Paster to Athiest

[tigger398]

How can a paster that supposed to know God and his word, becomes a athiest. That makes no sence.

[Guest shiloh357]

How can a paster that supposed to know God and his word, becomes a athiest. That makes no sence.

He was never a believer to begin with.  No genuine believer who is truly transformed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit can become an atheist. 

[OakWood]

Some people would like to believe or they want others to think that they believe.

[Guest]

How can a pastor that supposed to know God and his word, becomes a atheist. That makes no sense.

 

He was never a believer to begin with.  No genuine believer who is truly transformed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit can become an atheist.

 

~

 

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 1 John 2:19

[gray wolf]

It is revealing to read some of the exminister tales:  what ever happened to Dan Barker, John Loftus and Bart Ehrman?  It seems that turning away from the faith would never give one peace.  Ehrman admitted that sometimes he awakens at night in a cold sweat envisioning Hell.  Wouldn't there always be a smoldering remnant of faith that vexes them?

[Chris.]

One guy I always feel sorry for was an evangelist and counterpart and friend of Billy Graham called Charles Templeton that fell away and turned agnostic. I often think if this and wonder how it could possibly happen.

http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2011/07/billy-graham-vs-charles-templeton-at-some-point-we-have-to-decide-to-believe/

Edited June 6, 2014 by Chris.

[Qnts2]

I have spoken to a few pastors who have discussed their beliefs as well as some who were missionaries who later became atheists or agnostics. 

 

One pastor was still a pastor at the time. He was a friend, and I asked him a rather thorny question about some Christians believing the Jews killed Christ. (Jesus said that He laid His life down, and that no one could take His life except He laid it down Himself). This pastor told me that he believed Jesus was not meant to die, but things got out of hand, and he was killed prematurely. That statement surprised me at the time, because it meant that the pastor could not believe that Jesus is God or that He came to die for sins. The pastor was not a biblical Christian.

 

One former missionary was writing a book about leaving the faith. Before and during their time as a missionary, they kept a diary, which they allowed me to read. It was so clear in the diary that they were attracted to the comradery of this group of missionaries and wanted to be a member of the group for the comradery and the excitement. So they, 'accepted Jesus', to be more a member of the group, and then went on to be trained as a missionary to be part of the inner circle. No where in their diary did the really comment on believing on Jesus. They commented on their excitement on now being a part of the group and how great that was. They went out and preached the gospel as they had been trained, but the stress of rejection from some of those they shared the gospel with took a toll, and the sacrifices they had to make in their life as a missionary was too great for them, as they did not truly believe in Jesus. The psychological pressure of living the life of a missionary (without a true belief), caused the missions organization to give them a psychological leave of absence. They felt rejected by the group, and their so-called belief in Jesus was only the card which had gained them entrance into what they really desired. The rejection and anger came to a head with them renouncing Jesus, and writing a book about their experiences which was very negative. During their time as a missionary, you would have seen excitement as they preached the real gospel, and what appeared to be great dedication and sacrifice. But, inside, there was no real belief.

 

So, from my experience, there really are people who are pastors or missionaries who do not truly have faith in Jesus. I would say that the pastor and the evangelist mentioned in this thread, never really believed. I would suspect they were attracted to those positions due to their personal desires for status, a name, or maybe the excitement, or friends. I do know of people who entered the ministry because of the apparent honor, and status of others in ministry.           

[Jay-with hope]

How?  I think pain and hurt, when allowed to replace love, could do it.  Without love, God would not be allowed to have any much change to dwell within.  The love must have been replaced by something else, creating a void.  This void could only be defined as God not existing.  That is how I see a person possibly going from pastor to atheist.

[Guest shiloh357]

It should be pointed out that going from pastor to atheist isn't necessarily the same as going from "Christian to atheist."  There is no reason to assume that all pastors are Christians.

[LadyKay]

Sometimes people lose their way. Even pastors.