(October 8, 2015 at 12:22 am)Cinjin Wrote: All of you have valid reasoning on varied levels. I do enjoy everyone's unique perspective around here ... always have.
The dark truth is that I genuinely like the idea of a creator being, regardless of what he may call himself. Not the afterlife, punishment and reward, heaven and hell or any of that other ridiculous bull shit, but rather the simplicity of someday discovering a "spiritual string theory" if you will. The ambiguity that deism offers me has come to be almost a warm blanket of limitless possibilities that my imagination can embrace and my sense of reason can overlook.
Still, to say "I believe in God," feels dishonest somehow. Maybe it's the word, God. Christians have made it such a dark dirty word full of evil intentions and unlimited suffering. I don't know. I'm sort of thinking out loud and typing on the fly ...
Anyway, if I have a hard time calling myself a deist, I have an equally difficult time calling myself an atheist.
Regardless of the existence of a creator being, I believe in the possibility of reincarnation without the existence of any creator being. I know ... not very atheistic is it.
And the rub of it all --- religion annoys the hell out of me. I find most christians to be the stupidest most gullible people on the planet, 2nd only to those primitives in the Middle East who worship that other angry brutal deity hell-bent on eternal damnation and world wide genocide.
How does one come to terms with all that?
As Ignoramus brought to mind - should I just slap an agnostic label on my shirt and keep it down? Or is this what de-conversion feels like and I just forgot the process?
The answer is "all of the above". As Iggy told you, there's no rush to put a label on yourself, and no reason to hurry in your determination of the nature of the universe. If you figure it out one second before you die, great! If not, great!
On the other hand, most of us went through periods of struggling to hold on to the "warm blanket" ideas, during our deconversion processes. Again, it's not something to rush or to get too worked up about. Whatever you end up deciding, we'll be glad to have you as a full-fledged community member. It's the nice thing about being an atheist; as long as you're a thoughtful person, intellectually honest, and considerate of reality and of the feelings/needs of your fellow man, we don't care about the rest of your ideological conclusions. We have no dogma to fault you for failing to meet, really, other than the aforementioned, and they're not even universal. We might actively question your conclusions, but you should be doing that for yourself, all the time, even on things you feel fairly certain about. That's pretty much the definition of "intellectual honesty".
All that said, I certainly agree with the description you've given for the religious ideologies of this planet. You'll fit right in, here! Beyond that, take your time and try not to stress yourself out about it. Read lots of books.
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
