Help I need opinions on Christianity as a current atheist / if joining christianity is a good idea

[RosebyAnyName]

Context: my parents were both Catholic but had since stopped practicing Christianity and I was raised atheist.

I recently started feeling drawn to Christianity but I'm squarely on the fence regarding whether or not I should actually pursue it.

My current beliefs are rooted in atheism, + the exploration of non-abrahamic religions such as buddhism and modern paganism. At the risk of grossly oversimplifying things, these systems generally propose that the meaning of life is nothing, with some including the caveat that life can also be what you make of it. This sounds promising on paper, but honestly just feels spiritually void and in practice is meaningless (and that's the point). Sure I can do whatever I want, but I feel nothing. I feel drawn to a more organized life.

Then comes Christianity. On the one hand, the idea that there actually is a god, and that this god loves me and wants the best for me and even made great sacrifices for me, is great. Reading the New Testament makes me feel uplifted (usually). However, the political entanglement, abuse, and hypocrisy of the church is literally the least appealing thing possible. And it's not something you can really avoid either, controversial political stances are rife throughout the bible and core teachings of Christianity, and sometimes it feels like Christianity is literally thousands of years behind the times.

It feels like I can't have my cake (having an organized life) and eat it too (being free from the arbitrary rules that are inevitable with organized religions). Not eating the cake makes me feel starved for something I'm missing, but actually eating the cake makes me realize it doesn't even taste good but at least I am not starved. If atheism is unsatisfying, would Christianity change anything about that? I don't really feel drawn to any alternatives.

 

[Life_and_Death]

It feels like I can't have my cake (having an organized life) and eat it too (being free from the arbitrary rules that are inevitable with organized religions)

not something id typically do, but you are asking
just a personal opinion, try paganism. you can pm me if you want to hear about my experience and what im doing

 

[uncat_]

i was raised a Baha'i, id recommend you look into it honestly. its a very welcoming community, and overall a lot more cohesive than solely christianity.

Baha'is believe in all religions, which might appeal to you. The faith blends religion and science together, and actively have systems to not let what happened to christianity happen to it (abuse, pedophilia, splitting up, etc.)

its a very beautiful faith. its not perfect, but i have never been in a bahai space that didnt make me feel loved, wanted, and happy.

maybe look into it!

 

[RosebyAnyName]

not something id typically do, but you are asking
just a personal opinion, try paganism. you can pm me if you want to hear about my experience and what im doing

I don't disagree. I've actually been a very lightly practicing pagan for quite a few years. I'm willing to renounce it since I haven't had much success with it, but I'd also be willing to try again if I can actually find something that works.

My struggle with paganism is that all my attempts to take it more seriously have failed due to the sheer multitude of misinformation floating around. My experience with paganism is constantly flip-flopping and never feeling stable while trying to decide what's helpful and what isn't. My only solace is accepting paganism as a journey rather than a set of specific rules, but that's too close to "life is what you make of it" which leads me back to feeling unfulfilled. It's a vicious cycle I haven't been successful at breaking, maybe I just don't have enough confidence to form my own beliefs and stick with them.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Usually, converting to any religion from atheism is nearly impossible to genuinely do unless the person has a real "come-to-Jesus" moment as it's known as. This could be anything like a near-death experience, a traumatic event, or some other extremely dramatic life-changing moment. I don't think it's just something you can try to force at least not sincerely.

 

[combatcuteness]

most religious people don't follow their rules anyway , i don't see the problem. I converted to christianity from atheism. It's not easy but definitely worth it.

 

[All_is_in_vanity]

Terrible idea. God is a sadistic freak.

 

[ImTelling]

I'd say Christianity is largely based on absolute morality. Good people get rewarded, bad people get punished. However depending on how you read the Bible you will get different answers as to who is good or bad, what bad people are forgiven and what bad people aren't forgiven.

From my time growing up Catholic, I was told the only unforgivable sin is to deny the Holy Ghost. This can be rejecting the Holy Ghost or mocking the Holy Ghost. I've also been told that everyone goes to a type of Hell called 'purgatory' that is meant to spirituality cleanse you of all your sins before you are able to go into Heaven.

