“X” obviously stands for “Christ,” but I suppose it could also stand for any unknown variable. I’m asking this specifically of Christians, however, although any other spitirtual belief would do. If you, a devout Christian, discovered that the whole thing was a manufactured story (with some basis in fact, but essentially exaggerated out of all proportion to real events), and all you were left with were the Bible stories, some mystical philosophy, a few neat parables, a heap of great Renaissance paintings, etc, would this leave an irreplacable void in your existence? Mind you, I’m talking about your reaching the conclusion that the whole Christ story was a falsehood on your own. There’s no one who’s talked you into it, no book you’ve read–you’ve just come to this conclusion on your own, and you cannot force yourself to shake it: you’ve been spoonfed a belief system your whole life, now you see that it is not a belief you can sustain any longer. Is your life now empty?
I realize that many Christians’ immediate answer is “Can’t happen. Christianity is part and parcel, warp and woof, of who I am,” etc. in which case I get it but I don’t really need to hear from you. (Thanks for playing.) I would really like to hear from devout Christians who can intellectually conceive of such a state.
I would think so. Belief in Christ as savior isn’t some mystical state. It’s a belief you choose to have, faith is about choice. So if you no longer believe in Christ as savior then that would’ve been your choice, so I can’t see it giving someone any deep problems. Because to stop believing in Jesus you have to first lose faith in him, and that’s a choice you make willingly either way.
Well, as a non-devout Christian, I say that as the non-belief in Christ would be my free choice, I would probably not cease to believe in Christ if I felt there would be an empty hole in life.
It is possible that there would be a feeling of emptiness, but as I feel it would take quite a bit to shake faith to a point where I did not believe in Christianity at all, by that point I would probably be well-convinced that there was no Christ.
I’d say “yes”. That’s basically what happened to me after being brought up in a very conservative Christian household. As in, my father makes Jack Chick look rational. Actually, now I’d say I’m actually happier than I was back then, one big part of it being that now I don’t have that nagging thought in the back of my mind that I’m going to be tortured for all eternity for liking girls.
I’ve met lots of people who left their church, essentially saying it’s too much to swallow.
And they all seem fine and well adjusted.
One couple left right after a baby’s baptism. The rite was so full of things they had never considered before and didn’t believe, that it just seemed like a fake exercises to please the grandparents. And that was the last time they were in church, and they said the feeling was release, not the agony you wonder about in the OP.
Well, seriously ex Christian. I took it seriously once but eventually got better. I read too many things in religious books that simply can’t be true in a sane universe.
Then you read up on the antics of those biblical heroes like Lot. A “righteous man” according to the bible. He knocked-up his daughters and claimed he was drunk. Not the sort of people I would consider hanging around with.
I had to give it up to retain any shred of self respect.
You could also replace -ians with -aholic. I imagine it’s like anything else. If a large part of you life revolves around a particular activity - Jesus, the Yankees, sex, drugs and alchohol - the loss of that activity will leave you feeling that there is a hole in your life until you find something else to fill it.
You aren’t possibly suggesting that any Christian with half a brain doesn’t know that the Bible has been edited and translated for political and other reasons for nearly 2 millennia? That somehow “discovering” this would shock us into a complete loss of faith, forever and ever amen? snork
Seriously. I don’t believe in the literal truth of the Bible, but I do believe that it’s spiritually true-- in other words, it’s a book of faith, not facts. The parable of the Good Samaritan can provide different things for different people-- a lesson about kindness to those in need, about judging people by their ethnicity rather than their behavior, or even just provide time for a family or friends to share a story with an uplifting ending. None of this is discounted even if you could prove that there was never such a person to be attacked by robbers, passed by a priest and Levite, and saved by a Samaritan!
Here’s something you don’t mention-- not only can one write off (by historical inaccuracy) a great amount of the Old and New Testaments, it’s possible to even discount many of our personal spiritual revelations. Some of the research I’ve seen by Michael Shermer and others seems to say that there are chemical processes in our brains that make us experience a Divine Being encounter. So, it is possible that not only is my holy book completely false-to-fact, but my own personal conversion experience (and everyone else’s, of course) may be a product of my brain chemistry.
If I were to believe that my conversion experience and other similar experiences (near death, etc) were nothing more than chemicals in the brain, and that it was not an encounter with an external God, I would be disappointed and sad, not in the least because I wouldn’t believe in life after death either, and I would never see my grandmother again. But somehow, I would go on to focus more on the non-deity-specific parts of my spirituality, like helping others and being friendly and such. And I’d do okay with it, like my friends who are agnostics and atheists do already.
Somehow, admitting that there may well not be any objective OR subjective reason to believe in the Divine makes me happier as a Christian-- simply because I have the free will to choose to believe, without having it hammered down my throat. I’m still going to remain devout until He tells me I need to do otherwise, though.
After five years of hanging around this place discussing religion, I’m very aware of Biblical contradictions and the lack of evidence for Christ. I’ve had to ask myself some hard questions about what I believe and why. I’ve also come under fire from some Christians because I don’t believe non-Christians are doomed to eternal suffering and two of my closest friends include a Wiccan and a homosexual.
From what I know of myself and my faith, for me to reject Christianity completely would require a major psychological shake up. The thing is, I’ve already been through one – a nervous breakdown, for lack of a better term, which left me hospitalized with clinical depression and close to catatonia – and came through it with my faith strengthened due to the actions of my priest and a rather profound spiritual experience. Even if the non-existence of Christ was proved to me, I would still consider His teachings valid. I’ve walked away from a church, and I’ve considered walking away from Christianity when things have gotten hot and heavy. Even when I was considering the latter, I was not considering walking away from Christ; just from some of His more obnoxious followers.
On the other hand, my Wiccan friend did come to the conclusion he could not remain a Christian because his church’s teachings defied logic, among other things. He was a Fundamentalist Christian who even talked himself into being a Young Earth Creationist for about 6 months. He’s also one of two guys who talked me into joining Mensa. There were things about Christianity he missed and still misses sometimes, I think, especially the music, but I don’t think he’d say it left a hole in his life. I assume it was a disappointment in some ways, but faking a belief in something he could no longer accept would have been worth.
As this thread develops, it’ll be interesting to see what the responses of those raised in liberal churches and denominations like I was will be compared to those raised in more rigid and conservative churches and denominations. As an Episcopalian, I was raised to question and told my church is based on the three-legged stool of Scripture, reason, and tradition, in order by importance. On the other hand, I know that in some churches, questioning things is frowned on.