Why I'm Not a Theist Anymore

[Truth OT]

I'm big on transparency and honesty. I believe that being upfront and open is the most fair way to interact with people so that folks can know who they're dealing with and get an idea of what to expect from that person. That said, I decided to share a portion of my story so that those with whom I interact will have a better understanding of the 'whys' behind what I post.

 

[Truth OT]

I guess some back story is necessary so here goes. I was raised in a God-fearing home in a community of neighbors that were all believers as well. I spend my preteen years as a member of the neighborhood Missionary Baptist Church where I was very active in service. I was in the choir, led the Jr. Devotionals, and was pegged by the pastor as a future successor to him because i would often imitate him. Around the age of 11 I began to question whether the church I was a part of was actually the church mentioned in the New Testament. After much prayer, study, and influence from non-immediate family members, I concluded that my church was in error and I needed to join a congregation that valued the Lord's will above man's traditions. I was then baptized for the second time in my life on March 3rd, 1991 and subsequently placed my membership in a local Church of Christ congregation. My parents initially flipped out and refused to let me attend, but after a couple months of my zeal and conviction still being unwavored, they relented and each Sunday morning and Wednesday I'd catch a ride to service with on of the Elders and his family.

 

[Truther]

Glad you are open to new ideas and not immovable.

Keep seeking the truth.

The Church of Christ is anti-Acts, so find a church that teaches adherence to Acts.

 

[Truth OT]

The Church of Christ is anti-Acts, so find a church that teaches adherence to Acts.

A motto of the Church was that "If it ain't in the Bible, it ain't viable."

 

[Truth OT]

So for the entirety of my teenage years I was not only a faithful member of "The Lord's Church," but as an individual, I was 100% convinced that I had a personal relationship with God as well as my Lord and Savior. I honestly made it a point to study the Bible daily and pray often (multiple times daily). I wanted to be a 'soul-winner for Christ', so I volunteer to participate in door to door evangelism, lead Bible studies, and I made it a point to never be okay with missing a service. If the doors of the church were opened, I was in the building. I felt compelled to be a Christian example in all aspects of my life from the way I treated people, how I spoke, as well as what i would or would not do or condone being done in my company. That good kid that would always be preaching to his friends about avoiding evil, ME. That kid fathers actually didn't mind having their daughters date, ME. And all of it was genuine. When I went off to college I continued my Christian walk by joining a local congregation and communing with the saints there while I got my education. Though I wasn't always perfect while away from home, I still made not forsaking the assembly a priority and maintained my zeal for Christ. I had to always remember to be a light in all settings.
I eventually fell in love with a woman who was not a member of the Church of Christ and though she considered herself a Christian, I did not. I made it my mission to "win her for Christ" and started heavy into hermanutics and the like in hopes of being able to show her that her had to leave denominationalism and join the Lord's Church if she truly wanted to be saved. My studies actually opened my eyes to the fact that The Church of Christ may not have been what it claimed to be and that SOME other faiths within Christendom had credence as well.

 

[Heart2Soul]

A motto of the Church was that "If it ain't in the Bible, it ain't viable."

That's what many people claim, yet even when it is in the Bible they deny it applies to today or that it only applies to the Jews....I find that so double-minded....and scripture says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Glad you are willing to judge your own beliefs to know if there is any deception in it.
Keep seeking truth!
God Bless and thanks for sharing!

 

[Truther]

A motto of the Church was that "If it ain't in the Bible, it ain't viable."

Their motto is also..."the gifts of the Spirit have ceased and water baptism is silent".

 

[Willie T]

A motto of the Church was that "If it ain't in the Bible, it ain't viable."

Yet, they have found a way to "include" anything they choose. It is called, in their own vernacular, "Necessary Inference."

 

[Willie T]

Besides Salvation, the greatest thing God has done for me is that He got me OUT of the CoC after 12 years of indoctrination.

 

[Willie T]

Truth OT,

Apparently, I am just a few miles from you. I'm in St. Petersburg. Did you happen to go to school in Gainesville, and attend Crossroads?

 

[ScottA]

I'm big on transparency and honesty. I believe that being upfront and open is the most fair way to interact with people so that folks can know who they're dealing with and get an idea of what to expect from that person. That said, I decided to share a portion of my story so that those with whom I interact will have a better understanding of the 'whys' behind what I post.

