Went to private episcopal school for 7 years, one day, far after that, the Lord came to me and shattered all that crap, it was like a stained glass window shattered and the only piece I had left was Jesus is Lord. From there He taught me directly without this world’s influence.
As for a believer, I take the word ‘believe’, as not do I believe in God, as even the demons believe in God, but do I believe God will save me no matter what, and yes I do believe in that.
I can only speak for myself but I’d be quite interested in a thread where you explain to us what God taught you directly.
Attended a Pentacostal church every Sunday and the concomitant Sunday school classes. I’ve independently read and studied the Bible, and I’ve listened countless times to my parents argue over interpretations of scripture over dinner.
Not atheist but definitely agnostic.
I was watching part of a documentary yesterday focused on the authors of the Bible. The questioning was posed by a professor of theology–a guy who’d been raised as a believer. I only got partway into the film, but as he was uncovering all the things he didn’t know (like how Moses did not write the first five books of the Bible, as he had been taught, or how the Gospels had been written years after Jesus’s death, by people who had never met him), he began to question the very basis of his faith. He asked the theologians who were revealing all this information to him how THEY could still believe, and all they could say was, “I have faith.” I could tell he was frustrated by this response. I can’t wait to finish the documentary to see which way he goes.
So, a professor of theology thought that Moses had written the Pentateuch and that the Gospels had been written during/shortly after Jesus?
Was he playing dumb by placing himself at the same level as most of the audience or did he really become a theology professor without stumling on that information? Do you remember at which university he teaches?
You know, that’s a good question. It could be he was playing dumb and I’m so gullible I fell for it.
FYIW, I was raised to Believe in the Bye-ble, but no one ever taught me anything about the specific authors of the book…other than that the words were “God-inspired.” I imagine most Bible Believers have been taught this. So now that I’m thinking about it harder…it does seem like he was starting off with a strawman of sorts.
SWMBO has a Masters in theology and is a devout Catholic.
I studied religions on my own for nearly 10 years and am a devout agnostic.
Raised a conservative Lutheran, Sunday School all through my childhood. Then I switched to another Lutheran denomination, (ELCA) that lets women be equal with men. Went to a seminary for just one year, and loved what I learned there… Some problems in my home congregation over how to deal with the Phelps clan when they attacked our minister, I was for a more active opposition and most weren’t.
Began seaching elsewhere, and took classes as an Episcopalian, as I’d had contact with a local congregation who counter-picketed Fred, also when I was in the Army. I liked what the rector said “Being an Episcopalian means you don’t have to check your brains at the door”.
After joining there I took a serious four year course sponsored by the church, called Education for Ministry. It was a lot of work, but I loved it. http://www.sewanee.edu/EFM/
And yes, I do “believe”. Through all the problems that hasn’t changed.
Not thanks to Sunday School (I got the “Jesus Wuvs U” years), but yes and yes.
Of all the years I had either Sunday School or Religion at school, the two years where I got some formal theology were the Comparative Religions year (6th grade), plus 10th grade (the teacher actually expected us to think, discuss, etc.; we discussed both points of dogma and practice, albeit without cites). 12th grade History of Philosophy had a term (of five) dedicated to medieval theologian-philosophers, we didn’t quite study theology there but it’s hard to study the methods and ideas of St Ambrosius without talking theology.
In 4th grade we got Jesus Wuvs U in class, but not in Mass:
First Mass after Christmas vacation, the priest asked “if you’d lived in Bethlehem, what would you have brought as gifts to the Holy Family?” Tony and I* answered along the lines of “used clothes from our own babies, food, help cleaning”, the rest of the class laughed, the nurse burst a vein, and the priest said “actually, that’s a perfectly reasonable answer, I’m sure Our Lady would have found hand-me-downs and clean nappies a lot more useful that all those pots of honey…” (these last having been the massive answer, for some reason) and spent that Mass and the next 3 or 4 walking us through a historical setup of “Israel c. 1AD” - then we got to Lent and he kept the same Q&A scheme when talking about things like “what is sin” and “what is the original sin”.
ETA: do discussions with theologians count as “formal education” or “informal research”? I’ve been known to tell one (who wrote, among other things, a gloss on the dogma of the virginity) that I consider that particular dogma, uhm, how to translate this, “a dickocentric load of baloney written by a dude with serious Mommy issues and continued by more of the same”. So far he hasn’t been able to prove to me that post-partum virginity is in any way relevant or necessary.
