*UPDATE-Matt Recently Became Christian Again. A few months after we recorded this interview, Matt became Christian again. I'm leaving the interview up, but wanted listeners to know in case they were to reach out to Matt.
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Matt was born in Wichita, Kansas and lived there until about age 7.
He was raised non-denominational/charismatic mostly in the Assemblies of God churches and had full on believed by age 5. He had great parents and never had too many issues in the church. However, he always had a great fear of hell even as a Christian.
He was in and out of church most of his life until his first divorce. Then went to bible college at a very charismatic school in 2009. He began seeing cracks and flaws in that particular doctrine and started pulling back. He had gotten his minister's license close to graduation and upon graduation went straight to the mission field in Asia in 2011/12. He worked with the underground church in China and the Burmese refugees I’m Thailand.
He finally began having more questions over the years until he couldn’t do it anymore because of how it was just messing his head up. 10,000 religions, 40,000 plus denominations within Christianity alone, good people going to hell, simply for not believing. He hated the way Christians viewed & spoke to the LGBTQ community and other faiths like they all couldn’t just be people, but had to be a mission and Christians had to have an agenda. He felt that devalued all groups outside of Christendom as less than human. He hated it.
Later he had a stint in rehab for alcohol and began reading books like the wisdom of insecurity from Alan Watts and Thomas Paine’s the Age of Reason. He felt like he'd found freedom in Deism. He was there for a bit, then went back out of fear. That didn’t last long.
The full shift happened less than a year ago and now he is an Atheist. He said he truly feels born again and free.
062 Dying Out Loud with Dave Warnock: ALS Diagnosis and Carpe the F*****g Diem!
061 Dana Smith: Baptist Raised in California. Homeschooled. Born to be a Missionary. Now Leans Agnostic.
060 Catholic Raised. Selective Mutism Prepares Her to be a Nun. Mom Gets Cancer. Grieving without God's Help
059 Timoree Branson: Church was Life. Faith Starts Fracturing. Difficult Talks with Her Christian Husband & Children
058 Janice Selbie of Divorcing Religion: Raised Evangelical. Showed Submission w/a Head Covering. She's now Agnostic Atheist.
057 Firing God author Cheryl Abram. Family of Ministers & Church 6 Days a Week. Tells God to F*** Off
056 Joy Unspeakable: Toxic Faith and Rose-Colored Glasses. Joy Hopper's Memoir
055 Cass Midgley: Everyone's Agnostic Podcast Host/Oklahoma Born/Christianity Gave Purpose & Hope/Earns Masters in Theology at Vanderbilt as an Atheist
054 April Choi: Korean Immigrant/Seminary Student/Teacher in Georgia Public Schools/Eyes Opened by Church History.
053 Stars from Streetlights: Musicians Austrian & Steve Discuss Deconversion & Their New Song "Heathen"
052 Emancipation of a Black Atheist. Author D.K. Evans Shares His Journey out of Christianity
051 Leah Nitcher: Fundamentalist to Atheist-Back & Forth. Mental Health Battle (she's a fighter). Giving God an Ultimatum.
050 Andrew Jasko: Minister Prepping for Missions to India/Bible Caused Mental Distress/Quits Ministry/Starts Over as an Atheist.
049 Gary Hogue: Endures Homelessness, Jail and Tragedy. An Ex-Mormon's Inspiring Story!
048 Richard (Tales from the Church): Satanic Panic, Indoctrinating Kids and Being Raised Southern Baptist with a Pentecostal Twist
047 Objectively Dan: Methodist Raised, He Loved Camp Ministry. Wanted Good Reasons to Believe. He Encounters Street Epistemology!
046 Nicki: Grew up Charismatic & Loved It! Learns to Read People. She Rebels, Then Returns. Her Mom's a Prophet. Doubts Persist, Atheism Follows.
045 Christine Goodrich: Forsaking Faith Co-Host. Raised Charismatic is Now Atheist. She Sought God and Felt Guilt. Her Mom was an Evangelist.
044 Eva Quinones: President of Humanistas Seculares de Puerto Rico who Sued the Government for Separation of Church and State. She's a Humanist Agnostic-Atheist
043 Ric Caliolio: Baptized Roman Catholic. Loves Science. Trades Fatalism for Self-Determination as an Agnostic-Atheist
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