I dedicate this blog to those who took the courage to step away from Christianity and any other religion, to seek and cling to the Creator – the God of Israel.

I am one of those as well, it has been around 10 years for me now. If you are contemplating it or just have taken the step, know that there are various phases you will go through as you grow in your knowledge and faith in the Creator.

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The definition of ‘awestruck’ as an adjective is – “Having or showing a feeling of mixed reverence, respect, wonder and dread;” https://www.thefreedictionary.com

A few days ago I began pondering our experience of walking away from Christianity, church and religion. It is a very emotional trying period.

In a world where everything is given some form of a label, we spend a large amount of time and energy trying to find out who we are and what label do we place on our self.

No matter which label you choose, the outside world will not understand it, it will be confusion for them and even more so, the path that you have chosen. Obeying the foundational instructions the Creator gave to humanity is as foreign to them as the label you choose.

Stepping away from everything you knew and lived can be very daunting. As I pondered this event many of us went through in some form or another, my mind went back to the one who experienced it 100 fold.

Noah – stepped off the Ark after the flood into a world he just about did not recognize.

Try to picture in your mind what his eyes saw, what his heart felt, what his mind thought and the emotions that must have gripped his body.

In the book, ‘Let My World Survive by Yosef Deutch, the author described it like this:

“The world Noach encountered when he first came out of the Ark was a scene of incredible destruction. The earth was covered with shattered remnants of buildings, trees, and vegetation. Here and there, shredded and blackened stumps huddled in the sea of debris.”

Noah was ‘awestruck’ of what the world was like after the flood – not only of the sight but the screaming sound of silence, there were no singing or chirping birds or the sounds of a local village – it was all gone. He and his family was all there was left of humanity, they had to start over.

Walking away from a religion like Christianity, where it was our world, the effects can be devastating, ever bit the same way it was for Noah, when he stepped off the Ark into a strange world.

There were similarities and there were differences. Vegetation, hills and valleys all seemed the same but there was something different about the earth, the sky and maybe even the air was different than before.

The same will be with the seven instructions, there are a lot of similarities, prohibitions about theft, murder, sexual relations and so on but the life we are to live among those of our community will be different than from before, seeing your fellow as a mirror, learning how to properly study the Hebrew Scriptures – this is a new world for us. One none of us lived in before, much like Noah.

The truth and reality of the Creator can come in like a flood and wipe away all of the old ways. It puts in a situation like Noah, to start over, fresh.

My goal was to show a parallel between Noah stepping out of the Ark into a new world and those of us stepping out of religion into a new world. I wanted to show how much in common we each had with Noah and each other, to let you know that you are understood and not alone.

Many of us have been awestruck and it has left us –

feeling of mixed reverence, respect, wonder and dread

Terry W. Hayes
12/2019

Photo Credit : Terry W. Hayes