Are you an atheist?

Question

Check out what this ex-atheist has to say.
www.ex-atheist.com
As soon as you go there you will see the words "from skepticism to worship" on the left. Click that. What this guy has to say is very interesting. Please come back and add to your answer, and let me know what you thought of this guys statement. Thanks.

im bored - Don't you care what he had to say?

atheists - Did you read it?

missy - You sound very closed minded. I bet you did not even read it.

jade h - Your wrong. Many atheists do not even understand that all their anti-God rhetoric is all based on the asumption that God is not a reality. You do not get something from nothing. So, there was a creator God.

marsqus1 - "First of all, one cannot be a "devout" atheist"
devout
—devoutly, adv. —devoutness, n.
/di vowt"/, adj. , der, dest.
earnest; fervent.
As you see this word can be used to only mean earnest or fervent. So, you can be a devout atheist. In this context, it simply means you are very adamant about your atheistic beliefs. This is appropriate usage.

"Religion is man's attempt to answer life's questions - an attempt to answer the unknown."
No. True religion is man responding appropriately
to God's revelation of himself.
To the inspired Word of God, which does answer what would otherwise be unknown.
" It is difficult for man to live without purpose and therefore why he created religion"
The Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. There are many proofs of inspiration. So, what you said does not apply to the Judeo/Christian religion. However, it may apply to some other religions.

King - Why are you so negative?

King - What would make you want to give Jesus a try?

just me - I thought it was about truth and being right. Not "whatever floats your boat".

Answer 1

No I am not a atheist. But alot are still to this day...
They will change when the time comes for them to change ...
What that x-atheist said was all true...
Thats the way it happens sometimes...

Answer 2

It is all in what he says "my perception had changed".
The Christian religion's marketing techniques have been refined for 2000 years. They have an 'answer' for everyone who is looking to 'buy' salvation, regardless of whether it is salvation from confusion, depression, loneliness, ignorance, or boredom.

His spiritual experiences and coincidences don't prove God, they don't rule out supernatural phenomena of other kinds, either.
The one and only thing that always holds true about the concept of God is that God is a creator. The human wisdom which can come from the idea that we are 'in His image' is that we have the responsibility to create more usefulness than we use up in resources. Any species that doesn't do this will go extinct. Worship, then, is to be cooperative with the natural processes around us, being good caretakers of our world so that our children can follow in our footsteps.
Just because science doesn't answer someone's questions doesn't mean that they know everything that can be answered by science. There are always new paths to follow. Truth about the correct paths could be only 2000 years old, but I think there is information about where the scriptures really came from that is missing, and that it takes longer and more actual work to come up with the wisdom of the scriptures than the current organizations are capable of comprehending.
The scriptures may be 'inspired', but they may have been inspired by much older wisdom to start with, not just 'written' in modern languages since the Greeks, but passed down in parables from another time which was forgotten.

Answer 3

I went to the site, but it was nothing I hadn't seen or heard before. I'm agnostic, but I was raised in a Catholic family. I don't see how any internet site could possibly convert me to any religion because my own faith is personal and has to come from within, not some prepackaged garbage fed to convert the masses. Sorry.

And no, I'm not a close minded person at all. I did read the site. There are many others like it. I'm happy that an ex-athiest decided he believed in Jesus. Whatever floats his boat right? I don't believe in Jesus, or any God for that matter, and that's fine too. I still go to the Unitarian church, however, because I think church can be a good experience and a good chance to meet people. I'm glad you have your own faith, but it's not the same as mine and that's okay.

Answer 4

First of all, one cannot be a "devout" atheist. To be an atheist is to not be a theist. You cannot be devout since you are not devoted to any being or god. This opening statement alone makes me doubt the truthfulness of the entire testimony.

I agree with a portion of what he says, but not the essence of it: Religion is man's attempt to answer life's questions - an attempt to answer the unknown.

However as we find the scientific answers to many of our questions, things that were before mysticized are now quite clear to all who have an open mind. Even religious authorities have changed the interpretation of scriptures to match the scientific findings of our day.

