An Honest Question

SHARE:

By OatmealPanda ~

Hi, in the interests of honesty, I need to tell you I'm not an ex-Christian; I'm... ? I think the phrase is 'searching for the truth' and I'll go with that. At present, I count myself a Christian, and my question is this: when reading through testimonies (extimonies?) on this site, I've noticed that they seem to be missing claims of the author having felt Christ in their heart, there never seems to be any mention of a feeling of personal sins being washed away, etc, that I would normally expect to hear in church/from new Christians; that being the case, I'm curious if any of you did, genuinely, *feel* something that you perceived as the love of Christ, or if you were going to church out of, I don't know, a sense of duty or similar. I think a few other Christians have tried to pose this question before, but they always seem to say things like 'I don't think you were really Christians to begin with' which, to me, sounds offensive and judgmental. I'm not saying that at all, truly. I'm just curious whether your former faith contained an emotional, 'I really believe this, deep down in my heart' aspect, or whether you always had doubts? Obviously we're taught in church not to listen to our doubts; I'm not denying that, hehe; my question is, I guess, was there ever a point at which you truly *believed* you had a relationship, not just with your church/minister/Christian relatives/etc, but with God? I think that's the question that Christians on this site keep trying to ask, but for whatever reason, turn into a judgmental statement rather than a question.

I hope you can tell that this is a sincere question, prompted by a desire to understand, and also, to hopefully share some knowledge (namely, the knowledge of WHY Christians who come to the site keep saying you guys weren't really Christians--I think that from their perspective, they're not hearing a description of a *loss* of belief, so much as a *lack* of belief from the start).

Have I made any sense to anyone?

COMMENTS

Agnosticator,5,Al Wm Johnson,3,Alegria,3,Alen Basic,1,American Apostate,3,Andrew Jasko,3,Anne R Keye,6,AnonAgno94,4,Apetivist,2,Apostate Paul,3,Articles,707,Aspieguy,12,Astreja,9,atheistnurse,10,AtheistToothFairy,1,austinrohm,3,Avangelism Project,2,Barrett Evans,2,Ben Love,69,billybee,2,BlackFreethought,12,Bob Keye,3,Bob R,4,boomSlang,1,Bore Venal Charlatan,2,Brad N,1,Brian Kellogg,8,Brisancian,3,Bruce Gerencser,1,Bruno Corey,1,C. T. Ogden,4,Carl S,377,Carol Putnam,2,Carolyn Hyppolite,10,Cecelia,4,Cheryl Ensom Dack,6,Chris Highland,2,Chris W.,1,Christian Agnostic,2,Christmas,31,ChuckyJesus,1,ConversationsWithA,1,Daniel out of the Lion's Den,15,Daniel Payne,1,Dano,17,darklady,7,Dave8,1,DealDoctor,24,Dethblight,6,dharma,4,Discordia,5,Doubting Thomas,2,Dr. Marlene Winell,24,Dr. Valerie Tarico,150,DRC,2,dswrites,2,Easter,28,EChamberlainMD,6,Ed (Teapot),2,Edward T. Babinski,1,Eric Jeffries,2,eveningmeadows,11,Evid3nc3,3,ex-Pastor Dan,19,exfundy,2,exPenty,8,Faithfool,2,Fernando Alcántar,6,freddieb42,2,freeatlast,6,G.M. Gates,2,Gary T. McDonald,2,God-O-Rama,6,Godlessgrrl,5,Greenworld,4,hellboundsoul,3,Herb,3,Houndies,3,illu minati,2,Incongruous Circumspection,11,J.W.,2,JadedAtheist,2,Jake Rhodes,3,James A. Haught,3,James C,2,James Wilhelm,9,Jazzybelle,3,Jennifer,3,Jody,3,John Draper,26,John Loftus,2,John Shores,26,Kalos,3,Karen Garst,31,Kim Anne Whittemore,1,Klym,24,Larry C,5,Larry Spencer,3,Letters,149,Libby Anne,3,Log1cd1ctat3s,2,Luke,1,lungfish,1,Michael Runyan,36,Michael Sherlock,5,Mriana,17,MtlRedAtheist,1,Neal Stone,20,News,185,Nikki,1,NYdiva,2,ooglyman,2,Opinion,980,Patrice,2,Paul Hannah,1,Paul So,26,Philippe Orlando,3,Philonous,1,Politics,59,Positivist,5,psychman33,5,Rational Logic,3,Rational Okie,2,Renoliz,10,Rev Ex-Evangelist,7,RickO,3,Robert Conner,8,Ronna Russell,12,Rudy,4,Russ Hamel,2,Science,30,SeageVT,3,Shaolin,4,Simplex Munditiis,3,Son of a preacher,5,Steve Dustcircle,4,Stillunsure,4,Summerbreeze,25,Susan G. Bonella,3,Tania,22,tekHedd,2,Testimonials,1003,Thanksgiving,4,The STeWpId MoNkEy,4,TheThinkingAtheist,5,Thin-ice,4,ThinkTank,5,Tim Sledge,4,Tim Wolf,1,TinMan,1,True Anathema,4,TruthSurge,1,Ubi Dubium,4,undercover agnostic,25,unoder,7,Vadarama,2,Victor J Webster,2,Videos,102,Vyckie,10,Webmdave,9,WidePathGirl,2,WizenedSage,137,xrayman,2,xxkindofboredxx,2,Yak,9,
ltr
item
ExChristian.Net: An Honest Question
An Honest Question
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LckEPdEO5Y0/TuBNniyl9XI/AAAAAAAAEG4/dSwr3sU2QbI/s320/jesus31.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LckEPdEO5Y0/TuBNniyl9XI/AAAAAAAAEG4/dSwr3sU2QbI/s72-c/jesus31.jpg
ExChristian.Net
https://new.exchristian.net/2011/12/honest-question.html
https://new.exchristian.net/
https://new.exchristian.net/
https://new.exchristian.net/2011/12/honest-question.html
true
1266985040290242663
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Read more Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share to a social network STEP 2: Click the link on your social network Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy