Most personally convincing reasons you don't believe.

[Pat Mustard]

Many of you believe your atheism is a direct result of logical thinking. I believe it is an answered prayer. Especially if any of you have ever prayed for proof of God as 'christians.' God sent a storm into your lives to remove the house/faith you built on sand. To give you an opportunity to rebuild on Who Christ/God really is. If you start to build on the rock you will find you are not the only one helping you rebuild your 'house.'

Well, I obviously can't speak for "many of us", but personally..I just don't believe,  Never have.  Never prayed for proof, or received a storm in my life, or any of that other nonsense.  As I've been trying to tell you...I've had no access to or interaction with the divine.  And since I don't share the covetous motivations which led you to somehow compel yourself to believe in order to receive reasons to believe, an ability I do not possess in the first place, then the chances of my ever being convinced look pretty slim.  

-now, at first I sliced that whole post up, my usual style... I decided it was too unweidly...but..you do realize that you say some patently batshit crazy things when you talk about gods that atheists worship...or boxes that atheists create for gods they don't believe in...right?  

Look...you're unconvincing.  The stories are unconvincing.  I don't want what you want.  I can't do what you did.  I haven't experienced these things you claim to have experienced.   There are -reasons- that I'm not a christian, but I simply don't believe in gods...and I don't actually -need- a reason for that any more than I need a reason for not doing jumping jacks this very minute.   That's just the status of my belief, take it or leave it.  Others have done what you did, and I guess it just doesn't work the way you say it does, or at least not all of the time.  What else can anyone conclude?  I mean sure, you could be a complete tool and strongly insinuate that they're all a bunch of liars who can't get it right...but I;m not sure how convincing that;s supposed to be either.

Have to comment on something up there -

Do you not see what you are claiming of Christianity is most likely true of the religions you said Christianity 'borrows from?

LOL..the irony.  You might be right..those traditions might have borrowed from their contemporaries.........that might be something that happens to religious traditions...there may even be a term for it........ I'm sure that your fairy stories are a special case, though.

There's a term for it all right, syncretism. Mainstream christianity was big on it in the period it was establishing itself as mainstream. For example the bible and the philosophy was to a great extent adapted to greek ways of thinking, Platonic thought especially. Many of the early saints, feastdays and festivals were relabelling of Celtuc or Germanic equivalents (eg St Brigid is essentially the Celtic goddess of the same name, just declared christian). The signs of syncretism are there and obvious if only you look.