(April 18, 2015 at 5:34 am)robvalue Wrote: I'm interested in hearing from those of you who have come out of religion. What would you list as your sincere beliefs while you were a theist? For example:
Did you really believe there was a god, and if so, what did you feel you knew about him?
Did you really think your holy book was divinely inspired?
Did you have experiences which you really thought were divine interactions?
What else did you believe then that you don't now?
I hope it goes without saying I'm not intending to make fun of anyone, I'm genuinely interested. Having never been the slightest bit religious, I can't even imagine what it must feel like to have any of these kinds of beliefs. How did they make you feel?
Thank you
Yes, I believed there was a god and the reason being was because of my mother. We did not attend church and she did not read me the Bible, but I partially (and I say partially because I'm 15) grew up with a Christian point of view instilled in my mind. She used to always ramble on about God, including other family members. Too young to really think about it, I went along with it.
Technically, I did not think the Bible was divinely inspired because I never read it until recently, which is exactly what caused me to become an Atheist. I conducted research on religion, specifically Christianity amongst others, and read the entire Bible and looked for plausible evidence and came to the conclusion that I lack a belief in a deity.
I used to believe in Heaven and Hell. Now, all I believe is that this is my life and there is no afterlife and therefore I must make the best of it. If anything, I'd say becoming an Atheist has inspired me to continue on.