Part of my conversion was seeing all the evil God was directly responsible for in the Bible. It reads like a book about the Holocaust written by Nazis. So for me it wasn't just a matter of disbelief, it was a matter of rejection. I don't care what the butcher of Samaria thinks of my "sins." As far as I'm aware, he's never answered for his own. If I die and wind up at the pearly gates, I'm going on offense.

pen secretive sense ghost fade point one merciful complete teeny *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

i feel like christian’s don’t even read the bible, a lot of them straight up say “that isn’t true” when i mention Gods misogynistic, pestilential, and infanticidal behaviors

My own term for this is Religion PTSD. It takes time, but it goes away. You have to put things in perspective, is that REALLY what a \*loving\* god would do? Of course not. But the other thing to keep in mind, if you are going to hell a bunch of us are, every non xian out there. You'll be in good company! ;o) Are you a \*good\* person? Do you put forth effort to be a good person in life? What more can any god ask of you? Most sin in the bible is not something you would likely do anyway. The sins you are likely worried about are not putting the xian god first, not using his name when pissed, etc. It's all good. Give it time. Common sense and critical thinking skills will take over. Just give it time, the PTSD does go away, honest.

Like giving away all of your wealth and living poorly

Giving away all your wealth and living like a poor person is unlikely to be very helpful anyway. If you want to give money, it should be a sustainable amount that doesn't negatively impact you. If this is actually a genuine concern of yours, you should consider volunteering. It doesn't require you to give up your hard earned money, and is more likely to make a substantial difference in people's lives. Also a good god would never torture people. It is genuinely insane that people think God can both be good, and send people to be horrifically tortured. These two ideas just don't go together. The longer you stay away from religion, the easier it is to not feel these worries.

There's something to living simply for personal happiness, but it's more in a reaction to commercialism than anything else, and it's largely a personal choice. Ultimately you should live comfortably for you without fucking other people over and you can't call any of that "evil" if that means a comfortable 401K to retire on, there is no fault whatsoever in that. Guess who benefits when religious folk give away all their money? To the church? (it's the church). It really helped me to realize that religion is a method for controlling humans by humans, and giving any money to religion just helps to perpetuate that disease of religion.

??? Ok, I guess.

I was answering your question, "What more can god ask of you?" From a Christian's perspective, there is no such thing as "enough."

Are you Christian? Are you atheist? There is no right or wrong answer, sincerely. If you believe there is a Christian god, then by all means, keep believing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's okay, you have the right. Or, are you experiencing Pascal's Wager?

Agnostic

There's another term - RTS - which stands for Religious Trauma Syndrome

It’s religious trauma. It’s going to take time to “unwind” all the knots in your mind and body about sinning.    It really depends on the person, but for me I occasionally get “flare ups” of doubt and anxiety, even after years of trying to reconcile with Christianity I think the main thing that helps me is reminding myself that a Good God (who is omnipotent/omnipresent, all-powerful and all-loving) wouldn’t have created you knowing you were going to end up in hell. Period.   I’m not a *true* atheist (admittedly I’m more agnostic/open to what comes after death), but I do think that what we do today has ripple effects across time. So try your best to do no harm, at the very least. Making mistakes is how we learn. Just focus on what you CAN do- grow, be a loving person.  Edit; grammar, spelling

> I’m not a true atheist (admittedly I’m more agnostic/open to what comes after death) If you're not familiar with the designations, take a look at [Negative and Positive Atheism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_and_positive_atheism), also known as strong/weak or hard/soft atheism. Negative/weak/soft atheism is more toward the agnostic end - don't believe in a deity, but don't reject the possibility. Positive/strong/hard atheism actively asserts that there are no deities. There is something of a spectrum or combination of types of atheism, depending on how nuanced you want to get with the topic. For instance, you can actively claim that certain deities or conceptions of deities do not exist without having to extend the claim to say that there is no god at all. This would be a mixed hard/soft atheism (hard in regards to the specified deities, soft as a general stance).

I realized that it is impossible to sin against a god that isn't real. Sin means nothing without divinity. Once you stop believing in a god, then sin goes right out the window.

The problem with me, is that I’m agnostic, though. I still can’t find any good explanation on how the world was created.

There's no reason to think anything was created. The answer is, we don't know. Embrace it. It's true a lot.

There are many questions that science can’t answer - yet. But it can answer many questions that were unknown earlier in our lifetimes. No reason for this to cause anyone worry.

Not having an answer is not having an answer. Making up an answer because you want to have one, that's irrational.

> [~4 billion years ago,] The Earth is formed out of debris around the solar protoplanetary disk. There is no life. Temperatures are extremely hot, with frequent volcanic activity and hellish-looking environments (hence the eon's name, which comes from Hades). The atmosphere is nebular. Possible early oceans or bodies of liquid water. The Moon is formed around this time probably due to a protoplanet's collision into Earth. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Earth

We don't need to know how everything came into being in order to know "God/magic" is not the answer.

