Why Do Believers Think

[nailit]

That former believers leave the faith?
(Whatever it may be?)

[fiveleaves]

Well most people don't have the same lifestyle.
If a Jehovah Witness left their faith, for example, I would be happy.
If a once practising Christian leaves their faith, I as a Christian would feel sad.
The reasons are myriad and of course personal to the individual.
Some backsliding Christians do come back, which I regard as good news

[Philoctetes]

People hold to a faith (any faith, including Science!) because it gives answers to the questions that are important to them. If the answers become unsatisfactory, as experience grows, or other questions appear, without answers, people may leave the faith. They may also return.

[Stableford]

The same reasons why someone walks away from loving parents. Rebellion, disobedience, seeking an "easier" alternative, thinking "I know best", thinking themselves into knots ie "I shouldn't have been born into this family", "I don't fit in", "I can't live up to Dad and Mum's expectations" etc Often boils down to disbelief, and rarely ends well. The question being, "what am I running away from?" The happy sequel being that God waits, in grace, with hands outstretched to receive and bless those who return to Him in repentance.

[naomi24]

^Oh good grief! You need to have a serious rethink, stableford.

[davebro]

//God waits, in grace, with hands outstretched //

I know - Maradonna told me!

[Peter Pedant]

because they tell them....
otherwise it is reasonable to think the believer is still a believer

RC - I am not a great er believer in the latitude anglicans have- I used to believe in 7 sacraments but this year I am down to the big three.....

[Peter Pedant]

I think we have seen the same kind of families Stableford

and here we have LC Irvine's eldest, misbehaving
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/25/politics.politicalnews

as Naomi might exclaim - Gawd dey do dat do dey ?
Yes Naomi I am afraid some children do.... PP gives a crazed Lady Di shaded sideways shifty look.

For slow AB readers he pointed a shotgun at his non-girlfriends proper boy-friend, in America ! oops !

and you do - - look at these wayward children and wonder why God had sent them to their long-suffering parents

[naomi24]

PP, Naomi has never exclaimed anything like that in her life and is never likely to. I would ask what’s wrong with you but I don’t think you know.

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

A lot of people who leave the faith weren't true believers to start with. Others have been wronged by others in the faith, and blame this on the faith itself. Some will leave the faith in their heart but continue the motions of their 'religion' which must be the saddest bunch of all.

[naomi24]

//A lot of people who leave the faith weren't true believers to start with.//

And others take the time to investigate - and eventually retrieve their brains.

[Atheist]

Hazi, yes there are some who lose faith in their hearts, but some of them go through the motions becuase they enjoy the sense of community and/or the old rituals. They're not necessarily sad. I hope you were using the word in its traditional sense of 'unhappy' and not as a sort of put-down or mild insult, which seems to be the fashion nowadays. In my younger days, a sad old man would be someone for whom you felt pity and sympathy for; nowadays it often means something else.

[nailit]

//A lot of people who leave the faith weren't true believers to start with//
Says every faith, based religion ever?
Moonies, Mormons, Pentecostals (my own teenage indoctrination),
JW's, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Lutherans, Baptists.

//A lot of people who leave the faith weren't true believers to start with//
How would you know that?

[nailit]

//Some will leave the faith in their heart but continue the motions of their 'religion' which must be the saddest bunch of all.//

Why would someone continue to 'motion' their religion?

Unless, of course, its to keep others happy?
Which is indeed sad!
(unable to be yourself)

[naomi24]

I know people, especially in country villages where community spirit thrives, who go to church but don’t believe a word if it. They go for the social life.

[nailit]

''I know people, especially in country villages where community spirit thrives, who go to church but don’t believe a word if it. They go for the social life//

Naomi
Why Cant we recognize that we are social animals.
Religion/belief has f all to do with it?
We all need to find our tribe.
Maybe religion fulfills that need.

Personally, I prefer to be an out-sider and take the chance that I could be wrong.
If I end up screaming in some God's Eternal justice

[nailit]

EH?
Was still typing....

[nailit]

Half my post has gone....
Try again tomorrow.
Im to flued up and knackered to bother now!

[nailit]

As a teenager, I put my heart and soul into my Christian faith.
I was a believer. No one could convince me that I was not a follower of Jesus.
Lost my faith in my 20's when I decided to educate myself and read the Bible from cover to cover.
What an eye opener.
I read it without the God-Goggles on.

Stableford, fiveleaves and others are incapable of reading it without stained glass reading glassess any other way.

I pity them for not using their (God-Given?) intellect any other way.


Anyone who can excuse the god of the bible (and his actions) is despicable.

[nailit]

Its not US that needs Gods forgiveness,,,,
Its God that needs OUR forgiveness...

[mibn2cweus]

Blame the victim. Hold people hostage to their own virtues and sense of decency. Burden the innocent with an undeserved guilt for the alleged crime of being human while baiting them with the promise of unearned rewards. Christian strategy relies heavily on stacking the deck and turning the tables.