Chris Johnson wrote:

JB wrote:

Just curious what you all think.. I do not know if there is a god or
not, but I was raised as a christian. Get this: I go to church every
week and try to follow the "10 commandments" even though I have serious
doubts as to whether they are but the work of a human hand. My faith
is nil but I try to act "as if" Jesus is Christ because i fear hell.
Would you classify me as a christian or just a plain old agnostic? (i
have had spells of near-atheism in the not-so-distant past).

You can be both. Agnosticism is more related to knowledge (or sureness)
than belief.

But to me you sound like you're on the edge of atheism. You don't
really believe it, but for various reasons you're not ready to abandon
it.

The only thing I can say is that if your only reason for belief still
is fear of hell, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Why? First,
because you're probably already going if you don't truly believe. Or
God may not be the monster he's made out to be and will understand
honest disbelief and won't punish you for it. Either way, it is of no
benefit to you to pretend to believe out of fear.

Agree. plus, it wouldn't do any good anyway since biblically I'm
condemned. ...I
had hopes that God may not be a monster and there are no unpardonable
sins,
but then the bible would be wrong and deception occurred...

And if you do cease to believe, you will likely come to see hell and
judgment as a scare tactic to keep believers in line, but it has no
relevance or effectiveness to those outside of the religion. For
example, the Invisible Pink Unicorn (pbuhhh) shall gore all unbelievers
with Her Holy Horn. Does this scare you at all? Of course not, you
don't actually believe it.

Posting this in alt.atheism because i don't trust the reception in a
christian group, as doubt is something you are supposed to keep to
yourself. BTW, have you ever seen the apologist web sites? They tell
you to "defend your faith", as if the only problem is doubt from other
sources. I daresay Xtianity and other faiths would be so much healthier
if they would acknowledge the doubt that exists.

I knew some that did, but not publicly. Realizing that leaders in my
church had the same doubts and the same problems seeing God's work in
us as I did was probably a very influential point in my leaving the
fold. Perhaps people like me are the very reason they don't share those
doubts in public.

I have had the same experience also in the church. To the point that I
would be afraid to even share these concerns with a priest. It is very
unnerving to see someone seemingly so sure of themselves suddenly
clam up and be so defensive.

(that was when as a Christian I derived my spiritual "food" by the
fellowship of other believers).

Now I could probably care less.