As we approach this Passover season, reflection is in the air! This Passover, in particular, will make three years since my family and I left Christianity in the spring of 2022.
In the last few years, I haven’t posted that much (hardly at all!) on this blog, but I’ve had every intention of doing so. I think with any drastic change, and especially a faith/ religion change, there should be time for reflection. I was raised a Christian, so all the years leading up to 2022, were spent either as a Christian or in a Christian environment. Therefore, it takes time to understand how I can relate to the world, others, God, and myself without the context of Christianity dictating my every thought and action.
As much as the Church preaches that the “Old” Testament and the New Testament are one unbroken story where one testament finishes where the other left off and that they don’t contradict each other, that cannot be further from the truth. And it has taken the last few years for me to detangle the teachings of the New Testament from my mind, heart, and beliefs.
So, I wanted to share what I have learned since leaving Christianity.
This post is a little long, so here is the outline if you want to get to a particular section!
- What Does Leaving Christianity Mean?
- What Do I think About JC Now?
- What about Hell, Eternal Fire, and Brimstone?
- Satan is Not An Unhinged Enemy of God
- It’s All About the Blood… Or Is it?
What does leaving Christianity mean?
Ok, first things first, when I think of someone leaving Christianity, most of the time, I think they don’t believe in the Bible or God and/or JC anymore. Basically, they are an atheist/ agnostic.
Now, I still believe in God and the Hebrew Bible or the “Old Testament,” just not the New Testament, and especially not JC.
Come to find out, there is a whole group of people who say they left Christianity, but they are IN FACT still Christians, but they simply don’t go to a church and don’t believe in the institution of religion. They still believe in JC and/or Paul and the teachings of the New Testament and believe that JC is necessary for their salvation and right standing before God.
They are Christ-followers but have detached themselves from the label of “Christian” and the institution of the church. Many Hebrew Israelites do this as well, they still believe in the core tenets of Christianity but don’t want to be associated with the institution or the religion of Christianity.
This isn’t what I believe at all. I don’t believe in the New Testament or JC or Paul, and I have left Christianity and the Christian Church in all forms.
What Do I think about JC?
I announced my leaving Christianity on Instagram since a few of the people I used to go to church with still follow my Instagram stories. Someone I don’t know and don’t remember following me in the past started arguing with me(a little bit!) about who I believe JC is. Did I believe that he existed and just don’t believe in him anymore, or did I not believe in him at all?
At the time, I said, “I don’t know if he existed or not. What I do believe is that the claims made about him by the Christian Bible are inconsistent and contrary to Elohim and the whole Old Testament”.
I still believe this. In addition, I believe there may have been a historical figure that the NT based him on, but the JC from the NT? I don’t believe existed.
What about Hell, Eternal Fire, and Brimstone?
While there are a few mentions of the afterlife and, in particular, the afterlife of those who never repent or acknowledge God, it’s few and very vague (Isaiah 5:14; Isaiah 14:9; Psalm 9:17; Psalm 55:15; Psalm 139:8; Deuteronomy 32:22). And nowhere is hell described like the New Testament.
In the Christian bible, hell is for those who don’t accept JC, but nowhere in Tanakh is there a punishment for not accepting God’s “son.” And there isn’t any mention of a “future son” or messiah that if you don’t accept, you will burn in hell for eternity. If that was the case, where were the millions of people who died before JC? (Deuteronomy 4:35; 1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 40:25; Isaiah 44:6-8; 45:5-6 clearly states that there is no one next to, with or alongside, or on the right-hand side of God, He is One).
There is a teaching that when JC died for those three days, he went down into hell to release the people who had died before him, but there isn’t any record of this in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:8-9 suggests that he went into the “lower parts of the earth” and this idea of JC in hell is mentioned in the Apostles Creed). Again, God doesn’t have a “son,” and accepting him as your savior isn’t the way to salvation; it is only through repentance and a contrite heart.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Apostles’ Creed
TLDR; The New Testament is based on the belief that God was unable to save the world without sacrificing his “son” to Himself for our sins. However, this is unnecessary and goes against the Tanakh. A human(or someone who is fully god and fully human) cannot die for the sins of others (Ezekiel 18), and God is able and willing to help and save anyone who repents and turns to Him and does His commandments – no intermediary needed. Therefore, because the New Testament is based on a belief that is contrary to the Tanakh, the punishment for not believing JC is not applicable.
The Satan is not an unhinged enemy of God
Isaiah 40:25: To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? Saith the Holy One. KJV
When you really think about it, it’s kinda crazy that God would have an evil enemy with so much power. It kinda makes it seem like God isn’t as powerful as Satan.
In the New Testament and in the Church, Satan is talked about soooo much. Satan is trying to do this, and Satan is trying to do that. We are under attack because of Satan, Satan is trying to attack me because I’m a child of God, etc, etc. But in Tanakh, Satan is pretty much a non-issue. Yes, there are a few mentions of him, but compared to the New Testament, he is not the focus.
In Isaiah 45:7, God says that He creates good and evil. All throughout Tanakh, we see God proclaiming evil and punishments on the people as a consequence of their sins. We see in the book of Job that Satan is actually an agent of God. Satan was under the authority of God and couldn’t do anything to Job without first consulting with and getting approval from God.
