Why did I leave the Christian faith?
When telling someone that you have left the Christian faith, you are often met with many different reactions. If it is a close family member or friend, they may look at you with fear or sorrow, like you are signing up for damnation and going to surely burn in hell or, at the very least, not go to heaven. If it is an acquaintance or someone you talk with on the topic, they get very defensive or angry, like telling a child that there is no Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus for the first time.
As someone who has been in their shoes, I know why they think and feel like they do. It is because they have doubt, uncertainty, and fear for themselves and the people they care about. You see, people want to have a connection with God and know that the connection they think they have is real. To think that the connection you thought you had with your creator wasn’t real is almost unbearable. This is why, unfortunately, people will close you off and won’t listen; it's because of fear and/or pride. For me, it was both. Fear was because I did not want to even think of the possibility of what would happen to me, my children, friends, family, and other people I had misinformed, And pride because how could I be wrong all these years?
Over the last few years, I started questioning what I had been told and believed. I wanted to understand why I believed these things and where these beliefs came from. My father and I would often sit at night and speak of different prophecies and/or scriptures and how they would be applied to our day-to-day lives and after. Some things discussed were subtle and brief, and others were in more detail. The conclusion we both came to about the same time, though, was something just wasn’t right. This all lead me on a journey of knowing, understanding, and studying.
It started with some videos on YouTube by Rabbi Tovia Singer. I watched videos on different topics debunking things that are the foundations of the Christian faith. The virgin birth, how we obtain salvation, and who this man Jesus was or was not were just a couple of the things.
If you start at the beginning, where Christians claim it is written (The “Old Testament” Prophecies of a Virgin birth or passion narrative), you have scriptures that Christians have either mistranslated the Hebrew words to fit their narrative or have taken the scripture entirely out of context. Let me give you just a few examples:
1- A big one that Christians always like to bring up is Isaiah 53. In Isaiah 53, the scripture talks about the simple servant. Christians take this scripture and say it refers to a prophecy of Jesus. However, when you read the scriptures leading up to Isaiah 53 and have the scripture in context, you can see that the simple servant refers to the nation of Israel, which is collectively suffering due to the sins of the world and not Jesus. This is just one of many scriptures the Christians have perverted or taken out of context to say it is referring to Jesus in prophecy.
2- The Virgin birth. So, some Christians may say, “Well, what’s the big deal about this one? That has nothing to do with Jesus dying for my sins.” This is a big deal because it is a foundation on which the Christian faith is based on claiming that the Messiah being born of a virgin was prophesized about. The scripture Christians use for this claim is Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah 7:14 reads “almah” or “young woman”; however, Christians perverted the scripture to say it reads “virgin,” which would be “Beulah.”
3- Jesus dying for our sins. This is the most significant foundation of faith for Christians. They say we are all broken from original sin, and the only way to be forgiven is through Jesus. But is this true? If you look at the scripture, it is in plain text. Ezekiel 18:20, no one can die for your sins; Hosea 14:1-3, repent and you will be forgiven; Hosea 6:6, God desires mercy, not sacrifice; Isaiah 43:11, there is no savior; Ezekiel 18:22, Because of rightlessness, all of your transgressions will not be remembered. These are just a few scriptures that specifically say you can be forgiven and that no one or nothing can forgive you for your sins except for your repentance. There is no mention of Jesus or any sacrifice.
These three examples are just a few of the many false teachings of the Christian faith. When you start reading and studying the scriptures as written and not through the lens of the Christian faith, you can see the accurate word of God. The best way to start this is to do as I did and schedule a meeting with a Rabbi on the Noahide Academy of Israel website. Once you have the meeting, you can see where you are and where you would like to be. A Rabbi can help direct you on a learning path best suited to your background and religious knowledge.
