Why did you believe?
I believed as a result from being raised by Christian parents. Indoctrination, mixed with fear. When I grew into adulthood, I think the fear aspect stuck around, but I also believed that a life lived without believing in 'God' would result in an unhappy one. Back then, I suppose I felt a sense of genuine happiness as a Christian, but now, being an atheist and seeing how authentically happy I am...I don't thnk I was for many years following religion.
Why did I leave?
I no longer believed the Bible as truth. First, came an unraveling of religion...abandoning that. I don't believe we can ever know with certainty or not if a god exists, but I choose to accept that one does not. There is a lot of freedom in letting go of any beliefs, and just living life as best you can...helping others, and trying to make the planet a better place. I no longer feel the need to pretend to know how a god thinks or what he expects of me. It was a gradual process for me, took a few years to finally be comfortable seeing myself as an atheist.
I believed as a result from being raised by Christian parents. Indoctrination, mixed with fear. When I grew into adulthood, I think the fear aspect stuck around, but I also believed that a life lived without believing in 'God' would result in an unhappy one. Back then, I suppose I felt a sense of genuine happiness as a Christian, but now, being an atheist and seeing how authentically happy I am...I don't thnk I was for many years following religion.
Why did I leave?
I no longer believed the Bible as truth. First, came an unraveling of religion...abandoning that. I don't believe we can ever know with certainty or not if a god exists, but I choose to accept that one does not. There is a lot of freedom in letting go of any beliefs, and just living life as best you can...helping others, and trying to make the planet a better place. I no longer feel the need to pretend to know how a god thinks or what he expects of me. It was a gradual process for me, took a few years to finally be comfortable seeing myself as an atheist.
