Why do some Christians fall away from their beliefs?

really explain. because I do to. I just dont really feel like explaining myself very much on the internet.

mm. you do realize that you are wrong. they add on about 40 million years every year. because they need to have more years in order for everything to happen. around 6,000 years ago there were 2 people created adam and eve. they multiplied and then the flood came, thats about 4,400 years ago and everything started off again with only 8 people.

the men who wrote the Bible were given words through the Holy Spirit. heres 2 ways of looking at it. 1) you believe the Bible until proven wrong. or 2) you dont believe in the Bible until proven right. the second one would take to long and you would be dead when you find out its true.

therefore I believe in the first.

I must also point out. you are having this argument with a 14 year old

ah you are right there. but I do comprehend what I attack. in fact I comprehend it better then most evolutionists.

is evolution science? when they say millions of years ago how could they? were they there? science is something that can be observed studied and tested. otherwise its a religion.

evolution consists of 6 parts. only 5 parts religion 1 part actual science

and why do they keep on adding millions of years to earth’s age?

oh ok. well I dont believe that. how do you think we got here?

ahh. but miracles are once again wonderful signs from the Lord. and if we evolved from what ever it is. which they believe is an ameba it is quite difficult for that to happen. other evolutionists believe that we evolved from a great big mixture of chemicals. and the most common is the whole ape thing. well if we came from apes then why are they still here? and how is that proven right?

do you think evolution is a science?

My dad was a VERY devoted christian and then one day when he was in high school he got a call and his mom told him that 3 of his best friends had died in a car crash.He was suppoused to have skipped w/ them but for some reason didn’t! He still tells us his kids and my mom to go to church to learn about God. But as for now he is hurt and angry he always corrects us when we ask him if he’s athiest. He says he NEVER said he didn’t belive in god…so this makes me think that he still loves god he just doesn’t understand why everything happened. About 6 years ago he injured his back at the age of only 32 his disks in his back have been deteriorating since and he is in horrible pain that the doctors can’t fix.I have noticed that instead of him being more angry w/ God he is more God friendly?! Ironic?

yeahh…no one in this world can ever be a (true christian) We were here to sin && were all sinner’s && being a true christain would be us

not sining && that would be impossible/

I think Christians fall short of their beleifs because they are only Christian in name. They don’t care to follow any rules and they make loopholes around them all. Atheists are only Ex-Christians who see the flaws of Christianity and then by logically thinking about it they become Atheists. The problem is Christianity is fueling Atheism because there is a fine line between Christianity and Atheism and when Christians get a little bit smarter than the average Christian they become Atheists. But Christianity being forced down people’s throat as the only way, makes Atheists narrow-minded when they are Christians, so that when they do give up on Christianity due to inconsistenices, they think that there is no God, just because Christianity makes no sense. They don’t even consider other religions. Too bad Atheists never tried to read the Vedas, because if they did they would find nothing wrong with it. But Christianity trains people to be narrow-minded so they beleive all other religions are wrong and don’t look to other religions or read other scriptures such as the Vedas when the illogical Bible fails their intelligence. Give the Vedic literature a try. Read it for free at www.Krishna.com.

Toadaly, I’m curious as to how reading the entire Bible made you doubt it, maybe you didn’t really accept Him into your heart, or maybe you didn’t understand stuff, (to anyone who has prayed truly for something to happen, and it didn’t happen, God doesn’t allow bad things to happen because he hates us, he does it because he wants to test our faith in Him, to see if we trust no matter what, if you turn away that just proves that it’s easy for you to give up your beliefs, just keep trusting in Him and believe me, you will be blessed. Also, I agree w/ her, the flood wiped out almost everyone, so it couldn’t possibly be that old.

* “how is a theory different from religion?”

Theories are testable. ..and yes, evolutionary theory is testable, including the theory that humans and other modern apes have a common ancestor.

So how do you test the theory that humans and other apes have a common ancestor? You examine parasistic DNA fragments. If we did not find parasitic DNA fragments common only to humans and other apes, it would falsify the theory.

How do you test the idea that there’s a supernatural god? You can’t. How do you test the idea that this untestable God created anything? You can’t. How do you test the idea that this untestable God who untestably created something inspired the history of that creation it to be written down by ancient men? you can’t.

That’s the difference.

* “when they say millions of years ago how could they? were they there?”

Dating is not performed by evolutionary science, it’s performed by other branches of science, and is based on multiple techniques that are proven by applying the technique to artifacts and celestial events recorded within human history. It’s a projection based on the known. What qualms do you have with the techniques?

If you reject the various dating techniques, then you are not left with the conclusion that the earth is young, you are left with “I don’t know how old things are”.

* “and why do they keep on adding millions of years to earth’s age?”

