Ask a former creationist

[Tenka]

laconicstudent Vs angry atheist kid

Damn you Richard Dawkins....damn you to hell.

 

[laconicstudent]

Damn you Richard Dawkins....damn you to hell.

Lol... it was kind of funny. Except it was annoying to have someone whose arguments I'd been supporting for pages to suddenly turn on me. Oh well.

 

[shinbits]

While you were still a creationist, how did you feel about the immoralities such as lying and misrepresenting done by your fellow Christians Creationists such as AiG, Hovind, etc, when you found them to be immoralities?

Do you feel any different about them now?

Metherion

I disaproved of Hovind and those like him then, still do now. I've never known AiG to "lie", however.

 

[shinbits]

What's with the conspiracy theory stuff? Creationists always seem to assert that creation science is systematically censored due to a bias in the peer review system or something. I don't really get it, can you explain it?

Many creationists don't realize that the events in Genesis as scientific fact, has been reviewed and disputed for a long time. They don't realize that scientists today don't listen to creationistst because the fact that creationism isn't scientific is old news.

 

[shinbits]

Shinbits, when did you stop being a creationist?

I try not to be one of the nastier evolutionists, but it does get frustrating.

I'd say around two years ago.

 

[shinbits]

Where specifically did you get the idea that creationism was a science?

Kent Hovind, AiG, and other creationists.

 

[AV1611VET]

Shinbits, when did you stop being a creationist?

I'd say around two years ago.

Does this mean that, at the age of 26, you still believed the order of the creation events laid out in Genesis 1?

But what I think really did it for me, was that anytime there was a topic being debated, whether geological ages or biology, links and arguments posted in favor of evolution were always incredibly detailed.

Forgive me, but I find it interesting that you're not mentioning the order of the creation events, which, to me, would have stood out like a sore thumb.

(I think God "jumbled the order" on purpose.)

At what age did the order of the creation events become suspect?

And what paradigm did you embrace? YEC, OEC, Embedded Age, Gap, Day-Age, Omphalos, Last Thursday?

 

[shinbits]

Does this mean that, at the age of 26, you still believed the order of the creation events laid out in Genesis 1?Forgive me, but I find it interesting that you're not mentioning the order of the creation events, which, to me, would have stood out like a sore thumb.

I don't understand what you mean. And why would the order matter?

At what age did the order of the creation events become suspect?

And what paradigm did you embrace? YEC, OEC, Embedded Age, Gap, Day-Age, Omphalos, Last Thursday?

The order of the creation events was inconsequential to me.

As far as "paradigm", I never really subscribed to any of them. My goal was simply to find out whether the Bible was compatible with science, and it wasn't. People labeled me YEC, even though I never believed in young earth.

 

[AV1611VET]

As far as "paradigm", I never really subscribed to any of them.

And yet you used to think it was a "legitimate science"?

I'm confused.

 

[shinbits]

And yet you used to think it was a "legitimate science"?

I'm confused.

I just took the word of creationists who seemed to know what they were talking about. Take Hovind, for example. To people who don't look into the subject, he looks like someone who knows what he's talking about. There are a lot of people like him. I got suckered into the belief that creationism was scientifically accuarate.

Maybe "legitimate science" is incorrect. I should've said I used to believe the Creation could be proved with science.

 

[AV1611VET]

I should've said I used to believe the Creation could be proved with science.

Was it when you learned that it couldn't be proven with science, that you made the decision to leave it?

 

[shinbits]

Was it when you learned that it couldn't be proven with science, that you made the decision to leave it?

The idea that there's evidence for Genesis? Yes. I didn't stop believing in the Bible, I just decided that there was no reason to try and prove it. I had also gained a new respect for evolution.

 

[Wedjat]

Damn you Richard Dawkins....damn you to hell.

amen

 

[Sanguis]

Take Hovind, for example. To people who don't look into the subject, he looks like someone who knows what he's talking about.

Agreed.

Unfortunately, that's a much bigger problem than it appears to be.

He sells his agenda with charisma, but his reasoning is completely devoid of fact.

 

[Pwnzerfaust]

Damn you Richard Dawkins....damn you to hell.

Why?

 

[TangledUpInGlue]

The idea that there's evidence for Genesis? Yes. I didn't stop believing in the Bible, I just decided that there was no reason to try and prove it. I had also gained a new respect for evolution.

Did that realisation lead to a crisis of faith?

You say that your information on Creationism came from sources like Hovind, AiG and so forth. I have at home a book by John D. Morris, which is ostensibly about the age of the earth, but frequently makes use of the age-old "No True Christian" fallacy: if you accept evolutionary science, you reject Christianity in its entirety.

If you grew up hearing pronouncements like that, and eventually came to the realisation that Creationism was false, did that at any point make you doubt the rest of your faith? I ask just out of sheer curiosity.

 

[shinbits]

Did that realisation lead to a crisis of faith?

You say that your information on Creationism came from sources like Hovind, AiG and so forth. I have at home a book by John D. Morris, which is ostensibly about the age of the earth, but frequently makes use of the age-old "No True Christian" fallacy: if you accept evolutionary science, you reject Christianity in its entirety.

If you grew up hearing pronouncements like that, and eventually came to the realisation that Creationism was false, did that at any point make you doubt the rest of your faith? I ask just out of sheer curiosity.

I didn't have "doubts" per say. The reason for that is because of subjective experiences I've had, which I wont get into here, so it wasn't a matter of doubting if God exists. However, I did question God a lot, His tactics, and why this and why that. I think the whole experience made me a lot more liberal. I still question in my mind, things about God, and things that Christians do. I've had a hard time going to church because it. In fact, I haven't gone regularly in a long time. And only because certain people kept asking me to come.

Still, it's not that I don't believe. I just have a lot of things I don't agree with.

 

[TheReasoner]

Agreed.

Unfortunately, that's a much bigger problem than it appears to be.

He sells his agenda with charisma, but his reasoning is completely devoid of fact.

*shiver* that guy gives me the creeps. The way he gets followers through his charistma when his arguments are completely devoid of facts.... It reminds me of a plethora of people in politics who should have been a: killed. b: locked up or c: sent to a mental asylum. (depending on which person we're talking about). Abdala Bucaram (a literally crazy president in Ecuador at the end of the 90s, Siv Jensen and Karl I. Hagen - charismatic basketcases in Norwegian politics, Vidkun Quisling - the politician whose surname is now in the oxford dictionary as a synonym for traitor or Judas, Adolf Hitler - no intro necessary, Josef Stalin - same deal, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Rasputin and of course Sarah Palin...

My point was: It is scary, REALLY scary when people start following people who should not be followed just because of charisma. Terrible things quite often follow such decisions. And frankly, the human tendency to do so really shakes my belief in mankind. As well as mankind's likelihood to make the transition into a type 1 civilization. As a species we're just too darn daft.

 

[dad]

Ask anything you've always wanted to know about someone who used to believe creationism was a legitimate science.

OK. In tossing off creation by God as per Genesis, did you also cast off all faith in salvation?

 

[shinbits]

OK. In tossing off creation by God as per Genesis, did you also cast off all faith in salvation?

No.