This forum is for people who want to establish a healthy spiritual life that is independent (i. e. free) from religious influence. They may be content with their current, non-religious condition, or they may be searching for a righteous alternative to religion, but they are all in a kind of recovery process from the toxic effects of past religious experiences.

People who seek this kind of freedom will find it to be an ongoing process and not a simple, one-step event. While they may have effectively separated themselves from religion in terms of their primary religious habits (e. g. they no longer go to church or synagogue, receive teaching from pastors and rabbis, speak in tongues, pay tithes, etc.) they may not yet be free from its controlling influence. They may still be under the controlling influence of religion because of the residual, toxic effects of religion that exist even after they have quit practicing the more public, prevalent, traditions of religion.

Whether in religion or out of it, people who subscribe to the Freedom forum secretly harbor some doubt about God and religion. Doubt is uncomfortable because they have been trained by religion to be certain about what they believe. But it is good to have doubts about religion because religion is not what God wants for his people.

STUDY TIP: See the article Two-Thirds of Christians Face Doubt for a report on how common doubt is among Christians.

Also see Consequences of Faking Faith While Ignoring Doubt.

Entertaining doubt about religion is the first step towards freedom from religion. People who have no doubt about their religion have no incentive to leave it. They are intoxicated with the rewards they receive from it. They do not realize that they are enslaved, oppressed, and even intoxicated with it.

This forum will have special appeal to people who have left religion and still believe in God but are not quite sure what to do without religious leaders and organizations telling them what to believe and what to do. Hopefully they will learn here that it is for freedom from the sin of religion that they have been set free. They are positioned to experience that freedom only when they are able to listen to God’s voice. But first, they must stop listening to their idols and false prophets.

Whether they have already left religion or are contemplating leaving, everyone must deal with the difficult process of getting free from toxic religion. The main problem with making a break from religion is family and friends who do not want them to leave.  Sharing what they are thinking and feeling about God and religion with friends and family is hard to do for fear of offending others and putting relationships at risk. But the doubts are constantly on their mind. Whether they realize it or not, God is calling them out of religion to freedom. God perceives their doubts as quiet calls for him to deliver them from slavery to religion. He is very eager to respond to these calls as long as they listen to his voice and not to the voices of false prophets.

Freedom seekers are in a difficult place. They are familiar with religion and have been very comfortable with their religious life but they are now in a dilemma. They do not like where they are, and they are becoming increasingly convinced that religion is not what God wants for them. An important part of them is dying and they are not sure what life will be like without religion. They are not sure where they should go, or what they should be doing, if anything. They are not sure what to believe or whom to believe to maintain or grow their relationship with God. Having placed all their trust in religious people to teach them about God, they do not really know how to study the Bible to learn about him on their own. Being trapped in Old/First Covenant thinking, they are hindered in their desire to become New Covenant disciples.

Being a freedom seeker is both a scary thing and an exciting thing. It is scary because most people who are in the process of separating from religion feel disconnected and alone. They are beginning to learn what God means about being holy (i.e. set apart).

While in religion, they had many teachers and friends who would comfort them when they had problems. But  having doubt seems weird and uncomfortable because it is not a common topic for discussion in religious communities. So, instead of talking about doubt, many people ramp up their religious activities as a way of blocking doubt out. Religion is, and has been, their life, so they hold on to it despite creeping doubt that it is not what God really wants.

On the other hand, people who actively entertain doubt will find it to be an exciting time. They may have a strong sense that, as they separate from religion, God is leading them to a new and better relationship with him than they have ever had. They are learning about faith in a real and practical way: They are beginning to believe that they actually can hear God’s voice.

There is nothing more exciting than hearing God’s voice. When it happens, there is no turning back to the folly of religion.

People who entertain doubt can relate to Abraham who was told by God to go to an unknown land that God would show him. They are beginning to see what it must have been like for Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets who were all outsiders in their religious communities (i.e. lands) but insiders with respect to God. For them the idea of being holy (i.e. set apart)  is taking on an entirely new meaning, but there is still uncertainty (i.e. a measure of doubt) about their future that is unsettling.

The freedom forum is the place where freedom seekers can share their inner struggles with these issues. Learning that they are not totally weird and all alone should help them traverse the unknown road to an unknown place. And, to the degree that some freedom seekers report their struggles and victories in various Religion Detox Network forums, others will be encouraged to press on with hope that they too will find freedom and security in God alone without religion.

See this link to read and comment on the Freedom forum.

Also see Religion is Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction for study on the need for freedom.

Commenters to all forums are strongly encouraged to read Cautions About Forum Posts before posting to any forum.