RE: Doubting Thomas
September 5, 2014 at 11:58 am
(This post was last modified: September 5, 2014 at 12:01 pm by Brian37.)
The first question that got my ball rolling was a question a construction worker asked me back in the late 80s "What if Jesus was just a man". Prior to that I merely accepted Christianity as fact even though the entire time it really didn't square with me even though I didn't know why. Everyone else was doing it so there had to be truth to it. That guy challenging social norms is what started it because it was the first time someone triggered my doubt.
It still took me from that moment from going to believing, to ok, Christianity is not true, but there has to be some sort of god with all this beauty, to the next big jarring "AH HA", moment when I went to the Smithsonian Museum in DC. They had an exhibit of the Ankor Wat Cambodian complex. At the start of that dynasty the religion was strictly Buddhist, but about half way through Hindus started to mix with them, then the statues gained Hindu features even though the dominate motif was Buddhist.
I finally called myself an atheist when a fellow college student in the mid 90s said he was. But event then I kept it to myself. It was not until shortly after 9/11, when an atheist nurse from Chicago had her opinion spread throughout the nation in an AP opinion, which made my local paper, that I decided to get online and seek out other atheists.
I admit, that day when I got on the internet, I did have a fear of "what if someone finds out" and"am I getting involved in a cult". But it took me less than a week to get over that and I have not looked back since. Every day since I have spent time on line reading and learning from others and debating and motivating others to be comfortable in their own skin.
It still took me from that moment from going to believing, to ok, Christianity is not true, but there has to be some sort of god with all this beauty, to the next big jarring "AH HA", moment when I went to the Smithsonian Museum in DC. They had an exhibit of the Ankor Wat Cambodian complex. At the start of that dynasty the religion was strictly Buddhist, but about half way through Hindus started to mix with them, then the statues gained Hindu features even though the dominate motif was Buddhist.
I finally called myself an atheist when a fellow college student in the mid 90s said he was. But event then I kept it to myself. It was not until shortly after 9/11, when an atheist nurse from Chicago had her opinion spread throughout the nation in an AP opinion, which made my local paper, that I decided to get online and seek out other atheists.
I admit, that day when I got on the internet, I did have a fear of "what if someone finds out" and"am I getting involved in a cult". But it took me less than a week to get over that and I have not looked back since. Every day since I have spent time on line reading and learning from others and debating and motivating others to be comfortable in their own skin.
