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Why I Left Church to Find Jesus: A Personal Odyssey
Have you ever felt like you were outgrowing your childhood religion or the religion in which you have spent many years investing your time, resources, and most importantly, your faith? Have you ever experienced being shunned for religious reasons? It’s hard enough to spiritually evolve and accept that many doctrines of your once beloved religion no longer resonate with you, but to be shunned by family or close friends because of it is one of the most painful realities one can endure as it forces one to go through the loss of a person still alive. The grief is real. In Why I Left Church to Find Jesus: A Personal Odyssey, you will take a journey of carefree freedom in innocent faith to bondage in an authoritarian religion to freedom once again but not without the high cost that comes with spiritual transformation. Christians, ex-Christians, and religious outcasts will relate to the heartache, confusion, and betrayal of not only a religion lost in such a spiritual evolution but, more painfully, of friendships lost.
76 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 4, 2019
63 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 11, 2023
A all too familiar story
I still go to church. I never left it, but the confines of evangelicalism were harmful to my soul. Like McVey, I know the spiritual manipulation, the holding up of dogma over people, exclusion, and abandonment. I found a church that was different and I carried on. But everything McVey mentions are very real reasons why church doesn't feel safe for lots of us.
I still go to church. I never left it, but the confines of evangelicalism were harmful to my soul. Like McVey, I know the spiritual manipulation, the holding up of dogma over people, exclusion, and abandonment. I found a church that was different and I carried on. But everything McVey mentions are very real reasons why church doesn't feel safe for lots of us.
January 8, 2020
Loved reading this book. Could not stop, finished in one sitting. Easy reading, interesting and I could easily relate. Very encouraging to those going through similar circumstances.
January 5, 2020
A Concise View of a Significant Journey
The experiences many of us had inside organized religion can be painful, but when some are injured, they stay and never pursue the peace they desire. The journey away from religion is painful, but often worth it!
The experiences many of us had inside organized religion can be painful, but when some are injured, they stay and never pursue the peace they desire. The journey away from religion is painful, but often worth it!
April 4, 2021
I Relate
Oh how this spoke to me. I have been on the same journey. I still struggle with even things like prayer, finding it hard at times.
This quote definitely spoke to me. "I'd rather stand before God and Him tell me I loved too much and that my love clouded my judgment than Him tell me I didn't love enough and that my judgment clouded my love."
I had always had discernment that some of the things I heard and was taught during that time, just weren't right. They didn't line up with Who I believe my loving God is. But those around me always had justifications for the beliefs that I just felt in my heart could not be true.
My daughter is part of the LBGTQ community and that was the final card that made the "house of religion" fall. It was a struggle to reconcile what I had always been taught about her eternal future and what my heart was telling me. That as much as I love her, God loves her infinitely more.
Rob Bell's "Love Wins" was a turning point for me. I read this book after many years of being told not to read it so that it would not influence me because he had become a "heretic". I recall weeping as I read word that for years had been in my heart. It changed my life.
Thank you for being brave and following your heart. Thank you for sharing your story for it has been another healing stone my journey to follow the heart of Christ.
Oh how this spoke to me. I have been on the same journey. I still struggle with even things like prayer, finding it hard at times.
This quote definitely spoke to me. "I'd rather stand before God and Him tell me I loved too much and that my love clouded my judgment than Him tell me I didn't love enough and that my judgment clouded my love."
I had always had discernment that some of the things I heard and was taught during that time, just weren't right. They didn't line up with Who I believe my loving God is. But those around me always had justifications for the beliefs that I just felt in my heart could not be true.
My daughter is part of the LBGTQ community and that was the final card that made the "house of religion" fall. It was a struggle to reconcile what I had always been taught about her eternal future and what my heart was telling me. That as much as I love her, God loves her infinitely more.
Rob Bell's "Love Wins" was a turning point for me. I read this book after many years of being told not to read it so that it would not influence me because he had become a "heretic". I recall weeping as I read word that for years had been in my heart. It changed my life.
Thank you for being brave and following your heart. Thank you for sharing your story for it has been another healing stone my journey to follow the heart of Christ.
November 25, 2019
Beautifully written. Heartfelt love for family, friends and all that lives filled with and from the love of Jesus.
Beautifully written. Heartfelt love for family, friends and all that lives filled with and from the love of Jesus. .
Beautifully written. Heartfelt love for family, friends and all that lives filled with and from the love of Jesus. .