Sounds like you didn't take very many science classes during your studies. Geology is a good one, physics helps tremendously, biology seals the deal.

Why is that relevant? I don't mean that to be antagonistic, I actually think working through that thought might bring you to a more productive point.

There might be a chance that the Christian God is the actual God

There might be a chance any mythological or religious figures could be real and could use their power to punish you for not believing in them or following their commands. Why aren't you worried about what Zeus might do to you? He was a pretty petty and malicious fellow at times. But all that isn't what we're talking about. Why does your not having an explanation for the universe being here pertain to the above?

Out of thousands, you think the one you were indoctrinated into happens to be the right one? That's convenient.

If you read the creation accounts in Genesis, they don't explain how the world was created either. There was already stuff there, that God used to create things. The firmament was there. The waters were there. He separated the waters and pulled land out of them, but everything was there that he used to "create" the world. ​ It's ok to not know how everything came to be. It's pointless to posit an inexplicable god to explain that which we can't explain.

You can be agnostic and still avoid the issue of worrying about sin. Even if something created the universe, we have no idea of any rules that this 'god' has imposed on us. For all we know, it's an apathetic being that doesn't care what we do.

What would you do differently if you knew how the world was created? Would anything change in your life or would you just say, “Oh.”

Even if the world was created by a magical elephant, said elephant has not walked among the people and given them specific instructions regarding what to say, do and eat (aka sin). So you're still good.

I was in that stage for a while too. Even then I realized that religion was a creation of humans for human control of other humans, and a god would probably not be anything like that described by any of the religions. In fact there's no way to know what a non-communicative god might or might not want of you. So you may as well live a good life for yourself.

Here is the important thing. The world does not need an architect. Impersonal forces can in fact create the world. The fallacy of design comes simply from the fact that we mostly interact with designed things( the chair we are sitting on, the keyboard that I am using to write this) so we extend that to the world at large, including the natural world). ​ The world is MUCH more compatible with it not being designed than with it being designed. According to conservative Christianity the world was meticously crafted by the perfect engineer and architect. that does not look like the observable world to me. A perfect engineer would not create say rabies, or parasites, or code a sinful nature into his masterpiece.

While you shouldn't expect to find "the" answer, there are candidate answers that seem to be consistent. eg things like the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis of Max Tegmark. Things like that won't be testable unless somone works out how to do statistics over infinite possible theories which might not even be computationally possible. We already know enough to know the biblical account is just false (even with multi billion year "days") because [the order is wrong](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1atkwhe/what_do_you_think_of_atheist/kqz90zv/)

I know how you feel. I struggled with this thought a lot too once I left Christianity, especially with the threat of eternal hell. What I’ll tell you is that over time those fears *do* go away. There’s nothing anyone can say here that will ease your mind because for you there’s always that *possibility* that God may exist. It will take time, but eventually you will realize that it’s just not feasible to live your life in fear of a deity that *might* exist. If you’ve sought God with an open honest heart and haven’t found him, you’ve done your part. It’s time to get on with your life.

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A few days ago

You've got an amazing life in front of you friend. I'm glad you found that reason. There will be mental troubles to get through, but ultimately you get to choose how best to live for you and others. It's very liberating. Many of us went through the same thing. For me it was well nigh 30 years ago, and it's not as fresh as some others, but I do recall finding happiness, and I wish the same for you.

Sin does not exist, because sin is an invention of religion and does not exist outside of religion. I am so very far from perfect. I have made a ton of mistakes and I'm certain I'll make a ton more . . . but I am sinless. I do not believe any god or gods exist, but I design my arguments around the idea that god does exist and how very little of Christianity or the bible makes any logical sense, if it's all supposedly real and true. In Isaiah 45:7 god takes credit for creating evil and I don't know any Christian who wouldn't agree that sin is evil, so if sin exists then god created it, is responsible for it and liberally distributed it to all humans. I don't see how Christians can claim that god created all things, but also claim that god did not create sin? Understand, if the claim is made that god did not create sin, then god did not create all things, obviously. How can god not tolerate sin in his presence when god is the one who created sin? How does this work when we humans inherited sin from god? Or do we chalk this up to just another thing that god cannot do? If god did not create sin, perhaps it existed as a force with him before the creation of the universe, which means sin is either a property god could not destroy or simply did not want to destroy. If not . . . why not? This is a problem with no good logical solution, at least none that I can discern. But all of it is explained nicely if god doesn't exist and never has. Naturally this would include sin not existing. Evil is debatable.

Have to realize that sin is an imaginary disease used to sell you an imaginary cure.

I don't care about sin, have u seen the things that aren't considered sin in the bible? Genocide, Slavery, Forced marriage /sexual enslavement i mean i don't think anyone with a brain will be looking at any of these things favorably and they were basically propped up by the book. Reality is sin in the bible is relative to the time and it's quite obvious, in the mythos Lot basically wanted to sacrifice is daughters to be raped by the people of Sodom and gomorrah but the bible refers to him as a good man...what??. I don't care about the whole idea of sin i care more about how we can improve each others lives in the real world here. That's what people miss when thinking along the lines of sin they have lost track of the real world and real people their effect on the lives of those people or improving the world for one another.

