Leaving Christianity — The Great Falling Away

A look into the archaeological, historical & biblical evidence of why many walk away

Photo by Hugo Fergusson on Unsplash

Christianity is one of the world’s biggest religions with an average of 2.3 billion Christians according to the Pew Research Centre, statistics of 2015. The religion is over 2000 years old with its symbols of the cross & fish and the belief in Jesus being the son of God.

It is written in the Bible that there will be ‘a falling away’ some preachers call it “The great falling away,” implying that many people in particular the ‘very elect’ will be deceived and leave the faith in the ‘end of the Age’.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2 Thessalonians 2: 3 KJV

Has this falling away happened? There are many pastors, popes, priests, Biblical scholars & everyday Christians that are leaving/have left the faith.

Reasons why people leave

There are several reasons why people leave Christianity, some convert to other religions, some become agnostic, some spiritual and quite a lot become atheists. Why is this happening?

Please note: This article is written to express a variety of people’s reasons, it is not aimed to upset or belittle any individual’s religious practices/faith in Christianity.

Here are some reasons (including quotes from articles/documentaries & Biblical scriptures. I have added a few as there are too many to include):

• Lack of historical evidence for the existence of the main characters — Danish Biblical scholar & Professor of the Old Testament (OT), Thomas L. Thompson claimed the characters in the OT were ‘fictitious’. John Hudson, Literary Analyst, NYC suggests that ‘Jesus was a creation’.

“Christianity has been created by the Flavians & they left documents to prove it.” — Joseph Atwill, Biblical Scholar, author of Caesar’s Messiah The Roman Conspiracy to invent Jesus

“Jesus was a composite of many leaders at the time.” — Professor Robert Eisenman, California, USA.

“And the penny dropped that Jesus as a human being never existed.” — Historian author Kenneth Humphreys, England.

These individuals mentioned above have done years of extensive research. For further research you can watch the documentary here.

Photo by Jasmin Staab on Unsplash

• Lack of archaeological evidence — e.g. Archaeologists have found no evidence that Hebrew Jews lived as slaves in Egypt.

‘The Exodus is so fundamental to us and our Jewish sources that it is embarrassing that there is no evidence outside of the Bible to support it.’ — Stephen Gabriel Rosenburg, The Jewish Post

‘Nowhere in the written record of ancient Egypt is there any explicit mention of Hebrew or Israelite slaves, let alone a figure named Moses.’ — Professor Joshua Berman, Evidence for the Exodus

There are instances where archaeological evidence has been fabricated e.g. in 2008, a discovery of Noah’s ark at Ararat, Turkey was announced. It was later claimed to be a hoax.

Randall Price, an evangelical Christian, was apparently one of the original archaeologists hired by the group. He has been circulating an email, alleging that the wooden beams were taken from a site near the Black Sea and then planted on Ararat’ — Cathal Kelly, Columnist on The Star

• Other Deities with the same story— Jesus is known as the son of God (Mark 1:1, Mark 3:11, Acts 9:20), The Lamb of God (John 1:36), The Light(John 8:12), The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16). His birthday is celebrated on the 25th of December although the Bible doesn’t give a date.

He started ministry at 30 & had 12 main disciples. He was baptized, he performed miracles, his first being the turning of water into wine, he healed the sick and walked on water. Jesus was crucified at 33 and resurrected on the 3rd day. The core belief of Christianity is based on Jesus and his resurrection.

However, there are other deities which had the same story of Jesus predating his life on earth. There are over 10 yet I’ve named 5 below:

1. Horus, an Egyptian deity, (born on Dec 25th 3000 BC)- had 12 disciples, baptized at 30, known as ‘The Lamb of God’ & ‘The Light’.
2. Attis, a Greek deity, (born on Dec 25th 1200 BC),born of a virgin, crucified and resurrected on the 3rd day.
3. Mithra, a Persian deity (born on Dec 25th 1200 BC), born of a virgin, had 12 disciples, performed miracles, walked on water, known as ‘The Lamb of God’ and ‘The Light’.
4. Krishna, an Indian deity (born on Dec 25th 900 BC), born of a virgin, did miracles, had 12 disciples, was crucified and resurrected.
5. Lastly there is Dionysus, a Greek deity (born on Dec 25th, year unknown some say between 1500-11000 BCE), born of a virgin, performed miracles, turned water into wine, known as ‘The King of Kings’ and ‘The Alpha and Omega’.

• Let down by their church & hypocrisy — lack of support, false teaching, in extreme cases; abuse not dealt with properly. Like the saying, “Do as I say not as I do!" unfortunately some leaders have preached disciplines that they simply don’t follow.

