(December 30, 2015 at 10:42 pm)Natachan Wrote:(December 30, 2015 at 10:17 am)Deidre32 Wrote: If you were ever a theist/believer, what led you to no longer believe? Not looking to preach, that’s not my thing and it’s against rules anyway, but just curious. I remember my own journey over the past few years with it all, and just thought it’d be interesting to hear your ‘stories’ if you were once believers before identifying as an atheist.
Short answer: I saw no positive reason to continue believing and as such could not justify a belief in God.
Longer answer: when I first went to college I studied history. I took courses in archeology and anthropology. When looking into the history of the bible in the times the events were said to occur there was silence. Utter silence. So a disconnect formed. I knew how history was studied, and how it was established. And I also believed that the bible was true. But the history I learned through established scholarship could not exist in the same way and time as biblical history.
So I simultaneously believed these two things that could not be reconciled. But I hated this conflict. I decided I had to be honest with myself. So I sat down and thought it out. Did I accept the bible stories and throw out everything I knew about history and epistemology, or would I throw out the the bible stories? I have to be consistent.
In order to be consistent I had to accept that I didn't buy the whole God thing.
Actually, some Bible history is true, it can be traced to potentially actual events, but I know what you're talking about. Yes, very interesting path you've taken. So fascinating how everyone came to identify with atheism, no two stories remotely alike. When I left Christianity and belief of a deity in general, it had a lot to do with that disconnect you speak of, that all I had been taught about my faith simply wasn't true. But, coming back to faith...I view the Bible differently, albeit not as a text book but as a spiritual book, and much of it is based on allegory. Appreciate your story here, do you feel that secular views and faith can't coexist? That at some point, someone must make a choice about which 'world view' to let go of? I think they can coexist.