I don't know where I was going with this uhhh um uh

 

[Terry A. Davis]

I don't disagree. I've actually been a very lightly practicing pagan for quite a few years. I'm willing to renounce it since I haven't had much success with it, but I'd also be willing to try again if I can actually find something that works.

My struggle with paganism is that all my attempts to take it more seriously have failed due to the sheer multitude of misinformation floating around. My experience with paganism is constantly flip-flopping and never feeling stable while trying to decide what's helpful and what isn't. My only solace is accepting paganism as a journey rather than a set of specific rules, but that's too close to "life is what you make of it" which leads me back to feeling unfulfilled. It's a vicious cycle I haven't been successful at breaking, maybe I just don't have enough confidence to form my own beliefs and stick with them.

Grew up catholic too just fyi. Paganism in my view uses the gods as representations of nature and for ourselves. I think the pagan gods were to be examples of how we should be and in a sense, we become the pagan gods. Not to mention reincarnation aspect of paganism which I think in their view happens through having children. People reincarnate through their progeny.

 

[MrShino]

Context: my parents were both Catholic but had since stopped practicing Christianity and I was raised atheist.

I recently started feeling drawn to Christianity but I'm squarely on the fence regarding whether or not I should actually pursue it.

My current beliefs are rooted in atheism, + the exploration of non-abrahamic religions such as buddhism and modern paganism. At the risk of grossly oversimplifying things, these systems generally propose that the meaning of life is nothing, with some including the caveat that life can also be what you make of it. This sounds promising on paper, but honestly just feels spiritually void and in practice is meaningless (and that's the point). Sure I can do whatever I want, but I feel nothing. I feel drawn to a more organized life.

Then comes Christianity. On the one hand, the idea that there actually is a god, and that this god loves me and wants the best for me and even made great sacrifices for me, is great. Reading the New Testament makes me feel uplifted (usually). However, the political entanglement, abuse, and hypocrisy of the church is literally the least appealing thing possible. And it's not something you can really avoid either, controversial political stances are rife throughout the bible and core teachings of Christianity, and sometimes it feels like Christianity is literally thousands of years behind the times.

It feels like I can't have my cake (having an organized life) and eat it too (being free from the arbitrary rules that are inevitable with organized religions). Not eating the cake makes me feel starved for something I'm missing, but actually eating the cake makes me realize it doesn't even taste good but at least I am not starved. If atheism is unsatisfying, would Christianity change anything about that? I don't really feel drawn to any alternatives.

First, I am happy to hear that you feel drawn to Jesus and that reading the New Testament makes you feel uplifted. Also, I believe you can actually have your cake and eat it too, simply because giving your life to God is not about arbitrary rules, but rather living in the Spirit of truth with the One who gave you life. The times are always changing and what is considered right and wrong changes with it, although as 'ImTelling' writes, there is a belief in absolute morality in Christianity.

It is, however, not mainly about following rules (although the rules God sets is for your benefit), but a relationship with the Creator. Sometimes many rules given, even in churches, are not from God, but from people. Sadly, there are some churches that are not right with God, and there are also false Christians. Many times this is the work of the enemy for the purpose of deceit and leading you away from God, sometimes it is simply because also the people of the Church, even ordained pastors and priests, are humans and prone to mistakes and faults. I was myself surprised when I got born again to see what the faith really was all about, contrary to much of what I've heard prior.

And yes, claiming that there is no meaning to life, is in fact a meaningless statement. Just as claiming that there is no truth must obviously itself be a lie.

Much blessings, my friend. I hope you find your way. It sounds like God is drawing you to Him. Some people have a real life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ, others are on a journey of discovery while the Holy Spirit is working in your heart over time, eventually leading to salvation and a new life.

I am here if you need someone to talk to.

 

[Onelegman]

All religions are very similar, I did communion because of the gifts and I already understood that.

Don't be fooled, all religions take advantage of us in our lowest moments, they promise and preach falsehoods, they are all hypocrites and trash.

