At what point in your spiritual walk did you come to the conclusion that there is no God? Or if Agnostic that you are not sure? What SPECIFIC event or experience made you make a different Choice?
I'm not looking for an argument Im looking for sincere answers. Thanks!
Merry Christmas!
2006-12-17 04:23:24 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It happened at about my fifth reading of the Bible. I had just finished reading Karen Armstrong's "A History of God" and " The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell. I had also just finished reading the historicity of the Bible as well as anthropological assessments of it. I just remember sitting in my sofa by the window and felt that I had been duped for almost my entire life. I studied religions and religious books for decades before I came to that conclusion. It was an awesome and powerful revelation. I have nothing against any religion or anyone who practices a religion. I just don't believe in it anymore. Have a great holiday!
Thanks for asking.
2006-12-17 05:08:01 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
A serious answer is not that one moment made me thnk that there was no God, but rather a whole history. There have been different religions since the dawn of man. Egyptians have several Gods that they worship. Greeks had the same beliefs. In the religions that have identified only one God, there are still several completely different accounts of who this God is and what he believes in. Are all these different religions wrong? Is Christianity the one correct religion? If so, how do you make that determination? How do you tell people that for millenium they have been wrong and they are going to be condemned?
Also the accounts that are written in the Bible, who wrote them? Christians say it is the writing of God through his disciples. Some others say it is an account that was passed on through Jesus' followers. Which is it? How do we know that the stories in the Bible are actually true? Are they meant to be taken literally or figuratively?
Too many questions.
2006-12-17 04:33:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
although I belive in Jesus, I refer to myself as agnostic because I'm against organized religion and don't believe everything that is said about god. I personally felt like some things I've heard about god were wrong. I think god gives us intellect and a conscious to determine the truth from lies.
I'm also a history buff and there are many things historically that condrict religion. For instance the men who choose the books of the bible (there were over 100 books about the Jewish god and about Jesus) were not good men morally, religiously, and (by today's standards) legally. some of these men agreed to the 66 books through threats, bribes, and other tainted motives. the bible was also re-traslated with new/better material during the reformation. The people who did this cared more for power and money than god and his people.
so now I practice self-religion.
2006-12-17 04:41:18 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Merry Christmas to you too :)
Specific event ..I was heading into a local health food store, when I got stopped in the parking lot by someone who seemed to be down on their luck. Interestingly, it was a her.. normally when you get accosted for small change in the parking lot, it's a him.
At any rate, it appeared to me that she wasn't quite all there just by the way she talked and carried herself and I wasn't quite comfortable with the way it made me feel. I told her I didn't have any change and lifted my head up a big higher and made myself appear more.. I don't know.. in control? I heard her ask if she could have change when I came back out. I basically just ignored the comment and kept going.
I went about my shopping and didn't give much thought to it until I was in the checkout line. "What am I going to say?" "Is she still going to be there?" "If so, do I give her money?" ran through my head as I waited with the credit card wielding yuppie organic wannabes in line.
Then I started to feel guilty. The whole "that person might be an angel or God or Jesus in disguise" thing, you know. And then I got mad. What kind of jerk would say something like that? Go out of your way to help someone because you never know who it might be. Well, that might have worked in times back when people traveled by camelback and still thought sandals were a cool fashion accessory, but it's not practical in this day and age.
Nowadays if you stop to help someone, you might get knifed or beaten or killed or something like that. Seeing as I was a female, walking alone, that would have made me even more of a target. Now, my question to you.. why should I be made to feel bad or guilty because of the fact that I didn't give that woman change? Does not preservation of self count in there somewhere?
It just kinda pissed me off when I got to thinking about it. The more I step back and look at "Churchianity" (what Christianity has become) I just get infuriated at how insidious it is. Emotional blackmail and shame...not to mention seeming mind control.. It's just sad.
2006-12-17 04:51:48 · answer #4 · answered by elegant_voodoo 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
For me there was no "specific event or experience". I stopped believing because there wasn't ever any sign of god. It was a matter of just coming to accept reality.
I do notice that many believers assume that people become atheist as a result of some specific bad experience with the church. I'm sure that does happen - it's basic human nature - but it's obviously not necessary. There was no specific event that caused me to not believe in lime-green flying elephants either.
2006-12-17 04:48:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's cute... wishing Merry Christmas to Atheists and agnostics...
I'm neither. I'm a former Christian who decided upon the Pagan path.
For me, it was past life memories. It was taking my lunch in a park where suspected witches were killed by zealous Christians. It was the recognition that any real God wouldn't have revealed him or herself to only a few people in a tiny corner of the world, and expected the rest to burn in some fabricated torture chamber called hell.
I began to realize that if Deity existed, that it was much more than what I was taught, and ultimately taught myself in religious education classes.
So, I began to study. In study, I began to learn. In learning, I began to grow.
My experiences before and after showed me that what I have now is at least as real as what I had before. The life I am living is far beyond the life I lived in which I believed that condemnation and intolerance were the way of God.
2006-12-17 04:30:07 · answer #6 · answered by Deirdre H 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No one factor, or moment. It grew out of having more and more trouble studying the bible and church history.
I was having to make increasingly awkward accommodations, adjustments, for everything to hang together.
Add to that, following through the implications of scientific research, from cosmology to quantum physics.
I think my final effort was two courses on liberal theology, to see if I could find a "middle path." to understanding a god who was there, but was not *accurately* represented in any religious text. It didn't work, followed through logically.
Edit: to NO NAME. Have you thought of asking any of us, rather than just making a comfortable, easy, assumption?
2006-12-17 04:38:33 · answer #7 · answered by Pedestal 42 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
well i've always had my doubts about whether or not god exists which is why i'm agnostic anyway i take a look all around me and if anybody would do the same they would feel the same way but to do that people have to open up their minds which some people refuse to do
2006-12-17 04:27:23 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
No one thing. Just a realization over a period of years that God was an invention of man to explain what he could not explain and that we don't need that anymore and that the concept of a God or gods just plain make absolutely no sense what-so-ever.
2006-12-17 04:27:29 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
At age 16. I was involved in way too many science studies in high school.
It was the effect of all science, taken as a whole, not just one area of science.
In hindsight I see the error of my ways. But it's not easy to unlearn all that stuff.
2006-12-17 04:53:50 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