As I became educated , I continually examained my belief system. But my first doubts arrived in following my instincts
that what was professed did not add up in social JUSTICE
TERMS. The idea that what we know is right(religious
doctrine) means EVERYONE else is wrong(VERY WRONG)
had numerous cracks in it . Big gapping Fissures. !!!
Thanks

You should read 'Zealot' by Reza Aslan, Proffessor of Religion. His book puts Jesus in his times and looks at him as a man. Quite interesting.
Think of the virgin birth in realitistic terms. There was a rumor going around much later that she was raped by a Roman soldier named Pantera. There is no support for this rumor and it was passed around to discredit the religion in Rome. However if one looks at her being raped, which is highly likely, we know that 11 or 12 year olds, as she probably was, make up stories about what happened to them to make it acceptable. So the angel story might actually be close to what she made up in her mind. She would have thought the child was special and probably would have told him so all his life. Now days we know where that leads. The Rabbi had to beg Joseph to marry her to save her life as the law at the time would have her stoned to death. We do know that she had at least 5 boys and an untold number of girls. Jesus' gang was made up of many members of his family.
Heres another one, the marriage at Cannan. Why would those complaining about running out of wine complain to the Mother of a guest? No they would complain to the people putting on the wedding. I am reasonably sure that it was Jesus' wedding. His chronicallers deny his being married but that flies in the face of what has been recorded. I guess the church probably pushed that to keep the priests celebate!
I love history and thinking about myths and what actual facts they grow from.
Now then Mormans began simply as a con man trying to make it ok to have more wives than one! LOLLO
One cannot look at a religion from a factual standpoint and not realize it is just something someone made up with a tiny bit of real facts to make it palatable.
To answer the question, with 12 years of Catholic School and that extra hour of study, we asked questions they could not answer. I would see the Parish Priest at the yearly festival drinking with the leading men of the parish and think, they do not know any more than I do what happens after we die!

At about age 9 I sat down to read the whole Bible and see what the fuss was all about. I read Genesis and was not impressed with what a tyrant God seemed to be. Then I got bored halfway through Exodus and gave up. Sheerly the logical contradiction between the purported messages of peace and the outright violence "God" seemed to encourage tipped me off that this was not a reliable document. I shrugged it off but kept my thoughts to myself. My parents were agnostic anyway and only my grandparents wanted us to go to church. I attended occasionally just a few more years, then we moved out of state away from them. Later on I determined that the ideas in Christianity were analogous to other cultural mythologies, and tried to glean whatever meaning I could from them, but ultimately found many other books more moving, inspiring and articulate.

I really began doubting 30-40 years ago after reading the famous mythologist Joseph Campbell ‘s book ‘The Hero With a Thousand Faces’. It’s a brilliant analysis, through ancient hero myths, of mans eternal struggle for identity. The god/man story is repeated over and over again in the world’s religions over the centuries starting well before Christ. The similarities are astounding. I had to wonder if Christ ever existed.

Thanks to everyone who commented; I found it very interesting to learn how each of you moved away from Christian belief.

I went to a Catholic school and never got the story, I mean I read all the stuff we were supposed to read but it did not make sense to me. I was told I was being sent there so I would get the better education. I do not know if this was actually true as I did not get to experience public school until I moved to New Mexico.

This is always a great question. I consistently wonder what idea or concept was the tipping point.

I got my first college degree from a Lutheran college and it was a Mathematics education one. While there I took 5 of the religion classes and read that book from beginning to end twice. The first time of reading that book from beginning to end I ignored contradictions/atrocities and accepted the indoctrination, the second time I said I can interpret some of its things allegorically and the third time of reading I couldn't accept any of it despite my rereading my college notes and many website things. After leaving it I still have struggles with how I some how I associated with the Lutherans I have and the misbehavior and more that they are ok/complicit with.