They don’t. The estimates of the age of the earth have not much changed since the early 1950’s when the dating techniques were finally fully developed with the knowledge from A-Bomb research.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/geohist.html

Evolution is a theory, right. how is a theory different from religion? For instance, I believe in God, who’m I can’t physically see, but by observing things around me(such as the fact that the if the Earth’s axis was slightly off, it wouldn’t exist(there’s no way it’s just coincidence), volcanoes, etc.) and by looking throughout history(the establishment of our country), I can see that someone or something had to have a hand in it. and evolution is a theory, which means: evolutionists haven’t physically seen it happen(humans coming from monkeys), but they can observe certain things to believe that we came from a protein leading up to a monkey/ape. What’s the difference between the Bible and the books charles darwin wrote about his observations?just that the Bible was written before CD’s books.

“Why do some christians fall away from their beliefs?”

Because, with the acquisition of knowledge, they grow “from” their particular beliefs to something else. It’s called maturing.

This doesn’t mean that other Christians are immature. It just means that the other individual has grown to a level of understanding or believing that better suits themselves.

We should be in Harmony

If you’re in my here and now, Then it is certainly meant to be; That for this moment, at this time, We should be in Harmony.

Why? You ask. What is the reason? That “fate” has brought us near; Well, the only way we’re going to know, Is by listening – until we hear.

The purpose may be for you, Or maybe even me; Or maybe even someone else, Whom we may not yet see.

But our meeting which brings together, A fruition of our being; Is meant to be of benefit, In helping someone else to seeing.

For we all are our brothers’ keepers, Enlightening and guiding their way; As we strive to fulfill our charge, To gather back together – Whole someday.

But grant to each their individuality, Their right to choose their path alone; For though the roads may twist and turn, All roads eventually do lead Home!

I never said I was an atheist because Christianity doesn’t make sense. I’m an atheist because no god concepts I’ve ever come across make sense. You’re overgeneralizing in regard to atheists, but also in regard to Christians. There are plenty of open minded Christians.

bbb b, most atheists are not former Christians. Most atheists are Buddhists.

Okay understand people that there are 6.7 billion people on Earth and not 6 billion. Another thing is the Vedic Scripures were not written by man but by Krishna himself. If you haven’t read the Vedic Scriptures I don’t think you should comment on it.

Well, if when you die, and you are still a Christian, and the FSM has given you crappy beer and ugly strippers, and if you don’t change, I won’t really care, because at least you have beer and strippers. Lucky for you the omni-flavorful FSM is much nicer than the imaginary god you worship.

sigh …one absurd holy book accepted for emotional reasons used to rebuke another.

Why do people find the words penned in ancient books by men who obviously had no critical thinking skills, more compelling than what they can measure with their own hands if they choose to learn how to do it?

The Earth has been around for about 4.54 billion years and humans have also been around for about 4.54 billion years. A date of a few million years is ridiculous because it totally denies the Billions of years of Vedic history and the Vedic Civilization.

Well see thats the whole thing babe you dont know the whole story,,, they say in the end times many will rise up and false priest and false churches will rise up and this will affend allot of people and make them hate the works of god,,, They say the leading cause of athiesm “people who dont believe in god” is christians,,, as christians we arent suppose to jusge but ALLOT of christians and this is what turns allot of people off,,, the dude because of fell away from god and only looked at fact you dont know the whole story not many people at all just fall away from god with out coming back

Well see thats the whole thing babe you dont know the whole story,,, they say in the end times many will rise up and false priest and false churches will rise up and this will affend allot of people and make them hate the works of god,,, They say the leading cause of athiesm “people who dont believe in god” is christians,,, as christians we arent suppose to jusge but ALLOT of christians and this is what turns allot of people off,,, the dude because of fell away from god and only looked at fact you dont know the whole story not many people at all just fall away from god with out coming back

* “well if we came from apes then why are they still here? “

…heh, the quinessential Creationist failure to even comprehend what it is they attack.

…and the obligatory response:

If God made Adam from dirt, why is there still dirt?

Why is it so much harder to believe that you came from a loving caring God, that to believe that you came from a self replicating protein?

Man evolved from other creatures, which evolved form other creatures… all the way back to the first self replicating protein. The question then, is magic …oops, I mean “miracle”…required to explain the first self replicating protein?

But you were an Ex-Christian who is now an atheist. And you say that you are an atheist because Christianity doesn’t make sense. This is not just with you but all people who are atheists usually say that they are atheists because of something that is wrong with Christianity and when they say God they are also only referring to Christianity. Christians are so narrow-minded that they don’t consider other religions.

I’d love to be able to retort with “when you die you’ll find out you’re wrong” too, but that wouldn’t be true. The reality is, this is the only life you get, and there are no do-overs, no divine justice, no afterlife, no comeuppance to the mean old atheist who tried to make you think at funadvice…nothing.

