question for former Atheists?

Question

Can you tell me why you converted?I also sincerely ask if you had any guilt during that atheistic journey?Thank you.

Answer 1

i was an atheist although i had been raised christian...yes i felt guilt almost the whole time, just a feeling of knowing that i was wrong, but didnt want to believe it....i converted back to christianity after a long period of time when i just felt empty inside...i knew there was something more, but i was just so p/oed at god that i didnt want to think about it...needless to say, everything worked out and now i am happier than i have ever been...

good luck to you...

Answer 2

I have bounced between Atheism, Christianity and agnosticism, having been bombarded with all kinds of imagery, rhetoric and barely-concealed threats from all quarters. Faith and religion are the most complex issues an individual has to deal with (apart from keeping a woman happy).

But why on Earth, if someone is sincere, would anyone feel any guilt for doubting the existence of God - or any other gods?

I mean, we've had wars, famine, drought, floods, tsunami, hurricanes, massive species loss, pestilence, AIDS, George W. Bush, bird flu, drug epidemics, more wars, TaTu, global warming, rampant inequality getting worse and worse - If He is the Creator, he is testing our faith so prolifically that nobody should be made to feel guilty if they start thinking that He may actually not be real......

.....that he may just be the product of very early literary imagination.........it is no coincidence that the 3 divine religions grew out of the region where the written word first appeared.

If He wants us to keep the faith, I think we are long overdue a sign that He is really up there. I mean.......how long would you sit alone at a candle-lit table for two until you finally accepted that you had been stood up?

Is it not possible that He is the ultimate example of Man's ever-lasting attempts to control the will and the mind of his fellow man?

Answer 3

I'm a former Christian, who became an atheist - and then returned to a theistic point of view.

I can tell you that leaving Christianity was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was a very stressful, fearful and guilt filled thing. The only support I had were those I met online - people in my real life condemned me. The fear of hell, the fear placed in me through years upon years of their doctrines was really hard to get out from under. Not to mention pressure from family and friends - telling me how wrong I was.

It doesn't really seem to be a hard thing to do. You would think walking away would be a joy. Trying to get out from under the indoctrination of it all is another story. Yes - there is guilt. Yes there is fear. But you get over it.

Why did I become a theist again? I think I needed to totally leave all faith in order to actually know God. I now have a truly healthy relationship - and a deep peace and senerity. Life isn't always easy but the having the peace and love of God with me always fills my days with a limitless hope.

I am not Christian - I will never return to that religion. I have found it flawed and lacking. I was almost convinced once to return. Fortunately God wacked me over the head and set me straight. Otherwise I would have to make that journey out of it all over again. Or live a life that wasn't even close to what I have now.

Answer 4

I was raised Anglican, became Roman Catholic in high school, and then an atheist in university when I learned about the true scope of human history and religious endeavor. I can honestly say that I never felt guilt about being an atheist -- in fact, I was more happy and fulfilled than I'd ever been as a Christian.

I decided to explore theism again after what I can only describe as a vision of the Divine. I'd never presume to use my experience as grounds to convert anyone else, and to this day I'm convinced that if I'd decided to stick with atheism, whatever Gods exist would have counted it as "no harm, no foul". But it was enough to convince me to turn in my atheist card for a membership in the Agnostic Theists Club. ;-)

Answer 5

I was an Atheist for a while. I had been fed up with Christianity but still believed in God, however when my mom died I pretty much was an Atheist for a couple years. Then I realized I was limiting my spirituality to Christianity or nothing. I found things that worked for me, like Taoism and other nature religions. I'm pretty happy now, and more comfortable spiritually then ever.

Oh, and I didn't feel guilty as an Atheist, just kind of empty since I've always been a spiritual person.

Answer 6

I'm a former theist who became an atheist, and I can tell you that I felt much more guilt from my beliefs as a theist than as an atheist. I think most theist-to-atheist converts will tell you the same story. As a theist, I felt like I was somehow defective or wrong for questioning or thinking about theological issues; I felt like there was something wrong with me that I didn't just blindly accept what my religion fed me as truth, and that seeking my own path would be a betrayal of my faith, my family, and my heritage.

