Why He Left Christianity: The 3 Bible Issues He Couldn't Ignore

Why He Left Christianity: The 3 Bible Issues He Couldn't Ignore

David McDonald was a youth Pastor for many years and was extremely devoted to Christianity. He was an Evangelical Christian who started studying the Bible and three major issues came up which caused him to really start doubting.

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[DeepDrinks]

🎉🎉🎉 Thanks for having me on Derek. If you’re reading this as a Christian content creator and disagree with me, have me on, I’m up for a friendly discussion.

[ViolAM]

My mother TORMENTED and abused me with end times theology my entire life (until I went no contact after age 34, and her telling me I shouldn't have had children because "woe to those who are pregnant and nursing in the end times"). This is both SO validating and INFURIATING.

[kathyhuff]

I almost gave up my faith - but I couldn’t deny the certain creative ways some of my prayers were answered… (That and J.S. Bach’s music!) I don’t have all the answers, I’ve had disappointments, I have accepted gray areas in my faith, and wrestling with questions isn’t a bad thing! Thank you for sharing your perspective, I respect your journey.

[NoSenatorson]

I’m so amazed by how some people were so intellectual about de-converting. Mine was a more emotionally based de-conversion. Mostly, I got tired of feeling guilty and depressed all the time.

[Wookiemonsterfreak]

I can relate very much the same. I struggled, then sincerely went into deep prayer and asked what I can do to fix the struggle and feel the Spirit again. To my surprise, the still small voice pressed on me saying “it’s time to walk away from the Church and discover new”. I was shocked. I didn’t expect that answer. I made a compromise, “If I do this, I trust that is God wants me to come back, then God will lead me back”. What I discovered is the topics here, Myths and the common thread of that ties all traditional spiritual traditions. It’s a lonely walk sometimes, because it hard to walk away from the social comfort of all my Church family, but it’s still a meaningful spiritual life.

[shriggs]

The fundamentalists will tell you that when Jesus said, "This generation, " he meant the generation that sees all the signs spoken of in that same chapter, i.e, the generation we live in now.They have ready made answers to every contradiction, no matter how stupid it is.But they are obviously good enough "answers" for the choir they preach to-who see what they want to see and disregard the rest.

[danaagenbroad]

As a teenage girl, caught up in the "Born again" Christian movement (early '70s), everything regarding women in the Bible was cruel and unjust. That's what turned me off, and I went the complete opposite direction, Feminism and atheism.

[Kronos]

My name is Bob, I am 79 years old and been a deacon for over 35 years. I can only say WOW! This is tremendous. I surmise we are both from a Pentecostal back ground and I also studied Preterism. Currently I am studing all of the old origins ... Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Sumerian and everything else I can feed on. You two are so right in your conclusions. I was kicked out of the church I was part of ... not going there. So I find myself treasure hunting. Lost my wife 4 years ago and she was seeing this but could not leave her belief in Jesus. Not saying I don't believe in The man Christ Jesus yet I do not believe the Bible is infalable. Said all that to say this. You are doing a tremendous service for people like myself and bringing many answers that people refuse to talk about. Thank you, Thank you.

[Jonathan]

I've had all these questions since I was a kid. That's when I surmised that the adults at my church were not not reading the WHOLE bible. I started paying attention to our sunday school lessons and realized that we came back the same lessons every 2 years. I knew I would not have or find permission to deconstruct my faith or anyones BUT I am 63 years old and I have given myself permission to dive into a deconstructed faith with a realization that if there a God and creator of this material universe there is no way that God is as religious as we want to believe.

[njhoepner]

I was born and raised a mainline Protestant...became an Evangelical at the age of 29...stuck with it for 26 years...I remember all the excuses, all the twists and turns and tapdancing used to get around the clear and obvious contradictions, errors, and plot holes...I believed them not because they were truly sensible but because I really wanted to believe them. I think that is the power of living in a bubble, being embedded in a community one does not want to lose.
Until I finally decided to step outside the bubble and look at my own religion with the same critical eye I would use on any other religion, I just could not see the problems clearly.

[MrBBaron]

As a child I could not reconcile the millions of years that dinosaurs ruled the earth with the creation fable. I knew that an ark could not possibly contain all the animals of the world. Why would any God kill all the innocent people and animals with a flood. More and more contradictions and brutality in the Bible made me realize at a young age that it was a book of myths an historical fiction book.

