Rima

my dear ronin

Life is not only foods needs and pleasures , life is more than that
spiritual life is more important than the physical life

rational thought led you to Him , but more important to experisnce HIM...

if somebody give you a gift (for your birthday for example) what do you say :
you would at least say : thanks for gift

how would you thank Him for all these gift he gave you
he made you in a beautiful shape , gave you eyes to see , ears to hear and the most important he gave you brain , intelegence to think

he shows you his signes everywhere , look at the sky , it is up there with no pillars to hold it
loot at the trees , and how they grow of a single seed, look how much lives and craetures in his sees and oceans

now do I need a Bible to realize all these blessings , do I need some fairy tales , to know him
all you need is an open heart , spirit and mind

may He bless you my friend

southernhybrid

Common sense. It was common sense that led me out of the darkness of the Christian faith. I didn't want to give up my faith but my brain wouldn't let me keep believing in something so lacking in reason. My intellect kept whispering to me that no god would be as cruel and whimsical as the Xain god. My common sense told me that the Christian god was created in the image of man and that was the only thing that seemed logical to me. My sense of reason insisted that if there was a god, he would make himself obvious to his creation and he would protect and celebrate what he had designed. It became so painfully obvious that the Xian religion was based on ancient fears and superstitions, and at that point, it was as if a veil had been lifted from my brain.

There are many explanations for what people feel are supernatural experiences. There are no rational explanations for the Xian religion. It doesn't take a super intelligent person to figure that out. It just takes an open mind and a little common sense.

The_Unknown_Banana

Well, I was one of those people who grew up in religious surroundings. Fortunately not my home life - but my school. (Was in South Africa, so public schools weren't seperate from religion I guess). Anyway, I basically didn't even know there were differences of opinion on the matter. When I left my religious surroundings, (and went for a 3 year voyage by sea) I then found that biblical history was not necessarily truth. I guess I was still young, so it was a little like getting rid of santa for me I challenged my beliefs a fair bit while being subjected to the powerful forces of nature, at sea. That helped

Daggah

Having an open heart will kill you if you don't get immediate medical attention.

Rima

and having no soul , no spirit will make you like a blind man who is lost in the middle of wilderness

demoninho

Better than bleeding to death

Rima

death is only one step further, in our eternal being .

I don`t expect you guys will understand

but I love you all

mike_decock

I can't limit it to one, but the main reasons are:

1) God's deafening silence and spectacular non-action.

2) The thought that good non-Christian friends were going to Hell. I could never do that to them, so how could a "loving God" do that?

3) The wide diversity of religions and denominations. Regardless of which one you choose, you are a minority. Whichever way you slice the cake, God condemns the majority of mankind to Hell and that's just plain fucked up.

-Mike...

Amaranth

Nonsense. That majority of participants on this board are spiritually dead, myself included, and get along fine in physical life. If your physical life ends, you have no more "spiritual life." Even if you want to assert the rediculous notion of a spiritual afterlife, your physical life is still more important because it is finite.

And before anyone starts equivocating, spiritual is being used as dealing with any sort of mysticism.

There are large books commited solely to debunking Intelligent Design.

Here are some local writings on the subject:
http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...igliucci1.html
http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...er/stealth.pdf

Also worth reading:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/cosmo.html

Quaint, but pointless. Maybe you, unlike the vast majority of your predecessors, will be willing to define this "soul". You've already shown a certain amount of expertise in the subject, so this should be a small matter, right? Then you can show me evidence that this, now defined, "soul" exists.

*holds his breath*

AndresDeLaHoz

Beyond my control. I just stopped feeling that there was a God and that christianity was right. No rationality involved except "this doesn't make sense".