For atheist>Christian converts or vice-versa?

Question

I mean for those who were atheist and then got saved, or for those who were raised Christian, and then stopped believing. Share your experiences which affected your choice to date..

Endora: I should have said Atheist/Creationist; the point was not to compare religions, but to compare the person who has faith to the person who does not.

along with the instances which created such a shift.

Answer 1

I was raised without organized religion but believed in God. I considered myself a Christian because I thought that was the only real choice.

When I got older, I found myself unable to reconcile the contradictory, violent nature of the Bible, as well as a deep knowing that many Christian beliefs are just plain wrong. I decided that I would first define my beliefs, and then either find or create a faith to match.

The best day of my life was in 1997 when I clicked on Yahoo's Religions category and discovered Wicca. It was like coming home.

Answer 2

I'm not Christian to Atheist exactly, I'm Catholic to doubting what my faith has taught me.

I learned that my parents are hardcore Catholics. My mother even called me the Anti-Christ. I question a lot of things and they really don't like it.

My Cathecism teacher seems to accept the fact that I can't accept my religion blindly.

Personally, I feel that religion stops me from doing things, almost like a second subconcious; even when I started doubting the bible and it's teachings, that second subconcious was there with me. So I guess God never leaves you?

Then on the other hand, when I think of God and Jesus now, I don't feel like I'm beneath them or they're of greater rank or anything; compare this to before, when I thought they were the saviors of us all; it's a big difference, hm?

Right now, I'm starting to believe in God more, just not in the way I did before where I believed in him so I wouldn't go to Hell. Now... it's more of 'I have too many questions and maybe if I believe, I'll get them answered'.

All in all, I'm just too curious for my own good.

Answer 3

I went pagan/Buddhist >agnostic> Catholic
I realized that all the fallacies and contradictions really aren't there when you actually think critically and do honest study.

When your eyes are open (Buddha Darhma) to see as a Christian, you realize the real, empirical evidence of God is everywhere. And I don't just mean I see God in the beauty of nature. I mean REAL miracles. Honestly, the Catholic church is probably the most sceptically organization there is with miracles. If there's a 1% chance it could have happened naturally, it isn't considered a miracle. but they actually take the time to investigate them. Dead people that don't rot. (Bernadette) People that have the wounds of Christ (Padre Pio) Rose Petals that appear out of nowhere, people getting healed. And on the flip side- demonic possession. It's also real. You can't help but believe.

Answer 4

GREAT question.
I was raised Christian...then spent 10 years rebelling. I went to church after I lost my Grandma....I was so sad and I knew she would want me in Church.

During the service there were about 300 people there. Suddenly the pastor said "God just spoke to my heart....There is a young girl here who is struggling with drugs, lots of addictions in her life. Come forward and you will be set free"

I had been sitting near the back and he could not see me. I started to leave because I felt so embarassed. I was indeed into coke and lots of drinking. As I was leaving I heard a voice say "You can run to me or run away. If you run away you will die"

I knew it was true. I went forward, I was set free (1993) and I have grown closer to him every year. I had no withdrawals at all.

God is real and God is good.

Answer 5

I went from Catholic to atheist. Basically... I was invited to think critically about my belief and after a lot of consideration, I came to the only logical conclusion.

I was about 16 or 17 at the time. I'm sure I could figure out my exact age if I sat here fore a few minutes but I won't bother. A guy I knew, David, would always ask my tough questions about my belief. I knew he was just kidding around (probably flirting... we did that) but it was the first time I had taken a deep, critical, logical look at my faith.

It was a long process... there weren't definite steps, leaps, bounds, hurdles, but eventually I had to admit to myself what I'd realized. Deities don't exist. I am without belief in the existence of all deities.

Answer 6

Christian --> theist --> atheist --> agnostic

Growing up I was kind of force into the Christian belief. After I read more about the bible and it's flaws,

I became theist (one who believes in "god" but doesn't belong to a religion.) After I studied more on cosmology, biology and other sciences than realized it was possible for "god" not to be need in the process.

I realized that I being agnostic made the most logical sense because I don't know if "god" exist or not.

Saying "god" 100% doesn't exist (atheist) is as ignorant as saying "god" 100% exist (theist) I'm pretty damn sure "god" doesn't exist 99.99% but I can't ever be too sure.

Answer 7

I was raised Baptist but all my life something was missing. Finally I went to a revival and got filled with the HOLY SPIRIT and that made all the difference in my life and now I am a follower of Jesus...nondenominational so I can go to any church I want to just as long as I praise and worship God. I would never turn my back on Him now....He has done too many wonderful things for me.

Answer 8

I was raised Luthern. I didn't get adequate answers to my questions. I explored a lot of other religions & still didn't find anything that rang true, although some of the Eastern religions made more sense. I became an agnostic & stopped my search when my mother died. She lived for the church. She had breast cancer & people all over the world were praying for her recovery. She's dead.

Answer 9

Catholic/Christian to Humanist
Deductive reasoning, history, experiencing the absurdity of human self destructiveness and greed, laughing at death, the sheer size of the known universe in constrast to those prophets that supposedly "speak" to a god capable of blinking something like it into existence, the application as a law when it's based on myth and the writings of simple, certainly fallable men, and many others.

Answer 10

Well, you know, I thought about it and after long periods of contemplation and philosophical thinking, I realized that Christianity was illogical. I don’t know if you wanted me to write a novel here or what.

I was always a free thinking child as well. I got kicked out of my friends Sunday school for asking “bad” questions. I don’t even know what the problem was. All I was essentially asking was how god came into existence. Why not just say “I don’t know” or something at least?

Sorry, but you are essentially asking me my life story.