Atheists who become Christians

[abaris]

Most people make snap decisions and form hasty beliefs with out researching the matter fully.

Yeah, have a mirror.

[Jackalope]

It makes sense to me.

Better lay off the glue, then.

[Jackalope]

She has done what SHE had to do to lessen the pain, I guess. Her seeing her family again in heaven trumps the fact her God took them away. (All for a reason, right? :rollseyes

It was how she chose to cope. I don't agree with it, I don't think I would change my mind if I went through something so terrible. But I don't mock her.

Nobody is born with the ability to cope with the sort of trauma that your friend endured. We all do so as best we can.

You know many of the terrible things that I experienced when I was younger - I will not repeat them here. I could have easily used faith as a crutch - and perhaps for a while, I did - but mostly I dealt with my trauma in ways that were damaging to myself, and were no less irrational.

Like you, I can't really blame someone for coping in the way your friend does.

[abaris]

I could have easily used faith as a crutch - and perhaps for a while, I did - but mostly I dealt with my trauma in ways that were damaging to myself, and were no less irrational.

When sitting at my father's deathbed some 11 years ago, this was such a moment. There was this nagging thought of never seeing him again. Turning to faith would have been the easy way back then, but it would also have been the dishonest thing to do. I simply couldn't believe, even at that moment.

[Exian]

I used to be a Christian. My faith was important to me and something that I took for granted. In my forties, I began to have serious doubts and nothing that I could do would stop those doubts. Actually, at one point in my life I would get down on my face and beg god not to harden my heart. Questioning was traumatic for me and not something I asked to do. Every night I read my bible and my doubts grew.

The final straw came when my adolescent, learning disabled son got his girlfriend pregnant. We had given them birth control because we knew that they were sexually active even though my son-for whatever reason- told us that he wasn't having sex. So yeah, I was disappointed in him and it was that disappointment that clicked something in my head. Never would I want my son to suffer because he upset me. There is nothing that he could do that would make me turn against him. He could try to kill me or hate me and I would still love him and want what was best for him. The god that I worshiped wanted people to go to a place of eternal misery because they didn't love him enough. He was supposed to be a parental figure and yet, I, the faulty human was a far better parent then he was.

At that point, I stopped believing and it stopped hurting that I didn't have belief any longer. So when Drich starts that nonsense about just believing I take offense.

I relate so much to this. I remember when the thought hit me that I could develop a better god based on just my family. That was a big deconversion step.

[Mudhammam]

Which book?
Unless my version was missing a divinely inspired preface, the Bible never states, "All sixty books here included are God's words."

You're relying on humans (who first wrote the books and then later canonized them) to decide for you which books are divine and which are not. Obviously, that's all you can do as your God lacks any obligation to perform jobs for us since, you know, he's no more real than Poseidon.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se...hy+3:16-17

This one set of verses answers your question.

Your objection is answered not in the philosophy of scripture but in the answer God directly gives when you a/s/k.

Which Scripture do you think that's referring to and why? According to your logic it might be implying that the Qur'an, The Book of Mormon, or hell, The Origin of Species, is "given by inspiration." Newton's genius certainly shamed your prophets.

You're saying you asked God and he told you he authored these books? You said this occurred after your brain exploded at hell's gates?

[The Valkyrie]

I guess some atheists do have weak minds. I jump to this conclusion after reading many former atheists stories of their conversion and the reasons for them.

[watchamadoodle]

The next step as after I was a believer, and began to fall into the trap of religion (worshiping the method of worship rather than God.)

http://atheistforums.org/thread-13378.html

That's an interesting story, but it doesn't necessarily mean that Christianity is true. In fact, believiing in Christianity requires you to ignore the historical evidence indicating fundamental changes to Judaism and Christianity over the centuries - not at all like God was inspiring those religions. Also, if Christianity is true, we should expect to see God doing something, and scientists should be able to measure that activity. Even if God's activity is limited to helping Christians find their car keys more often than non-Christians, this affect should be measurable.

So there are many reasons to disbelieve in Christianity, and if you know about hallucinations, then you should be very skeptical of guardian angels bumming money off you at a convenience store. If the guardian angel was a hallucination, then of course it would know everything about your life. If you were inspired by predictions of the hallucination, then you might work hard to fulfill those predictions.

If a guardian angel tells you that 1 + 1 = 3, are you going to believe him? Christianity is the equivalent of 1 + 1 = 3. (IMO)

EDIT: Even if you accept that you experienced something supernatural, it would be more reasonable to suspect that you were simply hearing a message from some non-Christian entity in the language of your religious beliefs. For example, in the Martian Chronicles, a martian appeared to be Jesus to a priest, because that was the language the priest would understand.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Man is a spirit he lives in a body he understands with his soul. You can never understand the things of God with your mind they have to be understood with your heart (spirit). Man is not like other animals that are body only. Man is a spirit man and God like and eternal.

[The Valkyrie]

Man is a spirit he lives in a body he understands with his soul. You can never understand the things of God with your mind they have to be understood with your heart (spirit). Man is not like other animals that are body only. Man is a spirit man and God like and eternal.

We have the claims. Now, once more, we need to wait for the evidence.