WebMDave

F or the better half of my life, I was a dedicated Christian. My faith shaped how I interpreted the world, how I related to others, and how I understood meaning and morality. In my 40s, I began to question — not out of a desire to sin (the usual Christian dismissal for my current disbelief), but out of a deep and unsettling sense that the religious world I inhabited no longer made sense to me. What followed was a liberating and empowering transition. After many years of identifying as a timidly skeptical ex-Christian, I discovered Stoicism, an ancient philosophy that had eluded me until then. Now, I proudly identify as a Stoic Prokopton — a term that signifies progress, not perfection. I am not a sage, not a master, not a know-it-all, but simply someone walking the path with intention and empowerment. Why I Moved Away from Christianity My faith had been my primary source of community, identity, and purpose. The more I learned about Christianity, the more I noticed the contradictory n...

Originally posted to ExChristian.net on July 27, 2001. The Shock of Apostasy It is invariably a shock to Evangelical Christians to come across someone who has turned his or her back on “the faith once delivered unto the saints.” Most believers will quickly dismiss an ex-Christian by piously pointing out that anyone who turns away from Christ was never a real believer. Or, as an insider might say, “They were never born again.” There is Biblical support for this assertion. 1 John 2:19, which addressed the problem of First Century apostates, states: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (KJV) I’d like to point out here that the previous verse, verse 18, suggests that the writer also believed it was the end of history and that the Antichrist was about to appear. It seems that whoever penned 1 John was premature in an...