March 4, 2020
Two observations
Two observations:
Grace filled criticism: - I think it quite telling that though the author is honest about her experience and has a right to be angry, she still responds with grace. I feel more hurt than hate from her writing; and I find it quite interesting that she never encourages the reader to follow her path. This is not some dissenter trying to start a rebellion, just an honest traveler trying to walk the path of love.
Surface level treatment: - I can't help but feel like there's so much more this author has to offer as far as this subject goes. I look forward to more from her.
Two observations:
Grace filled criticism: - I think it quite telling that though the author is honest about her experience and has a right to be angry, she still responds with grace. I feel more hurt than hate from her writing; and I find it quite interesting that she never encourages the reader to follow her path. This is not some dissenter trying to start a rebellion, just an honest traveler trying to walk the path of love.
Surface level treatment: - I can't help but feel like there's so much more this author has to offer as far as this subject goes. I look forward to more from her.
March 16, 2020
Definitely a must READ!!
I love this book. It explains things so simple and exact.
I can relate to so many of the wrongs done to the author, just by negative experiences done by higher ups in churches. How you feel as you really discover the LOVE of God, while finding a very personal relationship in Jesus. Please, read this book. It’s not very long but does express a lot of meaning. I plan on recommending it be included in a Christian Counseling course, I am taking. I think it would help others understand this is a very common issue going on today in organized religion. Thank you for writing this book!
I love this book. It explains things so simple and exact.
I can relate to so many of the wrongs done to the author, just by negative experiences done by higher ups in churches. How you feel as you really discover the LOVE of God, while finding a very personal relationship in Jesus. Please, read this book. It’s not very long but does express a lot of meaning. I plan on recommending it be included in a Christian Counseling course, I am taking. I think it would help others understand this is a very common issue going on today in organized religion. Thank you for writing this book!
July 24, 2022
Yes!
This is the exact same place I’ve found myself. I was involved in my church (playing keys in 3 Sunday morning services) for decades. My youngest daughter came out as gay, and caused me to research more. Love the sinner, hate the sin simply grated me to the core. Knowing that a few years earlier, a youth leader had preached all gay people go to hell. I decided to take a break from playing on praise team. And then took a step back from church. Other than our worship pastor, no other pastors reached out including our lead pastor (it was a big church with 6 pastors). In essence, we were abandoned. Thank you for writing this. It echoed where I am right now.
This is the exact same place I’ve found myself. I was involved in my church (playing keys in 3 Sunday morning services) for decades. My youngest daughter came out as gay, and caused me to research more. Love the sinner, hate the sin simply grated me to the core. Knowing that a few years earlier, a youth leader had preached all gay people go to hell. I decided to take a break from playing on praise team. And then took a step back from church. Other than our worship pastor, no other pastors reached out including our lead pastor (it was a big church with 6 pastors). In essence, we were abandoned. Thank you for writing this. It echoed where I am right now.
January 8, 2024
A similar journey
A very short read of an intimate story. Story heals us all. I want to thank Julie for telling her story with vulnerability. I have spent the past many years now deconstructing and I now also believe that God looks like Jesus. I also believe in reconciliation and am affirming. I have also been traumatized by Christian hate masked as love. And with this book and her words I sat with my morning coffee and sobbed and wept huge tears and grief and also joy that I am not alone and that we do believe in God's love.
A very short read of an intimate story. Story heals us all. I want to thank Julie for telling her story with vulnerability. I have spent the past many years now deconstructing and I now also believe that God looks like Jesus. I also believe in reconciliation and am affirming. I have also been traumatized by Christian hate masked as love. And with this book and her words I sat with my morning coffee and sobbed and wept huge tears and grief and also joy that I am not alone and that we do believe in God's love.
July 13, 2023
Following Jesus
I really liked reading this book. Julie shares her experiences in direct and to the point snapshots. This is a quick, easy read about a long and painful process. The quest for truth requires taking up a cross and following Jesus no matter the cost. I'm thankful there are some loving, accepting communities of believers for those of us with wounds or scars who seek unity instead of uniformity.
I really liked reading this book. Julie shares her experiences in direct and to the point snapshots. This is a quick, easy read about a long and painful process. The quest for truth requires taking up a cross and following Jesus no matter the cost. I'm thankful there are some loving, accepting communities of believers for those of us with wounds or scars who seek unity instead of uniformity.
January 11, 2023
Transparent and Affirming
The author shared her journey in an authentic and non judgemental way. I know she is not alone in this journey. As a pastor I long for people to explore their faith and not be threatened or punished when their path takes them a different direction. May Julie's courage to follow the Spirit who is at work in her become contagious.