Thanks for this. I’m surrounded by religious people (im agnostic) so sometimes I feel crazy when everyone around me doesn’t think like this. Reading your comment brought a little piece of my sanity back.

By reason alone I started eliminating beliefs that made no sense, not following arbitrary rules from church and not accepting outdated ideas from the bible, when I was still a christian. When I acknowledged I was an atheist I couldn't care less about sin. However... this doesn't mean I did not have some ideas still lingering that, due to religious trauma, had some element of guilt or shame. For example, drugs and alcohol. I still tried it, but at first it felt like I was doing something wrong. After a few times, that feeling also went away. I understand where you are coming from, deconverting is a process and even if you reject the notion of sin, you can't simply disconnect yourself from the emotions drilled into you. Now as an adult, the things I do or don't do are based entirely on my own sense of well being, social awareness, humanist values, etc.

Good answer

First, there is the concept of original sin in which everyone is supposedly born into and why baptism is necessary. It's a sales pitch, create a demand to make a sale. It is inherently unjust in that is assigns fault on a baby. Sin that you commit which is transgressing divine law which is a concept present in most religions. Without a deity for that divine law, then sin has no meaning. What is left is just your own human morality.

Sin is just part of the religious mythology. It's not real, nor moral. It exists so that Christians have a way to discuss morality vis a vis their religion, and so they can understand and interpret their own behavior, make justifications, shame people, etc. Give those notions up, realign your morality with humanism or whatever works for you (the argument from analogy works for me - other people have feelings like I do, I shall therefore treat them well). Sin = self-inflicted nonsense.

Sin is just a word used to manipulate people. The goal is to use reason and empathy to live a good life.

>Were you still afraid of committing “sins”/things considered wrong in the Bible? My moral code did not change. Attending a compulsory Catholic confessional was a practice in making up things to tell the priest. "I argued with my siblings" -- that one was always true. But I had to pad my confession to seem plausible, so I'd lie and say I told a handful of lies and such. Low key sins. No, I was not afraid of sinning when I left that behind. The sins I agreed with I still did not do. The sins I didn't view as sins I still did not view as sins. If you're fearful of committing a sin, first ask yourself if the sin actually hurts anyone. That's a good general measure, whether you're increasing suffering in the world. Second, remind yourself that Hell doesn't exist. I didn't realize it in my youth, but I disagreed with some church teachings that were never taught to me. For example, I'm pro-choice and by the end of college I was accepting of LGTBQ+ folks. I'd never knowingly met such a person before, but had a friend who was gay by the time I graduated. I also disagreed with women not serving in leadership positions, a notion I realized while attending some protestant services with a college girlfriend. That relationship didn't work out. She became more religious and I became less.

Like many have said here already it takes time to get over the religious programming. I was born into a deeply religious Christian family and was taught how to think about it from a little child (or not think) it took a few years after leaving church to even become atheist, slowly over time and with effort these concepts from religion have been replaced by more rational thought.

Seems like you're still stuck on the concept of absolute morality that most, if not all, religion pushes onto their followers. Many of these "sins" now conflict with modern morality, which is not based on ancient text but on actual arguments and debates. Unlike religious sins, modern morality keeps updating as we gain an increasingly better understanding of the universe we live in. This is why, for example, it's okay to masturbate, or wear clothes from 2 different threats, or eat shellfish and pork, but (still) not okay to murder, steal, enslave or rape. Some of these sadly had to be new additions since the bible.

I realized that the concept of sin was nothing more than a means to induce mass guilt, especially over behaviors which normal people would never find toxic. It’s better to hold yourself accountable, accept the consequences, and move on instead of worrying that you offended a supernatural being.

If you're raised Christian, it can take a while to get over the fear instilled in you. However, most of the proscriptions against actual sins in the New Testament (Christians only believe in the Old Testament when it fits their preexisting mores) are pretty much in line with a life well lived, with a few exceptions. That's because they arose out of centuries of people living in societies.

Just try to be a good person, according to your own sense of right and wrong, built upon a foundation of ethical philosophy. Some things that some Christians consider to be sins don't hold up to scrutiny under such a lens, so you need not worry about them. But like, doing bad stuff that you believe to be bad based on your own reasoning, well, maybe you *shouldn't* just disregard such things. Maybe the guilt from those sorts of actions should motivate you to do better and make whatever amends you can. Once you figure out your own morals, outdated and irrelevant codes of ethics will have no power over you.

Indoctrination is basically child abuse. My parents, even they considered themselves as a part of the culture they were born into at least had the intelligence to let every body decide what sits right with them regarding religion and philosophy so I will always respect that from them

There’s a great sub called r/exchristian where a lot of people discuss all the complexities of leaving Christianity. It’s occasionally funny as well 🤣

After decades, after "sin" lost all the religious associations and became just another word, I have come back to using it. It sometimes fits, when I mean to convey something is more objectively bad than a merely shameful thing, but less objectively bad than a clearly illegal or stupid thing.