It is difficult for man to live without purpose and therefore why he created religion in order to give himself purpose in life - it's kind of a harsh reality to realize that you are only here for your lifetime and all that you will leave behind is the people you have touched and as much rotting flesh as you are willing to give back to the earth!

Toodles.

Answer 5

What do i think? I read this, and all i kept thinking was...Okay.

This didnt make me want to give Jesus a try. It just made me want to...continue as i am going.

" Science had done nothing to answer the questions that raged in my head. Why should I care? How much should I care? Should I care at all? What is my purpose in life? Is there a purpose? How can I love people? Should I love people? Which people should I love? How can I forgive people? Should I forgive people? Have I done what is right? Have I done what is wrong? Is there a right or a wrong?"

When i read that, i just thought he was weak. I dont see him as a Atheist. I see him more as the Teenage rebel that just didnt grow up. He says, oh i didnt know how to do anything, oh i like manipulating and all this crap. But its like, who cares?

Why do you need someone to tell you how to forgive? I think you should know how to forgive by now.

I just cant take this man seriously. During this, its as if he is avoiding religion. It has nothing to do with belief from what i can see. It has to deal with him wanting.

He didnt lose his belief. He rejected, and it as eating him alive. Gosh, he is so annoying. Oh i saw no point to life, so meaningless, i was so cold, da da da.

" had been a fool. I had paraded around, thinking myself to be the sophisticate, oblivious to the trail of toilet paper clinging to my shoe. For the first time in my life, I became aware of my soul and how dirty it was when the light of Christ fell upon it. My accusing finger turned around and pointed right back at me. I sucked! Christianity wasn't what was wrong with the world! A lack of education wasn't what was wrong with the world! I was what was wrong with the world. I began praying for forgiveness to a god whose existence I had thought was intellectually indefensible. But He was very, very real. Within days, almost every viewpoint I had once so loudly announced, changed. I could no longer justify my advocacy of abortion, homosexuality or pre-marital sex because I recognized these options for what they were, that being selfishness" and everything after that sounded more like brainwash to me.

Within days, his whole viewpoint changed. He saw more clearly. He knew, he absolutly knew that there was a God. And everything he didnt have a problem with before, is bad. Television is trash. All of this is trash trash trash.

Well in the end, i can tell you one think. This one think is the only thing that he said during the whole thing, that i believe in.

He admitted to himself that he sucked. He does. He sure does.

He was just a whinny little person, who thought he knew everything about human bodys and mind, that felt empty inside.

He needed something positive. Something that said he had worth, that he is here for a reason, and he found it in a book that was written by a believer.

Im not against religion, but im against people that say they dont believe but do believe. Get over it. You either believe it or not. If you dont, then you dont. If you do, admit that you do.

Dont just write a long, useless, article about you not believing. And how this and this happened, and then you started to feel like this and that, and then decided that you need something. When it didnt work out, you tried something else. Wooo it makes you feel better. Okay. Whatever.

I found it dumb.

Answer 6

Thanks for the web-site. I'm not an atheist now, but this man's journey somewhat mirrors my own (only he has a much more eloquent way of sharing it than I ever could). Just goes to show that the Bible is indeed true, when it states that even our faith is a gift from God (Eph. 2:9).

Answer 7

Why do you care so much? I don't try to push my atheistic and paganistic beliefs on you. People leave and join other religions and non-religions everyday Keep your religion to yourself. If everyone did the world would be a much happier place.

Answer 8

Hard core Athiest for 20 years and now he is a hard core believer.. To me it sounds fake, to me I think he was never a hard core athiest, he was just a man who hadnt really been bothered to believe in anything so he went with believing in nothing, but as his life went on, his beliefs changed. I think if your a hard core athiest, it would take something unbelievable to turn you to jesus christ, not just research, because most athiests have researched and this is why they are athiest!

Answer 9

No, but I am the King of the underworld and all that exist beneath, now, peasants, bow before the Jackal God!!

Answer 10

I am not an athiest... but I DO NOT believe in organized religion. Sure, I agree that religion teaches morals and maners, but... I get a little weary when the whole "My church is more better than your church is" game is played.