Atheists, when and how did you stop believing in God?

Question

I'll go first: I was raised by atheist parents, but they sent me to Sunday School to give me some education in the bible and give me the choice to become a Christian later if I wanted. (I remember winning a Children's bible in a competition.) But even then I found the stories too silly to be believable.

I 'flirted' with religion when I was about 13, but again it just doesn't make any sense and is also counterintuitive to me.

How bout you all?

Answer 1

When I found out they freely kill in his name......

Answer 2

There is a God, but I do not believe in a man-made God such as Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc. The reason you don't believe in God is because of the failures of the world's mainstream religions. Don't let Christianity and Islam make you not believe in God.

There has to be a God, heaven, and hell because if there wasn't there would be no such thing as good and evil. Look at it this way, if a man rapes a little girl, what would be so evil about it if he didn't have a hell to face? Some of you may say that he can go to jail, but what if he doesn't get caught? Not believing in God, is the same thing as believing that life is all about doing whatever you want as long as you don't get caught.

Whoever has done you wrong will be dealt with by the real God. Rather it be a corrupt government(aka legal crooks), a bad job boss(aka people who think they are God because they are somebody's boss), or your regular neighborhood criminals, the real God will deal with them in this life or the afterlife or both, I promise you.

Answer 3

I'm also agnostic.

I've always been a spiritual person which is kind of strange considering that my parents were never actively or outwardly religious nor did they even attempt to push religion on us (although I do remember going to church a few times when I was very little). However, even at my most "spiritual" moments, I've never been able to fully give into the idea of God because... I'm simply too logical of a person and I think too much. The bible just seems so obviously fictional and propaganda-y to me... It always has. Sorry if I'm rambling. :-)

Answer 4

I was raised in a family were religion was a part of who we were.

About 10 years ago I began to have doubts about God and could not continue to believe.

For me the Old Testament is a book written to give the Hebrew People hope & direction during a very difficult time period. I don't believe it was written to be taken literally.

Answer 5

the remains which archaeologist have found at Catal Huyuk
( Turkey )
are about 10,000 years old, predates the history of bible
stories, this culture seems to have been a Goddess Religion
at the dawn of the last ice age..............
Sumerian history is even older than that and they believed
their gods came from the seven sister star system with another
history of over 400,000 thousand years, the idea of a god is an
assembly of old stories throughout history & pre-history......
knowledge should be an open system, not a closed way to
brainwash the human mind................

Answer 6

Off and on throughout my life, it never really added up to me, it never made sense, even as a child I could see the blatant contradictions and something just not right.

?but especially as I got older and wiser and discovered there are not only better explanations for most everything,
but that pretty much all the religious whatnot that I'd been taught was useless information I could have really done without.

Answer 7

I became an atheist about 7 or 8 years ago. I came to the realization that I was forcing myself to believe things that I knew were not true. I sat down and looked inside myself and started throwing out beliefs that made no sense. I came out of the experience an atheist and it was totally liberating! I had been a very devout catholic. I studied theology and philosophy. I prefer this.

Answer 8

Hi, I believe in God, but not a particular religion. I think that is why there is so much hate in the world now, due to people pushing their religion on others.Also, people in many religions are so hypercritical. I think God equals, love and you have so many that kill in his name. That doesn't make sense to me. I consider myself more spiritual. I guess the only advice I can give to you, is that feeling you have deep inside your heart. I think we are here in life to discover our spiritual journey, to be in touch with all the beautiful things, the trees, sky,etc. I also think we are here to help people that our less fortunate than ourselves. Maybe you should look into Kabbala. Hope this helps!

Answer 9

I was raised Atheists until I got to be around 14. I went to church because I had befriended a bunch of Christians. I really tryed to believe it but it never stuck. I was never moved by the holy spirit. And believe me, I tried, I really tried.

Answer 10

I'm agnostic.

I'll tell you a story, in short form, that I often call my how I lost my faith in God story. It isn't literally true....I was raised by non-practising jewish parents, and never had religious convictions.

How I lost my Faith In God....

I was about 8 years old, in an 8-12 year old indoor soccer league. When you think about it, there is a HUGE difference between 8 and 12 year olds as far as physical development. I was 8. I was small for my age. I was totally unathletic. At the time I HATED sports more then anything.

I was the teams last alternate anything. I rarely saw play time. I think my actual position was back up goalie or something.

We were playing another team....I now think of them as being called The Nazi Death Squad, but I am sure in reality they were probably called the lions or something like that. The Nazi Death Squad had a 12 year old player. He was HUGE. He was big for his age. The frigging kid shaved! I mean....to me...he was like Thor.

Thor liked to hurt people. Thor took pleasure in stepping on the bones of our players. Thor SCARED ME.

With about 3 minutes remaining in the game, our goalie got hurt, and I had to come in. The game was tied at that point. You could here the groans as I ascended my throan as the now active Goalie.

Thor got a penalty kick on goal with about 10 seconds left. The score was still tied.

I knew...at 8 years old...that this was my first challenge of manhood. In past game I avoided having my body hit by the ball. It stung! And I hated sports..and didn't care.

This was different....my young sack had been challenged...and I woulod do everything in my power to stop that kick from losing the game for us.

Thor ran towards the ball..kicking it with all of his mighty 12 year old, steroid fueled, power. I did not see a ball shooting towards me. I saw the hammer of Thor. End over end. Hurling towards my small, weak, mortal body.

I leaped in the air with all my might. My hand made contact with the ball!!! The ball/hammer shot my arm back with such force that my arm broke as it slapped against the wall (it was indoor soccer). I was still triumphant. I had leaped in the air to make the winning save.

The ball dropped to the ground as I began to feel the pain of the break. I screamed. I jumped up and down. In my pain, I kicked the ball in with my feet while jumping around.

The ball rolled into the goal....the ref' counted it....we lost..as I screamed in pain yelling my arm was broken.

My team mates did not seem to care. They booed as I cried.

As the Nazi Death Machine triumphantly left the building, I looked down at my broken arm, and heard the boos, and realized there was no God.

And if there was, he didn't like me very much.

Answer 11

Never believed. But am very interested as to why others do. many questions later i still think its a whole lot of crap!