You can waste the few precious years you have in devotion to imaginary beings, living in fear of demons in the dark, and never once considering the possibility you might be wrong. Or you can courageously explore the possibility you might be wrong, and perhaps…discover an entire new life of joy and superstition-free freedom on the other end.

…well levzeroni, we both agree that at least some Christians were never saved. I just take that logic a bit further than you do.

Well, if when you die, and you are still an athiest, and you’re in hell you’ll wish that you had listened to a 14 and a 16 year old and the various other people who have probably talked to you bout this. and if you don’t change, that’ll be upsetting to me, because it’s not that hard to believe it. no different from believing in evolution.

* “if earth was millions of years old. then by the rate that we are multiplying, right now there would be 150,000 people per square inch.”

The world human population is presently doubling every 40 years, and sits at around 6 billion people. Projecting back, that means that it was 3 billion 40 years ago, 1.5 billion 40 years prior to that, and so on. If you continue dividing by two every 40 years, you end up with a population of 2 people right around 1300 years ago, 700 years after Jesus was supposedly here.

Congratulations on using creationist “logic” to prove the impossibility of Jesus’ existence.

* “I remember when they said the earth was only a couple of million years old. “

Wow! You really look good for your age. Science hasn’t been saying that for over 100 years.

…because there’s evidence of the latter, but not the former.

However, even without evolution, it would still be irrational to conclude we came from a loving caring god, since not only is there no relevant evidence of that, but there isn’t even any relevant evidence of the supernatural at all.

In that instance, we would just have to admit ignorance on the subject instead.

This question demands many answers:

 Firstly, religion is entirely hypothetical and it is the choice of every person whether to believe or not.
 Secondly, religion cannot be proven, if it could we would have solid proof at this stage. Again I would like to remind everyone of the first point.
Thirdly, If one takes the time to browse the vaults of history or even to take a quick glance at our contemporary situation one will see that religion is the precondition (if not the essential condition) of nearly every war to have occurred. Of course I am taking into account that the motivation behind a certain 20th century war campaign (Hitler's of course) was one concerning ethnic beliefs, the superiority of the Aryan race, equally an enterprise however based on a belief on a hypothetical position. 
Finally I would like to mention how easy religious arguments may be discredited. One of the major propositions which the Christian faiths hold is that every effect has a cause. Of course, I'm sure you will all agree on this, that if I push one snooker ball against another, it will have the effect of causing the other to move. Simple cause and effect. The christian church attempted to prove the existence of God by saying that logically this must have all started somewhere, that every effect has a cause, which in turn had a cause, which in turn had a cause etc. The church then went so far as to say that God was the one to originally start this movement. Is something missing? Yes, God is also faulted with being a cause (and remember that a cause is also an effect of another cause), which must also have a prior cause.
It seems that this sort of simplistic refutation of faith can occur (with all arguments I have heard, although not necessarily applying this logic) which may in fact lead some to leave their religion, as for them it has become entirely unsubstantiated. Let's face it, blind faith is a silly concept belonging solely to cliché.

On a final note, I would again like to re-enforce my first point and mention that belief is entirely personal and that it is based on hypothetical situations. Therefore if one wishes to believe in a religion then that is absolutely fine and an entirely personal choice. However do not forget that this sort of belief is inconsistent within the logical scientific world. The scientific view of the world has gather consistent momentum since the early enlightenment and with an increase in our rational discoveries of the world we see a decrease in believers in unprovable hypothetical faiths. This is why so many people, like the ones you have quoted have opted out of religion. P.S. This is a quick response to a huge discursive area within philosophy. Check out Bertrand Russells’ ‘Why I Am not a Christian’ for more.

Flossheal I can relate to you. ( that was great) I am 22 and I don’t call myself a christian because I don’t want to be a hyprocrit. I am young so I still like to do sinful things, but I wouldn’t say im going to hell. I smoke weed, drink, and have sex ( and christians wouldn’t agree with that I guess), but I also go to church, pray, and thank God everyday for me seeing another day and for his continous blessings. I am a loving person, I help out people in need, I try to avoid a lot of bad, but I am just me. I go to church to learn more of God and I feel good afterwords. Only God can judge me, so if I still go to hell bc I smoke,drink,party, and have sex, well then I don’t regret anything bc I know I love God and I know im a good person. Maybe later in life I can commit to being a CHRISTIAN, but now I would be a hyprocrit if I said I was one.

There are some people who reason their way out of religion but I think there are many more who simply get tired of having holier-than-thou believers always telling them how to live and what to do.

I quit believing in god because my best friends my uncle died after having cancer for 2 years and I prayed and prayed every day for those 2 years and still he died. so ever since that day he died I blame him for his death.

religion just isn’t for all people, some can see through the lies that the church feeds people. And then finally say enough is enough

Anything can happen to anyone at any time. Don’t base your life on what happened or didn’t happen to someone esle. Put your eyes upon Jesus, and go forward in him.Don’t look to the right, nor to the left. Keep your eyes upon him.

