From atheism to Christianity? How so?

[agapelove]

*opens can*

So when you were an atheist, you:

• Believed that ALL religions were contrived by men, and ALL were works of fiction
• Could not accept the claims made by religious people or their “holy” books
• Believed that religious people, of all “faiths” were misguided at best, and delusional at worst
• Believed that physical reality was all that there was, and stories of “creation”, deities, spirits, angels, demons, souls, etc., were merely fantasies

And then somehow you became convinced that Christianity was no longer to be grouped as a falsehood with all other religions, because it is actually the one religion that is true. That the god you now “believe in” is actually real, and that he really did create the universe, and that he really does rule over it. That angels, demons, spirits, etc., are factually real. And that after your death you will be resurrected and you will live forever in the presence of this god.

For some reason, I don’t believe you were ever an atheist, and I think you are making that claim as some lame attempt at an appeal to authority. I say bullshit.*returns can to shelf*

Hello there,

I'm getting close to 40 years old so I would say I am getting middle aged and not very young anymore, unfortunately. You are saying you don't believe I was ever an atheist because you don't see how any true atheist could ever come to a belief in God? It happens all the time. Here are a couple of lists of more well known people who converted:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_con..._nontheism
http://www.ranker.com/list/former-atheis...s-atheists

A famous example is Anthony Flew, who was actually a very preeminent atheist for most of his life. I don't know if he ever became a Christian but he was at least a theist. You could also try plugging in "ex atheist" into youtube to find testimonies.

I am tempted to drudge up the no true scotsman fallacy on you, strongbad. I was a genuine atheist; organically grown in fact. You could make the same argument the other way, that those who converted from Christianity to atheism didn't really understand what they believed and were simply coasting by on their faith of their parents. Or that their conversion experience is rooted in conditions and emotions rather than reason, in things like bad treatment they received at church, the hypocritical actions of family members, a rebellion against authority, or being lured by the pleasures of sin. Before anyone gets offended, please know that I am not making any judgments about any of you, or how you arrived at your nontheism. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt about what they say they did or did not believe. I am just saying that the question can be raised on both sides for those who have converted from one to the other.

I didn't believe in the supernatural because I saw no evidence for it. All that I heard about the supernatural were reports that seemed to contradict one another, or seemed implausible or contrived. Like most human beings, I changed my mind when I had personal experience. The bible clarifies all of this by saying first that, all knowledge of God comes by personal revelation and not necessarily through empirical evidence. God may use empirical evidence but He will also have to give the revelation to correctly interpret that evidence. Such as that it is impossible for me to demonstrate that God exists to you unless God has also revealed it to you. You will simply never believe it without that personal revelation. God did not completely reveal that to me until my late 20s going into my 30s so just because you have not yet received that revelation necessary, doesn't mean you will not in the future.