Courage

One subtle change I’ve noticed in myself since doing SUNPOP is that I’m slowly developing the courage to be myself.

As an example, I had been a fundamentalist Christian for about 16 years up until about a year and a half ago when I had an awakening of sorts. I discovered a lot of lies and misinterpretations in the fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible, especially regarding Hell, which I have come to realize does not exist.

But at the same time, a lot of my friends and family members were still Christians, and up until recently, I hadn’t told them about my “deconversion”. Any time they would bring up the issue, I would get intensely nervous and even shaky, because I was afraid I would no longer be accepted since I no longer believed what they believed.

Well, I finally decided to write an essay about my spiritual journey and I posted it on my blog for all my friends and family to see.

It was a HUGE weight to get off my chest, and I’ve actually gotten a ton of positive responses from people who have struggled with the same issues that I have.

I’m still waiting to get a response from most of my Christian friends and family, but I’m sure that I’ll be able to handle whatever happens.

I’m really happy that what I wrote has helped a lot of people to heal some residual fears they had about Hell, and I believe the SUNPOP program helped give me the extra boost of courage I needed to share my story with my family and friends even despite my fears.