I was raised very Christian (church twice a week; mother has always taught Sunday school), but I was Transgender and questioned why I waa made this way. Thus I became Agnostic over time and remained that way through college as I transitioned to female. A few years ago I was diagnosed with stage 2B Lymphoma cancer and I saw every type of religious response to diagonses in the treatment center as ppl cope. I asked my oncologist if he (in his 40+ years of experience) had seen a trend in the remission/healing rate or relapse rate between different religions including nonbelievers. His answer was a logical “None.” Thus I became an atheist. Having a belief is fine but it will create no tangible change in your life beyond giving you occasional peace of mind.

Mine started by trying to understand God... who it was, what it was, why it was... It seemed to be really good at the things I was good at, but completely unable to help in the areas I was bad at. As a gay man, struggling to be 'straight,' God could not help me. As a story of a father, he was wonderful... the father I always wanted. But he was impotent in the real world, and that started to wear on me deeply.

I became a JW in my mid 20s but started doubting it after a few years. By then i was married and had a daughter so leaving to a long time. I think after the doubts set in i stopped reading the magazines then i could see the flaws more and more the bible has more holes in it than a string vest. The belief in the end times looked more and more far fetched. I think when i started to get into reading proper history books and then seeing that the world was not getting worse but had improved in many ways. I then reverted to my atheism. After that i learned of the real dark side the conering up of child abuse the suicides of people shuned by there own families. the money grabbing. I am part of the ex jw community and each time i listen to some one who asr recently left and what as happened to them and family the more i see them for what they are a cult

For me as part of a fundamentalist group, these issues were always in the background a bit below the surface but it was hypocrisy that broke the dam and then all these issues took on more meaning.

As to virgin birth, do some Google searches and you can find medical reports that self fertilization of a female or something along those lines has been documented.

I think one case I remember from medical report was a child appearance of male but had xx chromosomes.

I began doubting shortly after Santa clause. And then one day my friend's older brother told me his college professor said there wasn't a god, and that just seemed much more realistic than what I was seeing in real life and from religious teachings. From then on I educated myself on the matters and came to the conclusion there's no god. Not one that interacts with us at least. We're just part of the cosmos.

Jesus and the virgin birth were the last things I held onto as a christian.

It was such a gradual process I can not remember when or why.

I don't remember, it has faded back into the mists of time.

I was dragged by my grandparents, who made the condition of my "immortal soul" their primary concern, to a very fundamentalist Bible church as a small child. Really small, like age 3 or 4. The first Sunday school classes I remember, before i was old enough to go to kindergarten, focused on stories from the Book of Genesis. So, at that tender age, I was learning about the expusion from Eden, Cain and Abel, the Great Flood, Abram pimping out Sarah, Abraham and Isaac, Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters... Of course I didn't understand a lot of the nuances of the stories, but it all horrified me. When I would address the concerns that these stories triggered, my agnostic parents would tell me, "They're just stories." I realize now that my parents had no idea what detail those Sunday school teachers went into, how much they emphasized the fire and brimstone associated with failing to believe the stories, and how very traumatizing that conflict was for a small child. I spent a few formative years believing that the God of the Bible was an utter monster before ever stopped believing he was real. Terrifying.

Creation vs Evolution, Creationist were either completely ignorant or complete liars.

Okay, let's look at the feasibility of a TRUE Virgin Birth first shall we?

