To Godschild: Umm, I had 30 years for God to prove that he's real, technically 42 years. I was a better believer than most. I had a solid belief in god. He was very real to me.
For 3 decades I couldn't understand Atheists. How could they not have the ability to believe? Why was this so? Some of these people had eagerly sought god at one point in their lives and did not find him. How could they not have found him, yet I did? If they could only see what I saw, be able to experience what I experienced then they would believe....if only. It made no sense to me why they couldn't do this.
For most people I knew I could not chalk any of the cause for their unbelief on a simple desire to live in sin and debauchery. I noted time and again that those without god often had better ethics. Yes some of them drank beer and or lived in sin with their girlfriends but, unlike a lot of the god fearing Christians I knew, they weren't assholes. What made the Christians assholes was often the religion. Religion produced ambitions and opportunities to abuse others that did not exist in the non Christian world. For example, I remember when my family and I had to move out of state and needed some help putting things on the moving van. Though I had helpped some members of my church move, these same people were unavailable when I needed their help. The non Christians were the ones who helped. Little things like this are common when you are a Christian. And to answer your next question Godschild, don't give me that bullshit response "well it doesn't happen in my church because ________"(enter excuse in the blank). Unless you've lived under a rock or are new to the faith you've seen the bullshit yourself.
As for blame. Perhaps the real blame lies in the religion itself. If it wasn't bullshit it would be able to prove itself to not be bullshit. This sort of leaves people like Lee Strobel off the hook.....sort of. They are doing the best they can with what they have. I couldn't accept their arguments and was embarrassed by their stupidity. This kept me looking, I just didn't find what I thought I'd find. I guess this is where the saying "you can't create something out of nothing" sort of works. You can't make something real that wasn't real in the first place.
As for Apostasy, it was mind boggling to me. Why would anyone who has known the father choose to leave? I could understand why someone would leave the religion. There's a lot of abuse and assholes there. I felt bad for those who had to leave because of abuse. I could also understand those who left because they wanted to drink and fool around. I couldn't understand those people who didn't leave out of hurt and bitterness or a desire to follow carnal desires. It's like god just evaporated from their lives. Now I find myself in their shoes. It's a weird situation.
One more thing. Brain science and psychology has done a lot to explain why people experience or seem to experience "spiritual" phenomena. I'm working my way through this stuff. So far science has answered more questions than 30 years of Christianity has done. Furthermore science is provable and reproducible. It's a lot more reliable way to explain spiritual phenomena than religion.
For 3 decades I couldn't understand Atheists. How could they not have the ability to believe? Why was this so? Some of these people had eagerly sought god at one point in their lives and did not find him. How could they not have found him, yet I did? If they could only see what I saw, be able to experience what I experienced then they would believe....if only. It made no sense to me why they couldn't do this.
For most people I knew I could not chalk any of the cause for their unbelief on a simple desire to live in sin and debauchery. I noted time and again that those without god often had better ethics. Yes some of them drank beer and or lived in sin with their girlfriends but, unlike a lot of the god fearing Christians I knew, they weren't assholes. What made the Christians assholes was often the religion. Religion produced ambitions and opportunities to abuse others that did not exist in the non Christian world. For example, I remember when my family and I had to move out of state and needed some help putting things on the moving van. Though I had helpped some members of my church move, these same people were unavailable when I needed their help. The non Christians were the ones who helped. Little things like this are common when you are a Christian. And to answer your next question Godschild, don't give me that bullshit response "well it doesn't happen in my church because ________"(enter excuse in the blank). Unless you've lived under a rock or are new to the faith you've seen the bullshit yourself.
As for blame. Perhaps the real blame lies in the religion itself. If it wasn't bullshit it would be able to prove itself to not be bullshit. This sort of leaves people like Lee Strobel off the hook.....sort of. They are doing the best they can with what they have. I couldn't accept their arguments and was embarrassed by their stupidity. This kept me looking, I just didn't find what I thought I'd find. I guess this is where the saying "you can't create something out of nothing" sort of works. You can't make something real that wasn't real in the first place.
As for Apostasy, it was mind boggling to me. Why would anyone who has known the father choose to leave? I could understand why someone would leave the religion. There's a lot of abuse and assholes there. I felt bad for those who had to leave because of abuse. I could also understand those who left because they wanted to drink and fool around. I couldn't understand those people who didn't leave out of hurt and bitterness or a desire to follow carnal desires. It's like god just evaporated from their lives. Now I find myself in their shoes. It's a weird situation.
One more thing. Brain science and psychology has done a lot to explain why people experience or seem to experience "spiritual" phenomena. I'm working my way through this stuff. So far science has answered more questions than 30 years of Christianity has done. Furthermore science is provable and reproducible. It's a lot more reliable way to explain spiritual phenomena than religion.
I have studied the Bible and the theology behind Christianity for many years. I have been to many churches. I have walked the depth and the breadth of the religion and, as a result of this, I have a lot of bullshit to scrape off the bottom of my shoes. ~Ziploc Surprise