I have returned

[TruthWorthy]

Hi everyone, I was an active member here some time ago. Not a great deal has changed since I left. I'm an agnostic atheist and a skeptic. I have strong atheistic views toward established religious denominations/sects but I'm tollerant and mindful of others' beliefs, for the most part.

[Tiberius]

Didn't you convert to Christianity at some point...or maybe some form of deism? Why the big reversal (again)?

[theVOID]

Welcome back

[HeyItsZeus]

Well, I probably wasn't even a member when you were around since I don't recognize you but hello.

[Zen Badger]

Welcome back mate,

What happened to the catholicism??

[TruthWorthy]

Didn't you convert to Christianity at some point...or maybe some form of deism? Why the big reversal (again)?

Welcome back mate,

What happened to the catholicism??

Do you remember how I posted on about having to believe (in God) in order to consider it truthfully? I took up Catholicism because of a dream I had of my baptism - it was actually a memory. It turned out that I have an exceptionally strong long term memory. In the time that passed from my last visit, I discovered that I have autism - would you fucking believe that!? I'm high functioning. That's why my language in posts was/is skewed.
To top it off, I only learned that I have aspergers through my participation in a course on applied social psychology; something which some members probably remember me going on about, I posted content heavily laden with jargon.
I spent a lot of time coming to grips with 26 years of being unaware.

Welcome back

Thanks Void, it's nice to be back!

Well, I probably wasn't even a member when you were around since I don't recognize you but hello.

Hi thanks for the welcome.

[theVOID]

To be honest I've never had any problem reading your posts, you always seemed more artistic that autistic, but it was all understandable.

How did you manage to convince yourself to believe in a God? For me belief is synonymous with conclusion, it is what I conclude to be consistent with reality, therefore I act as if my beliefs are true in whatever circumstance they may be relevant.

[The Omnissiunt One]

When I read the title of this thread, I thought Jesus was announcing his second coming on this forum. How ironic would that be...

[Autumnlicious]

Hi TruthWorthy!

Remember me?

I am glad to see you return - it saddened me when you left us so suddenly.

[TruthWorthy]

To be honest I've never had any problem reading your posts, you always seemed more artistic that autistic, but it was all understandable.

How did you manage to convince yourself to believe in a God? For me belief is synonymous with conclusion, it is what I conclude to be consistent with reality, therefore I act as if my beliefs are true in whatever circumstance they may be relevant.

Something fr0d0 had said about not seeing God without belief. I figured that if I were to reason from the understanding that God is there I could also experience God (which is true in the sense that perception tends to accept/deny what is expected). I'm able to adopt different mindsets in a way that many others are unable. I have singular consciousness so that my being absorbed in a concept is like a meditative state/altered frame of mind. Basically my mind becomes what I think about (without other thoughts interacting with that). To explain the process I took toward this, in working from the basis that there is a God, I basically had to consider why God wouldn't make his presence known. Would there be issues enmass? I think that's highly likely, as each religious organisation would claim that God were their's and not belonging to other denominations, added that there are enough wars on the basis of faith than that with full knowledge. And what if God wanted to see his subjects make decisions for themselves. Could it not also be argued that God does nothing except watch? So working from this I asked myself whether I could deny the implication that God's presence should be innately "known", and I know I had to attribute characteristics to God in the process but my objective was to accept a God existed. In fact, part of me still wants there to be a God, unlike previously when I was angry and resented the belief in God that others preech. Indeed, why should the idea be unwanted - who really wants there to be nothing after death? All that thought, and feeling it out led to me having the vivid dream where I recalled my baptism, to date it's the earliest memory I know I've unlocked - provided my time line's correct.
I'm also aware of the irony of accepting God because it's desirable, it was just a means of considering the possibility, as fr0d0 et.al would say, "in context".

Hi TruthWorthy!

Remember me?

I am glad to see you return - it saddened me when you left us so suddenly.

How on Earth could I forget you Syn!? I didn't only leave AF, I also took a deferral from uni (which I'm still on) and shut my self off from the world for some time. I also went through a whole lot while that diagnosis was coming through. Still am. I'm going back to uni again as soon as my text is returned by some one I lent it out to. Good to see you again.

When I read the title of this thread, I thought Jesus was announcing his second coming on this forum. How ironic would that be...

It could very well be just that wouldn't it be weird if I were Jesus disguised as an autistic Australian and impartial atheist? That would be something