I called a friend who is a believer...

[Old Baby]

We've been telling GC and others that atheism is not a choice ever since I signed up, and apparently long before I joined. Some people just can't grasp that concept.

Or won't.

If they really think it's a choice, then it must also be a choice to believe in God, which means they don't really believe it at all.

Since discovering my black-hearted unbelief, I have gone back and listened to ministers that I used to enjoy, thinking that maybe there was something they could say to bring me back to my Christian delusion.  One in particular, Paul Washer, said that when he runs into an atheist he just shakes his head and chuckles and says "Friend, you're not an atheist... you may think you're an atheist, but you're not an atheist."  My response to this was, how is that response remotely helpful to someone who struggles with unbelief?  What that basically says is, "Your non-belief doesn't fit neatly into my worldview, so I'm just going to laugh and pretend you don't exist."

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I never chose to change.  I never chose to not believe.  In fact, my immediate response was to try to start believing again.  It didn't work.

So you're saying you just stopped believing, exactly how's that work?

GC

The whole story is here.