Considering atheism [Currently Christian]

[downbeatplumb]

I find considering atheism to be strange.
you either believe or you don't.
It isn't a choice, at least not for me.

[The Grand Nudger]

As well as being an atheist, I am also a secular humanist. My secular humanism tells you a lot more about me than my atheism.

Hell, the color of my hair... tells a person more about me than the status of my belief in gods.  

[drfuzzy]

Memes are fun.  Books about atheism are interesting.  But if you really want to examine your faith, read the Bible.
No, I'm not joking.  Read it as you would read any book that purports to be factual.  Read it without the rose-colored glasses of "ooh, GOD wrote this".
Read it and think.

I was raised Protestant Pentecostal.  I went to a christian school.  I have been a church musician for decades.  I was raised to believe the Bible was WRITTEN
BY GOD and infallible.  Even as a child, then, the contradictions in the book worried me.  There are many.  But I was taught that I would go to hell if I doubted.
Bibviz - more than 600 Bible contradictions cross-referenced
What finally, and gradually, took me to my current atheistic state was primarily reading Bible passages and daring to question them.  There are so many - 
even in the New Testament - that struck me as either ignorant or PURE EVIL.  And this is the book that Christians base their entire lives upon.

Science studies can't hurt.  They lead to more questioning about the universe and the creation of the world.
Isaac Asimov: “Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”

[The Grand Nudger]

Even that is probably ancillary to dropping christerism.  One could ignore the contradictions and suppose it were all true.  That you really can get out from under your misdeeds by brutalizing the better man....but, if you could, would you?  Are you that kind of person?

I'm not, so..in my case, regardless of whether or not magic book is bullshit start to finish (it is, katie), and regardless of whether or not there's a god (there isn't, lulz)....I still couldn't be a christian.  

Point is, many paths lead to the end of christian faith and fealty, not all of them based in science, or contradictions, or atheism, or even whether or not the story is true. Lemme leave some words from the prophet....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqmFxgEGKH0

[drfuzzy]

Even that is probably ancillary to dropping christerism.  One could ignore the contradictions and suppose it were all true.  That you really can get out from under your misdeeds by brutalizing the better man....but, if you could, would you?  Are you that kind of person?

I'm not, so..in my case, regardless of whether or not magic book is bullshit start to finish (it is, katie), and regardless of whether or not there's a god (there isn't, lulz)....I still couldn't be a christian.  

Point is, many paths lead to the end of christian faith and fealty, not all of them based in science, or contradictions, or atheism, or even whether or not the story is true.   Lemme leave some words from the prophet....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqmFxgEGKH0

Great point, Khemikal!  Yeah, it's not just "the book" for most people.  Most people haven't read it.  It started with "the book" for me because "the book" was the basis for EVERYTHING to my parents.  Some of us need to toss away that idea that "the book" is special.

After tossing away that misconception, one can take a look at the whole Christ/God/Sacrifice/Redemption/Resurrection bit and if you can finally look at the story logically, the only reasonable response is "why the hell was I even ever capable of believing this ridiculous bullshit?".   

And then you look at . . . well, everything else.  Hell, no, I couldn't be a xtian.  I'm so glad that I finally woke up and took a look at the real world.

[vorlon13]

The dilemma for all of us is whether to believe Jesus or not?
He said straight out that he was an alien with awesome powers, and as scientists estimate there are thousands of intelligent alien races in our galaxy alone, maybe he was an alien visitor plain and simple?


"According to Drake, the average of people's best estimates suggests that there are about 10,000 technically advanced civilisations spread across our galaxy"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/unive...e_equation

---

I've fucked Christian men in the ass, Christian men have fucked me in the ass, I have given Christian men blow jobs, and Christian men have given me blow jobs . . .

What makes you think they were Christians?..

They have more street cred in that regard than Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson, Robert Tilton, Pat Robertson, Peter Popoff, Pat Robertson, Tammy Bakker and Pat Robertson.

[TheBeardedDude]

Are you considering atheism or are you considering the flaws of your current religious belief system?

I don't think the two need be unconnected, but this seems less like you're questioning the existence a god (which would be equivalent with considering atheism) and more that you're considering the strengths of scientific arguments compared to religious beliefs.


Cheers
TheBeardedDude

[Succubus]

When I was an atheist, it seemed like a natural conclusion I came to and not really a "choice." I wish you well as you figure it out for yourself.

Deidre, I'm confused. If atheism is a natural conclusion then presumably for you to arrive at your present position you must be using a more potent natural conclusion. What happened?

[Whateverist]

I think the meme seemed to be talking about faith/belief, and that the very concept of belief (not just religious belief) essentially opposed science.

When I read the first short paragraph, I quickly thought the meme was idiotic, because there can also be scientific belief, which is separate from religious belief.

But then, the last paragraph is the paragraph that grabbed me. I was a Christian,  and I appreciated science as one of God's best gift to man.

I was slowly viewing the world differently now, and not only am I considering atheism, but I also thinking about staying away from the very concept of belief too.

I'm most interested in your saying you're considering staying away from the concept of belief. As for your "considering atheism" I translate that as you are considering the possibility that belief in God is neither required nor justified. Others have pointed out that there is nothing to atheism as a thing in itself.

I've always grated at the use to which "belief" is put in religion. I prefer to think of belief as something reasoned to. Contrast that to "faith". Faith is basically a belief that cannot be reasoned to, one I recognize I cannot be justified. So I have faith that my sense of composition is good, that my affection for my mate is reciprocated and any number of other things which reason and empiricism alone cannot establish. Most importantly I have faith in my own capacity to recognize the truth so long as I don't hang on to positions after new information shows them to be inadequate. Faith should be humble. If I were a Christian, I'd be quick to agree I could not justify those beliefs, that I merely held them on faith. I would never expect my profession of faith to be persuasive. But given my frame of mind, I could never be a Christian.

[*Deidre*]

When I was an atheist, it seemed like a natural conclusion I came to and not really a "choice." I wish you well as you figure it out for yourself.

Deidre, I'm confused. If atheism is a natural conclusion then presumably for you to arrive at your present position you must be using a more potent natural conclusion. What happened?

Well, when I look back over the past five years of going from belief to disbelief to belief (leaving out a lot of details of course) I would say that emotionally, I wasn't "comfortable" as an atheist and that struggle between my mind and emotions started when my grandmother became ill a few years ago and then passed away. Maybe the main delineating line between belief and lack of belief comes in the form of wanting (or needing) to believe vs. being comfortable with the idea that no god exists. My mind and heart never "agreed" when I was an atheist. :/