I've been going over what you have written here so far, but cannot put my finger on the "why" you mention in your original post. Just to be clear, would you mind giving a concise statement on "why you are not a theist anymore?"

 

[Enoch111]

My studies actually opened my eyes to the fact that The Church of Christ may not have been what it claimed to be and that SOME other faiths within Christendom had credence as well.

Well it is rather a big leap from concluding that the Church of Christ has some erroneous teachings to saying that you are not a theist. Which is plain language means that you do not believe that God exists. So it looks like you have gone from the frying pan into the fire.

While I am not a member of the Church of Christ, since you want honesty and transparency, so you should also be honest about what is biblical within this denomination. Not just focus on their errors.

Let's take the Monmouth Church of Christ as a purely random sample:Statement of Faith

1. They believe in the triune Godhead.

2. They believe that Jesus is God.

3. They believe that the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God, and only the 66 books of the Bible are canonical.

4. They believe that "The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself."

5. They believe "that God justifies and sanctifies those who by grace have faith in Jesus, and that he will one day glorify them—all to the praise of his glorious grace. In love God commands and implores all people to repent and believe..."

6. They believe "that by his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute. He did this so that in him we might become the righteousness of God: on the cross he canceled sin, propitiated God, and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe."

This is all biblical so why should anyone become an agnostic or an atheist unless he chooses to reject the Gospel? Looks like you are blaming the wrong party.

 

[Willie T]

As a friend of mine likes to say, "I am an Atheistic Theist." In fact, Jeff wrote a book entitled just that, The Atheistic Theist.

 

[Truth OT]

For most of my life and all of my adult life I had been a practicing "New Testament Christian" convinced about my faith my religion. About a decade or so ago I began to question some of the tenets of my religion especially as it related to the church (not my faith in God). I went from being an Amillennial to a partial preterist. I went from believing in an afterlife that started immediately following death that was either in Abraham's Bosom or in a tormented Hadean realm separated from the Bosom of Abraham by a great gulf where souls awaited the last day and final judgment to a person that learned that what the Bible actually taught about the person, the soul, and death was quite different than what I once believed. I noticed that the promise of Heaven and the gift of everlasting life were not necessarily one and the same in scripture. And I then came to accept that according to scripture, Jesus was to come for his called ones during the generation of 1st century saints and that no continuance of saints on the Earth was spoken of in scripture following Jesus' taking of his bride. I came to understand that the promise in scripture for all men outside of that limited number Jesus took to reign with him was life, age-lasting life, not Heaven. The resurrection would be an actual physical resurrection as John 5:28-29 says! My hope was for age-lasting life under the reign of King Jesus and I would be an invited guest to the wedding of the Lamb and His Bride. Those who would not accept Jesus as king and faithfully obey would be resurrected to face judgment and subsequently be sentenced to a death from which there is no future resurrection.
I held these beliefs and was ready with scriptural proofs to support them and I wanted to share that good news so I joined various forums and made it a point to try to spread love and speak out against "false doctrines" like an eternal Hell, humans having a soul as opposed to being souls, the corporate church with its hierarchical system, etc. My engagement with Christians led me to engage with non-believers as well and I relished the opportunity to show those non believers why I believed what I believed and why they should as well. I took 1 Peter 3:15 and Jude 1:3 to heart and I engaged, engaged, engaged.

 

[Truth OT]

Well it is rather a big leap from concluding that the Church of Christ has some erroneous teachings

I hadn't gotton to the whys yet. Patience, it's coming.

 

[Truth OT]

Through all my doctrinal positions, one thing never wavered and that was my conviction that the Bible was God's inspired, infallible, perfect word without error or contradiction. My Christian walk and even my relationship with God was based on this being the reality. It was the very foundation upon which everything was built for without the Bible being true, than the God it declared may not be what it declared and that would mean that my concept and God and the relationship I had with my concept was of my own volition and not based on objective authority

 

[ScottA]

Here, hold my grape juice!

 

[Willie T]

Sounds like someone has an "either/or" thing going, based upon opposing manmade theologies.

 

[Willie T]

Sort of like, "I knew THAT was the Truth before.... But, now that I am enlightened, I know THIS is the Truth, instead." (I wonder what it's going to be tomorrow?)

 

[ScottA]

Sort of like, "I knew THAT was the Truth before.... But, now that I am enlightened, I know THIS is the Truth, instead." (I wonder what it's going to be tomorrow?)

Thorry...holding my tongue.