Rational BAC

And if so how did you explain it to yourself?

Am starting this thread because I was agnostic for about 10 years in my late teens and much of my 20's -------even though I was baptized and confirmed as an Episcopalian Christian and actually believed in the whole thing up until about the age of 16 or so. When I said to myself ---"Self --WTF--why do you believe any of that crapola?" "On what personal basis?" "Has anything unusual that cannot be explained rationally and logically ever happened to you in your lifetime?"--------NOPE. So why bother with it?

---primarily because up until my late 20's, I had never ever had anything unexplainable happen to me in my life---------and I could see no reason to justify believing in a "God" when I had absolutely no personal evidence of anything out of our ordinary physical reality. ---------- 2 plus 2 equals four. ALWAYS.

The trouble is ---the longer you live ---it is more and more possible for things to happen that seem "unexplainable" in any kind of rational way. At least that is what happened to me--quite a few times in this old fart's life starting in my late 20's. -----like WHOOPS --- what the hell was that all about? Maybe everthing is not so easily explainable in a so very logical and rational way.

Which flat out turned me around as far as believing in the metaphysical. And eventually turned me back into a somewhat skeptical Episcopalian.

Anyway----what I would like to find out is how many atheists there are on this forum who are atheists or agnostic simply because they have not had anything all that unusual happen to them in their lives. Nothing at all to turn them into any kind of mystics.

And is that really why they are atheist or agnostic?

Maybe not. Tell me the stories of all the "wierd" and seemingly inexplicable things that did happen in your life and how you managed to rationalize those happenings.

I know it is not fair but I choose not to contribute any personal experiences in this matter.

And you are welcome to do the same. Just say you have had strange things happen but you choose not to talk in detail about them.

But if you dare----talk in detail about the "wierd" experiences in your life and how you were able to reason them away.

Rational BAC

I probably should have made this into a poll type format-----because as usual there are probably a lot of those who would like to make some kind of statement on this but do not really want to post anything in particular about it and want to remain somewhat anonymous.

Mods?---------Is it still possible to turn this thread into a poll?

Anyway the point of this thread is to try and determine whether one of the main reasons for agnostic and atheists being agnostic or atheist is---------they never had anything strange or unusual or "wierd" or supernatural ever happen to them.

Or, if they did, they were able to acceptably "reason" their way out of it in some way. And how they did that exactly.

The Evil One

I met a god once.

Thankfully, once it was over, I was still sufficiently in my right mind to realise that some part of my brain architecture misfiring was a far more likely explanation than some supernatural being a) existing and b) choosing to communicate with me in such a way.

Godot

I remember one summer back when I was 12 or so. I was down in Waterton at my family's cabin and my Mom and I went up to the Prince of Wales Hotel for afternoon tea.
We walked into the bustling lobby and everything went dull. My vision was fine, but everything I heard felt as though I had been wearing ear plugs; kinda distant-like. I was standing stock-still and the passage of time seemed to slow down dramatically. Looking around the lobby, I felt as though it was somewhere I had been before. Classic deja-vu episode.

After about what was probably only 5-10 seconds, the world sped back up to normal. I was disoriented to say the least.

I never bothered trying to come up with a rational explanation for it. It didn't faze me enough to do so, I guess. Probably didn't help that my Mom has been into some New Age bullshit in the past and didn't try to press the issue.

Rational BAC

The Evil One-----

Any details forthcoming about the "god" you met and the circumstances?

(You don't have to divulge details if you don't want to of course--your choice)

Ronin

I'm turning 40 years of age this year and have experienced no supernatural events.

I was involved in a near fatal car wreck in my teenage years and have been a primary responder and a violent crimes detective dealing with the recently deceased for nearly fifteen years now.

These are not usual experiences for most people, yet, I am free of "mystic" notions regarding life, the universe and everything.

If anyone should have a "ghost story" to tell you it should be me, but, I simply have none to tell for none exist.

This is by no means why I am an atheist.

Personally, I am just as non-believing of the Christian deity claims as most Christians are to Viking deity claims or Egyptian or Hindu...etc. (you know the schpeel )

The claims themselves are simply far-fetched, inconsistent with reality in plain view and unbelievable.

PS Weird things don't posit gods, if that is what is to be inferred (in any way) by your inquiry.

Rational BAC

True enough ---wierd things do not mean existence of Gods necessarily.

But "wierd things" do make one wonder sometimes whether what we see and hear and think is all there is.

The Evil One

It was early one morning. I was in a kind of trance state - not quite awake, not quite asleep. Suddenly I had the impression that I was walking through a garden on a steep hill to a house, and that at the centre of the house was a ruined temple. I knew that it was the temple of the Sun Goddess. When I stepped into the circle of the ruined temple and looked up at the sky I saw the sun. But it wasn't like when you look at the sun normally - I was able to keep my eyes open and the radiance filled my entire field of vision, and I was overcome with a sense of awe and an overwhelming sense of peace and fierce joy. The vision gradually faded out - in a way completely different to how you wake up form a dream - though the profound feeling of spiritual connection lingered for several hours.

After that experience, I understood what religionists feel like when they have spiritual experiences. I understood, moreover, that if I was a member of a religion, I would have interpreted my experience as a vision of Christ / Brahman / The Great Mother / Allah / whoever. But reason suggests that a far more parsimonious explanation is a temporary glitch in my wetware. I apply that explanation to the religious experiences of others, so to be consistent I must obviously apply it to my own.

Religious experiences aren't evidence for god... even my own religious experience.

Ronin

That is why I enjoy science fiction, crime fiction, horror fiction and fantasy so much.

Of course, I am capable of suspending reality to enjoy them.

Being an atheist only refers to the claims of the existence of deities...which, I assert, can be refuted based on a complete examination of said claims made by humans regarding their deities.

Positing imaginative realms or occurrences are fun and entertaining to even atheists...who are actually as imaginative as the next human.

However, since this thread was specifically directed to atheists, I gather you are trying to merge the issues of "interesting mysterious tales" with whether or not this should infer the existence of gods (your use of "necessarily" exposes this inference).

In my opinoin, these are two completely separate issues and I have found that such mergers are common among those predisposed toward believing in gods to muddy the waters of rational thought and to cast doubt on realistic and full consideration of the actual issue of the existence of gods...whatever their attributes are claimed to be.

Of course, so are the common mis-spellings of words with "ie" in them...so, take my musings with a grain of salt.

Hedshaker

RBAC,

Is this an attempt to somehow justify your belief in fairytales? If even atheists have supernatural experiences then they must be real, right?

The human mind is strange device. It can decieve and trick us. When something we can't explain occurs it will fill in the gaps for us since it cannot tolerate a vacume.

To date there is no evidence of anything supernatural, paranormal, mystical or ghostly to have ev er occurred. There is of course an abundance of anecdotes and stories, such as you are seeking here.

However, an atheist/skeptic board is an unusual the place to seek such anecdotes. I suspect you would have much better luck finding such tales and gossip from a theist board, where reality isn't so important to the members.

Good luck