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| Jon Steingard, ex-Christian Atheist. |
Jon Steingard is the latest in a long list of former evangelical Christians who realised their faith was vacuous when they began to examine it. He is now an Atheist and has told his followers so on Instagram.
He joined the Christian rock group Hawk Nelson in 2004 but had become increasing uncomfortable performing on stage to praise God because of his growing doubts about the existence of a god and the authenticity of the Bible. At last, unable to live with the dishonesty and pretense any longer, he 'confessed' his deconversion in an Instagram message to his followers.
Despite him saying he didn't want to start a debate, his message has attracted well over 900 messages, some hostile and many condescending, but a surprising number supporting him from former Christians who had followed the same path to Atheism, as well as over 2000 likes.
It's worth ploughing through the comments, especially from Christians, to see how they greet honesty and integrity in those who disagree with them. The intolerance and lack of respect for honest disagreement is shocking!
I'll be praying for you. You were never saved to begin with but rather were the soil that was choked out by the weeds. I hope you take the time to read the Bible and find the answers to the questions you have. The answers are all there. You just haven't taken the time to learn them. It's sad that you just used christianity as something to profit off of. I hope and pray that you come back to the truth.
Seems like your walk was one of habit or culture, rather than one of newness of life brought about true faith and regeneration.
This burdens my heart so much. My son and I met you and the band a couple years ago and had the best time at a concert. It literally put me on cloud 9! Your music cheers me up so much and the lyrics bring me tears. They resonate so true for me. I love the Lord. ❤️ He is loving but he is also just. Some things don’t always make sense or seem to add up in our finite minds. We all have ebbs and flows in life. Times of doubt and times of assurance. I hope you find that. We all have to be honest about what’s in our hearts. I’m praying for you.
But a surprising number of the comments are highly supportive from other ex-Christians who have become disillusioned and sickened by the hypocrisy. In fact the number of Atheists and those clearly on their way to becoming Atheists confirms the impression that very many young people have abandoned Christianity and very many more are in the closet trying to find the courage to come out.
Seeing the overwhelming majority of white evangelicals unapologetically support a President who exemplifies the opposite of the teachings of Christ has made me abandon my former identity as an evangelical Christian as well. Thank you for being so brave (from a former super fan of Hawk Nelson :) )
Dropped into your profile to follow, support, and welcome you to life after Christianity 👊 My story reads a lot like yours, and it took me until about four years ago at age 29 to figure out that my mind had really just been lovingly placed into a trap from birth. What I found was that my faith was based on a deep emotional desire to believe, and not based on anything substantive that could save it once I started peeling back the layers. I was a true believer, tithing thousands every year, looking to serve God every single day and with the total trajectory of my life, but it was all a delusion. I sought the truth, and the truth set me free from faith, and I am still so joyful about that when I take the time to reflect on it. Also, funny side story—when I was 18 (this was probably 2004) I job shadowed Aaron Sprinkle for a day at The Compound, and we just talked about music and recording all day, while he ate sunflower seeds and tuned your vocals, haha. I never would have thought at that point that someday I wouldn't be a Christian, or that I'd be reaching out to you on Instagram to offer my sincere support and congratulations. I know I'm just a random internet nobody, but if you ever want to chat about anything or need encouragement, you can always reach out! Also, r/exchristian kicks ass—don't sleep on that community. Cheers
I just found your account through someone posting this on reddit. I have to comment because this is all too familiar. My parents aren’t pastors, but I grew up very similar. I was a youth group leader, I was a worship team leader, singer, guitarist, pianist, I went to the conferences, workshops, I witnessed in the neighborhoods and dutifully recounted my testimony. I even spent $25k on student loans to go to a private Christian college. My sweater began to unravel on high school. Going to this Christian college was torture for me. Everything, everyone sounded and felt so absolutely fake. The prayers, the language around Christianity, the worshiping. Every question I had was always responded with a same/similar stick answer. “Go back to the Greek, sin is what causes death not got, without freewill we wouldn’t need god, if we’re evolved from monkeys why are there still monkeys!?” There’s so much more of course and my unraveling process is different than yours, but I’ve been without my sweater for about 15 years now and it’s amazing. It’s finally become easy for me to say I don’t believe in god. It took a while, but you will also become more comfortable without your sweater.
In the summer of 2018 at the age of 40 my "sweater" completely unravelled. And when I finally lost my faith I felt completely untethered. I was born and raised in Christianity, it was my foundation, I was so indoctrinated that I know it will take years for me to heal. I had little doubts over the years but I thought it was satan attacking my mind (again, what I was taught to believe). Now that I'm completely out, the Bible/god/Jesus/creation etc...none of it makes sense to me anymore. And I feel free; free of shame and guilt. But I haven't announced that I no longer believe, I just can't get there yet. Thank you for sharing your story and having great courage.
Hopefully, Jon Steingard bravery and honesty will give closet Atheists the courage they need to come out and declare for truth and personal integrity. Tweet
It's too bad when this happens in life, but this is all so easily explained from Scripture and Jesus' own words found in the parable of the Sower. While it has a certain strangeness to it when it plays out in the world in real time, the apostle Paul also notes that in the end times, many will depart from the faith (2 Timothy 3:1-5). It's a fact that churches are filled with people who claim to love and follow the Lord, though many have simply deluded themselves into think they are truly saved when in point of fact, they simply aren't.
ReplyDeleteshame that you can't refute his arguments and have to rely on smugly arrogant, evidence-free assertions, eh?
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