Atheism, what led you?

[Gearbreak]

WHat led me to being a deist is that I believed in god, but I felt that it was impossible for humans to understand or define it. MOst people here probably find that silly, but that's not my opinion. SO it doesn't matter.

[TosinAsLeader]

I apologize, I should have read the first 3 pages or so. What made you convinced?

A silly thing, at first, but it was enough.
I heard a news on the radio, when I was 10. It was about having footage of some event in a remote village in China... And I remember thinking something like "man, they have cameras everywhere, nowadays" (this was over 20 years ago, so you can imagine how this sort of reasoning can be even more applied today.
Anyway, cameras everywhere... and then "puf".... you know what else is supposed to be everywhere? this god thing they people about. How come no camera has yet captured it? something's not right...
I thought I was the only person in the world on to this thing of "god not being there", so I kept quiet...
Then I learned about evolution and that contradicted genesis.
I learned there was a name for people like me, atheists.... and that we're about 20% of the world's population.... that's was a bit of a relief...
Then I learned about other religions and couldn't come up with a way to make sense of that fact, unless they were all man-made... and here I am, still under that distinct impression that all religions are man-made, even if the people making them up are truly convinced of what they claim... but that don't make it so, does it?
Then I learned a bit about psychology and how the brain can work to make you think something is true, when it isn't...
All religious experiences got automatically relegated to psychological experiences, self-delusion, etc...

And no one has managed to show me that it's not all in their minds. That this god thing is out there, like they claim in their holy books.
I await for this god thing to present itself to me like they claim it presents itself to people in their holy books... I await, like I hear a lot of other people awaiting.... and never getting anything. Makes it seem like they just made it up, huh?

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You reply was missing on the page, there, so here's a quote of it!

What science shows that the universe has never been without a creator? I'm asking out of more understanding.

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There are quite a few videos on youtube. WHich one?

Yes I have. Can you provide a example.

That does make sense. 'How can you believe in something if you haven't seen it?' I see what your saying. However, do you think that maybe a deity would want to seen? There just seems to be this big gap of like before we came into existence. If only we had video cameras at this time, what would the majority of the world really believe? You are right that all religions are man-made. Even 'Christianity," which wasn't even a religion until 200 years or so after Christ because of Emperor Constantine. I left Christianity, but am not an Atheist. I was just curious as to why the good people on this site are Atheists.

Thank you for bringing my replies back. I had no idea what happen, maybe a glitch or something.

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WHat led me to being a deist is that I believed in god, but I felt that it was impossible for humans to understand or define it. MOst people here probably find that silly, but that's not my opinion. SO it doesn't matter.

You believe God is impersonal, right?

[Simon Moon]

WHat led me to being a deist is that I believed in god, but I felt that it was impossible for humans to understand or define it. MOst people here probably find that silly, but that's not my opinion. SO it doesn't matter.

How can you possibly believe in something that you can't even define?

If we accept that 'belief' is defined as 'accepting a proposition as true', if you can't define what you believe in, what are you accepting as true?

[The Reality Salesman01]

[Gearbreak]

How can you possibly believe in something that you can't even define?

If we accept that 'belief' is defined as 'accepting a proposition as true', if you can't define what you believe in, what are you accepting as true?

THat was a poor use of the word define on my part. I use a simple definition of the word god. SImply a higher power. I don't believe anything more complicated that that, like giving god human characteristics and personality traits. Seems foolish.

[TosinAsLeader]

Is that the case with what you hold as true? It makes sense that God was introduced to us, either through parents or Christian Propaganda.

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How can you possibly believe in something that you can't even define?

If we accept that 'belief' is defined as 'accepting a proposition as true', if you can't define what you believe in, what are you accepting as true?

THat was a poor use of the word define on my part. I use a simple definition of the word god. SImply a higher power. I don't believe anything more complicated that that, like giving god human characteristics and personality traits. Seems foolish.

No offense, but it seems the two deists I have seen on this forum are confusing. You believe in God, thats it? If so, wouldn't that make you a "monotheist?"

[Faith No More]

A deist is someone that believes in a god that does not intervene in and is unconcerned with human affairs. A monotheist is someone that believes in a so-called "personal god."

[TosinAsLeader]

A deist is someone that believes in a god that does not intervene in and is unconcerned with human affairs. A monotheist is someone that believes in a so-called "personal god."

If I'm correct, aren't their different types of Monotheism?

[Faith No More]

Yes. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are all examples of monotheism.

[pocaracas]

My view of the deism/monotheism is more like:
monotheism: belief in one god.
Deism: belief in a god (or more than one) that has no intervention in the physical world, or a very limited one... so limited, we lowly humans have no awareness of it (they).