Any Christians with Aspergers?

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Hi, I am new. I am 29/m. I was diagnosed with Aspergers in 2003. I have been a Christian since 1997. I have attended churches of many denominations since then and now I am Calvinist.

In my whole life I have never met another Christian with Aspergers. So I would like to get to know some if they are out there. Plz post here or PM me. Without devulging too much obviously I have had issues and I always wondered whether the problem was lack of faith on my part, or backsliding, or whether the church is wrong and should listen to me, etc. Every person with Aspergers I have met in my life (about 20) has been hostile to the gospel. I wonder if that's representative or just coincidence.

Also can I suggest the religion section be a separate section because the topics here are 90% politics.

yeah... but I'm kinda unique

also a diferent sention for religion is'nt a bad Idea

What do you mean, unique? You can PM me if you don't want to say

I'm one too. Learning about AS helped me deal with some issues I've had not "fitting in" with other Christians.

What church do you go to zer0netgain? Do you have Christian pastor to talk to that understands Aspergers? Yes I also have had trouble fitting in. Before I was diagnosed I put it down to doctrinal differences only. Now I understand that people at church do care about me (although some of them in an unhelpful way).

I had a fairly rough ride. When I first got "saved" it was a great time at first. However I struggled with some spiritual issues, so there's some muck about that wasn't the fault of AS or other people.

In time, though, I felt "out of place" in my own church because I didn't really connect with anyone, and I didn't feel inclined to behave the way other people did in church.

Later, in college, I had a prayer group with other guys that I got along with well enough, and those were productive spiritual years. Later, I went to law school, and in a different state. I went to a very small church where I built a personal relationship with the pastor and his family (they were about 1/2 the church membership), and that was a good time for me.

When I moved back to Virginia, I went back to my old church, and it wasn't "bad" but there was this disassociation where I didn't feel like I fit in. I ultimately walked out of that church because I had issues with their priorities in how money was handled and what I perceived as vanity issues. I'm now infrequently attending a smaller church of like doctrinal teaching where there is less "flash" and more "substance" in my opinion. For me to have stayed at the last church, sooner or later I would have had to confront what I felt was not appropriate in the church. Perhaps I should have done that, but I don't want to be a divisive force in the church. There's enough people already too willing to play that role.

I go to church infrequently mostly because I do struggle with faith issues. Having studied the law, I have major issues with the proposed teaching of Romans 10, and the take a pastor would teach on that depends on what he's been taught. I also have a general "lukewarm" issue that may be largely the result of AS. I'm not "passionate" about anything, and I'm so bad with people that witnessing Christ to others seems like a bad idea every time it comes up. So, I feel like a malfunctioning part of the body of Christ. If God has a use for me, what is it? These issues make my walk difficult and confused at times.

Still, my pastor really doesn't know too much about AS. A decent pastor will make an effort to understand what you are dealing with, but how much "help" he can be or how much it will do any good for your relationships with others in the church is uncertain. If people are understanding of your "quirks," that may be the best you can hope for.

I do have a friend who is a pastor in the Methodist faith (we were roommates in college). When I told him about my AS, his response was, "Well, that would explain a lot about you." My friend asked me to be one of his two best men at his wedding, and he conditioned it by saying, "Please try and not embarrass me." That may sound harsh, but as my friend, he was able to be honest with me. He knew I'd embarrass him no matter what, but he still wanted me in the wedding party.

With the Christian faith in general, I have the following issues....

1. Doctrine vs. Bible. A lot of stuff I see taught from the pulpit isn't so much what God's Word says but what man thinks it says. Romans 10 is such an example. However, how about doing drugs or drinking? If the law banning the use of "illicit drugs" is unconstitutional, do you not have the lawful freedom to use them? The Bible condemns being "drunk." It admonishes to not drink, but it does not prohibit drinking. If you strongly feel the pastor is preaching something the Bible doesn't really say, do you confront his pastoral authority or do you seek another church that says faithful to what the Bible says? At what point are you "splitting hairs" and at what point are you justified?

2. Rules vs. Faith. This has been an issue from early on. Some preachers make it about works when you supposedly are justified by faith alone. So, my issues over living to a laundry list of rules are always something I'm concerned about being taken as rebellion on my part.

3. Winning people to Christ. An NT with no interest in spreading the gospel I would say is living false faith. However, with AS, being apathetic is "normal" on so many levels. I give monthly to an outreach ministry and I tithe, but as far as "reaching the lost" is concerned, I don't really "feel" anything one way or the other. Intellectually, I want to see the gospel spread and souls won, but on an emotional level, I'm apathetic, and I feel conflicted over that.

4. General lack of interest with "fellowship." When I was in Wyoming, it was such a small church (and small town) that getting together was desirable. In Virginia, my church isn't just around the corner, so not only do I make excuses to "blow off" going to church regularly, but I have no real social contact with church members. For me, I have to force myself to go out and meet people. I might desire to have social contact, but I really don't make much of an effort to find it. That I may or may not fit in well with other people is part of why I'm increasingly disinterested in social gatherings. I'm in a motorcycle club that caters to Christians, and lately I find getting together with them more "work" than "pleasure." It's not that they don't want me, but I get so little out of the contact that I frequently walk away feeling emotional drained, not emotionally fulfilled, from the experience.

Perhaps not via PM, but in public:

One of the feature of being an Aspie is that we are very much fact-based. Observing the nature one side and given the fact that those observations do not give any hind of the existence of any deity (neither the Christian God, nor Athena, nor Vishnu, now ...) it shall not surprise that Atheism or Agnosticism is quite common with Aspies.

I'm a Lutheran.