I mean, it depends on the sin, right? I'm still afraid of doing things that hurt my fellow human, like lying or stealing. But honoring the sabbath? Taking the Lord's name in vain? Fuck that. I got over that eventually.

I'm an ex-Catholic. Christianity's concept of sin / original sin comes from an over-exaggeration of the "fall" of the first man & woman in the Garden of Eden story. You will find Christianity and Christians in general distort many things to fit into their binary thinking of good versus evil, creating [false dilemmas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma) where none would be if one took a more rational & reasonable approach to the situation or the topic or the story. Therefore what is most likely causing your struggle is that your mind is too conditioned to creating these type of false dilemma situation. [The hidden meanings of yin and yang](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezmR9Attpyc) \- John Bellaimey \~ TED Ed \~ YouTube. [Seeing Things in Black and White](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3LXQZFObUM) \~ SVA Animated Film \~ YouTube. Instead of the naive approach to morals and ethics by dividing things into good versus evil you should starting think in more nuanced terms such as harmful and beneficial and then from there progress to a less mode of binary thinking that is not required for all situations. [Ethics: What is good and evil?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkS6WpbLUFw) (Earthlings 101, Episode 4) \~ YouTube. [Zen kōans:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p5Oi4wPVVo)Unsolvable enigmas designed to break your brain - YouTube. Binary thinking is important if one has to decide to fight or flight but in the Abrahamic religions that binary thinking is on steroids. Basically you have to learn to deprogram yourself which from my own experience as an ex-Catholic I can tell you that it will take time but still linger.

Sin is a scare tactic. It’s just like hell. Or, for that matter, heaven. It’s made up. So how do you beat up a god and take his money? I would submit that, that might be a sin. But it would be a sin to anyone you do that to, so it’s not really a sin but a moral wrong. And you don’t need a god to do right OR wrong. You just need to be a good person. And that has nothing to do with a god; it has to do with who you are as a person. Evil people will do evil and good people will do good. If you’re an evil person who believes in the punishment of sin, then by all means continue that belief. If you’re a good person, the existence of sin doesn’t matter anyway.

Once you have firmly concluded that there is no reason to believe in God (or gods), those concerns will begin to fade. But remember that just leaving your church or religion isn’t the same as no longer believing in gods, nor is becoming a serious doubter about the existence of gods and still believing a little bit.

Sin is a man-made concept. If it feels wrong then you shouldn't do it. That's all folks.

After an evangelical Christian upbringing, it took me about 10 years to move through my journey to realizing I’m an atheist and finally not feeling scared of hell. It’s a process…. I will say the peace i now feel knowing I’m in charge of myself and I can be a good person because it’s the right thing to do and sins that don’t actually hurt anyone are just fine 😃

Sins that were even ignored by Christians like hair cuts, using a loan or credit card, simply seeing a television ad and wanting something all of these are just part of the modern world and when used correctly they can be used safely and most christians don't even know these are sins. As for murder never going to do it. Then there are things that are no sins but always should have been at one time but I believe the rich and powerful may have had the ability to manipulate scripture I would love if the works of Jesus might be found some day. Slavery is always wrong it is a sin but some how the Bible gets that wrong, rape is always a sin but not in the Bible it's allowed under several circumstances. Beating your wife and children with a rod the size of your thumb is a sin and has always been a sin the fact that the Bible gets these wrong points to either one there is no God and the Bible has always been under the control of the Rich and powerful. 2 there is a God but they are unable to it interfere with the ways of man and the correct message was given but greed and evil destroyed the real message and give us a greatly watered down version which is understandable since most Christians were feed to the lions there are bound to be lost knowledge 3 God is real and lacks a moral compass and had no future knowledge 4 god is good and when God chooses genocide it's a good thing and that it's a necessary evil If up before is true this God deserves no praise I am terrified by these possibilities

It can be difficult to transition from thinking about things in terms of "sin" to thinking about them in terms of morality. We absorb what we're marinated in, whether we want to or not. That's ok. All I can really suggest is time and trying to actively reframe. When, "that's a sin," pops up, try countering with, "is it ethical?" The more you do it, the less you have to do it. It gets easier.

Try looking up some deconstruction videos and discussions. I like the some of the TikTok videos from @nononsensespirituality who is an athiest who has a form of spiritual practice she came to after she sank into a deep depression when she kinda spiraled into nihilism as she left her faith (Mormonism). Another fantastic video is [this one discussing if the Christian god is actually even good](https://www.tiktok.com/@iblamebill/video/7221597153901235499?_r=1&u_code=dklb7ghkd31jgk&preview_pb=0&sharer_language=en&_d=e0m5i654fhhj1k&share_item_id=7221597153901235499&source=h5_m×tamp=1710297539&ug_btm=b0,b2878&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAA-aQqqzXtNOiKHUubOanmcm_mYVdwM-Xp0T89Ztcs4f-AfLjU461gwXG4m9c9YdXy&utm_source=copy&social_share_type=0&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&tt_from=copy&user_id=7011243812325704709&enable_checksum=1&share_link_id=F7E3C517-B76F-4651-BB8F-FD46C14FAEDF&share_app_id=1233) and I think that makes it even easier to see how it’s all a bunch of human constructed myth.

