An Open Letter To A Christadelphian Who Is Losing Her Faith

 

Losing one's faith can be
emotionally distressing.

This is an open letter reply to a Christadelphian sister who wrote to me this morning saying that she "has almost lost" her faith and is no longer attending the meetings.

If you are a Christadelphian, or a believer in another religion who feels the same way, this reply is for you.

 

Dear Dawn

If you don't mind me saying, I am overjoyed to hear that you are taking a more balanced view of life and that you are attenuating your previous faith based belief.

I want you to please read my blog article:

http://ex-christadelphian.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/when-you-lose-your-faith-you-gain-your.html

- where I explain the wonderful things that you gain when you lose your faith.

This is the start of a fantastic new journey for you where you take responsibility for your own future and for your own moral integrity. It is likely that you will soon also lose your belief in God. This is an extremely painful step to take. Do not underestimate how emotionally upsetting this can be. But after it is all over you will find that it is the most rewarding development of all. Once you lose your faith in God you realise that it was only a superstition that was not supported by sensible, credible evidence or proof of any kind. It's like recovering from a long, depressive illness where your reasoning was distorted to think irrational things.

Recovery from a faith based religion is both painful, as your mind readjusts back to reality, but also exciting and rewarding. The joy of being a Christian is nothing compared to the joy of sorting your head out and becoming an agnostic or atheist.

Here at Ex-Christadelphians you can be assured of our fullest support as you transition towards a new life where everything makes sense and your mind starts to work how it is supposed to work. We are at your service as supportive friends day and night, 24/7. Email us any time. We also have a telephone support line that can be contacted from anywhere in the World if you need us to talk things out or seek help. Email us to ask for the telephone number if you need it.

We can also put you in touch with others who have travelled this road before you and who rejoice in their new found freedom from religious dogma and ritual. In time I hope that you will be able to join with us in reaching out to others who remain trapped in the delusion of the Christadelphian faith.

But I exhort you to please realise that losing faith in religion and God does not mean an abandonment of moral integrity. On the contrary; once we become responsible for our own morality we shoulder a heavier burden of responsibility than before, when we relied upon a Holy Book written by primitive people in the Iron Age for our code of ethics. As Agnostic/Atheists we have to evaluate modern, enlightened human morality and seek to incorporate these principles into our lives. The fact that we do it freely of our own volition, instead of throgh fear of the paranormal, is very fulfilling. You will become responsible for your own actions and behaviour. For us, the poor ethics of Christadelphian behaviour is something to be rejected and to be transcended by a better way of living.

What I am saying is that leaving the Christadelphians is a process of maturity. Not only do we think more clearly, but we also must endeavour to treat others people better than when we were sanctimonious, judgemental, self-righteous Christadelphians. Humility is a difficult lesson for Ex-Christadelphians to learn; but it is a vital one for our self-development.

That is what leaving the Christadelphians is all about. It is self-development, it is enlightenment. It is moving on from a wrong turn in our lives. We are moving to a better place both mentally and morally.

Having said all this I have to add that it is my experience that people don't just "loose their faith." It takes something more than reason alone to see that faith is an illusory experience. Often it is a marriage break up, or an unkind action, or a personal tragedy that shakes a person out of the delusion of a faith based belief system.

I know that it will have been painful, so you have my sympathy. But you also have my assurance that whatever it was that caused you to see the light, in time you will come to realise that it was one of the best things that ever happened to you. Because you are gaining your reason and that is the most wonderful thing in the World.