What Happens When People Leave Christianity, but Still Believe in God?

Don’t you just hate it when you get an itch in the middle of your back and you can’t reach it? You look around to see if someone is there who can scratch it for you, but you’re all alone. There’s nothing in the room that you can rub your back against to relieve that itch… you’re stuck with it!

That is how I, and many others, feel about Christianity. You start asking questions, and nobody can give you a straight answer. You look to church leaders, and all they can do is spout out Bible verses that have nothing to do with the subject in question. You search for information online, and all you can find are biased articles, written by Christians or Atheists. You still believe in God, but Christianity has failed to live up to your expectations. You’re just stuck! After a while you just give up and fall into the unnamed void that lies somewhere between Christianity and Atheism.

People who are lost in this void have nowhere and nobody to look to for answers. Almost every bit of information on religion is biased one way or the other. It would seem, to both Christians and Atheists that there cannot, or should not be a middle ground. To Christians, everything that does not go along with their beliefs is evil. To Atheists, we’re just another group of idiots who still believes in God. So, where do we go from here?

A lot of people stuck in this void have realized that the answers cannot be found in the Bible, or any other book of ancient lore. They can no longer blindly believe in a set of man-made rules for life. The answers must come from within. It’s not easy, but after much research and meditation, you can eventually start to develop a philosophy that makes sense to you.

Here are some helpful tips that I wish someone could have given me long ago:

• God is love; an all loving God would never judge you for questioning the imperfect laws of man.
• You should never apologize for your beliefs. If there were only one true path to salvation, there wouldn’t be so many choices.
• Read up on other religions and philosophies. There are so many great ideas out there that might be just right for you.
• Think about what beliefs, moral codes and values, and concepts that are most important to you. Sometimes it helps to write it all down, so that you have it all in front of you. From there you can create a set of tenets that you will follow according to those beliefs.

Here are some really great resources that can help you on your spiritual journey:

SBNR.org – an online community of individuals who walk a spiritual path outside traditional religion.

Unitarian Universalism – a liberal religion that accepts people of many different faiths.

BeliefNet.com – Has an application called Belief-o-Matic, which will ask you questions about your beliefs and will match you up with a list of religions that most closely resemble your beliefs.

ReligiousTolerance.org – Contains factual information and articles on almost every world religion.

ReligionFacts.com – Offers just the facts about world religions, with comparison charts and explanations of religious symbols.