There are blogs on this with advice and people’s experiences. Here are a few:

Critical reasons abuse survivors are leaving the church

What to do when the church lets you down

What to do when people are disappointing and the church lets you down

Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash

• Unanswered questions/disappointing answers — Many questions about the authenticity of the Bible, personal prayers, teachings, biblical interpretations etc. are shunned by church leaders with answers such as “Just have faith!” or “Your faith isn’t strong enough.”

Many answers by the church do not hold up to scrutiny. — Joseph Atwill, Biblical Scholar

• Contradictions in multiple chapters — 144 contradictions according to the list compiled by William Henry Burr in 1860 & there are many others since. Some are key such as the amount of people who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, which rules to live by, teachings on the Sabbath, teachings on circumcision, teachings on which food to eat and so much more.
• Too many denominations with different schools of thought — There are 5 major denominations of Christianity with sub-denominations that lead up to over 3000 groups differing in practices, core beliefs and teachings. Below are some (out of many) of the differences in teachings:

1. God is a Trinity/Trinity is a pagan construct
2. Hell is real/hell doesn’t exist
3. Follow the 10 commandments/don’t follow the 10 commandments
4. Women shouldn’t be preachers/women can be preachers
5. All who believe in Jesus will go to Heaven/all who believe in Jesus will live in a new earth/Some who believe in Jesus will go to paradise
6. Before the world becomes overcome by evil, Christians will be raptured/Christians will have to face persecution until death
7. Sunday is the holy day of worship/Saturday is the holy day of worship
8. True believers must be able to speak in tongues/Christians do not have to speak in tongues

• Christian holidays that are rooted in dark traditions — An example is Christmas, it is celebrated on December 25th, this was decided during the The First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D by Emperor Constantine. It was the mixing of the pagan tradition of Saturnalia & Christianity.

In 1645, Christmas was banned in England based on the old practices of blood sacrifices to Odin, the orgies & drunkenness. Charles II reinstated it. In 1659-1681 it was banned in Massachusetts, yet in June 1870 Christmas became a holiday.

• Slavery promoted in the Bible

Slaves obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and sincerity of heart, just as you would show to Christ. — Ephesians 6:5 KJV

All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honour, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited. — 1 Timothy 6:1 KJV

If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property. — Exodus 21:20 KJV

• Too many different translations with multiple Bibles with missing verses/chapters and added titles & words — books were discovered in the Nag Hammadi library which were buried during 400-500 AD by an early Christian monk. These books were believed to be part of the Gnostics.

These books included:
•The gospel of Thomas
•The gospel of Truth
•The wisdom of Jesus Christ
•The Gnosis of the invisible God
•The gospel of Judas

The original KJV version 1611 had 15 extra books in comparison to modern versions.

Number of verses affected in Bible versions:

1. The New American Standard version has 909 verses affected.
2. Revised version — 788
3. New World Translation — 767
4. NIV — 695
5. Good News — 614
6. Amplified — 484
7. Douay — 421

• The Bible demonizes certain acts like sun worship yet there are scriptures referring to Jesus as the sun.

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. — Malachi 4:2 KJV

For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. — Psalms 84:11 KJV

These can be seen as a simile and metaphor yet why would the Bible use these descriptions when it suggests sun worship is demonic? If you look at all depictions of Jesus, you will see the sun behind his head. Interestingly, the Holy Bible derives from the Greek title Helios Biblios which literally means ‘Sun book’.

The Helios Biblios Hour — The Book of the Sun

Bible Study Tools — lexicons Greek Helios

Photo by Europeana on Unsplash

• Certain verses speak of God making women turn to cannibalism due to disobedience

And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. — Jeremiah 19:9

And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. Leviticus 26:29

Some other scriptures for reference: Deuteronomy 28:53-57, 2 Kings 6:28,29, Ezekiel 5:10

Food for thought:

In this Age, Astrologists call it the Age of Aquarius, it is the time when there is a great shift, people will question beliefs and systems. Christianity was formed during the Age of the Pisces, this has the sign of fishes. Perhaps the end of days/last days/End of Age is the end of the Pisces Age and the beginning of The Age of Aquarius. This shift may also be another reason some are leaving the faith.

In conclusion there are many striking reasons why many have walked away from Christianity. Other reasons may be based on more personal reasons. Whatever one’s reasons are, it’s important to respect the choices of others and no ones beliefs should be forced on others.

Thanks for reading!