Why People Leave Christianity

There are usually one of three reasons why someone leaves the Christian faith. None of which have anything to do with God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost or the Bible.

In most cases, the reason why someone leaves the Christian faith are 1) Their religion. 2) Their Church. 3) Their Pastor, congregation or a congregant.

1) Their religion. There is no religion advocated in the Bible. In fact, the greatest problem confronted by Jesus, outside of the devil himself, was man and his organized, ritualistic, historic and ceremonial religion. The Jewish religion didn’t accept Christ. Jesus had to go outside of His own faith.

The term, “Christian”, was first used in Antioch. It was a derogatory term used to paint and smear the followers of Christ.

Religion, as in denominations, is a construct of man, not God. When  viewed by the light of the Holy Trinity, it should be obvious that religion, by its very nature of being a creation of man, can only be fraught with difficulties and inaccuracies.  

Stop and think about this for a moment. Did you renounce your Christian faith due to the difficulties and inaccuracies of your religion? Did you sieve your religion through the Bible and discover problems? If not, why not?

We should all be like the Bereans of the Bible when it comes to our religion.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

2) Their Church. The Church within a religion is actually two things. First, it is a subset of that religion and it is to be the teacher and standard bearer of whatever faith it represents.

Secondly, the Church is the sum total of all the thoughts, philosophies and purposes of the people that belong to it.

Biblically speaking, the Church is the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the, “head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:18).

The Church is to be, “the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

The Church is the ground of the truth. Truth can only be of, and from, Jesus Christ, not of man. Unfortunately a Church is usually the embodiment of their religion and driven by the thoughts and desires of its congregants.

Stop and think about this for a moment. Did you renounce your Christian faith due to the difficulties and inaccuracies of your Church? Did you sieve your Church through the Bible and discover problems? If not, why not?

3) Their Pastor, congregation or a congregant. This is more than likely the cause of why someone leaves their faith. It strikes at the most personal level. Someone close to you caused you pain. This can happen easily in a Church because this is where we allow our self to be the most vulnerable. The Church is the body of Christ. Jesus tells us that the first of all the commandments is love! We are to love God and love our neighbor as our self. The Church is to be fellowship founded in that love. As a result of our commitment to God’s love, we can open the door to our inner self to the Pastor or fellow congregants. Maybe someone, through their own ignorance, said or did something that caused you great offense and irreparable harm. Maybe it was overtly. It can happen when we open up. But we have to remember that neither the Pastor nor the congregant are Jesus Christ. No matter how holy or spirit filled they are, they are still human and very prone to err. 

The offense may have been caused by pride. Pride usually manifests itself in a holier than though attitude. Pride runs rampant through the Church. It is my belief that pride is what caused the fall of man. Pride, if not the greatest sin, is certainly one of the most common and detrimental.

“Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:21)

“Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.” (Romans 12:16)

A good example of the sin of pride and its destructive power is to see how the devil speaks. Notice his usage of the word “I” in this passage from the Book of Isaiah. Also notice his resulting downfall due to his pride.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isiah 14:12-15).

Pride of a Church, a Pastor or congregate often times is disguised as humility. Think about this. Pride manifests itself as holier than though, but presents itself under the cloak of humility.

“Pride works frequently under a dense mask, and will often assume the garb of humility. How true is that saying, and of how many is it the language!

"Proud I am my wants to see, Proud of my humility."

And, to conceal his working, even Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light! It appears then that we attribute this boasted humiliation to a wrong cause.” (Adam Clarke/Christian Theology).

Pride is a sin so therefore not an attribute of God. If you are dealing with a situation of pride, then you are not dealing with God. Understand the frailties of man. We are all prone to be prideful.

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16)

One of the first excuses someone gives for leaving their religion or Church is the claim that there were so many hypocrites. Hypocrisy is a derivative of pride. It is the very first issue that Jesus addressed after His Sermon on the Mound according to the Book of Matthew.

The word, “Hypocrite” in the New Testament is derived from the Greek word “hypokrinomai” meaning, “to impersonate anyone, play a part” (Thayer's Greek Lexicon). It comes from when stage actors wore a mask for each character they played.

A hypocrite seeks one thing, “that they may have glory of men” (Matthew 6:2).

Hypocrisy is a willful, intentional act. Saints and sinners are hypocrites for a variety of reasons.

Be careful who you label as a hypocrite. That alcoholic, adulterer, thief, or whatever, sitting in the pew every Sunday is exactly where they need to be. We might know their sin, but we don’t fully understand their struggle. Don’t be offended by what appears to be a hypocrite.

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” (Proverbs 3:3-4)

Stop and think about this for a moment. Did you renounce your Christian faith due to the difficulties and inaccuracies of your Pastor, congregation or a congregant? Did you sieve your Pastor, congregation or a congregant through the Bible and discover problems? If not, why not?

Religion, Church, Pastor, congregation and congregant are not God, Son, Holy Ghost or the Bible. Why leave the latter, the Divine, because of the former, the human? Use the word of God, not man, as your standard.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” (Proverbs 3:5-8)

“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever.” (Psalm 146:3-6)

Jesus made it very clear. It is Him we are to follow, not man. Christ said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6: 35), “I am the light of the world” (John 8: 12), “I am the door” (John 10:9), “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11), “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) and “I am the true vine” (John 15:1).

Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ and the word of God, not man, his Church or his religion!

Jesus warned about transgressing, “the commandment of God by your tradition (of man)” (Matthew 15:3) and of the “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).

Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ and the word of God, not man, his Church or his religion!

Now stop and think about it. Did you lose your religion because of (a) man or because of God? I'm apt to believe it was because of man.

Bill Hitchcock