(November 28, 2021 at 4:20 pm)brookelauren25 Wrote: Hey everyone, sorry it's taken me so long to get back on here. I've been really busy with family, work, and school, etc. I wasn't even sure I would get back on here but I did want to say a few things -
I am NOT trying to evangelize. Someone implied I was not rational for being a Christian and I brought up the eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. I said this to give an example of how it is rational to be a Christian because there are logical reasons to believe it - not just emotional reasons. I wasn't making this comment to evangelize or try to evangelize.
Since I'm not here to evangelize, I'm not going to get into apologetics - or not on this thread anyway because I know it's not the place.
HappySkeptic - I don't believe in a "young Earth" either. I believe the scientific record on age of the earth, universe, etc. Do you think Genesis teaches a literal 6 day creation? I am curious if any of you have found Genesis to be a cause for unbelief because the scientific record seems to contradict what is taught in Genesis?
At the Catholic school I attended, we were taught the Book Of Genesis is not meant to be taken literally. So no, that had nothing to do with my eventual atheism.
I parted company with the Church at 20. That was because of some of their more fatuous teachings.*** Still believed there was 'something'. Spent the next 20 years looking for that 'something'. Called myself an agnostic. When I was 40 , one day I simply realised I no longer believed in god(s) or a long list of other superstitions.****
Took me a long time to understand that religious belief is based on faith, and is impervious to fact or critical thinking. I found myself unwilling to argue with apologists. A very simple reason: The people trained in Christian apologetics I've run across, use presuppositional argument. IE From the position of the existence of god(s) as a given. It is not. If it were the case, I wouldn't be an atheist.
Becoming an atheist was never a choice. It was an inescapable conclusion after subjecting my religious beliefs to critical thinking and scientific method over a long period. It was a difficult and sometime painful journey.
***I don't mean to be unkind. This is the basis for that position: John 20:29 "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (KJV) Here Jesus is asking his disciples to believe him on faith. IE Belief in that not seen. Another meaning is superstition.
**** EG The virgin birth, the trinity, infallibility of the pope ,transubstantiation, the concept that the church can assert a person is in heaven, IE a saint. It's actually very long list, with a lot of carry over into protestantism.
