From atheism to Christianity? How so?

[pineapplebunnybounce]

Numbers and signs. That has confirmation bias written all over it. So this convinced you that it wasn't just god, it was the god of the bible? That's it? Come on, the bible talks about thousands of things and the fact that you see a lot of 3s makes all of them true?

Well, I already believed in God at that point. That was why the signs were important, which is that I felt like God was telling me a very fundamental and important truth about Himself which I didn't understand until I read the bible. That didn't tell me the whole bible was true but that at least some of it was true, enough for me to convert and give Jesus a chance to show me who He is.

Well, if these signs happened after you have believed, they're inconsequential to your convertion and only feeds my confirmation bias theory. How did you go from there is a god to it is the christian god? May I ask which denomination you are?

Let me tell you something, my grandparents are buddhists. Not the hippie type, the other type. And my grandfather had a dream where guanying (one of the ones they pray to) came and gave him lottery numbers. He bought the numbers and won.

The reason none of these are good enough evidence is because plenty of these things have happened to people of other religions which sucked them deeper into their religions. The obvious conclusion, and also the one that assumes the least, is that all of these are coincidences. You cannot conclude that all gods are real because that is not evidence of gods' existences, and that is assuming way too much. For those who conclude that, well that did not happen to me, therefore it's irrelevant to the my truth; they are just ignoring evidence and pretending that something like god's existence is a personal thing, it isn't, it should be a universal truth.

In the Christian perspective, it is not just God who gives signs to people. I received many lying signs which I thought were from God which led me to believe in my new age version of God. So, it's not that I believe that people who believe in other Gods are confused, but they are being actively deceived. That they have good reasons to believe what they believe (as far as they are aware).

That's the thing, the christian perspective is the biased perspective. You know that muslims believe the same thing right? They have a syaitan going around just like you guys have satan. If you ask me it's really just because every good book requires an arch enemy.

How do you know that these signs that you're getting aren't deceiving signs? What if the real deities are the ones my grandparents pray to? What if it is the muslim god? How do you know?

Another question, if you don't mind. I understand how you were convinced of god's existence. What convinced you to worship him? I cannot really think of anything that can convince me to worship someone unless with the threat of hell

Something that seems universal among atheists is an awe and wonder at the grandeur, the majestic beauty of the cosmos. The complex unity of creation, from the macro to the micro, is so wonderful and mysterious, isn't it? I think this is where the spirituality of atheists most comes into play. Now, considering all of that, maybe you can see that I feel the same way about the Universe but that I attribute it to God. When I am in awe of the wonder of it all, I am in awe of Him. When I see the beauty of a flower, I see His heart. When I marvel at the animals, their good humor and innocence, their connection to the ecosystem, I see His joy and His genius. I could go on but I think you get the picture. I find it very easy to worship the God who created this Universe because the Creation itself testifies to how awesome He really is. That doesn't even begin to highlight what I feel about what Jesus has done for me.

I get the idea, but I still do not understand it. I don't think it's a big deal if einstein solves some grade 3 math problem. But I do hold great admiration for the scientists who have discovered so much that the rest of us think are impossible. Being omnipotent takes that away. It is not deserving of worship. It may be deserving of admiration, but worship is a whole other thing, which you haven't explained because what "Jesus has done for you" only warrants gratitude, not worship.

God said He is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth. What that means is that you worship Him from your heart. You couldn't truly worship God out of fear, but it is right to have an awe and reverance and respect for Him. As you get to know God your heart will change because you will know His love, even in the greatest adversity, He is there.

Awe, reverence and respect I have for many human beings. It isn't worship. I wouldn't hold the same feelings for god, as I've explained earlier, if he is god, all this "creation" should be child's play.

As for not worshipping god out of fear, the bible says many times that you must have the fear of god. It says so over and over again. The fear has to be there, god wants it to be there.

As for god being there in the greatest adversity, what is he there for? To watch? Surely if god is there there shouldn't be adversity. I don't want to digress into the problem of evil. But I want to point out that you have no basis whatsoever in making that statement, you have not experienced the greatest adversity, or if you have, you have not experienced everyone's and there is no way for you to know if god is there.