We had roundtable discussions in college (directed by any of the Jesuit teachers), but they were not a class, it was a voluntary-assistance program, you didn’t register for it and it didn’t affect grades in any way.
Raised Baptist until the age of about twelve or so, then Presbyterian (my mother had been raised nominally Presbyterian until being “saved” by her evangelical boss some years before I was born; later she decided she didn’t like the Baptist interpretation of the Bible any longer and went back to being Presbyterian). Went to Sunday school most of my childhood, though several times dropped out, so to speak, and refused to go because I didn’t like it. Also attended an evangelical (Assembly of God) school for several years. Read the Bible thoroughout my childhood and picked holes all through it. My mother (very, very Christian and a huge reader of Christian literature, though mostly written by Christians - despite all she knows about apologetics, she’s never really investigated it from a non-Christian perspective) couldn’t answer any of my questions to my intellectual satisfaction. All of this started the doubts. At 18, refused to go to church any longer (“I’m an adult now, you can’t make me”), discovered Dan Barker, found I was already halfway there with his objections to Christianity; studied history, philosophy and science, found there was no real reason to believe in any sort of deity and have never looked back. Confirmed atheist since 18.
There are a number of former priests and ministers of religion, Dan Barker included, who became atheists after realizing they could not ignore their doubts any longer. In my experience, probably the majority of Christians haven’t really investigated their faiths very deeply - that’s why it’s called faith. If it made sense on its own terms, you wouldn’t have to have faith. 
Went to a Catholic university, the only one in my area that offered the specialty I was interested in (Computer Science / Teaching Cert.). Catholic theology was a requirement for graduation.
I’ve been an Atheist since the 4th grade.
It really might depend on where he received his degree, where he’s a professor of theology. The brand of fundamentalist protestantism that I was brought up in (Seventh Day Adventist) would absolutely gloss over, obfuscate, and downright avoid teachings more commonly accepted (and taught) by more academically rigorous yet religious universities. The Seventh Day Adventist church has several universities scattered around the United States; some used to be highly regarded. (I couldn’t speak to whether they still are, however. I would doubt it.)
I had to go to Marquette before I learned about things like textural criticism of the bible, multiple authors, and the date various gospels were written. These things were just taught as a matter of course by the Jesuits, but I’d never even heard of such ideas. (Indeed, it was a major blow to what faith I still had at that point. I thought myself an intelligent person, yet here were entire courses of study that my church hadn’t even told me about. Perhaps what passes for academia in the SDA church did know, but I can bet there was a conscious decision made somewhere to not even talk about it. Too dangerous for young minds or too deceptive by outside churches that don’t have the light or some nonsense, no doubt.) Granted, I was 18 instead of a professor, but I can absolutely believe that there could be professors out there wildly (and possibly unwittingly) at odds with what’s being taught elsewhere as basic theology.
Atheist.
I don’t count Sunday school, etc. (well, not mine, anyhow, which I recall as limited). But I was a philosophy and religion major in college. Studied a bit of philosophy of religion in grad school, and afterward continued studying the field enough to be able to teach philosophy of religion at the university level (which I have done several times) and publish a handful of articles in the field (though it is not my primary research area). So I guess that counts as a formal education in religion and philosophy of religion. Though honestly I started having doubts in high school, before studying religion formally, and lost my faith in college, after what I would consider limited formal study.
Yes and yes. A 96 credit-hour Master’s of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from a real-life, bricks-and-mortar accredited seminary.
Raised Lutheran, attended church and Sunday frequently and vacation bible school yearly. Went to church summer camp two or three times. Confirmation classes as a young teen. Very interested in the concept of apologia at ~13-14ish.
Stopped believing Christian doctrine in my mid-teens, roughly when exposed to the power and beauty of science and the knife-edge of skepticism.
Majored in philosophy in college, and studied ethics and religion when possible. Read and skimmed both religious and atheist books on my own quite frequently.
I’d consider myself fairly aware of theology, but “formal study” would probably be the wrong phrase.
Yes and no, but to be fair my education wasn’t in “believing-that” religion, it was in progressive Judaism. I went to cheder and studied for bat mitzvah and all that, and have two years of rabbinical college under my belt.
No formal education. Other than my Catechism and Confirmation classes I hadn’t had any formal training, despite my wishes.