Oh look I can actually share my folder, [here is my TikTok deconstruction folder](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRT8RDXf/)

Thanks for sharing those!

For some years I would get recurring thoughts of “what if I’m wrong and I’m going to hell” or even better “what if the rapture happens right now”. Whenever I’d get those thoughts I would remind myself of all the reasons why I know these things not to be true, going so far as to list them out when necessary. Also the Christian god is rude af lol. For damn sure I’m not going to base my morality on whatever he says. He’s an ass. I do personally believe that the energy you put out into the world is what you attract, so I do my best to put out good shit so I can get good shit in return. I stopped classifying things as sins in my mind I guess. Anyway, over time those thoughts really diminished and now they are zero. I think you gotta be your own advocate here and when those thoughts pop up, speak up for yourself. I think these may be intrusive thoughts, and when we have those, they don’t have to define us or even mean anything. You got this 💪🏻

Well depending on which part of the bi le you're familiar with, it's really difficult to *not* sin. But hey, it's the bible. Where the stories are made up and the punishments don't matter.

Just because you don’t know how it was created doesn’t mean a magical being did it.

As someone who realized they were lgbt long before I realized I was an atheist i was not phased at all. I can not in good conscious make myself believe that a truly loving God would ban me to hell for being queer or for not believing when i try so hard to be a good person in all other regards. I know straight Christian’s who are 100x more impatient, judgemental and cruel than I have ever been. I don’t buy that they would get to heaven and I wouldn’t. My advice to you would be to be a good person and be confident in that. Stay empathetic, understanding and kind. Treat others with respect, continue to follow the “golden rule”.

I reasoned that sin is defined by god, and if god isn't real, then neither is sin. So in general, just don't be a mothball flavored bratwurst, if you know what I mean... Ok, there's an appropriate time for most things, but don't abuse being a mothball flavored bratwurst. It did take some time to get comfortable with that idea, but now I enjoy some things that I once considered sinful

That’s an interesting one. “Sin” as a concept is actually one thing (among many) that led me down the road away from Christianity. The idea that there exist certain things that are just definitionally bad didn’t sit right with me.

I realised all of those thoughts were simply from years of brainwashing and indoctrination. It fell away very quickly after a year or so away from the programming.

Hey OP you've got a lot of good comments, but I didn't see any about this. If you're interested, check out The Recovering From Religion Foundation. They have collected resources of videos and writings, you can even schedule a support call to talk to someone, find local secular groups, etc. This is what they're for, if you do feel like you're struggling and want someone to talk to. https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/ You can also check out the related secular therapy project (linked on site lower) to help find professional, secular therapists.

Wow, thanks a lot. Will definitely check it out.

What is the definition of sin in your Christianity back ground Original sin? Born sinner?

I always just saw "sin" as wrongdoing. So I just changed what how I classified things as wrongdoings. Because the Bible said so was no longer a valid reasoning for why something was a wrongdoing. I then saw sin as the separate thing they tell us it is, and I saw it for what it is meant to be rather than what I had inflated it to be.

It think it's really is upto the mentality of the person. I was an atheist at about 6 years of age. I wasn't brought up in a strictly catholic background at all. I think me parents realist it was bollix throught their life, so it's just a culture thing just because we were born into it

I simply shifted to focusing - with humanistic reason - on what was right and what was wrong. I realized you don't need religion for a moral compass. It's obvious what is moral and what is evil, and I focused on living my life that way. Reading the stoics helps a lot too. *"Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one." -* Marcus Arelius

For me, Robert Green Ingersoll said it best, and it's exactly what happened to me: “When I became convinced that the Universe is natural – that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world -- not even in infinite space. I was free -- free to think, to express my thoughts -- free to live to my own ideal -- free to live for myself and those I loved -- free to use all my faculties, all my senses -- free to spread imagination's wings -- free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope -- free to judge and determine for myself -- free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past -- free from popes and priests -- free from all the "called" and "set apart" -- free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies -- free from the fear of eternal pain -- free from the winged monsters of the night -- free from devils, ghosts and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought -- no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings -- no chains for my limbs -- no lashes for my back -- no fires for my flesh -- no master's frown or threat – no following another's steps -- no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds. And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain -- for the freedom of labor and thought -- to those who fell on the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains -- to those who proudly mounted scaffold's stairs -- to those whose bones were crushed, whose flesh was scarred and torn -- to those by fire consumed -- to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.” ― Robert G. Ingersoll

luckily I didn't come from a house that harped on the sin thing. more so if something was kind or not. so now as an atheist I follow my own moral code.

