Question for converts to atheism or agnostic?

Question

before you converted to being an atheist or agnostic did you look up or research why the Bible is true or did you look up stuff on why it is false. Because some people have said they were atheists and started trying to prove the Bible wrong but during that realized there was nothing false in it so became Christian. So I'm wondering why some people research and convert to atheism and some people research and convert to Christianity. Again, did you look up reasons it was false or reasons it was true before you made your decision.

Answer 1

Both. I was raised a Christian. There were questions I had about the belief and about the belief of others. As I researched more, I gradually became an atheist.

It wasn't a search to prove Christianity right or wrong. It was just a search for what is real.

Answer 2

I researched the bible when I was still a Christian and started having problems. I had problems with matching Paul's teachings to what the OT actually said. I had problems with prophecies that weren't really prophecies.

For a long time I felt betrayed. I had dedicated my life to something that wasn't true. I became an atheist at that time. It took a long time before I returned to any belief in God.

But yes - I did do the research. I think those that find Christianity so convincing that they convert are merely reading the surface. They read it the way Christians encourage them to read. Like Isaiah 53. Christians claim that the suffering servant is Jesus. But earlier in Isaiah the nation of Isreal is called the suffering servant. You can't have it both ways. Also, with this passage, the actual Hebrew bible and the Christian version clash in translation.

Answer 3

"before you converted to being an atheist or agnostic did you look up or research why the Bible is true or did you look up stuff on why it is false."

I studied the Bible frontwards and backwards while I was a Catholic AND while an atheist.

By the way, my atheism isn't contingent on the Bible. The concept of a god is logically impossible. It doesn't matter what the Bible says about "Yahweh" and "Jesus", etc etc. If it talks about something that couldn't possibly exist, I shouldn't even waste my time considering whether it's true or not.

Answer 4

First of all, atheism is not a religion, so you can't "convert" to it. Atheism is a point of view, so becoming an atheist just means changing your mind.

Personally, I didn't look up any information regarding the bible. I read the bible myself. Actually, I've read it from cover to cover in three translations. I was a christian for a long time. Then I started having doubts ... so I completely immersed myself in the bible and prayed for guidance constantly. The doubts never went away. After a year of begging for help and comfort from god, I came to the conclusion that either: a)god did not exist, or b)god did not care about me. I stopped paying attention to what other people said was true about god, Jesus, and the bible ... and focused on what my experience was. I couldn't dispute my experience, after all -- I was there, and I went through it. How could it be false?

Since then, I've studied alot of religions, and I didn't find god in any of those, either. One day, I accepted that I just didn't believe that any deity existed. That's when I became an atheist.

Answer 5

Great question!

Now, to the meat of the matter--if you are going to try to "disprove" the bible, it can't be done only because there are so many different ways of perceiving the bible. Hence, so many differing denoiminations and religions based on one book. You can read into it almost anything you wish!!

Most atheists come about because of the logical inconsistencies with the very idea of a deity. Believing in a god IS illogical and DOESN'T make sense--wehich is one of the reasons why religion thrives on FAITH and that alone, as it is admittedly an illogical thing, religion.

So it's really all about your patterns of thinking, what you are looking for, and how you weigh the evidenmce and the logic and reasoning... And some people find blind faith in religion easier to believe than their own senses (and those of others) which base decisions, facts, and truths based on facts, logic, and weighable, tangible evidence...

Hope this helps answer your question...

Answer 6

People with more developed critical thinking skills see through the feeble arguments FOR religion and usually come the the atheist or agnostic conclusion... which is actually more a deconversion from religion instead of a conversion to atheism or agnosticism (Since neither is a religion). Those who have little practice in logic or critical thinking have a greater chance of falling for the religious arguments.

Answer 7

Here are a few books I'd recommend:

"The Bible Unearthed," by Finkelstein and Silberman; "Why God Won't Go Away," by Andrew Newberg; "Misquoting Jesus" by Dan Ehrman; "A History of God," by Karen Armstrong, "Language, Truth and Logic" by A. J. Ayer.

I would also suggest such things as "A History of Christianity," "An Encyclopedia of the World's Religions," and any substantial history of mythology.

Have fun.

Answer 8

I read it over 20 times. I'm 15 college credit hours away from a degree in Biblical Studies. I looked at it with unbiased eyes, not to see if it was true or if it was false, but just to see what it said and if what it said made sense and was validated by the archeological history and the internal consistency.

I had to conclude based on that study that it was almost entirely false.

Answer 9

I used to be a christian and I found many errors in the bible. Then I was a deist. Finally I realized I didn't need a god to be happy so I took the final step and became an atheist.

Answer 10

All of this is pure giberish. How has repeating all that stuff across generations and continents really helped any of us, except to keep repeating a way of life and a way of thinking. As far as I can tell, believers in god, atheists, agnostics, and people who have never thought about what ever the hell it is ya'll are talking about are all interested in the same thing. Just go look at the animals, do you look or act very differently to them?