The author shared her journey in an authentic and non judgemental way. I know she is not alone in this journey. As a pastor I long for people to explore their faith and not be threatened or punished when their path takes them a different direction. May Julie's courage to follow the Spirit who is at work in her become contagious.
April 23, 2023
This book needs to land in many hands!
Julie is by far on the correct path as far as I am concerned. I jumped on my journey looking for answers on my return from Vietnam. Going through many many churches and being on church boards, I soon realized something was wrong! Like Julie I heard the “still small voice” say to me, go this way not that. Isaiah
Julie is by far on the correct path as far as I am concerned. I jumped on my journey looking for answers on my return from Vietnam. Going through many many churches and being on church boards, I soon realized something was wrong! Like Julie I heard the “still small voice” say to me, go this way not that. Isaiah
December 27, 2021
Excellent And Extremely Touching and Heartfelt
I completely resonate with this author's story. She has such a beautiful soul!! Her journey is heartfelt and inspiring. God is Love not religion.
I completely resonate with this author's story. She has such a beautiful soul!! Her journey is heartfelt and inspiring. God is Love not religion.
March 16, 2022
Digno de leer
Es una expresión valiente y sincera de crecimiento espiritual desde la infancia hacia la adultez y/o madurez. Cuando yo era niño...más cuando fui hombre deje lo que era de niño. Crezcamos en amor que es verdad el vínculo perfecto.
Es una expresión valiente y sincera de crecimiento espiritual desde la infancia hacia la adultez y/o madurez. Cuando yo era niño...más cuando fui hombre deje lo que era de niño. Crezcamos en amor que es verdad el vínculo perfecto.
September 19, 2021
Outstanding
For anyone who has a struggle with their beliefs. This book let me know that I wasn't alone in my questions.
For anyone who has a struggle with their beliefs. This book let me know that I wasn't alone in my questions.
January 22, 2022
It was an honest and painful journey as told by the Author. I'm glad that she was able to find peace and truth to bring her joy.
June 28, 2022
Promising title but it doesn’t deliver. This book seems to be meandering gripes about a specific church rather than a meaningful search for God outside of organized religion.
November 28, 2022
Margie
Just confirm my beliefs in regards to “religions” it happens too often when you question or not even allowed to question..
Just confirm my beliefs in regards to “religions” it happens too often when you question or not even allowed to question..
July 19, 2021
Hallelujah!
The author’s journey is similar to the “road” I’m traveling now. After the church closed due to the pandemic, I begin to asked question about why I believe certain aspects of the Bible. Unbelievers burning in hell always bother me. (All my life I was taught this in church) However, I’m convinced that a God of Love, could never allow such a sadistic practice to happen. I’m in the process of reading and studying numerous books, along with God’s Word. This book is a must for anyone who is shunned due to their beliefs in a Loving God.
The author’s journey is similar to the “road” I’m traveling now. After the church closed due to the pandemic, I begin to asked question about why I believe certain aspects of the Bible. Unbelievers burning in hell always bother me. (All my life I was taught this in church) However, I’m convinced that a God of Love, could never allow such a sadistic practice to happen. I’m in the process of reading and studying numerous books, along with God’s Word. This book is a must for anyone who is shunned due to their beliefs in a Loving God.
September 5, 2023
I felt like many of McVey's entries could have been my own. The need for cookie cutter church members, instead of just everyday people loving and being loved, serving and being served, has turned the church into i building filled with cliques and not a group of people striving to be like Jesus.
It's those traumatic events that are exposed, one-by-one, that are relatable for most Americans.
Still, although I identify with the majority of the book, I still consider myself a Christian. But it's these same experiences that push me to truly love like Jesus. Unconditionally, not with condition as the modern church has created.
If you're not ready to face any type of deconstruction, you may not be ready for the truths in this book, but ready or not, they are just that. Truth. Painful, ridiculous, and hypocritical, they are the truth of today's "church."
It's those traumatic events that are exposed, one-by-one, that are relatable for most Americans.
Still, although I identify with the majority of the book, I still consider myself a Christian. But it's these same experiences that push me to truly love like Jesus. Unconditionally, not with condition as the modern church has created.
If you're not ready to face any type of deconstruction, you may not be ready for the truths in this book, but ready or not, they are just that. Truth. Painful, ridiculous, and hypocritical, they are the truth of today's "church."
January 29, 2023
What is it like to believe in a loving Lord, who you have come to know intimately through
Scriptures and through prayer and really asking and seeking, and then to be rejected by so
many people you shared faith with?
That's a question asked more and more these days by people who end up outside the church.
