RE: Most personally convincing reasons you don't believe.
May 9, 2016 at 1:07 pm
(This post was last modified: May 9, 2016 at 1:12 pm by drfuzzy.
Edit Reason: forgot something
)
Well, my move from a completely brainwashed fundie to atheist . . . in no particular order (I think the rational part of my brain had to throw everything it could find at the psychosis - )
* The realization that Yahweh in particular was just simply evil - and I could not worship such a creature.
* The realization that a huge amount of the wholly babble stories could not possibly be literally true.
* The realization that yes, there were hundreds of contradictions in the wholly babble.
* Admitting something that I knew at some level as a child: prayer doesn't work, speaking in tongues is an act spurred on by peer pressure, and most of what happens in church is for show - to the people around you.
* Realizing the every one of dozens of sects of xtianity think they are right and the others are wrong, and god never corrects anybody. They just kill each other over who prays the right way. Oh yeah, and there are other religions - and there is not a shred of proof that any group in any religion is healthier or happier or treats their fellow humans any better than any others. In fact, the way I was raised, the church members were convinced that everybody who wasn't a believer (THEIR WAY) was evil and deserved hell. They didn't love their fellow man - they hated him.
* Learning about the basics of evolution, biology, cosmology - - and realizing that the truth was THERE.
* Realizing that evolution completely destroys the reason for the sacrifice of Jesus as I was taught the story (we are all sinners because of Adam and Eve - there was no Adam and Eve - there was no garden - there was no original sin).
* Realizing that the "sacrifice of god for our sins" was only a reworking of an ancient "dying and rising god" story, built on the concept of sacrifice to appease the gods, and it makes no logical sense. Seriously - a god dying for our sins (that don't exist, and if they do, he created them) - to appease himself for the error that he created, so that he doesn't have to torture us forever because of his failure . . . and . . . say whut? (Actually, "dying and rising god" was a tie-in to the seasons and agriculture.)
* And then there is the concept of hell - - which is outrageously unfair and ridiculously evil. It's obviously a means of control for vicious priests.
* And then there is the enormous scale of the universe. The Hubble Ultra Deep Field shows galaxies spanning back 13.2 billion years in time - that means it took that long for the light to reach us - well then, a god creating the earth 6000 years ago is beyond silly. This Earth is an insignificant pale blue dot even when seen from Saturn . . . there are billions upon billions of galaxies . . . and yet, a huge amount of xtians think that god helps them find their car keys.
There is more . . . but that was the basic pattern.
Fuzz
* The realization that Yahweh in particular was just simply evil - and I could not worship such a creature.
* The realization that a huge amount of the wholly babble stories could not possibly be literally true.
* The realization that yes, there were hundreds of contradictions in the wholly babble.
* Admitting something that I knew at some level as a child: prayer doesn't work, speaking in tongues is an act spurred on by peer pressure, and most of what happens in church is for show - to the people around you.
* Realizing the every one of dozens of sects of xtianity think they are right and the others are wrong, and god never corrects anybody. They just kill each other over who prays the right way. Oh yeah, and there are other religions - and there is not a shred of proof that any group in any religion is healthier or happier or treats their fellow humans any better than any others. In fact, the way I was raised, the church members were convinced that everybody who wasn't a believer (THEIR WAY) was evil and deserved hell. They didn't love their fellow man - they hated him.
* Learning about the basics of evolution, biology, cosmology - - and realizing that the truth was THERE.
* Realizing that evolution completely destroys the reason for the sacrifice of Jesus as I was taught the story (we are all sinners because of Adam and Eve - there was no Adam and Eve - there was no garden - there was no original sin).
* Realizing that the "sacrifice of god for our sins" was only a reworking of an ancient "dying and rising god" story, built on the concept of sacrifice to appease the gods, and it makes no logical sense. Seriously - a god dying for our sins (that don't exist, and if they do, he created them) - to appease himself for the error that he created, so that he doesn't have to torture us forever because of his failure . . . and . . . say whut? (Actually, "dying and rising god" was a tie-in to the seasons and agriculture.)
* And then there is the concept of hell - - which is outrageously unfair and ridiculously evil. It's obviously a means of control for vicious priests.
* And then there is the enormous scale of the universe. The Hubble Ultra Deep Field shows galaxies spanning back 13.2 billion years in time - that means it took that long for the light to reach us - well then, a god creating the earth 6000 years ago is beyond silly. This Earth is an insignificant pale blue dot even when seen from Saturn . . . there are billions upon billions of galaxies . . . and yet, a huge amount of xtians think that god helps them find their car keys.
There is more . . . but that was the basic pattern.
Fuzz
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein