Is anyone here a Christian who used to be an atheist? Or vise versa? What made you change?

Question

I asked this yesterday and deleted my question because I didnt word it right. LOL

Answer 1

I wasn an atheist that became a Christian. I went through a rough spot in life. I tried a lot of different religions out, and none of them changed my life. So, I gave up on it. I started to challenge the whole idea of spirituality and God as often as possible.

Then I met the woman that would become my wife. She was a Chrisitan and introduced me to Christian concepts. It interested me enought to actually give it an open consideration. My life hasn't been the same since. I've done a complete 180 as far as happiness vs. depression, purpose vs. waste, and all of my former dreams have come true. What more evidence would I need that God is real? He shows up. He changes things.

I'm sure I'll get the usual hate emails for saying that I used to be an atheist, but you all can save them. I'm not interested in your cop-outs. I used to make the same arguments and statements that you all make on here everyday. You can make yourself blind to things in this world. I would encourage you to try actually seeing what millions have seen for thousands of years.

Answer 2

A true Atheist can never go back to superstitious belief. Atheism is not something that is stumbled on in the dark or in a blinding flash. To achieve rationality is a developmental process that has to overcome the mindless programming that has been shoved at you since childhood. I'm amazed that I started asking the right questions when I was eleven and even more amazed that I was able to take the "because" answers of religion with a jaundiced eye at such a young age. Still it took three more years before I called myself an agnostic and three hard years more before being able to call myself an Atheist. Happy about it? Sometimes I envy delusionalists who think they are going to end up in some cosmic Disneyland when they die, instead of the void on non-existence, but in the end, I'm happy I do not live in the delusional haze that seems to keep them anesthetized to reality.

Answer 3

I'm a Christian - I was never an atheist, but I was an agnostic. Does that count? What started my conversion was reading the 22nd Psalm, realizing that the depiction of Jesus on the cross was written well before the form of death by crucifixion existed and well before His birth. God used my curiosity and eventually, through grace by faith, I became a Christian (that was 36 years ago).

Answer 4

Yep. I was raised Southern Baptist. Then turned to Atheism for many many years. After a "huge" amount of trouble and medical issues, Atheism just wasn't working for me. So when I was at my weakest, I decided to stop fighting what I had always known. Opened my eyes and discovered there was a whole world out there, and I had already seen all the evidence I needed to believe. But I was too stubborn and prideful to admit I was one of those "delusional" Christians. But since I have grown and given in, my life is better 10 fold. All the problems I had are no longer.

Answer 5

Visions during meditation made me more aware that God isn't about fear but love. Looking at the behavior of relatives and people I knew who were fundamentalists told me right away that I couldn't continue on that path. While still a Christian, I attend a large non -denominational chruch.

Answer 6

I used to claim to be atheist after my father died when I was 16. I was saved at the time my father died. After I claimed to be athiest. The truth was I was just mad at God. I am now reborn and understand that everything happens for a reason even if it hurts at the time and we can't understand at the time, eventually God's will is revealed and it is all good.

Answer 7

Atheist. I changed because I didn't like what I saw in most of the televangelist and I kept asking myself "what king of loving God would let so many terrible things happen to truly good people while the most evil of people are living on easy street while claiming to be Christian". It appears to be joke in my opinion.

Answer 8

Was once a christian, turned atheist because my parents shoved christianity down my throat so hard it disrupted my stomach and i threw it up soaked in stomach acid. didn't enjoy it, after a while, i actually became a neopagan, but for some reason my parents just see it as "a phase" and have signed me up for bible classes, o won't this be fun.

^The way they continue to force it upon me is what ultimately makes me stray from christianity

Answer 9

Raised Christian.
Went to Church every Sunday.
Started questioning, got in trouble.
Read Bible to find answers.
Laughed at supposed answers.
Threw Bible in garbage.
Became internet and library junkie.
I'm an atheist now.

Answer 10

I was raised in the Catholic Church and decided to leave at the age of 18. I had participated in the faith and critically evaluated its doctrine as long as I can remember. My problems with the church didn't arise from the teachings or the Bible (I find value in all religions and truth in none); I opposed the bureaucracy and institution imposed on my most personal relationship (the one I have with my "god"). The men of the Church lived their lives shrouded in secrecy in fear that their disconnect in values would be exposed. Their actions didn't follow their words, and the values they proclaimed as the way of god were selectively adopted in their own lives. The hypocrisy runs rampant creating an environment where peoples’ values are merely superficial. People practice these values and teachings not out of respect but out of fear; fear of life, fear of death, and blind faith. For values to be truly embraced in ones' life there must be passion and respect for those values; they can not be memorized or learned. In order for passion and respect to be established, the values must be embodied by the officials preaching their importance, and critical discussion/debate need to be promoted to further instill these values. Faith should not be a process of blind acceptance; it should be a self discovery process, in which you seek validity to the values and ideas presented.
The officials of the Catholic Church, since the inception of the religion, have been removed from the common mans struggle, and public discourse. In fact they created a hierarchy to public discourse, the church and government controlled the upper rungs of this hierarchy. In the beginning of Catholicism the church owned the only clock in town (the bell tower), the priests were the only individuals that knew how to read, and they were the only people with a copy of the bible. What they said was reality, for the simple fact that no one else was educated enough to refute their points. This new system made them the omniscient masters because they created the knowledge base. This isolationist approach created an elite 1% that then compiled the “teachings of god.” The Catholic Church was founded on the basis of oppressing others ideas in pursuit of the Churches idealistic way. Most disheartening of all is that this idealistic way isn’t practiced by the people who created it. In some sense they feel above the values they have imposed on others. This thought of superiority has never been shaken from the institution of the Catholic faith. Whether it is suppressing great minds such as Galileo and Darwin or stripping a young boy of his innocence the church exemplifies arrogance. Why can’t the church see that science is lame without religion and religion is blind with out science?
Still more problems arise for me when looking at the catholic faith, or any faith with an omnipotent god. To me I see this as an easy out for man. This creates a god that provides, for the most undeveloped mind, solace, help and guidance. If this god is truly omnipotent then every human thought, human feeling, and aspiration are His work. Thus any punishment or reward given out would be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him? Why does god have to be a he or a she? Is it really so hard to believe that the deity who created our world is not of the same being?
With all this said I am still religious, however my religiosity differs greatly from the naïve man. There is nothing divine about morality; it is a purely human affair. My religious feeling takes the form of a euphoric amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of my life and work, in so far as I succeed in keeping myself from the shackles of selfish desire. Is it so hard to see god presence every day in the nature around us?