From atheism to Christianity? How so?

[agapelove]

No answer about the G problem makes Ksa sad

Sorry, I missed it. I think first of all that you're assuming that "a God" is the correct translation. There is a reason that all of the translations render it "was God" and not "was a God",because word for word it doesn't say that. This is the literal translation:

in beginning was the word and the word was with the God and God was the word

Why it ends up the way it does is above my paygrade, but it has some to do with definite articles and nouns in the nominative form. I think what is more important to consider is, first of all, that John and Paul are not polytheists. They are both strict monotheists and aren't just going to throw multiple gods into the narrative, suddenly. These words that are used have to be understood in their proper context, both culturally and within their own vocabulary.

I will say second of all that my argument for the divinity of Jesus Christ doesn't rest on John 1:1. There are many other scriptures which prove His divinity, in my opinion. This doesn't really address the counter argument, which explains the seeming contention between Jesus as man and Jesus as God. Could you address some of that because that was the original issue you raised.

I would ask every person on every list you could produce the same set of questions I asked you. Responding to the questions with "well, here's a bunch of other people who converted from atheism to theism" isn't really a response at all, is it?

Good catch. It is quite apparent from your subsequent responses that you were in fact a "non-theist", and I mistook you to be an atheist.

(side note: What about all those people on the lists that converted to Judaism or Islam? Did they just "interpret" their "experiences" incorrectly? Because as you now know from all of your "research", Christianity is the only true religion, right?)

Your questions were all rhetorical, leading to your point in which you stated you didn't believe me. And so I produced the lists in response to your disbelief that an atheist could convert to Christianity. I was an agnostic atheist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheism

"Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of a deity is either unknowable in principle or currently unknown in fact"

If you're saying that isn't a true atheist, what is a true atheist?

(side note: What about all those people on the lists that converted to Judaism or Islam? Did they just "interpret" their "experiences" incorrectly? Because as you now know from all of your "research", Christianity is the only true religion, right?)

I believe what Jesus said in John 14:6. Is it implausible to you that there is only one right way to do things? If you bought a plane ticket to Chicago, for instance, when you got to the airport would you board just any plane?

All anectdotal. All standard Christian apologetics. All bullshit.

Let me ask you this: If Jesus is the real deal, would you want to know? Would you be willing to step out on a limb and pray for that information? If not, why not?

I was once a christian, it was a position of ignorance more than anything really. But I did have a few "experiences" tied to the bible but I shook them off after I understood more about how the brain works and after I see the bible for the fiction that it is. And I have had more "spiritual" experiences (mainly euphoria, feelings of being connected to the universe, time and space, being part of something bigger, that sort of stuff), since. But I have never attributed them to god and I highly doubt any personal experience would even sway my position as intellectually I do not accept those as evidence because truths are not personal but universal.

So I guess what I'm looking for is what were those experiences and what was the revelation. I might see an explanation that you don't, but this could help in understand how you got to a belief system.

The experiences were not just transcendent love, peace and joy but also things which happen in the world. I started to experience numerous coincidences until it seemed they were not coincidences but deliberate orchestrations. For instance, going across country and meeting the same two people a thousand miles away at the same place and time when they didn't know eachother, weren't traveling your route, and were actually headed in two completely different directions. Needing a certain amount of money and having someone slip you the exact amount anonymously when you hadn't told anyone. Needing certain items and having people come out of the woodwork to give them to you. Having one leg that was shorter than the other grown out to be even with the other leg. Dreaming about something and then having it repeated to you by people multiple times. Studying something specific and having it repeated to you by people multiple times. Things of that nature.

I couldn't really begin to describe how many of these things have happened. Individually you might write some of them off, but taken together they add up to a chain of evidence of the actions of an all powerful God. Not absolute proof but they certainly helped me to see that God is in control. Looking back on my life I can clearly see that the amazing things I had written off as coincidence were the hand of God over my life.

The revelation was about the triune nature of God. I kept getting signs about God being 3 in 1 (literally hundreds and hundreds of times) but I didn't get it until I read the bible. The signs were usually in numbers, like 333, and I could feel God showing me something about Himself, but I didn't get it until I read the bible.

Sorry if I missed anyone else!