If you want to do it we can't stop you, but in my opinion, you should avoid them. Perhaps Buddhism is the least bad of all.

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

I have nothing to day specifically on experiences converting, I was a christian, now I'm atheist so I am opposite to what you are going to do. What I will say is maybe religion will add that organized life you seek. If it doesn't, no biggie and you can always stop practicing religion if it doesn't suit you. I feel like one thing religion has going for it is that statistically, people who practice religion are happier overall, if I remember correctly. I won't say this will make you happier, but it is a possibility, I suppose

 

[Slough Walker]

I was raised evangelical Christian but deconverted to atheism when I left my family of origin for good. At the time I practiced, I took it seriously. I even carried around lists of "promises of god" copied from Bible verses as a way to anchor myself during stressful times. That's all useless now, because there doesn't exist a god to underwrite those promises in the first place. Having said that, I'm peripherally attracted to some of the mystical practices of medieval Catholicism. The late 90's British show Cadfael explores these themes somewhat. However, I'm not attracted enough to take on all the baggage of the Roman Catholic Church throughout its history. If you want to explore what "meaning" means, different scopes of meaning, and some serious responses to nihilism, you might read David Benatar's The Human Predicament or listen to one of Benatar's interviews on YouTube. The focus of the book is antinatalism, but Benatar explores questions of meaning and nihilism in service of his case for antinatalism.

You don't believe god exists. Therefore, there's no meaning to be found for you in a search for god, or a search for what god wants assuming god even existed. Your meaning will be at best terrestrial in scope, and it's your decision whether terrestrial meaning is good enough meaning for you. By being an atheist, you have one advantage in the search for meaning: You've set aside the delusional narcissism of the believer. It's the worst form of narcissism because it's cheaply wrapped up in false humility. "God has a whole universe to manage, vast numbers of creatures and people like me to look over, and yet s/he cares for wretched little me. Aren't I lucky that God loves me so much???"

 

[MarkSmith73]

Overall I believe it's a good philosophy but there are a number of things I disagree with such as the idea of a permanent hell. I also completely disagree with so called Christians who think they have the God given right to judge and condemn others. There are many things that Christianity doesn't explain for me but I 100% believe in the afterlife and that Jesus loves us. But life here is hard and I compare this world to being in a foxhole in a warzone without a radio. But it eventually will get better because there's one thing that Jesus truly wants us all to know.

 

[Alexei_Kirillov]

Usually, converting to any religion from atheism is nearly impossible to genuinely do unless the person has a real "come-to-Jesus" moment as it's known as. This could be anything like a near-death experience, a traumatic event, or some other extremely dramatic life-changing moment. I don't think it's just something you can try to force at least not sincerely.

Agreed. It can be tempting to look towards religious systems as sources of meaning, but ultimately, their utility rests on belief. If you don't sincerely believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent to Earth to die for our sins and resurrected on the third day, then I think it'll be exceedingly difficult to actually get anything out of any professed adherence to Christianity. I personally find the story of Jesus so compelling that as a non-believer, I read the entire Bible just out of curiosity's sake, but I know that no matter how much I want to believe in it, I just...don't.

 

[LittleJem]

As a Jewish by birth person who sometimes goes to church despite erm in my case hating and/or not believing in God…I say some churches are great communities with great leadership and a warm welcome. It can also make you feel better to be in a church service and sing.

It does feel weird as a non-believer and non Christian. But getting over that feeling is worth it I think.

 

[Georgius67]

Context: my parents were both Catholic but had since stopped practicing Christianity and I was raised atheist.

I recently started feeling drawn to Christianity but I'm squarely on the fence regarding whether or not I should actually pursue it.

My current beliefs are rooted in atheism, + the exploration of non-abrahamic religions such as buddhism and modern paganism. At the risk of grossly oversimplifying things, these systems generally propose that the meaning of life is nothing, with some including the caveat that life can also be what you make of it. This sounds promising on paper, but honestly just feels spiritually void and in practice is meaningless (and that's the point). Sure I can do whatever I want, but I feel nothing. I feel drawn to a more organized life.

