13 Questions

[Statler Waldorf]

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Why do some atheists become christians.

C S lewis who was an atheist who became a christian after being convinced of the validity of the ontological argument by JRR Tolkien.
So in his partiular case he was convinced by a rather weak argument and peer pressure. He used to spend ages debating religion with a group of chiristians and eventually 'joined the club'.

But to argue slightly differently.

When you were born you did not believe in god (the same is true of everyone). You were at that time an atheist. So what changed?
looking at your posts I would say intensive indoctrination by authority figures and peers.

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Is this addressed to me?

Remember, I am a Reformed Christian, so my views on the reasons why people do and do not believe are going to be way different than yours and we will most likely miss one another.

However, I do not agree with your premise that babies are "atheists" just because they lack a belief in God. The dog turd I saw "sun bathing" on the sidewalk on my way to work this morning also lacks a belief in God, is it an atheist? This is why I think that atheism is more accurately defined by several encyclopedias of philosophy as a positive belief in the non-existence of God or gods.

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Just a little note on point 9:

When Christians become Atheists, some will say that they have never been 'true' Christians to begin with. If an atheist converts to a religion, some atheists would claim that he never had been a 'true' atheist, or for the 'wrong' reasons.
I think those claims are bogus in all those cases. A person can truly believe in a goal, a cause, a being, a whatever, and change for any reason, very often because that reason had a big impact on him/her. People change through their lives, and their believes can also change. That does not make their previous believes any less 'real' though.

As for why these specific atheists became religious, I do not know. I don't know them to begin with, and such changes are often quite personal. The reason that some might claim that they never had been 'true atheists' to begin with i because some Christians have lied about their 'past as atheist'. People who have converted can score more brownie points with the public, so sometimes they make stuff up. It makes people distrsting towards claims of 'having been atheist' before. On top of that, many people seem to misunderstand what atheist means, thinking it is someone who dislikes god. Disliking god means you still believe in him.

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I see your point G-sprite, but I somewhat disagree. The Reformed position is that all that are truly saved persevere to the end. So it logically follows that those who fall away were never truly saved.

Do you have any examples you can give where Christians lied about being atheists prior to their conversion?

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You should know that abusing the “quote” function is against forum rules.
I actually taught English, so I would say it is more your extremely convoluted and “fluffy” writing style that can make things unclear here, . . .

I hope the way I quoted your questions back before I answered them was not "overuse of quotations." I am still new around here and have not yet gotten around to the forum rules (post, then read the rules, that's my motto).

I will endeavour to keep my quotations managable.

And I certainly hope I am not "fluffy." Eeww. I never taught English, nor went to college, though I edit books.

And to-morrow is my birthday. Yay.

James.

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Lol, ok you just made my day, I like your sense of humor. I was not talking about the way you quoted my questions at all and I am not a moderator either, I just get misquoted a lot and I get tired of it. So that's all. I hope you have a great day James and welcome aboard.

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Example: If Sam Harris just came up and said "I have left atheism for Christianity", I would SERIOUSLY doubt his claim. Most especially if he published a book series on it.

Sam can't go back now. He denied the holy spirit on camera, and there is no forgiveness for that sin.
He might as well just sit back and enjoy the fruits of his infideism, cause he sure as shit's fucked anyhow.

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Can't say that is an accurate representation of what it means to "blaspheme the Holy Spirit" or why it is an unforgivable sin.