Ex Catholics? - Any ex catholics here want to share why they left

[Yellow Shirt Guy]

I'm catholic and considering leaving the church based on things I've read in the bible who go against Catholicism

Can of you that are Ex Catholic, regardless of what you are now, share why you left?

 

[Rumpled Foreskin]

If you have a feeling that you should leave, do more research and make an informed decision. You clearly haven’t stuck a fork in an outlet, so some form of instincts are on your side. Don’t be a fag, dude.

 

[The Wrath]

I was raised Catholic but now consider myself Agnostic. I can't say for sure if there is a God or not because it's not something I consider to be knowable with 100% certainty. I don't believe in an afterlife but wish I could because it would be comforting knowing that the party doesn't have to end when you die. Eternal nothingness just sounds disappointing and on some level absolutely horrifying.

If you had a gun on me though, I'd probably say there is no God. I mean, at best, we have a God that created our universe and just abandoned us all. There's just simply too much fucked-up shit going on in the world, billions upon billions of unanswered prayers, war, famine, poverty, etc.

I don't have anything against people who choose to believe though.

 

[millais]

Papists who fall in line behind the current pontiff are an interesting lot. He didn't do much at all to render justice to the victims of all those childhood molestations, and he is all but openly endorsing the homogays and the open borders agenda

 

[Tempest]

@Yellow Shirt Guy what problems do you have with catholicism?

 

[1864897514651]

[redacted]

I do not know how many times this needs to be said. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is not the Roman Pontiff. He is not the successor of Peter. Joseph Ratzinger attempted a partial bifurcation of the see of Peter in his resignation of 2013, which rendered his resignation invalid in accord with canon law. Not that we need canon law to justify this for us since we can observe the reality of how Joseph Ratzinger saw his resignation in 2013 by his actions following it. Never before have we had a resigned pope take on the title of 'pope emeritus' and then continue to wear the papal regalia. You do not paint a salmon gold and call it a goldfish. You also do not attempt to bifurcate the see of Peter through a calculated resignation and then call a papal conclave to elect a 'new' pope.

Anyway, in regards to the OP, there is nothing in Sacred Scripture that goes against the understanding that Jesus established a single, universal Church. You should divulge your findings if you are confused so that we can better assist you in understanding the meaning of Scripture.

 

[Grand Lunar]

- Stopped believing in God altogether.
- After a lot of emotional turmoil, stress, and pain, I eventually came to terms with being gay despite having been raised to believe that that was wrong.

Based on what you said though, I'm guessing that you're talking about changing faiths rather than abandoning Christianity/religion altogether, so I guess my story probably isn't particularly helpful.

 

[cunt bucket]

I was raised Catholic sort of; I mean, I went to church and Catholic private schools from kindergarten to 4th grade, got my confirmation, yada yada, but my family was never super religious. We mostly didn't even care that much tbh. Ultimately I don't really believe in religion as a whole by this point, I just think God was made up by humans as kind of a bedtime story, to comfort us that we're not all alone in the world and that things can always get better.
Even if I were still Catholic, I'd go to hell anyway since I'm gay lmao

 

[ThePurpleProse]

Ask yourself what any god did for you ever, and try not to shoehorn or convince yourself about anything weird.

Spoiler: Short answer

nothing

Spoiler: Long answer

nothing

 

[UselessRubberKeyboard]

Kinda Catholic in identity here (comes from being an immigrant) but I've had enormous questions about the religion since childhood. I don't go to mass, but I do go and sit in church sometimes, reasons for which I don't really have the words to describe.

I was brought up Catholic, so the religion and the way it affects everyday life feels like just another part of me, rather than something I actively choose to do. I like the rituals of the religion, the way it's always the same - you can go to mass pretty much anywhere and even if it's not in your language it's always the same thing. The church is somewhere that feels homely, peaceful and safe somehow. We learnt all the prayers and hymns from childhood, so they kinda fall off the tongue without really thinking what they're about. And that's kinda what caused the problem, for me. Cos when I really started thinking about what it was I was saying and reading, I wasn't sure I believed it. And that feels really awful somehow, even now, as though I'm disrespecting my family and all the other people from my nationality who struggled to keep their identity in a foreign country.

I don't really believe in God (I don't want to say I don't, just in case I'm wrong and when I kick the bucket he's gonna be standing there saying 'who's the idiot now, huh?'). When I read the bible and sat in religious education classes in (Catholic) school, I just found myself thinking that everything described in the religion seemed to be an attempt to make sense of the way nature ('life') rules the world around us. Humans are amazing things, but there's so much we don't know and can't make sense of. We can kill things in a thousand ways, but we still can't create life in a lab from nothing (in vitro fertilisation not included, if you know what I mean). That's frightening for us as a race. Science is now catching up with explanations for many things, of course, but before science really had a place in people's minds, the explanation for a lot of natural phenomena was 'god's will'. I also recognised that the structure of Catholicism being basically a guide to how to live your life correctly was a method of social control, one that probably worked very well in the days before democratic government and the police. Not saying that any of this is a bad thing. It has its place, and if it works for people, that's fine. I just remember sitting in class and feeling really uncomfortable because I didn't believe the stuff I was being taught, and I didn't want to argue with the teacher over it.

