Why Do You or Did You Believe?

[Jenny A]

Jenny, and Rythm, - the official line is evolution/ no reason behind life.

Without an overpowering reason to continue in life when the pleasure/ good does not come even close to the unpleasant/bad experiences, why would one go on?

If you have been in a place where life is that unpleasant, I'm very sorry. I've had times when life was bad, but not when I expected it to stay bad forever. I want to go on because life is either good or going to be good.

I am a very practical guy, when you stand back and look at life objectively and dispassionately, leaving here looks quite reasonable.
After all- all of us do leave one day don't we?
It is just a matter of timing.

Well yes we do all leave life one day. But, I find that reason for making the best of the days that I have. I do all sorts of good or pleasurable things that end or are likely to end. I wouldn't quit them in the middle just because they will end.

Beyond that, I am important to a number of people, and I wouldn't walk out on them intentionally.

[Chad32]

Honestly I think everyone gives meaning to their own lives. If you want to follow a religion, or have a "relationship" with any deity, that's your choice. It's one of countless choices. Of course ending your life on your own terms is also your choice.

My personal meaning in life is to continue enjoying the things in life that give me pleasure, and I do find things to enjoy.

[The Grand Nudger]

Jenny, and Rythm, - the official line is evolution/ no reason behind life.

Without an overpowering reason to continue in life when the pleasure/ good does not come even close to the unpleasant/bad experiences, why would one go on?
I am a very practical guy, when you stand back and look at life objectively and dispassionately, leaving here looks quite reasonable.
After all- all of us do leave one day don't we?
It is just a matter of timing

Meh, I suppose I've never been short of those overpowering reasons for one, if we're confining ourselves to the thought experiment. I've been divorced (/w kid), cheated, lied to, shot at (and returned fire). Sick....so sick, really painfully malingeringly sick- but it's never seemed to me as though the bad outweighed the good.

I'm a very practical guy too, and I suppose I just don't see anything reasonable at all about planning a premature exit, precisely -because- we all leave one day anyway. Hell, at the very least it's a choice I can't "unmake" - and I avoid those, as a rule.

:edit - all of this is assuming some pretty flimsy stuff though, with regards to whether or not one needs any reason at all, let alone an overpowering one - to do anything. Living is something that you can't simply reason yourself into or out of in any case. I doubt that infants or animals have "overpowering reasons" - it's all handled a bit more simply, eh?

[Knowledge of God]

As a person who can't remember ever believing in god I have a serious question for believers:

Why do you believe?

I want to be very very clear here. I'm not asking you to try to prove god. I'm only asking what it is that makes you believe even if it's no more than I always have.

For atheists who once believed I ask the same question:

Why did you believe?

And I add a second question:

What made you stop believing?

Let's say you are hungry and you have two possiblities there, eating your own crap or a nice pile of spaghetti bolognaise.

Easy isn't it.

[*Deidre*]

Why did you believe?

I believed as a result from being raised by Christian parents. Indoctrination, mixed with fear. When I grew into adulthood, I think the fear aspect stuck around, but I also believed that a life lived without believing in 'God' would result in an unhappy one. Back then, I suppose I felt a sense of genuine happiness as a Christian, but now, being an atheist and seeing how authentically happy I am...I don't thnk I was for many years following religion.

Why did I leave?

I no longer believed the Bible as truth. First, came an unraveling of religion...abandoning that. I don't believe we can ever know with certainty or not if a god exists, but I choose to accept that one does not. There is a lot of freedom in letting go of any beliefs, and just living life as best you can...helping others, and trying to make the planet a better place. I no longer feel the need to pretend to know how a god thinks or what he expects of me. It was a gradual process for me, took a few years to finally be comfortable seeing myself as an atheist.

[Ravenshire]

Let's say you are hungry and you have two possiblities there, eating your own crap or a nice pile of spaghetti bolognaise.

Easy isn't it.

So, why do you keep eating the crap?

[Jenny A]

As a person who can't remember ever believing in god I have a serious question for believers:

Why do you believe?

I want to be very very clear here. I'm not asking you to try to prove god. I'm only asking what it is that makes you believe even if it's no more than I always have.

For atheists who once believed I ask the same question:

Why did you believe?

And I add a second question:

What made you stop believing?

Let's say you are hungry and you have two possiblities there, eating your own crap or a nice pile of spaghetti bolognaise.

Easy isn't it.

Is it god that makes you the person you are?

[Chad32]

As a person who can't remember ever believing in god I have a serious question for believers:

Why do you believe?

I want to be very very clear here. I'm not asking you to try to prove god. I'm only asking what it is that makes you believe even if it's no more than I always have.

For atheists who once believed I ask the same question:

Why did you believe?

And I add a second question:

What made you stop believing?

Let's say you are hungry and you have two possiblities there, eating your own crap or a nice pile of spaghetti bolognaise.

Easy isn't it.

False dichotomies are not going to work. Even if you figure out it's the "spaghetti", instead of all the other choice foods, you could spend your entire life debating over which brand of spaghetti is the right one.

[Tonus]

For atheists who once believed I ask the same question:

Why did you believe?

I was raised a Christian, which means that I believed because everyone else believed. For a child, Yahweh and Jesus are what you get when parents forget to tell you that Santa Claus is just made-up.

What made you stop believing?

I gave up my beliefs gradually because I believed that they were supposed to make sense. Not in the apologetic way, where you end up with a lot of "it could have been this" or "who are you to say that god didn't do it" or "scientists are wrong/mislead/part of a conspiracy/etc." Trying to make mythological creatures fit into the modern world worked as well as it could be expected to.

[paulpablo]

Started believing because everyone told me to start believing. Age 3-8

Still half believed but was a bit skeptical because of things like dinosaurs and that god seemed to do absolutely nothing to effect reality and stories in the bible like Noahs ark and adam and eve. age 8-12

Stopped believing after doing a bit of research into the history of all religions. age 13-26

Became interested in Religious arguments and began to watch more celebrity atheists like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, plus loads of others who I'd always liked such as Ricky gervais, David Mitchell. Joined this forum and a load of Muslim ones. Age 26 - 29 (now).