Religious Background

[TheBeardedDude]

Grew up in the Bible Belt of the southern US. Wasn't raised in an overly religious household but eventually I started wanting to attend church with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. We went to a southern baptist church. Got pretty serious with it by middle school but then stopped going to church by high school. Senior year of high school I start going to youth services at a different southern baptist church. Realize while there that I don't buy the youth ministers literal interpretation of the Bible. Then realize that I don't trust other people's interpretations either. This leads me to conclude that I have no objective standard to compare my interpretation to, which is a big deal if you're dealing with something that is supposed to be an objective truth about the universe. Once I realize this, I decide to start figuring out what I believe and why as well as what other people believe and why. The error I made here is that I still assumed that belief in a god was a more rational starting point, so I didn't question whether or not I actually believed in a god. Eventually I realize my error (after a few years) and ask myself if I believe in a god and I realize the answer was no. That's when the real fun began because that meant I had to start from square 1 to figure out what beliefs actually where since I was an atheist now


Cheers
TheBeardedDude

Just wondering why you 'don't buy the youth ministers literal interpretation of the Bible'? Did you seek out other more authoritative sources of information? What do you think is the biggest problem with Christianity being true?

A literal reading of the Bible left me with a callous, flawed, vengeful, and mean-spirited god. This didn't mesh with my views of a loving God (my views at the time). So I looked for a way of finding what I meant by god and what that god's qualities were. Started off within Christianity (basically I just left southern baptism first) in order to find a more interpretative view of the Bible, only to realize that if the Bible required interpretation then there was no way of discerning objective truth from it since anyone can interpret the Bible differently (including literally), regardless of their status (considered an authority or not). With no objective standard to compare my interpretation to (since even a cursory glance at the facts refute a literal interpretation), I realized the Bible was indistinguishable from fiction. Then I realized that's what it effectively is (mythology).


Cheers
TheBeardedDude