure you are not happy with most christian beliefs, cultures or traditions..... before when i was a hindu i had the same feeling..... people used to pray to idols which they made by hand... that really confused because thats not the real god.........i used to wonder why they do it. i mean come on they are making a statue BY Themselves and then praying to it.............. I am young but i think i also got a new path of thinking.......... Now i try to help people and the world in different ways which is y most relatives and frnds tell me i have a different way of thinking..... To me religion is just a practice and something which gives the answers to questions. Overall I agree with u that ur on ur way to a new path of thinking

Answer 2

It started from my mom. My dad was a muslim and my mom was a hindu but when they married my mom converted from a hindu to muslim........ She once told me that her first experience as a muslim was confusing but then she visited places like mecca etc and she actually believed in the religion. She said it gives her peace and thats when i changed my religion......... When i did i started exploring the religion. all its beliefs, traditions and etc and i really liked them...... despite the fact that muslim is the religion of terrorists....... I visited many of this religion and their way of speaking and everything really got me interested...... This is not some paganish stuff but a fact- The holy quran is magic.. theres a surah and if recite it u can get an yes or no answer( but this aint any spell) And the quran it goes round and round and then gives ur answer. It was so amazing when i saw it happening in front of me.... I was like WOW. Every story that the quran tells is just amazing.........and u hv got to know this. We consider Allah(god) and he has made some surah's which help us in our day to day lives.... such as some to take ur sickness away.. some to bring self respect...... etc etc

Answer 3

I follow Islam. Heres my advice.. talk to people of different religions......... or just explore the religions and see what u feel comfortable with....I did and it worked for me. Please dont think anything but im just 11 and im just sharing some of my experiences.......... Before you make the decision plz think...... it doesnt matter what religion you follow if u feel comfortable with............. And if i hv missed any point plz tell me.