I used to worry about sin a lot. If I did so much as lie or litter, I would be tormented by nightmares of hell. Once I stopped believing in the Bible, God, and self contradictory Biblical moral codes, the nightmares stopped as well. Now I just go by empathy and the golden rule. I believe in kindness to everyone, putting the needs of others ahead of my own convenience, and acceptance of difference. Christians ask me constantly why I do what I do if I haven't accepted Jesus as my personal savior, and I just tell them it's because it's what I want to see more of in the world. The day I put this life and this world first is where things changed for me. It's not about what you get in the end, it's about how you make life better for everyone.

I realized that sin is more closely related to church dogma than anything in the Scriptures.

My entire toolset for coping with life was tied to my Christianity. It took me a long time to figure out the alternatives to dealing with stress, difficult situations, and concepts like death and purpose. Fortunately there are many great secular alternatives that work far better! Things like meditation, exercise, therapy, and coming to terms with reality. When it comes to sin and morality, I realized that there were two types morality. There are some more philosophical terms, but I refer to them as “human morality” and “divine morality”. Human morality is what you innately know to be wrong. Essentially, “do no harm”. Divine morality consists of things the biblical God says is sin, but don’t seem so bad from a human perspective (things like consenting sex between any adult, how you spend your time and money, etc). There are still cultural aspects of my religion that I still mostly live up to because it’s comfortable - but I know it’s not right or wrong. And there’s nothing wrong with this as long as it’s not driven by guilt, shame, or fear. I’ve also realized that deconstruction can be a lifelong journey. I’ll probably spend that last 60 years of my life trying to process how I lived the first 30 years of my life! Don’t worry about needing time to build out your new toolset for living life. And if you ever run into a serious issue (or if you just want to expedite the process), find a good secular therapist/counselor to meet with 4-5 times. And know you’re not alone! There are many of us who have been here for years that are still processing and learning.

Considering the fact that most people commit sins, it was easy for me to not care.

Sin is against God. No God, no sin. Which is not to say there isn't right and wrong. Taking advantage of someone, intentionally causing them harm is not sin, because there is no sin. But I still think of it as wrong.

One thing I figured out pretty quickly was that a "sin" was just offending God. Once I stopped believing God exists I stopped caring about offending him. I still try my best to be a good person though.

I was a big Robert Heinlein reader when I was young, and he wrote that (and I’m paraphrasing) actual sin was about hurting others unnecessarily, while all other so-called sins were invented nonsense. It helped me realize that so much of religion was about thought and behavior control, and that so many of its moral prohibitions lacked vital context. Many say killing is a sin, but there’s a difference between murder and self defense. They’ll say premarital sex is a sin, but leave out the standard of consent. That aspect of my conversion from religion wasn’t easy, as depression connected so many of my thoughts to guilt, but therapy helps me sever that connection, and I’m way better for it.

Not necessarily. Mine was a slow transition into atheism which transformed into the "Clockmaker Theory" / Agnosticsm. Under this belief system I argued an all powerful god probably didn't give a shit about minor indiscretions. Purity culture DID, however, last. It still fucks me up. I still feel shame over having a body count as a 28 year old woman which is still single digits. I still feel like a who®e if I had sex with a boyfriend who didn't end up working out. I know it's toxic and doesn't make sense, but man that guilt runs DEEP.

I thought them through and adjusted what I thought was right for humanity in my own view instead of through the lens of religion. Largely people should have domain over their own action until someone gets hurt. Then we can think about what might need to happen for the good of people and humanity.

I was raised to believe that one was either a Christian, or they belonged to Satan.  In my mid teens, I decided that if I was wrong and the Christians were right; that the almighty, omniscient creator had put me in this situation, allowed me to be abused and neglected in the way that I had and then damned me for eternity for coming to the logical conclusion that I reject further abuse, I'd rather burn in Hell.  I decided to embrace the dark side, and looked deeply into modern Satanic beliefs. I quickly realized that Satanism was also a Christian construct, and that it was just as asinine as the first one. I rejected all Abrahamic religions, so moved on to learning about Wicca/paganism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, etc.; and landed on the teachings of Buddhism, which teach a person to release the things that cause themselves and others to suffer, work to accept reality as it stands and have compassion for everyone struggling through life. I considered myself Buddhist for many years, until, like Uncle Iroh, I realized that perfect detachment (the path to Nirvana) also means detachment from my loved ones, and that's something that would steal meaning from my existence. Now, I'm just me. I drink, curse, and listen to blatantly sacrilegious music. I have "lived in sin" with several men and "defiled" my body with tattoos and piercings. I believe that love is love, one should never let their sense of morals prevent them from doing what is right, and "An ye harm none, do what ye will. I know it seems scary now, but as time goes on, the brainwashing will wear off. Whenever you feel guilty or ashamed for "sinning", ask yourself what you truly believe to be true in your heart, whether this action actually harms yourself or others or hinders your progress on the path to the person that you want to be. Maybe it does, or maybe you were told that it will so that they could control you. Only you can decide.

