At the start of this year (2024), I decided to take a break from my church (United Church of Christ - Protestant) -- I thought I was just burned out from singing or performing in three (3) ministries, being a chairperson of a committee, ushing, lay reading, and volunteering time to activities the church had in the past. In January, I started questioning my faith in Christianity more often -- I observed that I had been doing it on and off during the past year, but it was a fleeting thought, and I didn't think much of it. Well, in January, it hit -- I started to wonder why we were not seeing any "divine interventions" like what was stated happened in the Bible. I thought that with all the issues going on in this country and the world, we would see something -- NOT! I prayed and nothing was happening. I was talking / praying to Jesus, and nothing was happening. I was not receiving any words of wisdom from the Divine. I was getting frustrated and thought, "What if I am just praying to air." In addition, I was becoming very disenchanted with Christianity as a whole and not because of the church I was attending - Christianity today, to me, is very hypocritical, extreme and too radical for me to practice and / or promote.
As my thoughts became stronger, I mentioned my feelings on Facebook, and a classmate of mine from college stated that I should look up Humanism, which I did. I liked what Humanism was about (The Golden Rule) but could not agree with it because it did not believe in a God, which I did -- something or someone had to create this beautiful world we live in and the entire universe that we are a part of each and every day. I then started researching terms about God only and no religions or churches, and I came across Deism through internet research.
I looked up the word Deism, which was a belief in a God (a Supreme Intelligence / Creator) and no more, and all Deists want is for people to use their innate gift of Reason and to be happy with God's gift of creation. It also explained about "revealed" religions, to which I belonged, and their superstitions, guilt, shame, "giving your life to Christ" salvation, etc., and how they were not a part of Deism. These ideas interested me, so I kept reading and came across your website. I started reading articles written by other people that appeared to have the same experiences that I was currently was experiencing. I realized after reading many of the articles that I was not alone and that I could probably believe more fully in Deism.
I am just at the start of my journey in Deism, but I can tell you that I am very interested in learning more. FYI - I am 63, female, who was raised Roman Catholic, left the church for about 15 years, came back to an evangelical church and then left that because I am part of the LGBTQIA+ community, which they could not stand, left the church, again and then started practicing in the UCC. I loved my church family, but the idea of practicing Christianity, as stated above was a conflict within me.
I am not much of a reader -- reading books bores me, but I am finding that I am thoroughly enjoying books about Deism like, Deism: A Revolution in Religion, A Revolution in You, God Gave Us Reason, Not Religion, Deism and the Human Jesus, and The Age of Reason. I am also going to be receiving a book written by Elihu Palmer, Principles of Nature, in the very near future, which I am looking forward to reading.
Well, that's my story. Again, I am very new to the idea of Deism, but so far, it works for me, and I feel comfortable discussing / promoting it with anyone who wants to talk.
I’m 15 and I fell in love with deism, I used to not care about religion or the meaning of life and all that stuff until the fear of one religion’s hell struck me and pushed me to do research.
This best thing about being a deist is that you can speak to God and never expect anything in return as if he were some kind of genie in a bottle. Deism is about reasoning and stop behaving like a religious person.
I believe if everyone realized that all religions have evolved over the millennia’s of life on earth, and continue to evolve, like humans evolved from caves to modern day homes, schools, buildings, including technology, pharmaceuticals, languages, civil laws, borders, discoveries in land, air and sea, they would also know that their beliefs and doctrines are archaic and need to be revised. Our Founding Fathers saw that need, and became Deists. Their reason and common sense helped them become the architects of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Deb, your evolution in changing churches is what everyone should do. Seek out how their beliefs and religion evolved and was the path realistic?
Welcome aboard Deb. Like you, I grew up in the Methodist Church which I thought explained everything, taught us how to live life and treat others. I still struggle to this day because I still lead a structured life and often Deism seem unstructured to me. But I agree with you when you mentioned that you’ve prayed and not much has happened. I’ve come to the conclusion that prayer is another means of meditation, which I accept. But my real struggles are between my wife and I. To keep the peace, I’m a quiet Deist. But I’m now committed to the idea of God and the application of reason, critical thought, and common sense in my day to day life.
Good for you. Here's to your journey of discovery.😁