SSbyG

It's interesting that some people who are skeptics and decide to examine things find evidence for God and others don't. Here are a few testimonies of former athiests:

http://www.theism.net/authors/zjorda...es/02birth.htm

http://www.ex-atheist.com/6.html

What made some of you decide on atheism? It's amazing that there are atheists who finally decide to believe and those who say they once believed, yet now they don't.

I'm a Christian now. I've always believed in God, even before I actually accepted Christ. I've never been an atheist. What's your story? I'm curious.

Y.B

Partly, it's just that there's never been any evidence for me to change a "default position", i.e. lack of belief in gods. :huh: FWIW, I was raised in a secular home.

Since my teens, I've been using my logic and reason, and they've led me to the belief that there are no gods.

Ovazor

I've always been an atheist. But I don't think that people actually choose their stance after examining arguments and decide to believe or not, but rather become convinced one way or another.

SSbyG

Do you think it would have made any difference at all if either of you had been raised in a Christian home?

PoodleLovinPessimist

Like others here, I've always been an atheist. It doesn't feel like a matter of "choice" to me; I'm no more an atheist by choice than I'm a realist by choice. Especially after my last round of horrible dental problems: Pain is definitely real!

But of course. Indoctrination, especially of children, is extremely effective in engendering belief.

Y.B

It's quite probable that it would've made a big difference, children tend to believe what their parents tell them, and the vast majority of people follow the religion of their parents.

johntheapostate

I was having difficulty doing what most Christians need to do to maintain the integrity of their god concept. That is dehumanizing individuals to where I could rationalize them burning in hell for an eternity.

This created an intense psychological crisis which I needed to resolve.
I realized that I was only a Christian because that is how I had been indoctrinated and that the only proof for the validity of its claims rested on the testimony of the Bible.

I realized that I had been reading the Bible with the attitude that most Christians have, which is the conviction that it is true at some level and that any inconsistencies that it contained could be resolved if all the information where available.

As I posted in a different thread, imagine a jury composed entirely of the accused family and every one adamant that the evidence indicating the guilt of the accused would be resolved if only all the information was available.

I decided I would study the Bible in the same manner as a juror would interpret evidence. No longer would I read the Bible with the conviction that it was true, neither would I read it with the conviction that it was false, but with the conviction that it could be true or it could be false.

Another factor was, I was going to ignore ( as far as it was possible) the real dread I had of hell.

After some time studying the Bible within these parameters it became clear to me that its claims were as unsubstantiated as I believed any other religions had been

I decided that according to the evidence that I had, god as perceived in the Judeo Christian tradition did not exist. As I had zero interest in any other religion I realized that I had only been a theist due to the belief in one god. As I was now convinced that he did not exist and it did not appear to me that reality must be explained using some creative entity, I found it only logical to consider myself an atheist.

I indicated that I had ignored the threat of hell as far as it was possible. But even though in my conscious mind I was convinced that god did not exist, somewhere in some primitive irrational part of my mind the fear that had been implanted by my indoctrination of the fundamentalist persuasion still lurked.

I suffered one last psychological crisis before I became comfortable in my new belief and I now believe I am psychologically healthier than when I was a believer.

SSbyG

Thanks, it's interesting to read your replies. I guess it depends on the individual because I go to church with a guy that says if he ever finds out that it (God, the Bible) isn't true, he'll sleep in on Sunday mornings because he's not playing games. He also said one of his methods of Bible study is trying to prove it to be untrue. Evidently he's still convinced it's true because he still comes to church. Some see evidence, some don't.

Those who say they were always atheist, was that a natural belief or influence by parents or relatives? I'm assuming the parents must have had something to do with it because, as you say, children tend to believe what their parents tell them.

DISSIDENT AGGRESSOR

James T

Yes, it would have made a difference if I had brought up in a Christian home, certainly. Then I would have had a period as a Christian before becoming atheist. I distinctly remember having the why conversation with my father. The logical continuation of this inability to stop questioning (he angrily told me to shut up ) is that I would have asked the same question of Christianity, and ultimately been unsatisfied with the answer.

Of course if my upbringing had been Christian I'd have had different parents and been a different person both genetically and environmentally so the question is a bit academic.

I believe that to be honest to yourself you must also be honest in your assessment of the way things are. For certain concepts this requires courage. Some of the problematic concepts are our insignificance, that 100% of people die and the certain eventual demise of humanity. These are far from the only ones, but they are the ones that frighten people.

Christianity seems to play on some of the intellectual and emotional weaknesses in actually thinking about these issues. Christianity is happy to come up with a way of living in ourselves and in our community but at the expense of failing to recognise the truth of the situation in which we find ourselves.