In the Tanakh, God proclaims ultimate goodness and ultimate evil upon the people when they are obedient and disobedient to His commandments. But in the NT, this evil proclaiming side of God is completely transferred to Satan, and he is therefore given much more power than in the Tankah and in reality.
If we believe that the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament then the God who was “dancing over you for destruction”(Deuteronomy 28:63; Lamentations 2:17; Ezekiel 35:15) is the same who will “dance over you for goodness and blessing”(Zephaniah 3:17; Jeremiah 32:41).
It’s scary to think that God would put sickness on you because of your sin, but He does and more (Numbers 12: 1- 10; 2 Kings 15: 5).
But I also find that it’s comforting to know that if I am doing my very best to walk in the light of Torah and to love God will all my heart, mind, and strengthen(Deuteronomy 6:4) that He will be my very best advocate and help in my time of need and be the one who will give me the desires of my heart.
It’s all about the blood… or is it?
Psalms 51: 17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God though will not despise.” KJV
Hosea 6:6: “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” KJV
Yes, animal sacrifices were an important part of worshiping God, but they weren’t the most important thing.
Hebrews 9:22 says that there isn’t any remission of sins without the shedding of blood, but this isn’t true. The author of Hebrews is quoting from Leviticus 17:11, which says that blood was for atoning, and the verses preceding and following this verse say not to eat blood because there’s life in the blood and it’s made for atoning. But Leviticus doesn’t say blood is required for the remission of sins because it isn’t not and you can give a VEGAN sin or guilt sacrifice if need be.
All throughout Tankah, the people’s sins were forgiven by a contrite heart and repentance before Adonai.
- The people of Nineveh. When the prophet Jonah came to them, prophesying the impending destruction, they fasted and prayed. They had a contrite heart and God forgave them. An interesting aspect of this story is 1. They weren’t Hebrews, so salvation and repentance aren’t only for the Hebrews but for everyone who wishes to draw closer to God, and 2. Jonah was mad that Ninevah wasn’t destroyed because he KNEW that God was merciful, understanding, and full of lovingkindness and He was someone who desired repentance over destruction and death. God knew that the people of Ninevah didn’t understand how much their sins were costing them both spiritually and physically but when they did understand, they turned from their sins, and God accepted their repentance – no animal sacrifices required!
- Adonai desires repentance and a contrite heart: Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:2; Psalms 40:6 – 8; Isaiah 1:11-20; Jeremiah 7: 21- 23.
- David when he sinned with Bathsheba and his sin of the census. I can’t think of anyone in Tankah more repentant when they sinned than King David. It’s what distinguished him from King Saul and what made him “a man after the heart of God”.
- King Ahab, God specifically spared him and had the kingdom’s destruction occur once Ahab died because he repented of his sins and idol worship (1 Kings 21:25 – 29).
- King Manasseh. Now, Manasseh was one of the most sinful kings of Israel. Right up there was King Jeroboam because he caused the people to sin. However, the difference between the two of them is that Manasseh repented, and as a result, God forgave and released him from prison. He then went back to Jerusalem, stopped idol worshipping then repaired the altar, and gave peace and thanksgiving offerings (2 Chronicles 33:11-17).
The book of Leviticus begins by stating that the animal sacrifices(in Hebrew, the word means “offering,” and the goal was to get closer to God, but they weren’t exclusively blood-related) were for unintentional sins. Sins that were done intentionally, like adultery or fornication, murder, rape, blasphemy, etc, weren’t sins that you could just give a sacrifice, and everything was all good.
For many intentional sins, there were defined punishments – like death or paying a fine, banishment, or “being cut off from your people.” This term isn’t defined in scripture, but this seems to be either premature death, like in the case of Aaron’s sons when they offered up a strange fire and Korah’s rebellion, or it could be spiritual. I think this spiritual cutting off could be losing interest in the things of God and Torah or disregarding them entirely. It’s speculation because Torah doesn’t say exactly what “cut off from your people” means, but it’s something to think about for sure.
Guilt offerings could be offered up when you sinned unintentionally, and then you became aware of your sin. You felt guilty because the sin was unintentional, and the offering was given as a sign of your repentance and guilt. Sin and guilt offerings didn’t have to be blood. You could give a vegan offering of flour, oil, and/or frankincense. So it’s not true that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins”.
TLDR; What God wants more than anything from us is a repentant heart. Yes, the animal sacrifices were and will be an important aspect of our worship of the Eternal one, but it has always been about the state of your heart. Whether the Temple is with us or not, if we aren’t repentant, our sacrifices are meaningless.
There is sooo much more I could say but I guess we’ll just have to make a part 2!
The very bottom line of the blog post is that the knowledge of God and worship of God with a contrite heart is better than sacrifice, and God doesn’t have anyone next to him who could replace you coming before God with sincerity. There’s no need for an intercessor and the reasons given by the NT for why we need a savior are contrary to the Old Testament.
Shalom!
Read More
Top Reasons Why My Family and I Don’t Believe in the Christian Messiah(Leaving Christianity Part 2)
