I Used To Be You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I first started this blog, most of my networking was among other opponents of Christian Patriarchy. It just so happens that most of those blogging\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/08\/i-used-to-be-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Used To Be You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I first started this blog, most of my networking was among other opponents of Christian Patriarchy. 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{"id":313,"date":"2011-08-03T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T20:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/08\/i-used-to-be-you\/"},"modified":"2012-09-10T09:29:01","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T13:29:01","slug":"i-used-to-be-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/08\/i-used-to-be-you.html","title":{"rendered":"I Used To Be You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Please understand when you read my blog that you are getting the perspective of a twenty something woman who was raised on the line between Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism, then became a conservative Catholic, then a liberal Catholic, then an Agnostic, and then an Atheist. If you are a Christian, you will naturally disagree with posts that tackle religion directly, though not necessarily with posts that tackle elements of fundamentalist religion, homeschooling, patriarchy, or authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

Understand that I am not trying to deconvert anyone. I am simply putting my thoughts into words and perhaps along the way providing a perspective some of you may not have heard before. I like to challenge people to think, but I don\u2019t have an agenda! And if you don\u2019t want to read posts you\u2019ll disagree with, you don\u2019t have to!<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t try to argue with me over who God is or or over which doctrinal point I am misunderstanding. I\u2019ve heard your arguments before. You see, I used to be you. In fact, I\u2019ve said the same things you are saying many times before. I get it. I understand what you are saying, and the argument you are making. I just disagree.<\/p>\n

The reality is, I\u2019ve heard all the arguments many many times, and I have come to the conclusion that there is no God. It\u2019s hard for you to fathom, I know, but that\u2019s how it is. You are probably sure that I\u2019ve misunderstood something somewhere along the line and that if you can only set me straight I\u2019ll come back to God. You may not be able to fathom understanding the arguments and knowing God and then leaving. You may think that I must have misunderstood something, or must be bitter. Again, I get it. I was you.<\/p>\n

If you think I\u2019m wrong, that\u2019s fine. Feel free to share your opinion by leaving comments \u2013 I enjoy reading those! \u2013 just please simply share your thoughts and leave it at that. I don\u2019t need you to argue with me or try to persuade me that I am wrong. If you think this means I have a closed mind, well, feel free to think that! But instead of arguing with me could you instead simply pray that the Holy Spirit will lead me back to Jesus? And if you\u2019re that bothered, you can always send me an email!<\/p>\n

Just please don\u2019t act like I have no idea what I\u2019m talking about. Please don\u2019t act like I somehow missed some important point and you can lead me to the Truth. Please don\u2019t try to diagnose me with some spiritual problem or tell me where I went wrong. I really don\u2019t need that.<\/p>\n

The truth is that I am not uninformed. I studied apologetics as a child and read the Bible every day. I even studied Greek so that I could read the New Testament. After I left fundamentalism I read reams of Christian apologetics and poured over the Bible. I spent hours in prayer and sought to listen to the lead of the Holy Spirit. I studied the writings of the early church fathers and the history of Christianity. Jesus was my best friend. Then, as I left religion entirely, I did even more reading. I read history, archaeology, theology, and science. It\u2019s not like I\u2019ve ever made a religious belief or lack of it lightly. Even today, I continue to find religion fascinating. You see, religion has left a stamp on my life that will never disappear. I continue to study religion in detail, and I am well aware of the wide diversity of Christian belief, and that it has done good as well as evil. I am not ignorant of this and I don\u2019t need you to set me straight.<\/p>\n

This is my blog, my space. I don\u2019t have to prove anything to you. I want this blog to be somewhere where I can freely speak my mind. If you disagree with something I write, feel free to say so \u2013 I\u2019m not asking people not to comment, I really do enjoy reading different perspectives! \u2013 but please simply state your thoughts and then leave it at that. I have the right to my views, even if you think they\u2019re wrong, just as you have the right to yours.<\/p>\n

And really, there are bigger fish to fry than the atheist on the blog next door. To name a few: Patiarchy, Vision Forum, Authoritarianism, Bill Gothard, So Much More and the Botkins, the anti-woman policies of the religious right, and the legalism surrounding courtship, purity, and modesty. So let\u2019s agree to disagree and focus on problems like these!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"