why did you become a christian?

[Anomalocaris]

I can't remember a time when I didn't think God was obvious and necessary.

So you were always stupid then.

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Should have been old enough to know better, Drippy?

Apparently the anticipated growth spurt never happened. To this day human cognition hangs like a coat 5 sizes too big on his miniscule mental frame.

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I have a question for resident theists, why did you become a Christian, or whichever faith you are. How old were you when you were taught this faith.

I became a Christian when I was 19 years of age. I had attended Church since I was 17 and knew about parts of the faith for years, but I guess I only believed that there was a God before that and the Christian stuff I did know about was only from what I learned through history or happenstance.

I became a Christian because it was better than giving up drinking to become a Moslem (well actually it was meeting the Holy Spirit and having great Christian friends for choosing religion over atheism)...I was trying to see if I could merge both together and found out my lifestyle was counter to Islam.

Of course, christianity to you is the craved indulgence of a reprobate sybarite, not the diligent construct of seeker of truth.

[Mister Agenda]

In the interest of seriously contributing, my point of view from when I was a Christian.

The existence of God was taken for granted in my home, and I took it for granted, too. I took it more seriously for a while than my father, a lapsed United Pentecostal, I spent a fair amount of some of my summers reading modern translations of the NT in my pre-and early teens. My father 'de-lapsed' when I was about twelve, so we were becoming more compatible on the matter. Meanwhile, my mother (Church of God, another Pentecostal sect) was a regular church-goer and I got involved in the Royal Rangers (the boy scouts were too 'of the world' for the CoG). I was taught how to speak in tongues (amounted to 'open your mouth and babble, and trust that God is speaking through you'). I went to church camp (slightly less political than the Jesus camps of today). I got baptized (full immersion) at fourteen (Pentecostals don't go in for infant baptism). I really took this stuff seriously, and it still never occurred to me that God might not exist. I'm not sure I'd heard of an atheist at that point.

I decided to make a project of reading the Bible cover-to-cover (KJV). I thought if I learned enough, I could be a better Christian. Maybe I could even be a missionary. It left me troubled though, so I read it again in a modern English version. The experience didn't make me an atheist, but I certainly wasn't a Pentecostal anymore. I won't get into that more because it's more like the opposite of this topic.

[MindForgedManacle]

For me, I became a Christian probably initially because I was around it all the time, but eventually I began to feel what I believed to be what the preacher at my former talked about: the Holy Spirit. So, I became a fundamentalist evangelical at age 13 until soon after my 19th birthday. I think that in hindsight, my transition away from Christianity was evident to myself. But first, I should perhaps talk of my childhood a bit.

Partially, it was a love for science (specifically astronomy and physics) that I got from my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Schulgen. She showed me some astronomy and physics books at the school library. They were small (maybe 40 pages on average, tops), but they had a range of interesting topics, from Big Bang cosmology to magnetism. In a few months I had read them all (a few dozen books).

So from an early age, the idea of massive time scales being supported by massive amounts of scientific evidence became something I thought was obviously true. I recall part of my reasoning at the time being "Well, science is largely to thank for the existence of my Sega Genesis, so I've little to no reason to doubt it's capability." 7-year old me was silly. :3

I don't know if there were many people near me that raged against science and evolution where I lived in Texas (near Dallas), but if there were I was oblivious to them. Heck, at this time I slept during the church service we went to at the Potter's House megachurch.

Anyway, after I was "born again" my disposition towards science didn't change. I recall one time around 14 where I Googled something like "Does God exist?", but I mostly got Young-Earth Creationist stuff, which I could only swallow for like a week, and soon forgot about it.

At the university I used to go to, I met an atheist (he commented on my Christian-y shirt), and I found him to be kind of funny. After we talked for a bit, he got around to asking why I was a Christian. I think I responded with something along the lines of seeing how God working in my life, and experiencing him. He responded by pointing out that people of other religions give that same answer, so I couldn't really have a monopoly on that move.

That conversation started to bug me in the coming weeks. After a while, I started to look online (mostly YouTube) to see the state of the conversation on the issue God's existence. I think it was initially Christopher Hitchens' rhetorical flair that convinced me to be more open to taking a look at what the non-theist side had to say. Eventually, I guess I just found the arguments more convincing than what the theist (specifically, Christian) side had to offer.

[freedomfromforum]

*Parody*

I was working on a fishing troller and trolling was all I ever knew. I didn't really know god at the time, but friends said I was a jerk and that I needed god. I was never very excited by what the bible said, and I thought christians were stupid for not realizing that the bible could be read however you like, and that you could rearrange events and times to actually write your own version of a personal and unique god account. Once I learned that, and that if spelled vertically, god's name could also mean whatever I wanted, I had no choice, and so I sold out and branded my own religion. Now, I can do whatever I want, whenever I please. My version of god allows me to rant and carry on in which ever manner I deem accords with my ever-changing brand of god. The best thing is my new flexible religion allows me to continue what I once loved doing so much, and I can continue trolling to my heart's delight. Ahhh the blissful ignorance.

[Captain Colostomy]

*Parody*

I was working on a fishing troller and trolling was all I ever knew. I didn't really know god at the time, but friends said I was a jerk and that I needed god. I was never very excited by what the bible said, and I thought christians were stupid for not realizing that the bible could be read however you like, and that you could rearrange events and times to actually write your own version of a personal and unique god account. Once I learned that, and that if spelled vertically, god's name could also mean whatever I wanted, I had no choice, and so I sold out and branded my own religion. Now, I can do whatever I want, whenever I please. My version of god allows me to rant and carry on in which ever manner I deem accords with my ever-changing brand of god. The best thing is my new flexible religion allows me to continue what I once loved doing so much, and I can continue trolling to my heart's delight. Ahhh the blissful ignorance.

Sumpthin' fishy 'bout this.

*snaps fingers*

A-ha! It's an allegory, ain't it? Now...in reference to what, or whom....hmmm.

*brows knit with consternation*

[ronedee]

I can't remember a time when I didn't think God was obvious and necessary.

And if you were born in saudia arabia would you not say the same about allah?

You haven't said why you are interested in our becoming Christian?

But, your response [above] seems like you have motives other than random curiosity.

Seeing that my answer would be similar to IRC's, I figured I'd save you a little ink.

[Neo-Scholastic]

Why do you care?

[freedomfromforum]

Why do you care?

I can't argue with that.

[Whateverist]

Personally, I don't care but I suspect in most cases the belief in a God was put there before one had any reason to wonder about it. People may drift away or explore but in general, no one becomes a Christian unless 1) they had it foisted on them before the age of consent; or 2) they are desperately unhappy and willing to try almost anything to change that. Of course, no one cops to it but that is my experience.

[Optimistic Mysanthrope]

I can't remember a time when I didn't think God was obvious and necessary.

So you were always stupid then.

I've always loved the high standard of witty retorts you get with the online community. It's as if Oscar Wilde never left.