orthonorm said:
Are there any tendencies in the reasons why converts leave? Do they go back to their former faith, to another?
The 3 examples I personally know of:
1.) Was raised nominal protestant christian, became an atheist, then became a muslim, then an Orthodox Christian, then a noncalvinist protestant for a couple weeks, and now a Calvinistic protestant.
His reasons for leaving are different from how I view his reasons for leaving. I won't go into the details here, but after being denied to go to seminary by the bishop or ignored by the bishop for some time
(I told him....well after the fact, but I told him that it would normally be a 3 to 5 year wait for converts. When he applied, he was only Orthodox for about a year I think. I could be wrong about the exact timing, but I'm not off by much) , he changed to be a protestant and applied to a protestant seminary.......where he is at now. He feels that that's not the reason and that it was really over the issue of sola scriptura and other beliefs that were more in line with Calvinism. But whatever the case, it is what it is. He's gone.
2.) Was raised pentecostal protestant, but at an early age....like 6 or 7 he asked his parents if he could be Roman Catholic, they agreed, and that's what he was till his mid to late 30's. He became Orthodox, and a few years later decided to become Roman Catholic again. He loved Thomas Aquinas, and he always had a hard time with how the Orthodox understood things. He would always compare it with Aquinas. He also was very ecumenical. He would try very hard to get the Copts, Roman Catholics and Orthodox together. Well, let's just say that he didn't have patience. He pushed a bit too hard and a priest had a word with him, and I don't think he liked it. He stopped going to church continually after that. And then he just stopped coming completely.
Yes, there was some outside influence as well. Like work, and other issues like that. But he is a Roman Catholic now.
3.) Was raised baptist and became Orthodox in his late teenage years. However, he was struggling with doubt and atheism the whole time. Two years after being chrismated he gave in to his struggle. He gave in to his doubts. He would always read atheistic books, as well as christian books. And he joined an atheistic forum undercover. And one day at work in the library.....maybe like a year or so later, he started to read two books about psychology and religion. One of the authors of the book was Japanese. I forgot who authored the other one. But the books were looking at the issue from an atheistic and secular perspective or bent, and he just ate it up. It gave him the excuse he was looking for. And so he gave in fully to his doubts. Something that he was struggling with for years. Now as far as I know, he is still an atheist, and he is hanging out with another atheist who is promiscuous and into narcotics.
I was personally hurt by 2 out of the 3 personal cases I listed above. The Roman Catholic one I didn't feel bad about. For he was always talking about Thomas Aquinas and he was always putting ideas and things into categories. And so I kinda felt happy for him. But yeah, I was hurt by the other two. It took a few months for me to get over it. And now I can understand why some cradles have the attitude that they have about some converts.....or converts in general.