I had to register just to respond to this post.

I too am a recovering Christian. I’ve been clean for 13 months.

I think the thing I enjoy most about my new found agnosticism is the ability to do as you describe, forgive myself.

Somehow being a Christian never meant I could apply Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness to myself. That was for the other people, the bad people, it did not apply for the Christian inner circle. There we had to hold ourselves to a higher standard.

Maybe its just the fundamentalist heartland I live in but my communities strong work ethic combined with their deliberate shortsightedness always made feel guilty for not working harder even when I was working smarter. Why use 43 folders when your 365 system works just fine?

Over the last year I’ve been able to step back and see some of these pieces fall together. I now use Sundays to relax and breathe rather than pushing harder than ever to attend meetings and take part in a gospel show.

Thanks for the excellently worded reminder to let myself be human!

Paul Billett