Then comes Christianity. On the one hand, the idea that there actually is a god, and that this god loves me and wants the best for me and even made great sacrifices for me, is great. Reading the New Testament makes me feel uplifted (usually). However, the political entanglement, abuse, and hypocrisy of the church is literally the least appealing thing possible. And it's not something you can really avoid either, controversial political stances are rife throughout the bible and core teachings of Christianity, and sometimes it feels like Christianity is literally thousands of years behind the times.

It feels like I can't have my cake (having an organized life) and eat it too (being free from the arbitrary rules that are inevitable with organized religions). Not eating the cake makes me feel starved for something I'm missing, but actually eating the cake makes me realize it doesn't even taste good but at least I am not starved. If atheism is unsatisfying, would Christianity change anything about that? I don't really feel drawn to any alternatives.

Well it really purely relies on whether you believe in the old testament and a God and the christian beliefs. Because while it could still be healthy to create and follow values, if you don't believe the old testament then you can't be a christian. I could actually recommend buddhism, though I do not know much about it from what I know they are a spiritual religion that does not believe in any deity or higher power, purely they believe in following their own beliefs to be a good person. Just my 2 cents.

 

[jarik]

No. forget about Christianity and various things. they are a waste of time and besides, to become a Christian you would have to have faith, and being an atheist I don't think you have it.

 

[MrShino]

Agreed. It can be tempting to look towards religious systems as sources of meaning, but ultimately, their utility rests on belief. If you don't sincerely believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent to Earth to die for our sins and resurrected on the third day, then I think it'll be exceedingly difficult to actually get anything out of any professed adherence to Christianity. I personally find the story of Jesus so compelling that as a non-believer, I read the entire Bible just out of curiosity's sake, but I know that no matter how much I want to believe in it, I just...don't.

I heard that many times, and I'm abit curious about how it works if you don't mind. I agree with you that some things are only granted by faith, things that surpass the intellectual mind. Many of these things have actually a wealth of rational foundations in my opinion (like the necessity of God's existence due to the incredible fine tuning of the natural laws of the universe, our inherent sense of morality, the beauty and complexity of nature and the universe that cannot possibly develop due to meaningless cosmic randomness and so on), however, but as you said - some things are only granted through faith. For me, I was given the faith after a long and ardous journey for truth, like an inner convicton I believe was due to the work of the Holy Spirit while hearing the Word proclaimed, so I have never been in the situation that I want to believe this truth but still not believing it. That's why I ask.

Could you, say, take the leap of faith and simply choose to believe even if you don't have all the dots connected so to say? Can you simply choose to trust in Jesus? Choose to turn to God?

If not, I guess the solution would be to pray to God for faith and hearing the Word. Scripture says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It's worth settling out, I mean.. if it's really true, it's the most important discovery you will ever have. That potentiality itself is worth some deep consideration in my opinion.

 

[lita-lassi]

some people who want to appear "better" want to say their faith in a christian god is separated from a ridiculous horrible old book that also condones slavery, sexism, racism, violence, murder, a large slew of every hate crime there is and has been reinterpreted and retranslated so many times the original words are definitely lost to time. but the foundation of their faith still ties into this book if theyre calling themselves christian. organized religion is tied to so much corruption, its unreal. the point was to terrify and control populations for power. "oh but im above that and just feel theres something else" cool, have you tried learning physics? i guarantee learning how the universe actually functions from a fundamental perspective is way more rewarding and useful than any spiritual belief. learn more, not less.

 

[HarryCobean]

Honestly, no. Religion is so crazy, this thing of choosing what what you want to be true and deciding to believe it. It doesn't make it true, it just makes you delusional.

 

[Ambivalent1]

Look into why the Jews don't accept Jesus as the messiah. Read the reason from a Jewish perspective.

The book of Matthew refutes Christianity. Cross-reference every verse that says "and this was done to fulfill what was spoken by Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc." Now read the verse in its original Old testament context and you'll find it has nothing to do with Jesus.

 

[5nicotine]

Just make up your own belief system and faith in an ordered and meaningful world with meaning if you need one. It's lying to yourself, but so is all religion. A collective lie is of course easier to uphold, but then you're going to be entangled in all of the baggage associated to it. If you really want to I'm sure you can find a nice hippie cult that has better beliefs than any of the old religions.

If you want something that tries to understand the world without lies and could satisfy your curiosity your best bet is a philosophy book from the last couple hundred years. I think your problem is that you're just reading bad old explanations of the world like buddhism or paganism. People have been thinking about the world without an assumption of god or other metaphysical stuff for a long time and there's a lot of progress there. It's just hard. Harder and more modern than buddhism or paganism, but also easier because intellectually as a civilisation we've evolved to make less baseless assumptions that cause contradictions down the line. Those contradictions are exactly the weird rules that christianity tries to enforce that we can plainly see to be wrong.

Try Camus maybe? I personally find it very uplifting and the existentialists find a lot of beauty in the world to live for. I'm personally not very happy, but I'm on the path there.

Sorry about being so pointed about this. I just really don't want you to go into religion for your own sake.

 

[Ambivalent1]

Just make up your own belief system and faith in an ordered and meaningful world with meaning if you need one. It's lying to yourself, but so is all religion. A collective lie is of course easier to uphold, but then you're going to be entangled in all of the baggage associated to it. If you really want to I'm sure you can find a nice hippie cult that has better beliefs than any of the old religions.

If you want something that tries to understand the world without lies and could satisfy your curiosity your best bet is a philosophy book from the last couple hundred years. I think your problem is that you're just reading bad old explanations of the world like buddhism or paganism. People have been thinking about the world without an assumption of god or other metaphysical stuff for a long time and there's a lot of progress there. It's just hard. Harder and more modern than buddhism or paganism, but also easier because intellectually as a civilisation we've evolved to make less baseless assumptions that cause contradictions down the line. Those contradictions are exactly the weird rules that christianity tries to enforce that we can plainly see to be wrong.

Try Camus maybe? I personally find it very uplifting and the existentialists find a lot of beauty in the world to live for. I'm personally not very happy, but I'm on the path there.

Sorry about being so pointed about this. I just really don't want you to go into religion for your own sake.

Nietzsche refutes stoicism

 

[lita-lassi]

dadaism is the only real way to party

 

[nightlygem]

As a practicing non-denominational Christian, the reputation surrounding the church ultimately ruined us. The reputation of alt-right hill billies justifying their behavior by blaming it on the Bible or Christianity, it really sucks.
Of course, the world is divided, so naturally everyone is going to have their own beliefs and interpretations of the Bible and Christianity as a whole. I'm not going to sit here and argue with everyone about how He is the one true God and all. That is a discovery that needs to be done on your own, with the influence of others at the will of the creator.
Anyway, while I agree that going to church is important, I don't agree with the fact that you need to conform to every opinion the church has. Some churches are really nice and accepting and just want to preach the word of God, while others want to hypnotize you into obeying their rules and opinions, using God as a crutch for their word. This is blasphemy; which is the unforgivable sin.
Anyway, I'm just ranting now.

TLDR: I implore you to research the words of the Bible, and not focus on the past actions of "Christians". The whole point of Christianity is the relationship between you and God. The love that he has for you, the sacrifice he made, and his forgiveness. It really sucks that our reputation has been tarnished because of the actions of others, but ultimately this is your journey. The choice is yours to make.

 

[Alexei_Kirillov]

Could you, say, take the leap of faith and simply choose to believe even if you don't have all the dots connected so to say? Can you simply choose to trust in Jesus? Choose to turn to God?

I doubt it, I'm already almost 100% certain that the Christian God is not real, so I'm not sure how I would deceive myself out of that belief. Probably the only way would be to have some kind of personal spiritual experience.

