(December 31, 2015 at 4:34 pm)Deidre32 Wrote:(December 30, 2015 at 10:42 pm)Natachan Wrote: 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.
Sorry if this isn't the best. Have had a few ciders (I got married!!!!). But this warrants an answer.
What you are describing is the last stage of theism I went through. I viewed almost all of the bible as allegory and had no problem with it being not literally true. However when I sat down a problem emerged. In order to properly call oneself a Christian a person has to believe that there was a single person Jesus, that he was was God incarnate, and that he came back to life after being dead three days. And that's where the problem came up.
Now you asked can secular views and theism coexist. Absolutely they can. Now however we are leaving 21-year-old me and moving more towards how I think presently. Secular views have nothing inherently to do with theism. Either God exists or he does not. This is a fact about the universe. Either way we still have to define frameworks within which we operate, and they have to be consistent. Add to this the question is pointless without a clear definition of God.