[fareerforsuk]

Brother, as you have left Christianity, how about joining Islam? Please kindly consider I am waiting😊

[TheDreamtimezzz]

So simple, basic critical thinking on the bible will reveal the contradictions, the archeological and historical inaccuracies, and the logical fallacies.

[mikenash]

I was told that I was "overthinking" doctrine issues all the time. It seemed that any amount of thinking was "overthinking". Bible studies at the church I used to go to were like English comprehension exercises for six-year-olds at infant school, even though everyone present was an adult.

[seanmalone]

I am going through a faith crisis currently, and have been for almost a year now. I have a BA in preaching and an M.Div. But my journey, while certainly taking me out of evangelicalism, is actually moving me towards historic Christianity, either Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.

What made me leave is sometimes called "rampant interpretive pluralism." Basically, everyone interprets the Bible differently and there's no stopping it. It's absolutley out of control in the Protestant world (a recent estimation is 38, 000 denominations worldwide in 2010), but in the other two branches there still exists an unbroken line of apostolic succession through bishops. *They* have the authority to interpret Scripture and guard Tradition. In both of those branches there is legitimate authority to interpret Scripture and a solid connection to church history. I may be leaving evangelical Christianity, but I would actually say becoming Catholic or Orthodox makes me even more Christian! Lol

Additionally, I have been hit hard by objections like these many times, but this is precisely why interpreting the Bible so literally every single time isn't the way. It's not something the Church has ever done until recently in church history (idk about Catholicism but EO doesn't actually have any official eschatological position besides the 2nd Coming). It places too much stock in man's ability to understand divine revelation (Proverbs 3:5), which comes from a source of unsearchable and infinite wisdom (Romans 11:33-36; 2 Peter 3:15-16). Not even Jesus' disciples understood what He was saying most of the time, but one thing they did understand was that He had the words of life (John 6:68). 2, 000 years later, the Church which Christ built through them is not only still here, but it's among the world's major religions with billions of followers around the world. That's a powerful argument that there really is something True even amongst everything that's unclear.

Personally, what keeps me in my faith is my past and present experiences of God. There is no way for me to list everything He has done for me here, but I will say that I have no reason for living if He doesn't have a plan for me. God has given me so much; who else would treat me better or give me more if I left Him? This world is so broken; there's so much pain and evil, if God doesn't exist then why stay in this awful, awful place and live a miserable life?

[Okijuben]

Listening to you and David speaking, as an ex-fundie myself, I am starting to think there is a connection or correlation between the level of intensity or seriousness one experiences the faith and the likelihood that they will end up researching themselves into deconstruction. The believers we would have called 'lukewarm' are actually the clever ones, playing it safe. Why torture yourself on the path of deconstruction unless you are starting from a point of wanting, needing and dying to know God in the most literal way possible; rather than letting yourself merely be convinced of the fact a priori?

[Okijuben]

I'm so glad you mentioned the destruction of the temple, Derek! If the gospels were being written today about a guy born in 1980, his end-times prophecy would have said something like 'the two steel dragons of the eagle-headed beast will burn down the two highest temples of world trade; then you will know the Son of Man is coming.'

[pinky]

Many years ago, I listened to Derek when we were both still Christians. Then, I stopped listening as I started moving away from Christianity. Now, here I am, listening to Derek again, today, neither of us Christians.

[rdand]

I tried my best to be a born-again Christian, I really did, but the answers kept bringing on more questions. My break from organized religion didn't happen overnight, and I don't exactly remember a specific point when it happened, but it occurred to me that to be a Christian, you had to follow Paul; for any given sermon, the reading would most likely be from an epistle, rather than the gospel. Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 1:17 that he was there to preach the gospel, yet the epistles are full of his opinions (interpretations, perhaps). Romans 1:32 is a good example, and rather disturbing. This is the same God who loves everyone? Sure, everyone who thinks the same way, and does the same things. It's almost like getting mugged: do what God tells you, and nobody gets hurt. I'm glad I came to my senses...

[edmacon]

I left xtianity because I got tired of worrying about hell, the tribulation and not being holy enough. None of it has any bearing on every day life.