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Always atheist?
- Thread starter Diatrive
- Start date
Philostratus
Active Member
I was just telling a friend the other day how during my first Holy Communion I was looking around at the other kids, wondering if they were just as stupified as I was about what was going on. I never got it. It didn't help that my parents divorced when I was 6 and my mom (an angel if there ever was one) was ashamed to enter a church. What kind of God wouldn't have my mom? Anyhoo, it all made sense (or didn't make sense) to me very early.
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- Sep 2, 2003
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Along those lines, as I said I was bribed into being an altar boy. I was kneeling on the side of the altar during mass and was just completely overcome with the humor of the situation. I was shocked that so many people believed this stuff and were so absorbed in it, and seemed to have carved so much of their personal identity out of their beliefs and relative place in the church. I burst out laughing and couldn't stop. They had to stop the mass, those nuns were ****ED. That was my last day as an altar boy. At least the priest didn't seem so mad, but he was young. He soon left the priesthood shortly thereafter.
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HeatherJay said:
Well Heather I'm not sure if your question was directed to me, another person in paticular or a general audience but I will try to answer it.
Basically I'm not one hundred percent sure of much. I cannot 100 percent prove that elves, unicorns and faries do not exist. I cannot one hundred percent prove that when I step onto the street tomorrow, the ground under me won't open up and swallow me whole. But the fact that such things are both superfluous and at odds with background knowledge make them so improbable that I in saying that they either do not exist or will not happen.
Just as you may say unicorns, and santa claus do not exist without 100 percent proof that they do not, I do likewise with God.
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E
Eros
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DialecticMaterialist said:
That's what I think is the hardest concept to accept for anyone who holds a belief. From existence of ourselves to existence of gods. You can never be one hundred percent sure.
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I heartily agree with that. Many people will say they are one hundred percent sure but in reality they are just one hundred percent confident.Eros said:
However I am still in limbo as to whether or not mathematics should be considered an exception to that.
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feral
Dostoyevsky was right
I was never a believer, although my family and I attend church at least three ttimes weekly when I was growing up, and I attended private religious schools. I never "found god", not for lack of trying through prayers....I wanted badly to believe and I could have used the help A lot of studying, research and personal experience later and still nothing. Being told often that I would burn in hell, and finding a lot of bible errors has made me doubt the validity of religions even more (admmittedly, most study has been directed towards christianity). I never felt divine presence, never felt god was there, never had faith or good feelings or whatever despite numerous times praying for it...so...apparently there is no god or he doesn't feel like talking 
A lot of studying, research and personal experience later and still nothing. Being told often that I would burn in hell, and finding a lot of bible errors has made me doubt the validity of religions even more (admmittedly, most study has been directed towards christianity). I never felt divine presence, never felt god was there, never had faith or good feelings or whatever despite numerous times praying for it...so...apparently there is no god or he doesn't feel like talking
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I was raised Christian, but I had a hard time believing any of it. It sounded like fairytales, and fairy tales aren't real. I was drawn toward Wicca, however then decided that the idea of a higher power didn't really make sense to me in any form.
So I wouldn't say I was a converted theist, however I wasn't always agnostic...does that make sense?
I'm agnostic on the grounds that I do not want to eliminate the possiblity, no matter how small it is of there actually being a higher power.
So I wouldn't say I was a converted theist, however I wasn't always agnostic...does that make sense?
I'm agnostic on the grounds that I do not want to eliminate the possiblity, no matter how small it is of there actually being a higher power.
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I was raised Christian, and became a very devout Christian in my later teens. Believing stopped happening to me about three year ago, and then, when I was no longer a Christian, I started studying towards a degree in theology at a Catholic/Anglican/Baptist-taught university. I can't remember why, now. It seemed hilarious at the time. A year and a half later, the humour wore off, and now I've got all this theological training in my freaking head.
I say "belief stopped happening to me" rather than "I stopped believing", because it was not my choice. Belief is something that happens to you, not something you do.
I say "belief stopped happening to me" rather than "I stopped believing", because it was not my choice. Belief is something that happens to you, not something you do.
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Oh, and for the record, nothing happened to put me off Christianity. I wasn't abused by anyone, I had only good pastors, and I knew (and know) very excellent people of all denominations, for whom I have tremendous respect. And some of my favourite authors (Anthony DeMello, GK Chesterton, Jim Forrest, etc) are Christian.
Haha. To the tune of "I have lots of gay friends". "I have lots of Christian friends!"
Haha. To the tune of "I have lots of gay friends". "I have lots of Christian friends!"
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Rev,
Haha! Exactly.
But honest! I have lots of Christian friends. One's a priest, even. And I keep in touch with my old theology lecturers, too.
Haha! Exactly.
But honest! I have lots of Christian friends. One's a priest, even. And I keep in touch with my old theology lecturers, too.
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ZaraDurden
Comfortably Numb
- Aug 5, 2003
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I dont know if i ever believed when i look back on it.
I was a catholic, went to sunday school, made all my sacraments... but i never really understood any of it. And it wasnt because i had bad comprehension skills. It all seemed so strange, so unnatural to me-- all of these people doing and feeling these religious things that i just could not feel. Was there something wrong with me?
Sometime around the time i started college, i kind of said to myself, "The answer has been there infront of you all along-- this doesnt make sense for a reason."
I did a really lot of reading and introspection and now i am an atheist. I think it was my comprehension skills afterall-- i understood the errors, the harmful effects, and the lack of necessity of religion -- and of christianity in particular.
I was a catholic, went to sunday school, made all my sacraments... but i never really understood any of it. And it wasnt because i had bad comprehension skills. It all seemed so strange, so unnatural to me-- all of these people doing and feeling these religious things that i just could not feel. Was there something wrong with me?
Sometime around the time i started college, i kind of said to myself, "The answer has been there infront of you all along-- this doesnt make sense for a reason."
I did a really lot of reading and introspection and now i am an atheist. I think it was my comprehension skills afterall-- i understood the errors, the harmful effects, and the lack of necessity of religion -- and of christianity in particular.
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