When Peter took his first step, out of the boat, he was amazed… that he truly was walking on water, however, when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. The same happens to each of us. If we look at the circumstances, they will disappoint us, if we look to man, he will fail us, if we look to self, we will never walk on water.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

The bottom line is, we quit believing it. It isn’t hypocrisy, it’s a change in beliefs. How that happens varies from person to person.

In my own case, I was a devout Christian for many years and had even embraced shudder young earth creationism shudder a second time.

It was not a show. I REALLY believed it all, just like you do.

The details of my deconversion are long and tedious, but the spark that started the doubt was reading the entire Bible cover to cover.

if a Christian falls away from there beliefs they truly werent saved

I know some young Christians who I privately fear will ‘fall away from their beliefs’ in later life. I pray that I’m wrong but here’s why:

They seem to associate being a faithful Christian with pleasing their parents, and don’t appear to think for themselves. They never seem to have any doubts or do anything wrong, which to be honest seems a bit like a facade they put up to cover their real selves.

I also know many other young Christians who I suspect won’t ‘fall away’. This is what defines them:

They may or may not come from Christian families, but all have shown the ability to think for themselves and choose Jesus for themselves, not to try to please others. I see them have periods of doubt, make mistakes and generally be young people, and I feel that they are letting Jesus know the real ‘them’, instead of putting up a show of ‘perfect Christianity’.

So my fear for the first group is that one day that false image of ‘perfect Christianity’ is going to fail, and they’re going to realise how little of their faith was their own, and how much it was a show put on for those they care about. In my years of experience (I became a Christian 20 years ago, at the age of 18), the second group, who are more open and honest and individual in their faith, are less likely to fall away.

…because we can directly observe self replicating proteins, and gods are known ancient myths.

This is like asking “why is it so hard to believe Tom Sawyer is your father”.

bbb, atheists don’t believe god exists, so why would they consider another theistic religion? I would imagine they recognize other religions as human inventions as they do christianity.

levoronzi, If the absence of prayer in school is respnsible for a lack of morality, as you are claiming, tell me why America with 90% of the population believing in a god has prisons full of christians! While Japan, having no prayer in school, with a near 90% of the population being non-religious, has the lowest crime rate of any developed nation! Moral decline and SAT scores aren’t traced to absence of prayer in school. (http://www.ffrf.org/nontracts/schoolprayer.php)

Many christians have a very poor understanding of evolution, which is understandable. Evolution is not a religion, inspite of creationists claims, it’s a scientific theory observable and testable at that. but religion is a product of human evolution!

Also, if humans didn’t evolve how do you reconcile all of the evidence from paleontology, anthropology, genetics, and other fields and proofs that establish evolution as a scientific fact?

Dawrin did realize that the current estimate of the age of Earth at his time, wasn’t enough time for the evolution of the life on earth to occur, but other than that you are demonstrating false claims and a ignorance of science. Science is left open for revision, if necessary, in terms of available evidence.

Sense then, the age of Earth, has been dated to 4.5 billion years without a doubt with about 1% margin for error.

ahh. but how did man all together get here. there must have been something to start us off.

In my case, my parents conceived me. That’s how I got here.

My logic leads me to conclude no-one is saved. Death = permanent dirt nap, nothing more.

The ‘double every 40 years’ number was based on the world population in 1959 vs 1999, according to the US census. This is the modern rate of population growth.

levzeroni, I know you’re 14. But your swimming in the adult end of the pool.

some people fall away from their beliefs becuase they realize that most of it is bull sh*t and they figure they probably shouldn’t waste any more of their lives devoting themselves to a certian religion when they can just be free. You do know… there are more religions out there and eveyone has the right to choose what they believe. Love is my religion. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

…and evolution didn’t form humans from ‘all’ the apes.

because God didn’t create Adam from “all” of the dirt. Also why does there have to be facts?

your wrong.

“based on multiple techniques that are proven by applying the technique to artifacts and celestial events recorded within human history.”

if earth was millions of years old. then by the rate that we are multiplying, right now there would be 150,000 people per square inch. and human artifacts can only go back to about 4,500 ears ago. aka the FLOOD.

and actually also at this rate for how old the earth is. I remember when they said the earth was only a couple of million years old. now they are talking about billions of years. you cant just add billions of years in a couple of years.

in 1957 they took prayer out of schools. and during the race to space americans got scared and realized that russians had used evolution in their school corriculums and thought thats what made them smarter. but when we put evolution in our schools the SAT scores dropped, they “watered” down the SATs too and there was more curruption in the US I.e. more drug and child abuse, more broken families, and higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases of kids 10-14 of age.