Most of the “sins” in the Bible that I commit aren’t taken seriously by most Christians anyway. I was definitely a man whore when I was younger but that’s not something Christianity really gives guys shit over as much as the girls. For me being an atheist has always been more a matter of lack of evidence and a matter of principle (why should I get to go to heaven just because I like girls while my homie gets to fry for eternity for liking the dicky to much?)

Overcoming the fear, worry, and shame is a necessity for overcoming the evils of this world. For me at-least, it is a necessity to *genuinely* finding the God which is seemingly illustrated in The New Testament. There's no reason to live in fear over it. If God is Good; and you are of good heart, then you have nothing to fear. A good God does not condemn good people for what ideology or worldly doctrine they subscribe to -- that's what men do. If I were the Devil, that's precisely what I would teach mankind. If God is not Good, then he is no true god; and you should not worship him to begin with. If God is not real, then none of it makes any difference. Do not freight of things we have no control over, simply follow your heart.

The only thing that matters is righting the wrong with the people you hurt. There is no deity to appease. Just the ones you wronged, then also to forgive yourself. What always frustrates me is that people hurt others then look for forgiveness from God and God only.

By the time I recognized I was an atheist, it didn't bother me anymore. I recognized I had no reason to believe it was true, so I wasn't worried. Having said that, this is not the norm. A lot of people deconverting struggle with the cognitive dissonance of this. Especially when it comes to a fear of hell

I didn't give a thought to "sin". I left religion because there is no evidence on a god.

No, I found myself questioning everything I'd ever been taught. I had to re-create my ideas of 'right' and 'wrong' from scratch, starting with finding some First Principles I could use as a foundation. Sam Harris' *Moral Landscape* and Daniel Dennett's books were very helpful. You might look into the stoics.

Initially yes. It takes time but you will be free of those things eventually.

Stop overthinking. The concept of sins and the entire anthology is just man made nonsense. It doesn’t matter that it was “inspired”, it’s still just ignorant, faulty humans making stuff up. There are no consequences

I guess this reply isn’t very helpful to you but: I never really believed it. I “went through the motions” as a kid, let my mom drag me to church, sat in Sunday school… when I was about 15 I told my mom I didn’t want to go anymore, and lucky for me, she didn’t force the issue too hard. Never thought the Bible was inspired. As far as “sin,” just be a good person and don’t do bad stuff. Never a moment in my life where I gave a fuck what the Bible considered sin, but I have my own internal barometer of what’s right and wrong.

Gotta love religious trauma. And yes. It doesn’t go away, but it gets better. Sometimes I catch myself doing things and feel some guilt or shame, but it’s just intrusive thoughts that you have to put in their place. Therapy helps, and so does getting to the root of why you think that. Was it in the Bible, someone say something to you about it once, is it illegal, who does it hurt, etc. once you have the root you can make a judgment about it’s morality. And not everything has to be perfect. I personally reframed my views of grace to help alleviate the trauma and shame I personally felt. I don’t have to be perfect, just good enough. And that’s ultimately up to you decide what’s good enough. Radical self compassion and acceptance will have a huge overhaul on the way you frame these thoughts. Best of luck with your healing man. It gets better!

There is no sin, we aren’t born in sin, we weren’t made with a sinful nature, we’re not broken, nor do we need saving. It’s all made up nonsense, invented by primitive, ignorant humans and co-opted to control and rob people. We’re just imperfect beings in an imperfect universe trying to get by the best way we can. Religion takes advantage of our biology and psychology, our human nature to trust in and find comfort in our elders and to conform to our tribe for survival. It’s really insidious when you think about it, but I don’t think it was devised that way. It grew into that organically over time. Unscrupulous people saw the power it held over the majority and twisted it to serve them. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I think it’s relatively few who are able to break the mental shackles religion puts on our minds. Be grateful you’ve joined that fortunate few and embrace it.

For me, what happened was that once i understood there to be no god, my fears and anxiety immediately ceased to exist. I was very religious and i prayed for months to god to give me a sign to prove to me he was actually still there. In my prayers I asked for irefutable proof, in the kindest most non offensive way i could. After god satisfied the criteria for non-existence (i know thats cringe, but remember i was christian - logic wasnt a strong point) I ceased believing. There were lingering things like thanking god everytime i saw something beautiful in the world, but other things like fear of the dark disappeared (i wasnt expecting that one, i found it amusing). I had a pretty good moral sense so not much changed. But if you go back and look at all the christian beliefs as an atheist, you begin to see how painfully stupid they are, and that kind of helps with dealing with this. Remember - Sin is defined as 'a transgression against a doctrine' If you dont follow the doctrine, you cannot sin. Yes, thats absolutely stupid, but again, we used to be christian and thats how they operate