It's also asked by people who have gone through big changes since the Evangelical church went
completely political and seems to have lost track of Jesus entirely, or put Him way down the list of what actually matters.
Julie McVey asks the tough questions. Ones people are afraid to ask. How can a God of love condemn people for eternity, for a life that at most spans a few decades, ten or eleven tops?
Is condemnation the message of Jesus? Or is John 3:17 more the message: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
And what of people cast out of church before they even get in the door? What about LGBTQP folk who sincerely want God's love in their life, but are treated as outcasts for somethiing that is so deeply written into their DNA as to not be able to deny it or even to understand why religion wants to condemn them? 4 verses of the Bible, subject very much to interpretation and use of words that may have more than one meaning, speak of homosexuality. Jesus never did, at least never to be quoted. And yet people build utter rejection of these folk. Interestingly, there are over 100 verses that talk about adultery, and close to that talk about fornication. And there is a lot of that in many of the churches that condemn people for the 4 verses and won't even let them in the door!
I'm adding some things I've found out to what Julie says, but I agree with her questions, and her searching, and her absolute desire to be the person of love she has been called to be by Jesus.
And it does weigh on me, how many people will reject love of lifetime friends, because of fear that they will otherwise be sliding down some slippery slope to hell because they rejected or questioned a doctrine of their leaders. People who knew Julie 15 or 20 years, good friends, turned out to be much more like Job's friends, spewing theology they had heard before as an excuse to not be there
for their friend who suffers and grieves the loss of these friends.
If these are some of the hurts you examine in your walk with Jesus, or even if you are just a person who believes that Jesus is love, and that Jesus' one commandment to us was to love one another as He had loved us, then you will respond in your heart to this book. You will want to reach out and say thank you for saying or asking things we want to ask. Some of us, too, are afraid to ask the questions that might turn our pastors, their spouses, or the church leaders against us. But then the Lord gets hold of our hearts, and tells us to love.
So love anyway, as Martina McBride sang so beautifully in a song.
And love Julie McVey, for asking these questions.
And give thanks, that there are people who don't knuckle under to a religion that has gotten more and more hateful the less time it spends thinking of Jesus, rather than political or economic or power status.
I recommend the book.
Scriptures and through prayer and really asking and seeking, and then to be rejected by so
many people you shared faith with?
That's a question asked more and more these days by people who end up outside the church.
It's also asked by people who have gone through big changes since the Evangelical church went
completely political and seems to have lost track of Jesus entirely, or put Him way down the list of what actually matters.
Julie McVey asks the tough questions. Ones people are afraid to ask. How can a God of love condemn people for eternity, for a life that at most spans a few decades, ten or eleven tops?
Is condemnation the message of Jesus? Or is John 3:17 more the message: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
And what of people cast out of church before they even get in the door? What about LGBTQP folk who sincerely want God's love in their life, but are treated as outcasts for somethiing that is so deeply written into their DNA as to not be able to deny it or even to understand why religion wants to condemn them? 4 verses of the Bible, subject very much to interpretation and use of words that may have more than one meaning, speak of homosexuality. Jesus never did, at least never to be quoted. And yet people build utter rejection of these folk. Interestingly, there are over 100 verses that talk about adultery, and close to that talk about fornication. And there is a lot of that in many of the churches that condemn people for the 4 verses and won't even let them in the door!
I'm adding some things I've found out to what Julie says, but I agree with her questions, and her searching, and her absolute desire to be the person of love she has been called to be by Jesus.
And it does weigh on me, how many people will reject love of lifetime friends, because of fear that they will otherwise be sliding down some slippery slope to hell because they rejected or questioned a doctrine of their leaders. People who knew Julie 15 or 20 years, good friends, turned out to be much more like Job's friends, spewing theology they had heard before as an excuse to not be there
for their friend who suffers and grieves the loss of these friends.
If these are some of the hurts you examine in your walk with Jesus, or even if you are just a person who believes that Jesus is love, and that Jesus' one commandment to us was to love one another as He had loved us, then you will respond in your heart to this book. You will want to reach out and say thank you for saying or asking things we want to ask. Some of us, too, are afraid to ask the questions that might turn our pastors, their spouses, or the church leaders against us. But then the Lord gets hold of our hearts, and tells us to love.
So love anyway, as Martina McBride sang so beautifully in a song.
And love Julie McVey, for asking these questions.
And give thanks, that there are people who don't knuckle under to a religion that has gotten more and more hateful the less time it spends thinking of Jesus, rather than political or economic or power status.
I recommend the book.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews