This is probably getting old
Was there anything in particular that was most influential in coming to the conclusion there is no god?
What was most compelling?
Was it one thing or a combination?
and finally how strong was your faith? say 1 out of 10
1 being weak 10 being super believer
2007-03-15 07:41:33 · 13 answers · asked by hate 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Logic, logic, a combination of logic and logic...
I never had "faith" in anything that didn't make logical sense... I was the black sheep of the family...
_()_
2007-03-15 07:48:05 · answer #1 · answered by vinslave 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was a full fledged card carrying born again, believed in healing, God was REAL to me.
There were several things that started me on my way to freedom. The first was observing a mid sized church group who were receiving prophesies, and speaking in tongues etc...I was reading the new testament and saw exact parralels to what was happening in my church. I listened to well meaning people talk about prophesies, and heard the stories morph into wild tales. I saw people getting prayed for and 'healed' and those stories became fact, irregardless of whether the person died or not. I just couldn't bring myself to believe what I knew was only story telling.
I then started reading the NT again and realized that it was exactly the same. It really became more 'human' rather than a holy story.
I then tried a more traditional evangelical church who didn't believe in the supernatural these days. There I found that the people were generally unhappy and very cliqish. They weren't kind or loving like the bible is meant to teach, it was a traditional country club with a cross stuck in the roof. It wasn't what I thought a church should be, and was very self serving.
2007-03-15 15:03:02 · answer #2 · answered by ɹɐǝɟsuɐs Blessed Cheese Maker 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The most influential thing for me was realizing that the natural world needed no god to function fully on its own. Natural selection is just that - natural, not supernatural. In the end, it was the combination of wishy-washy answers from my church, Carl Sagan's Cosmos and researching the history of the Christian Church that finally did it. I'd say in the beginning, before I started asking questions, my faith was an 8 out of 10.
2007-03-15 14:49:13 · answer #3 · answered by Gene Rocks! 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
-personal experience and a bible study and discussion group when I was 16
-personal experience was the most compelling
-I was born and raised catholic, CCD class, alter boy, the whole bit so I'd say I was a good 7 maybe 8 at one point in my life. I had a strong belief but I also had many unanswered questions. Being raise a catholic guilt is heap upon you in handfuls so I ignored my questions for years. It was only after much careful thought, careful study, and a realization from my personal experiences that the most obvious truth was right in front of me all along.....there is no god, religion is a con.
2007-03-15 15:03:24 · answer #4 · answered by ndmagicman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I began my serious doubts after I learned there was no Santa. I would go to Sunday school and ask questions which the leaders of the church could not answer effectively. After awhile, they asked my parents not to bring me back. Then I started to look into other religions, but none made sense as a whole. Finally, I realized that I didn't really need to ask my questions anymore; I had already answered them in my search.
2007-03-15 15:18:42 · answer #5 · answered by seattlefan74 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
~~~ silly,,,, No god in the history of Mankind can stand up to Honest Scrutiny. Start counting,,, then among that number, YOU choose the one that is "true", or let someone else like a cleric make that decision for you. ,,,,, In the Religious Context, "faith" was The Lifeblood of ALL these false gods, therefore faith is as Delusional as the god itself.
2007-03-15 16:51:35 · answer #6 · answered by Sensei TeAloha 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Too many God(s) based on meta-physics.
History, biology, antropology, philosophy, and many other enriching subjects helped.
It was a combination of everything.
My faith as a child was perhaps 5, because I feared and questioned.
2007-03-15 14:46:37 · answer #7 · answered by Maikeru 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Reading the bible, was a big kicker to religion. No proof was another. Inconsistency, and irrational behavior of those who did believe. No evidence and no proof, when science could explain things rather simply with both of those things and consistently in any of it's field.
2007-03-15 14:46:55 · answer #8 · answered by Magus 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The best book I have ever read, wish I read it a long time ago, it would have saved me so much money, aggravation and wasted time is:
George H Smith "The Case Against God."
See my next question.
2007-03-15 14:45:42 · answer #9 · answered by Real Friend 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I never had to come to the conclusion there is no god. That would imply that I thought there was one, then concluded there isn't one.
You question implies that all atheists were at one time believers.
2007-03-15 14:48:30 · answer #10 · answered by TLG 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