Question for Atheists?

Question

I'm Christian(don't worry; I'm not going to preach to you haha), I'm just curious. Have you always been Atheist? If not; when did you decide to become Atheist, and why?

sweetnes; your just confused and need to a little soul searching. Don't worry, you'll know what you believe when the time is right. Finding the faith that best fits you can take time, sometimes even a lifetime. Be patient and let your heart decide.

Answer 1

i was a born again christian since birth. after college, i became an atheist. christianity just couldnt agree with me or me agree with christianity.... i have no plans going back anytime soon.

too many "lost pieces" in the puzzle... too many pieces that dont belong.

Answer 2

I think I have. I was raised by Fundamentalists, but I always thought that many things in the bible didn't make sense. I remember when I was six I was kicked out of sunday school for fixating on where the dinosaurs fit in.

When I was twelve I reached that critical point where I decided, once and for all, what I believed. I threw myself into bible studies, got myself baptised, and sought for any sign of God in my heart. I prayed, not for a sign or a miracle, but just for some discovery in my heart of the rightness of faith.

This was my final decision:
1. I would be lying if I said I believe in God. I want to, I want to believe that when I lose my loved ones I will see them again, but I can't make myself believe, and right now I don't. I COULD lie, but if there's a God, he'd know it was a lie anyway.
2. Any being wise and powerful enough to create life must also possess infinite empathy and understanding. Such a being would understand the difficulty of faith without evidence, and would judge each person on their heart and their actions.
3. As an atheist, I do the right thing out of a genuine purity of heart, not because I'm looking for an eternal reward or afraid of eternal punishment. Any god of worth should value that above blind faith.

In the end, ironically, I found the sense of peace and rightness I had prayed to God for only after I decided to acknowledge my atheism. I let go of fear, I'm being true to myself, and if one day I stand before God in judgement, I will not be ashamed.
I'm not hostile to Christianity, in fact I still think Jesus is one of the greatest heros ever born, and have my own WWJD necklace because whether or not he possessed any divinity, he preached a wonderful message. I do, however, have some hostility toward christians who try to dictate how others should live their lives.

Answer 3

I've always felt that there was no god, even as a small child. I was raised catholic and when I would hear these tales from the bible I would often ask, (Even as a four year old) "Did someone make this up?" I often required proof that these tales, such as the great flood, happened. Questioning the word of God was a big no-no and I got into a whole lot of trouble. Then when they responded to my questions that it was all a, "Mystery," I realized that someone had to be making it up. I pretty much knew I was an atheist for my whole life, and when I moved out from my parents home, stopped attending church.

Answer 4

I started to question my faith deep down when I was in middle school. . I went to religious school for 12 years and it finally hit me one day. I called it the Age of Reason. I finally realized how ridiculous every organized religion was. How absolutely ludicrous it was to believe in Noah and a flood, Moses and a talking bush, no meat on Fridays, original sin, mortal sin, parting the Red sea etc.

I started to do some research on religions of the world and their origins and found out that all those stories in the Bible, Koran and so many other ancient religious writers were just stolen from Mesopotamian writing that were written hundreds and hundred of years earlier. They had an ark and a great flood, burning talking bushes and so many other similar stories.

For so long, my healthy mechanism that controlled logic, reason and skepticism was in the OFF position. I realized the only reason I believed was because of my mom. And I realized the only reason my mom believed was her mom and so on and so forth. These myths of organized religion are passed on from one generation to the next. Most people are simply afraid to face and question something embedded in "tradition" because so many things in our lives revolve around celebrating these "traditions".

I also realized that thousands of years ago people believed in Zeus and Medusa, Greek and Roman mythology, Poseidon, Mercury, sun gods, water gods etc. We would sit around in class when I was young and laugh and say "how could those idiots believe in that crap". I'm sure the same will be said about the ridiculous myths of today in a few thousand years.

Answer 5

I had a Southern Baptist Great Grandmother, I used to pile in the back of a car for sunday school. I hated every moment of it. when I was 6, I witnessed sexual abuse in the area under a church, the kids were members of this church, the victim wasn't. Just the hypocrisy. I later worked with my towns Baptist Pastor, who after 9/11, said aloud " If I were searching the wreckage, I'd be looking for rings and jewelry", later that week I saw his wife in the grocery store, 2 rings on each finger.
I do however, believe in karma. in that I see things happen all the time.

Answer 6

I was a Roman Catholic for quite some time, baptized, confirmed, totally devoted to Jesus. I would literally wake up each morning to thank him for good rest and a new day to serve him, every hour and every minute he was in my thoughts, guiding me.

It wasn't really a decision to become an atheist. It happened on its own. THe more and more I studied, especially of physics, computer science, and psychology, the more I realized that free will was only an illusion. I realized that the Bible really didn't make any sense, that it suffered from numerous flaws. The more I delved into quantum physics, the more I realized that the universe didn't need a creator.

In short, every reason to continue to believe failed when exposed to the light of reason and logic.

It wasn't an easy conversion though. It took a couple years of begging and pleading and demanding some sliver of proof to restore my faith. In the end, that sliver never came.

I didn't 'choose' to be an atheist, I just couldn't keep believing when it all seemed like a lie to me.

Answer 7

Like Crissy says,

1. I began to think freely from knowledge of science around the age of 13-14.

2. I started thinking realistically, rationally, reasonably, and logically.
I realized that thinking delsuionally was not the way through life.

3. I was raised a christian(Catholic), and was brought up with Great morals and values, but I see the error of the churches ways. Contradictions, Cover-ups, scandals, 10% tithe-ing,

4. My broad education of the field of science taught me Occam's Razor. Take the most simple answer of the few you have. Science is explanable. Religion is not. Religion has contradictions, faults, flaws, fallacies, no evidence, so I have to rule it out.
source:
Psychology, Chemistry, Physics, Botony, Geology, Astronomy
Biology, etc etc.

I guess i just began learning about our brain, how we think, our world, how it was formed, evolution, physics of the cosmos, etc.
etc.

Answer 8

Yes, I have always been an unbeliever. I wouldn't say an atheist, because an atheist is someone who is striving to spread his atheism. I think it's the same if there is or there isn't. It's none of my business. But to make a long story short, I don't believe, and I have never believed in a god.

Answer 9

I actually started out as atheist. Well I never really called my self an atheist but i soon realized I wasn't like every one else. I figured out i was different though. My parent never took me or my siblings to church (something about having church forced on them and my mums dad losing his faith after fighting in WWII)
I only really learned about Jesus and Christianity when I came to America, although back in England i sang all the hymns in school and took part in the nativity (I was 8 when i moved in case you were wondering) but i didn't really think of any of those things as a things to believe in i thought of them more like Aesop's fables like stories and songs to learn from and all that.
but to answer your question i didn't decide i just was i wasn't aware their ever was anything else until i moved here and religion became very commercial. and i must say children weren't to kind when I asked them who Jesus is(they treated me like i was an idiot) and told them I didn't go to church(no i wasn't picking fights they just wanted to know what church i went to) .when i got to about thirteen i actually started looking at religions and Christianity was one of the ones i decided i couldn't believe in . sorry for you to have to hear this but from the view of an outsider you beliefs are a little weird.

Answer 10

It took me longer to decide that Santa was not real than it did to decide that God or Jesus were not real. What finally killed Santa was that we didn't have a fireplace and there was no way a person could fit through the furnace.