Thread: Question for Atheists.

Originally Posted by sora12

Hello there.
I am interested in knowing when some of you who are Atheist became/ realized you were atheist and or how? (Sorry if I worded the question in a weird way.) Lately, I've been doubting my belief in God. I grew up all my life believing in him and I've never really given a second thought to his existence. So I just wanted to see if anybody went through a similar experience before they became Atheist and stuff like that.

I had a vision

I haven't thought about it in a long time, but up until I was about 19 or 20, I did have a personal deity with which I communed, which I petitioned for aid, and whom I to some extent tried to serve. I didn't take it for the Lord of the Universe or Creator of Life, and I responded more or less as an atheist when confronted with monotheists, but I did have a relationship with an entity in a broader causal domain, and it was a very real part of my life.

That relationship soured because of an occasion on which I opened myself to this being and, as a sort of side effect, had a vision of my future including my death. It was a future in which I was increasingly isolated and would have no power (that is, this being would not intercede) to save loved ones from profound suffering, and in which my death (in the midst of great social upheaval two or three years from now) was by no means guaranteed to serve the greater good.

Suffice it to say my response was not, "Thy will be done."

A few years down the road I made peace with my deity through Guru Yoga and let it more or less melt into the Tao, which is much more relevant to my experience of the world now.

I know it's not exactly analogous to your situation, but perhaps my story will illustrate that there are more ways out of your dilemma than simply answering True or False.

God is not a tyrant. He has rules, he asks you to follow them. If that makes you a tyrant, then guess what? Every boss/teacher/principal/country rules in tyranny. And, you don't even HAVE to follow all of them if you want to go to heaven. All you have to do is receive Christ as your savior.

And heaven isn't even the point of being a Christian!!


Oh, and I love this point:

I think God is mean, thus, I decided to stop believing in him.
Does no one have a backbone these days? What kind of childish logic is that?

Originally Posted by Noogah

God is not a tyrant. He has rules, he asks you to follow them. If that makes you a tyrant, then guess what? Every boss/teacher/principal/country rules in tyranny. And, you don't even HAVE to follow all of them if you want to go to heaven. All you have to do is receive Christ as your savior.

And heaven isn't even the point of being a Christian!!


Oh, and I love this point:

I think God is mean, thus, I decided to stop believing in him.
Does no one have a backbone these days? What kind of childish logic is that?

Noogah, this is not a debate thread and those who have posted so far are only providing the OP with the information she asked for. Please take it to another thread.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

Noogah, this is not a debate thread and those who have posted so far are only providing the OP with the information she asked for. Please take it to another thread.

What do you mean it isn't a debate thread??? Such a thing does not exist in the r/s.

Anyways, I was not debating. I simply trying to clear something up.

Some people here make me sad to be theistic in certain ideologies(what)
God may no longer exist. Maybe the second coming is the return, but he isn't here now.
Goodbye.
(can't answer OP, not atheist)
but doubting your faith is good, helps you realize you aren't a mindless zombie.

Originally Posted by Noogah

God is not a tyrant. He has rules, he asks you to follow them. If that makes you a tyrant, then guess what? Every boss/teacher/principal/country rules in tyranny. And, you don't even HAVE to follow all of them if you want to go to heaven. All you have to do is receive Christ as your savior.

Or else!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Noogah

I think God is mean, thus, I decided to stop believing in him.
Does no one have a backbone these days? What kind of childish logic is that?

No, that's not it. It's, "Wait a second... God is more evil than Hitler and has severe emotional problems. That's the ultimate being in the universe? He's supposedly good and loving? What a crock!" The idea of something with infinite intelligence acting like a stupid redneck with a dominance obsession and lunatic rules is pretty absurd. It's not something I find believable.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

Or else!!!!!!! ...
It's not something I find believable.

Um, when you said "Or else", I don't think you noticed that I said "NOT"

You do NOT have to follow every rule to get to Heaven.

Also, God is nothing like you portrayed, and you haven't explained why you said so.

There's a lot more unbelievable stuff in life. I'd get used to it, if I were you. For example: My ancestors were apes.

Originally Posted by Noogah

My ancestors were apes.

I thought you didn't believe in evolution..?

Originally Posted by Carôusoul

I thought you didn't believe in evolution..?

That brings a whole new level to "Out of context"

Originally Posted by Noogah

That brings a whole new level to "Out of context"

cheer up.

Originally Posted by Noogah

My ancestors were apes.

You are an ape.

in "him"? well that's your first problem

Originally Posted by juroara

in "him"? well that's your first problem

Oh come on, it's quite clear she's using that as a convenient way to refer to God and in no way believes god is a him. It's a figure of speech. I refer to god as a him, but I in no way think of him as anything gender based, lots of people do this.

You're just being pedantic.

Originally Posted by RSFAD

I used to swing back forth believing and not believing. ... "What if an Atheist lives an honest life? He or she doesn't steal, kill, lie, use people,and just lives a good and honest life?" The response: it's impossible to get into heaven without believing in God. Atheists will go to Hell.
I started thinking to myself: What kind of God would do that? I mean, an honest person deserves to get into heaven. ... A true God would allow a decent person into heaven. Regardless whether or not that person believed in Him.

Cut out a few things, and you pretty much have what I think, but stated much more eloquently than I could have come up with on my own. I simply don't see how believing in someone makes you worthy of going to Heaven, while even if you're an honest non-believer, you're still going to Hell.

I used to believe in God simply because I never thought to question it. I never went to church or prayed or anything, it was just sort of aknowledged that he existed. I didn't think about religion much until I started becoming more aware of politics and people started using it to argue against what I believed. It always seemed unnecessarily cruel to me that a god would make people gay and then say that it's unnatural and immoral...

I'm guess I'm more agnostic than atheist. For all I know, there could be a god out there, and I think it's a bit arrogant of people to claim to know which is the right one. Considering all the different religions out there, statistically speaking you're very unlikely to pick the right one.

There are probably a couple of other reasons I'm forgetting. My decision was based on a lot of different things, not just one reason.

Originally Posted by Noogah

God is not a tyrant. He has rules, he asks you to follow them. If that makes you a tyrant, then guess what? Every boss/teacher/principal/country rules in tyranny. And, you don't even HAVE to follow all of them if you want to go to heaven. All you have to do is receive Christ as your savior.

And heaven isn't even the point of being a Christian!!

o.0 Hold on, back up a moment... did you just say that to go to Heaven, ALL you have to do is believe in Christ? That even if you're a horrible person but you're a believer then you're going to Heaven, whereas a righteous non-believer would still go to Hell? I thought being a good person had something to do with getting into Heaven, but, if I'm reading what you just said correctly, apparently it doesn't...