Calvinist Presbyterian here.

I grow up in a region in the very west of Germany which is a traditional stronghold of Catholicism: The attitude towards alcohol was much more relaxed: The church owns vineyard and sells wine, owns breweries and pubs. In Speyer, a city separated till big clean-up by Napoleon between a Free City and the local bishop, a newly elected bishop fills up a big bowl made of stone with wine for the citizens of the town at the border between his territory and the city's jurisdiction (a tradition still uphold):



In London there is a pub called "Ye Olde Mitre", which belonged to the Bishop of Ely and is located in the backyard of his former palace in London. The reason for this was that his palace was extra territorial in respect of the City of London and so he could open and close when he liked and did not pay any taxes to the city authorities.



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The strict ideas you describe regarding alcohol are not common Christian idea.

It is in the evangelical denominations (Pentecostal Holiness). I agree with the stand in general principle (a Christian should not be drunk and anything that would promote an "altered state of consciousness" is undesirable), but to elevate an ADMONITION against drinking into a PROHIBITION is a stretch at best.

This seems to be really a speciality of of some evangelical denominations in the USA: Even protestants drink beer, wine and spirits. Especially beer and wine was stable part of the nutation over centuries in the cities and towns. Water was of an quality which made ill and so drinking alcoholic drinks was to only way to stay healthy. If you see films about Europe prior the 18th century, you must think that they were in reality all the time slightly drunk, because beer or wine was even part of the breakfast.

That probably is the case, but I believe it may have to do with the difficulty with abstract concepts few aspies may have, as well as the tendency to reduce things as the way they think should fit according to their perception, which it would be related to the neurological aspects of AS.

Although, given that that is a stereotype that I used to believe, I currently have my doubts on wether this is actually the case relating to logic, intelligence and IQ as a whole, and as few claim, I mean, I believe there are intelligent Christians or believers with higher IQ, which they can be more intelligent and logic-oriented than some nonbelievers.

I always saw it as, we require proof, be it logic or tangible, to accept and idea and the fact that the whole god concept is so full of holes, we can not bring ourselves to accept a clearly flawed idea

zer0netgain, I can relate very strongly on so many points!

Yes exactly how I was, until I was diagnosed mainly (remember from 1997 to 2003 I couldn't work out why things weren't quite working at church).

I when to Christian groups at uni, including one that comprised me and the senior tute guy only, in a faculty of hundreds, and I couldn't handle it. I was very depressed. They didn't know how to handle me.
Yes, I attended pentecostal churches that cared only about money and "vanity" as you say, and although they were nice to me, there was no accepteds way of saying that you had a different interpretation on this or that, Aspergers or not. I am much happier with my church now makes a world of difference.

What teaching of Romans 10? That salvation comes by faith and believing and confessing, and not by tithing or anything like that? I would agree wtih that.

Yes, I have felt exactly the same way. At pentecostal churches I have often felt lukewarm. Now, I pass up opportunities to share my faith fairly often because I either feel a lack of compassion (like you describe) or more often because I'm unsure of what stage I'm at with them especially when doing "walk-up" evangelism (I actually enjoy it, but am an epic fail at it). For example, last Saturday night, I went to a party, talked to some people, this guy asks about me life, I say I work, go to church, he asks about church, then he says "Do you have a girlfriend? Are you gay?", I answer No and No, he says "I like you", I didn't respond and later in that party when I was leaving he says something like "Say the real reason why you are leaving now!" Now, at the risk of being flamed as homophobic, what the heck was I supposed to do? I have had my eye on a Christian girl for 2 years now, making careful consideration, and yet this guy knows me from a 10 minute conversation and wants it? Oh and incidently there was a hot non-Christian girl at this party who was enjoying chatting to me. Anyway

Yes , hence the reason I have come to this web site and created this thread. I hope to come across some other Christians like you who can help me guide me in my faith with both an understanding of God and of Aspergers.

I don't know what you mean about Romans 10, but as for drinking, I don't drink alcohol. Well, I have maybe half a standard drink per year on average. If you feel the pastor is preaching heresy, Absolutely, confront him about it! (in a respectful tone of course) If they say you have a "lack of faith" or a "spirit of doubt" etc, then find another church ASAP! This goes for people with and without Aspergers. As for splitting hairs, there is never a question too dumb to ask if it concerns your walk with God. My problem is that, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I have sturdy beliefs on pretty much all issues that concern the Christian life, and I hate it when I ask a question to a pastor, who is supposed to have been taught the Bible, or has at least thought through it, and he says he is not sure.

Yes, this is an issue common with non-Aspergers people as well. As I see it, both are legitimate expressions of following Christ but they must not condemn each other (Rom 14:1-8). But the Bible is clear from many places that salvation is by faith alone.

Yes, me too, although don't underestimate the power and role of prayer in salvation. If you can't walk up to someone and come across as genuine, pray instead, because God sees your heart.

I have been like that through much of my Christian life, and even now the situation is I would sometimes skip church if it wasn't for the fact I am interested in a girl there and want to keep up appearances. Listening to a sermon at my church, I get almost nothing out of it, but from email and facebook correspondance with other pastors I know and trust better, I can apply more. (The pastor of my congregation has only one year theological training in "youth ministry", and the senior pastor, emphasises humanitarian work as more important than salvation)

I try to show this with an example: The Catholic Religion developed over nearly 2000 years an impressive philosophical system, build by such intellectual giants like St. Augustine, Albertus Magnus, Thomas of Aquinas, etc. etc.

But the real basis, the fundamentals of this highly logical and complex system are still very weak, because it is based on some assumption beyond proof.