1. it would be NEEDED to determine whether or not the claimant woman/young female was ACTUALLY a Virgin, i.e. the Hymen was still unbroken, at the time BEFORE the birth of the child,
   Ergo, there was, according biblical texts NO such examination carried out, i.e. Joseph, so it seems, just accepted her 'words' with blind faith.
2. there are very very rare occasions where the fertilisation of an ovum can occur in a human female WITHOUT sexual intercourse (penetration of the male penis),
   These being either pre-seminal fluid being expelled by the male and dribbling downwards from the upper folds of the female vulva and into the vagina, pre-seminal fluid DOES often contain small amounts of active sperm from time to time, or Anal sexual Intercourse was performed and the excess sperm and fluid managed, miraculously I might add, to dribble from the anus of the female downwards across the perianal skin and into the vagina WHILE she was laying Face down AFTER the intercourse, NOT very likely and highly improbable.
3. the 'old' Catholic Schoolgirl excuse that a) I sat on the toilet seat AFTER a boy had been there, b) I went swimming at the Public Swimming pool and there were a lot boys swimming around with me, and last but by no means least, c) I used my brother's/ cousin's towel by accident to dry myself AFTER I had had a shower. All of those 'excuses' are about as believable as would be an Elephant flying under its own power from England to Africa and back.
   As everyone here knows quite well the Goat-Herders Guide to the Galaxy was written by MEN and they had quite a penchant for 'borrowing' myths, tales and legends, etc, from other cultures, etc, and turning those to suit their own needs and ends, therefore and considering that, numerous other older cultures and societies also laid claims to such 'Virgin Births' occurring in their Gods/Deities, etc, then the credibility of the Christian claim to the 'Virgin Birth' holds about a much water as does a bucket made from tissue paper.
   I can state categorically that I have NEVER been a Christian or a follower of ANY other form of religious belief for as far back as I can remember/recall because from an early age the Goat-herders Guide to the Galaxy, aka the bible, always made about as much logical sense as it would be for a completely blind person to be switching on a light in a completely empty room so he/she could sit and READ a newspaper.

Many things piled up the evidence

I think it was Jean Jaques Rousseau, who said: "I can accept the story about the mother and the child. But not the one about the Virgin Birth."

I no longer consider Christian After my dreams and other prophetic experiences come to pass. I come to understanding thru research that Jesus the Christ is Angelic lord of host Lucifer the devil.

The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance." Isaiah 19:25

The "Lord" of Israel was Egyptian.

As to Osiris of Egypt:
But he did not just represent death in the physical world, also rebirth or what you may call being born again.

a)   John 3:3 

Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."

As to Osiris of Egypt:
He was married to his sister Isis, who was goddess of the sky and love. Isis and Osiris had a child Horus, who is believed by many to be a reincarnation of Osiris.

John 14:9 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

Osiris is usually identified as the God of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is also called the King of eternity, King of the living, Master of souls; He who appears as ram in Mendes, and the Sovereign of Amenti.(1) Another curious title that you will find for Osiris is the “Morning Star.”

This same Morning Star of Osiris found in the Book of the Dead, appears to be the same Morning Star that we can find in the Book of Revelation, where Saint John says, “I will give him the Morning Star (Rev. ii. 29).

Lucifer (UK: /ˈluːsɪfər/ LOO-si-fər; US: /-sə-/; 'light-bringer' is a Latin name for the planet Venus in its morning appearances, and is often used for mythological and religious figures associated with the planet. Due to the unique movements and discontinuous appearances of Venus in the sky, mythology surrounding these figures often involved a fall from the heavens to earth or the underworld. Interpretations of a similar term in the Hebrew Bible, translated in the King James Version as "Lucifer", led to a Christian tradition of applying the name Lucifer, and its associated stories of a fall from heaven, to Satan. Most modern scholarship regards these interpretations as questionable, and translates the term in the relevant Bible passage (Isaiah 14:12) as "morning star" or "shining one" rather than as a proper name, "Lucifer".[1] wikipedia

John 18:36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place."

"beast" in the book of Revelations is metaphor for laws of government. Mark as in give a mark for identification: mark of the beast means identification for taxation and government control .

Written almost 2000 years ago in metaphor and riddles not always understood.

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. Revelations 13:16-17

The uneducated with no interest in mystical traditions and the esoteric may regard Ancient Egypt as little more than a place of pagan worship, strange hieroglyphics, and monuments erected by thousands of Hebrew slaves. But those more learned, especially those having undertaken the initiative rituals of Freemasonry, will see a link between the Egyptian metaphysical tradition and modern mystery schools, of which Freemasonry is one. [gaia.com]

Lord of host Lucifer the devil leading the Masonic lodge secret religion racist devil worshippers in the establishment of the mark of the beast 666 identification for taxation and government control. No justice for the innocent, more children can be trained to speak and act abused to wrongfully prosecute innocent people especially those that oppose there Masonic lodge secret religion racist devil worship "my teacher made me touch her p.p ". Rape the original indigenous inhabitants of their land call it America call them such as Mexicans, Indians and native Americans