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Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:06 pm
For those of you who used to believe in a deity or subscribe to some kind of religion, what was it, and what was the very first thing that gave you pause? I'm not asking for you to tell your entire deconversion process, as there is a perfectly awesome corner of the forums for that. Just tell us what that first spark of inspiration was that led you away from faith.
Oh, me? I'm an ex-Mormon, and the first big one for me was finding out just by reading through it a few times (while I was a missionary, no less) that the Book of Mormon was more or less a bastardized plagiarism of the Bible. You can probably surmise where things went from there. 
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:15 pm
I was formerly a Christian. I never believed in heaven or hell, at least as it is illustrated in the Bible.
What ultimately caused me to turn the corner was how I couldn't reconcile Genesis with what I knew was true of science. And then, when it became acceptable to view Genesis as metaphorical in nature, when up until Charles Darwin arriving on the scene, it was taught as literal -- I realized that the Bible is a lie that has made Christianity a very powerful and wealthy religion.
And I don't believe any religions know the answers to what science doesn't currently know.
Religion is all bunk.
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:19 pm
ex-Jehovah's Witness. I can't recall what the exact first thing was, though I can recall being troubled by the case of Judas, the guy who betrays Jesus in the NT. It is the first time that I could not come up with an apologetic defense of god regardless of how much stretching and twisting and "interpreting" I tried to do.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:22 pm
Born catholic...forced to participate in all of their stupid-assed rituals. When I was 11 an incident in a Sunday school class caused me to re-evaluate religious personnel.
It was all downhill from there. It is not a creed which can withstand close study.
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:25 pm
(March 13, 2014 at 1:06 pm)Bad Writer Wrote: For those of you who used to believe in a deity or subscribe to some kind of religion, what was it, and what was the very first thing that gave you pause? I'm not asking for you to tell your entire deconversion process, as there is a perfectly awesome corner of the forums for that. Just tell us what that first spark of inspiration was that led you away from faith.
Oh, me? I'm an ex-Mormon, and the first big one for me was finding out just by reading through it a few times (while I was a missionary, no less) that the Book of Mormon was more or less a bastardized plagiarism of the Bible. You can probably surmise where things went from there.
What stopped you just saying "well the bible was sort of right, but the Book of Mormon is a superior version" or something like that to rationalise it?
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:31 pm
I was raised with a milquetoast kind of faith in God. I was encouraged to pray from time to time, and even have tried it, but never to any avail. What nailed it for me was thinking about humans as machines. I realized that the evidence says that our memories and personality are generated our brains, and that any notion of afterlife appeared absurd as a consequence. I'm not sure where i got the input, but hearing of cases of mental disability may have been the origin of this line of thought. With this bit gone, the whole god thing just went out of the window, the christian god anyways, and even if there was one, it would not affect me beyond my lifetime. I was about 13. By the time I underwent protestant confirmation and the two years of instruction that go with it, I was already a pretty dyed in the wool atheist.
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:36 pm
I was at church and I passed out.. the priest brought me in the back where I woke up with my pants undone. .. ha. J.k. . it was when I actually read the bible..
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:46 pm
(This post was last modified: March 13, 2014 at 1:52 pm by Bad Writer.)
(March 13, 2014 at 1:25 pm)FreeTony Wrote: Bad Writer Wrote:I'm an ex-Mormon, and the first big one for me was finding out just by reading through it a few times (while I was a missionary, no less) that the Book of Mormon was more or less a bastardized plagiarism of the Bible. You can probably surmise where things went from there.
What stopped you just saying "well the bible was sort of right, but the Book of Mormon is a superior version" or something like that to rationalise it?
I had already rationalized that the BoM was a piece of elaborate fiction, and Mormons are raised to distrust the Bible and to use the Book of Mormon as its crutch for doctrines that don't make a lot of sense. When the Book of Mormon fell, so did the Bible, in my eyes. My initial justifications for disbelieving evolved over time to what they are now. I'm now of the opinion that the Bible is just as fictitious as the Lord of the Rings.
(March 13, 2014 at 1:36 pm)truthBtold Wrote: I was at church and I passed out.. the priest brought me in the back where I woke up with my pants undone. .. ha. J.k. . it was when I actually read the bible..
Cute. 
What religion were you?
(March 13, 2014 at 1:22 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Born catholic...forced to participate in all of their stupid-assed rituals. When I was 11 an incident in a Sunday school class caused me to re-evaluate religious personnel.
It was all downhill from there. It is not a creed which can withstand close study.
I don't know if I've asked you yet what the "incident" was, but I can think of a few scenarios when we are talking about the Catholic Church, and most of those are unsavory.
On another note, what are your thoughts concerning the new Pope potty-mouth?
![[Image: 10314461_875206779161622_3907189760171701548_n.jpg]](https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10314461_875206779161622_3907189760171701548_n.jpg)
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 1:55 pm
Probably just reading things in the bible that most people in first world countries would never approve of, and in the end the only explanation is "You have to have faith". We know god's right because the bible says he's always right, so you just have to have faith that what he did was right. I think that's probably a common trigger for people.
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RE: Dear ex-theists
March 13, 2014 at 2:05 pm
(March 13, 2014 at 1:46 pm)Bad Writer Wrote: (March 13, 2014 at 1:25 pm)FreeTony Wrote: What stopped you just saying "well the bible was sort of right, but the Book of Mormon is a superior version" or something like that to rationalise it?
I had already rationalized that the BoM was a piece of elaborate fiction, and Mormons are raised to distrust the Bible and to use the Book of Mormon as its crutch for doctrines that don't make a lot of sense. When the Book of Mormon fell, so did the Bible, in my eyes. My initial justifications for disbelieving evolved over time to what they are now. I'm now of the opinion that the Bible is just as fictitious as the Lord of the Rings.
(March 13, 2014 at 1:36 pm)truthBtold Wrote: I was at church and I passed out.. the priest brought me in the back where I woke up with my pants undone. .. ha. J.k. . it was when I actually read the bible..
Cute.
What religion were you?
(March 13, 2014 at 1:22 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Born catholic...forced to participate in all of their stupid-assed rituals. When I was 11 an incident in a Sunday school class caused me to re-evaluate religious personnel.
It was all downhill from there. It is not a creed which can withstand close study.
I don't know if I've asked you yet what the "incident" was, but I can think of a few scenarios when we are talking about the Catholic Church, and most of those are unsavory.
On another note, what are your thoughts concerning the new Pope potty-mouth?
Catholic. .
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