 

[Esokabat]

I saw a Near Death Experience where a very devout US Christian woman, who really didn't know anything about other cultures, religions, faiths, etc died, and asked some loving wise being during her NDE "What's the true religion?" She was expecting to get the answer "Christianity".

The loving being smiled and telepathically communicated that her question doesn't even begin to have anything to do with reality. She described that she telepathically felt that it was like as if a small child is asking "what cheese the moon is made of" and the adults are just lovingly smile at her. This is what she telepathically experienced when she asked "what is the true religion"

Nonetheless, I think religion can be great for Community, human connections and I also heard great things about the Bahai

 

[MrShino]

I doubt it, I'm already almost 100% certain that the Christian God is not real, so I'm not sure how I would deceive myself out of that belief. Probably the only way would be to have some kind of personal spiritual experience.

I understand. Pray to God to show Himself to you and that might very well happen. It's happening to many, many people all over the world. Wish you the best in your journey. God bless. :)

 

[Jack_Nimble]

My struggle with paganism is that all my attempts to take it more seriously have failed due to the sheer multitude of misinformation floating around.

I feel this is so true with Christianity as well. I'd imagine anyone who studies into Christianity would find this to be true. I say that because even Christians do not agree on what the bible says and what the bible says about practicing the religion. Hence the countless denominations of Christianity. Each and everyone of them believes differently about the bible and/or has different assumptions. ESPECIALLY the Catholics are known for great numbers of fence laws. A fence law is a rule that a christian denomination created that is NOT stated in the bible anywhere. Also for example, there is only one Christian denomination out there that even practices the sabbath on the seventh day of the week as the bible clearly states is the sabbath. But that's just one thing that denomination has right. How much are they wrong about?

OP I see you're expressing you're torn between deciding between a religion. I haven't seen you state why you want a religion. I feel that's important. What is it you expect to achieve within yourself that you'll attain from religion?

But I still want to answer your question of it it's a good idea as you asked in the title of this thread. I was raised christian and studied the bible quite in depth.
No, it's not a good idea. It's a horrible idea. It is NOT mentally helpful by any means. A previous commenter mentioned warm welcoming community. That is a very good beneficial thing. Which is MUCH less common in churches now a days, hard to find even. The bible is designed to guilt it's followers into obedience to leadership. It teaches us that being born makes us evil sinners. And there's nothing we can do to change that. We are punished for adams and eves sin. We must continually apologize for being human throughout our whole lives if we are to be accepted by this God/religion. It will teach you to have hope that God will sometimes supernaturally intervene in your life for the better. This will always lead to disappointment as it never happens. Same with expectations of healing or results from prayers. Sure you'll find people who say they had a prayer answered, lots of them. But that hasn't anything to do with prayer. As a native American may sometimes do a rain dance, and it may SOMETIMES rain after, doesn't mean the dance had anything to do with anything supernatural.

Also as several others have stated here, I feel it's important to reiterate. While you can ultimately choose what to believe. It's by no means a simple or fast thing to achieve. You must TRULY believe in any religion to experience any possible benefits before being ultimately disappointed by the lack of the supernatural.

Have you read the ENTIRE bible front to back? I wouldn't dare join a religion without at least reading their entire holy text first.

Have you ever heard of agnostic? It can be a bit of a spectrum but ultimately means you believe truly in no religions but you are open to evidence. I think that's worth considering, and attempting to follow the facts about religion, spirituality, god(S), paranormal, etc. How else could you be true to yourself?

Obviously not all religions are true and if any are only one could be. They are contradictory to each other.

I wish you the best in your journey for truth! And self help maybe, is that what you seek from religion? I'm super curious the reason for chasing religion. Also, I feel looking up youtube videos from Neil Degrasse about what he says about agnosticism.

I know we want answers for how we got here, and/or the purpose of our lives. But just cause we want answers doesn't mean any made up answer can be true or even helpful. Agnosticism is admirable and true to ones self.
If you do join Christianity. Are you prepared to give a church 10% of your income as the bible says to do? Or feel guilt for not doing what the bible says? Guilt is a very negative, very self damaging emotion associated with christianity in countless ways.