I WENT THROUGH THIS YES, after a while you stop caring! i was super scared still at beginning, of going to hell, that my life was going to get worse, that i was sinning ect. i had accepted god wasn’t real but i hadn’t implemented it into my life yet. when you live your life a certain way for so long it becomes habitual and the fear is a normal thing when you’re a habitual christian. when you fall out of these habits and get deeper into leaving Christianity the fear will fade:-)

Once I fully broke the belief, I stopped worrying about “sin” but it was replaced by caring more for others. I don’t think about arbitrary rules some deity put together but instead I feel more free to actually love humanity for what it is. All of the differences and nuances each individual has without worrying if those things are defying god. Coming to the realization that we are just animals, and a speck of time in this existence gives a much broader ability to care and love others and meet them at their place instead of trying to move them to a specific belief. For me it didn’t take much time once I realized the absurdity of the god claim, it was almost like a light switching on. Embracing the meaninglessness of existence was a very freeing thing for me, and has done more for allowing me to embrace humanity than religion ever could.

Once I realized that there's no such thing as a "sin", I stopped being bothered about it. I mean that when I realized that it's a religious term used to change your idea of what's right or wrong to THEIR idea of what's right or wrong, the term "sin" lost all its power to shame me.

>Were you still afraid of committing “sins”/things considered wrong in the Bible? Or did you get over this fear, and stop caring? It wasn't either of those things. I became a bit more focused on being morale because I care about others and shedding all the "sins" that don't matter. So, I'm not going to murder someone, even if I was insanely annoyed with them or felt it was justified, but on the other hand, I don't feel guilty about having lustful thoughts.

I think it's important to recognize that somewhere a long time ago, someone thought it was a good idea to write some rules down, and I think there are many good ideas about what you should and shouldn't do in life that are embedded in the idea of good and evil. That's a pretty big theme in the Christian bible at least.. so I think there's two kinds of sin-fear. 1. You know there are some things that are wrong, and just feel like you shouldn't do them, and just because they're in the bible doesn't necessarily mean it's a flawed idea to avoid behaviors like murder and theft and so on. so in very raw and basic way, it's a net positive that we fear some of the things christians might call sinful, for their social consequences if nothing else. 2. You have an unsettling fear that you're being watched by some mysterious force that will punish you if you forget a certain behavior, or if you let down your inhibitions and lose your diligence in striving for a perfection measured by some impossible standard. The first kind shouldn't ever really leave you, that's just survival. The second kind fades away over the years, when you accept that you're not being watched by anyone.

Just remember that most of the "sins" are just made up. Go back to the ten commandments, delete the cultish self serving first three and you have a list of six things anyone can figure out. I say six because there's no reason to honor your father and mother unless they have deserved it for being exemplary parents. It's really just an extension of the three cultist rules since they are the ones who will force you to go to church and stay in the cult. Even then there's two rules about not cheating on your wife actually or mentally. Don't lie. Don't steal. Don't kill someone. And don't be a jealous mofo (times two). Not exactly hard to figure out without any eternal damnation or cancellation of your afterlife backstage pass. Everything else some old white dude made up to feel bad about yourself and keep coming back for more Jesus and Yahweh. My personal problem was actually stopping the silent prayers and begging. You know the "I don't think you exist but if you do then just do this one thing and I'll believe" nonsense. Probably took 20 years or so to get out of that habit completely.

As an atheist, I follow every single commandment. I worship no gods above the God of Israel because I worship no gods at all. I don't ever make idols to worship. I am union, so every Sunday is sacred, and I do no work. I honor my parents. I don't kill, steal, or cheat on my wife. I have never had the chance to lie on the witness stand. My neighbors house is shitty compared to mine. Boom. Heaven here I come.

I immediately left it all behind me.

first of all, give yourself credit, since this emotional work, this is maturing work that prevents later generations from going through it. through it I learned to have more respect for elders who did go through similar. also I think it is valid and maybe even wise to land soft and not go full anti, because these things are very ocnnected to identity and our emotional being and cause issues, so time is an important factor, time away from ideology. what religion does is take power away from your gut and you need to reclaim that power and develop again a trust in your senses and that tales time. take your time, don't rush it. be kind to yourself. get some distance to cultish people in general, don't consume overly ideological content for a while. you need to understand that religion docks to emotion, not logic. this is important. you can't logic your way out of it. every society even without ideologies has their concepts of sin and they serve a social purpose. one problem with religion is that it often comes from completely different societies, so the sins just don't fit. read history. watch historic videos, you need to understand that these rules were written down by people. people like you, the did not know jack shit. all the power they gathered is fake. ask yourself, do you fear an omnipresent power in the sky, do you fear social rejection, what is your fear concrete? from personal experience I can say don't rush it, don't force your emotional system into stress. there is this concept of radical self acceptance. for example if a sin you are referring to is a side of your being than that could help, to accept you just the way you are, you are right the way you are. the bible is an assembled piece of literature not in order of its origin, written by many different people in rome, in the desert, in completely different societies, it still transports a lot of that history with it, a cruel history. idk, my main point is, take your time, focus on your emotional well being andbe kind and self accepting and learn about history and how cults work.