question for christians and atheists who have been in R&S for a while?

Question

has the "other team" gotten you to at least once question your beliefs?

has either side presented an arguement so compelling that you have had to ponder it's actuality, even if you came back to your original conclusion about your own beliefs?

if not, could it be that you are too closed minded, especially since nobody will truly know the truth until they die? (no matter what evidence or lack thereof you currently have)

please explain your answer, thanks

today's prophet - you didn't answer the question, you only preached at me

Answer 1

Yes I have questioned what I believe while in this section. But then I read the bible and realized that I was only mistaken. Lot's wife gets killed for looking back but his kids get a free pass for sleeping with daddy, not exactly family values right there or logical thought. So I have since gone back to my original beliefs which are that the bible was written by man not god

Answer 2

I find that some of the more insightful questions and answers posted by the "other team" do keep me on my toes. Generally speaking, Christians sometimes get tunnel vision and tend to fall back on pat answers (not only here but in real life). That's okay when we're "preaching to the choir" but doesn't even begin to cut it with those outside the faith.

Although the Bible is our authority, it is not everyone's. Anyone, including atheists, can cherrypick Bible verses to prove their point. We need to be able to expand our articulation of what we believe beyond quoting verses, and to do that it's helpful to become well-informed about many other things in addition to Scripture. I think most atheists are inclined to cut us a bit of slack when we've obviously done some homework, even though they still disagree with our beliefs.

Many questions here, from atheists and others, have sent me "back to the books", so to speak. My beliefs haven't wavered as a result, but I don't believe that equates to having a closed mind. And I agree that we cannot know the full truth until after death, when one way or the other all of our arguments become moot. A Christian will tell you that's where faith comes in, but most atheists also have faith in what they believe. We just use different definitions for the word.

Answer 3

Depends on who the "other team" is. I've detected several "teams" here....

(1) fundamentalist Christians
(2) Catholics
(3) other Christians (I'm in this category)
(4) Muslims
(5) atheists (or is it "Atheists"?)

Team One and Team Five go after each other the most. When the fur flies between these two groups, little is accomplished because emotions run so hot.

On the other hand, I have found posts from people in Teams 2, 3, and 4 that are thought-provoking and constructive.

Answer 4

No. I've never seen a compelling argument from believers.

What I have seen is a number of believers who behave themselves well, and acknowledge that their belief is based in faith, not in evidence or proof. I try to always acknowledge my respect for those honest believers (e.g., Granny below), who are unfortunately obviously a small minority here.

Obviously there's nothing closed-minded about not questioning your belief in the nonexistence of god when there are no good arguments for the existence of god. It is the believers who have something to answer for here, not the nonbelievers.

Answer 5

I wouldn’t say that I have encountered an argument that has ever seriously made me consider jumping back to the other side of the fence. I think that has a lot to do with how I was brought up and once I “Converted” to atheism I really never looked back. I do however like to entertain and ponder the notion of god from time to time. I think it helps when answering question from diehard believers because it allows me to still give an answer in the context they are looking for instead of a “god doesn’t exist and that is that answer” It allows me to interact more with them I think.

Answer 6

I am neither a Christian or an atheist.

Participation here opened my eyes to atheism. I had never met an atheist or had any interaction with one until I started participating here. I didn't hate them, I just didn't know much about them.

I can see that atheism really makes sense. I find them to be far more intelligent than SOME theists. It was not atheists that sent me running from God a year ago, it was Pentecostal fanatics that did that.

Answer 7

Yes, I did reconsider my outlook in life and did start praying to a God for several months. At that time in my life I was quite ignorant and depressed. Being that I am skeptical by nature I did investigate claims made by Christians further and also did a lot of research and came back to the conclusion that there is no God of Abraham.

I am human, and I err... My lack of belief in God is not faith based but rather acceptance of the truth acquired by knowledge.

Answer 8

No, I can't say I have ever been the least bit swayed in my belief system (or lack thereof) by anything I've read in R & S. I get a kick out of the sanctimonious rants of the so-called 'believers', when the truth is, no one really knows what happens until after you die. Live and let live and learn to think for yourself.

Answer 9

NO, I've come to my beliefs after much trouble and traveling.
I was raised a Southern Baptist. I'm very familiar with the Christian belief structure. i'm also familiar with the right Wing takeover of the Baptist church.
Did you know Baptists originally believed as one of their core principals that no heirarchy can come between Man and his God?
I got exposed to that OLD TIMEY Southern religion first and got to watch a Rightward political transition in my faith as I matured.
I eventually stopped going. The conflict between what i was being taught and what I believed saw and learned was too late.
Later in life I got invloved in AA. I came away from that with disgust too! It's a cult. It has a near chokehold on Recovery from substance abuse in this country too.
A court mandated cult in some cases.But my experience with Religion is not much better.
So, I'm not close minded. Everything I read about in Yahoo R & S is related to that prior negative exposure to Religion in life and a deliberate choice to be free from it for the rest of my life.

Answer 10

I try to always keep an open mind and reassess why I do or don't believe something. But, I am mostly unchanged in my view of spirituality from my experiences here. (since June '06) I have, however been very encouraged to find more people who feel as I do, and reinforce my atheistic views.