That's the reason why I don't feel able to go to mass. It would feel like I was lying. The ritual might be reassuring, but I'd be lying to the people around me, and it feels like I'd just be taking the piss out of their beliefs. Yet I still love the peace of the church, the acceptance, the way that if you want to talk over anything at all with a priest you can do so. It feels like I'm turning my back on the thing that accepted me, and it feels a bit uncomfortable. But I can't carry on saying prayers whose words I don't believe in, or asking for things from a god that I'm not sure exists. I believe in nature, life as an amazing force still only partially explained by science, and I see Catholicism as a method of attempting to understand that force. It feels uncomfortable to go to mass or to really call myself a Catholic when I believe that, I dunno. It's complicated by the way religion was so tied to nationality and identity throughout my childhood, and that's probably the main reason why I still regard myself as Catholic despite my reservations. That's probably wrong somehow, but it's the messy reality of how religion works in the world, I guess.

I don't think you need to make a decision to leave a religion if you're questioning (it's kinda difficult to officially leave Catholicism anyway!). Is it worth talking your feelings over with your parish priest? You probably know him best so will know if that's a good idea or not (some can be more dogmatic than others). Obviously he's going to be a believer, but many are used to people questioning or wavering in their faith. If you have questions about the bible, a priest is probably the best person to discuss it with. The bible was written by many different people over many years, and it's not always possible to take scripture at face value (despite what some may say).

 

[Draza]

I'm Orthodox, can't help you buddy.

 

[HG 400]

Can of you that are Ex Catholic, regardless of what you are now, share why you left?

One of those loudmouthed fucking kids told his parents.

 

[Mr. Poker in the Front Liquor in the Rear]

Come join us Eastern Orthodox folk. We will fight against the tyranny of Catholicism together.

 

[killmeme]

I was born in a Catholic country and since I'm such a hipster I decided to leave Catholicism at 12. I was those obnoxious euphoric atheist kids, but Eastern European.
Expected getting shit. Barely got any. Settled for agnosticism at 16.
There's plenty of good reasons to leave, whatever you are leaving Christianity or Catholicism. For Catholicism - well the Church is definitely very corrupted, it's only not as bad as it used to be because it was steadily defanged over the years.

 

[HG 400]

Come join us Eastern Orthodox folk. We will fight against the tyranny of Catholicism together.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 9, Paragraph 3
838 - The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter. Those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist.

Nobody's fighting anybody. Trust me, I actually used to be a priest and studied canonical law in Rome I know what I'm talking about.

 

[1864897514651]

[redacted]

You should have posted the funny paragraph that is only three paragraphs down.

CCC 841 (Catechism of the Catholic Church [1992 AD, promulgated by quran-kisser Pope John Paul II])

"The Church's relationship with the Muslims. 'The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day.'"
​

This catechism is total bullshit. It is a heretical, blasphemous document that should have been thrown out of Angelicum by whoever was dictating it. But of course, Angelicum was full of neo-Sodomites in 1986, and it is still full of neo-Sodomites today. If we still had the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, which was a list of books that the Church had forbidden the faithful from reading unless certain passages were edited or totally removed, then you could expect this bullshit 'catechism' to be on it.

If you want a real catechism, then use the Roman Catechism or the Baltimore Catechism. Either of those are really good. Neither of them preach the heresy that fucking musloids worship the same God as us.

 

[PantsFreeZone]

I only left the Catholic Church because I felt like I was way ahead of the priests at every facet of life. I tired of the old men in stupid hats who were always coming in a little behind.

 

[HG 400]

This catechism is total bullshit. It is a heretical, blasphemous document that should have been thrown out of Angelicum by whoever was dictating it.

But it wasn't, and now it's the official catechism of our Holy Mother Church. That means the only heretic here is, well... you.

 

[1864897514651]

[redacted]

You are misunderstanding me. 'Total bullshit' cannot be a catechism. I called this document 'total bullshit' and pointed you towards real catechisms because this document is not a real catechism, and it never has been a real catechism. A catechism is a book of instruction for the faithful—or it is oral instruction. The word catechism comes from the Greek katekhein, which means to resound. If a document does not resound the foundations of the faith in either Sacred Tradition or in Sacred Scripture, then it is not catechetical. It is impossible for this 1992 document to be a catechism for the teachings of the Catholic Church because it teaches heresy against the Church.

Jesus would not ever, EVER ask the faithful to catechize themselves with a document that teaches heresy against His Church. You have positioned this document preposterously in your mind. Just because the Church says that something is its 'catechism' does not mean that you must regurgitate that statement without due discretion on your part. God gave you a rational intellect to observe the situation for yourself and then draw your own conclusions from said observations. I have read and observed this document, and my conclusion from said observation is that this document is total bullshit. Paragraph 841 is not the only point of heresy in it; I could write an entire essay with examples on why the 1992 'catechism' is not a catechetical document for the Roman Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II answered for promulgating this piece of shit at his Particular Judgment, and we will all know the outcome at the General Judgment.

 

[IV 445]

You should ask @Melchett , she’s an avid churchgoer