As an atheist, in contrast, although there are still many things I don't know, and I still make mistakes and try to become a better person, I now feel like I'm more "whole": like I'm no longer some Jekyll-and-Hide who applies one set of methodological criteria in everyday life, and an entirely different set in religious life. Rather, I feel unified under a single way of living: I am not a secular-religious hybrid. Rather, I am simply secular. I am not guilty of thinking for myself, or questioning authority. Rather, I am proud of it. And I am more open than ever to considering new views and changing my mind on matters, since I don't consider any claim or claimant infallible--myself included.

By the way, dissturbbed2007, there are no "laws" governing the universe, at least in the sense of a human law. When we speak of "scientific laws" or "laws of nature", we are being 100% figurative: in reality, these "laws" are just man-made descriptions of the way we've observed reality behaving. In other words, they're explanations and descriptions for how things do act (as we've observed them), not prescriptions of how things should act. Does the mere fact that our observations aren't indescribable (which is the only situation under which there couldn't be any "laws" of nature) imply the existence of a God?

Answer 7

I have moved around quite a bit -- from Christianity to Atheism back to Christian Science to Grail Message teaching. Had a long spell here, then moved on to Eckankar, to Deism and now to Agnosticism!! It's been quite enlightening and quite an experience. No, I had and still have no guilt feeling, and I remain open, even now, to new vistas of life. For now, I cherish immensely my new found freedom from all religions and I have adopted REASON as my only infallible guide.

Answer 8

After I had a few "odd" experiences that were past explanation, I started to look into it all some, not much, but some.

Then this past fall, for some reason, I was over come by this urge to study. And this comes from a guy who sailed through school with a C average cause I just wasn't interested.

Well since fall, I have over 2000 hrs logged into it all. Started off with 9/11 then took off into all those tangents of Illuminati, Mason, JFK, Oklahoma bombing and then it went even farther and farther and farther, getting back into UFO, Nephilim, etc.

The deeper I dug, the more I was cross referrancing the bible as part of the studies. The more I did this, the more it dawned on me what it was really talking about. And not the "story" we see in childrens bibles about it all, for the pictures really mislead many.

For the past 2 months, I have got nuts on the studies mainly focusing on the bible and other religions and cross referrancing them. Using the bible as a guide for what is good, what is bad, etc due to the passage of false prophets as a guide.

I won't give up my conclusion, for I might have many things thrown at me from many religions....but I will say this. People....stop listening to your church, your minister, your bible study, etc. Do the study yourself, define the words, cross referrance it all. Just as if it was a class in college. The truth will come to you, and all the evil will show itself.

Part of my studies led me into my Native Cherokee and other Indian backgrounds as well. Once I learned much of that info, God showed me how to spell his name, say his name, etc. And I easily realated to it due to the Indian knowledge I had gained, YAHWEH. For my native toungue of Tsalagi is very similar to the root language, so once I learned one, the others came pretty simple.

Without writing a book...its hard to really explain how it all came about...except by guidance by Him, for he has answered every question I have thrown at Him. Even people that know me are amazed at how much I have taken in within such a short period of time. I credit it all to him..for he is teaching me....to be another soldier.

I don't get into all the goop and gunk that many do. To see me you'd never guess I was a "bible thumper".

Answer 9

Meh, I began doubting my philosophical arguments based on my perceptions on what could be called divinity [as debating about divinity causes those thoughts] and then met a Pagan, and we talked about Catholics. After that, I went running to it. Now I'm pretty much the same, with the same view of divinity, but placed in a way an individual can reach it [I'm an odd Pagan, as my philosophies enter it.] I will never claim to have been a "Strong Atheist."

Yes. Until I studied philosophy, I felt bad for being different. Philosophy taught me an omnipotent god does not exist, and can not exist.

Do note, I did not turn into a Christian. I'm a PAgan with a dark tendency.

Answer 10

i called myself an atheist for awhile, then converted to agnosticism/unitarian universalism. it's entirely possible for things to happen that science can't explain, but that doesn't make any specific old book right about everything.
there really isn't any guilt, and if there is it's cultural not spiritual. do you think all the other nations that aren't christian have mass guilt of ignoring Jesus? i doubt it.