CALLING ALL FORMER ATHEISTS...what made you change your mind?

Question

How did you become theistic?
What made you realize you were wrong?

If you answer this then you are a former-atheist because this is who the question is for.

Answer 1

A relationship with Christ is almost impossible for non-believers to understand . . . and I know, because seven years ago, I was a non-believer.

I was born into the Methodist church, baptized as an infant, and moved out of the church in my childhood.

Sometime around age 12 or 13, I was “saved” during a revival by the Baptist preacher who lived next door. I came forward because of peer pressure and friendship for the neighbors and didn’t attend church again. God’s presence wasn’t felt in our house as a child, and I didn’t leave the revival with a true sense of Christ in my heart.

As an adult, I’d occasionally attend Easter Sunday services but never attended during the Christmas season or any other time of the year.

My first wife and I were married by a justice of the peace in a civil ceremony outside, rather than in a church. Like Thomas Jefferson, I read the ‘red’ parts of the Bible, and intellectually recognized Jesus as important, but not the transforming Son of God. I would read the words, but I didn’t understand or feel the spirit.

In September, 2001, I had what the Buddhists call a satori, an awakening, a sudden flash of insight and understanding. Early one morning I instantly recognized God’s place as the creator of the Universe, Jesus Christ’s place in God, and my place in Christ.

For the next few years I pursued worldly pleasures and excesses during the week and Christ on Sundays, with the occasional Bible reading in the evenings. Slowly, I grew tired of the ways of the flesh and quit smoking for the last time.

Now that I have a personal relationship with Christ, I’m able to look back at my life and my many mistakes and see where God protected and accompanied me, without my even knowing it.

I prayed for peace and equanimity in my heart and God has blessed me more deeply than I would have ever imagined possible. Daily I marvel at God’s magnificent power as it is manifested in my life beyond my ability to articulate.

Each time I have been troubled, afraid, or uncertain and relied on Christ for strength and support, He has been there.

Through Christ, all things are new again, and I’m a testament to that. With Christ, all things are possible.

And unless you go down the road yourself, it's almost impossible to understand it.

Godspeed you on your journey of discovery.

Answer 2

I went the other way I changed my mind because most of " The inconvenient truth' has not happened It has almost become some kind of new religion Either you are a believer or you aren't? Well i wouldn't make a good Christian because there is not a shred of evidence to suggest that God exists And i don't believe the Sea is rising because Samoa and the Seychelles are still there And every time someone suggests it is getting warmer it suddenly gets colder The only evidence according to the UN GEO reports is an approx. 1 degree celicus rise in the last Century Considering that the worlds weather has been changing since the beginng of time it is hardly something to get worried about Nobody can predict the weather The real problems for the next century will be the price of Oil and Jobs lost to Globalization

Answer 3

Experimentation. I tried a prayer not knowing if there was a higher being(and not expecting an answer). A week later I heard a voice so:
1. I had developed a psychosis
2. I was hallucinating
3. Something was causing this voice

After some experimentation confirming the correctness of the information carried in the message options 1 and 2 became extremely unlikely unless I was psychic (back then I had no belief that existed either, but I had to change my mind on that as well later). In a way learning that psychic abilities do exist sort of questions my earlier conclusions about the belief in something outside myself causing the voice.

Anyway I perceived the voice to be response to my prayer (which is a shaky assumption I admit) and thereby accepted the presence of a being able to hear my prayers and respond to them. I have not been able to falsify this theory and have had several more confirmations.

Answer 4

Well, I studied the bible from a chornologically historical perspective, as well as the religions that came before it that are now classified as myths, and came to my conclusion. Years later, I met my wife and on the day she finally convinced me to go to church (May, 2003) it snowed. That was a sure sign that hell had indeed froze over. I went to church and turned off all of my critical thinking for as long as I could. I listened to the sermons and tried to take them as divinely inspired as I watched the people around me cry, fall out on the floor, and babble incoherently in what is termed "speaking in tongues." Unfortunately, I could not keep my brain turned off long enough. I knew the history, I saw the myth machine at work. I even made excuses myself, trying to convince myself that it was Jesus speaking through me to explain the inconsistencies that others inquired about. But I couldn't do it very long. I knew I was making stuff up and faking the part just so that my wife's family would accept me. I had done the research, and no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that what I learned was a lie, truth remains true because it is consistent with reality, but lies change shape because they have to adapt to fit the truth that is self evident. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't live a lie and stay religious.

Technically, I do count for this question, because I was an atheist that became religious, I just couldn't stay religious. Once you know what is true, the myth can be seen for the outright lie that it is. Good luck to you with your own faith, but for me, I know better, and I'll never pretend again.

Answer 5

Nothing convinced me, I believed that God was a fairy tale, a crutch at best--and then I didn't. I didn't work it up. I wasn't emotional at the time, and I was not undergoing a crisis.

The only reasonable response for me with this new information was to acknowledge it. I am not at the mercy of those with contrary arguments--because I am not interested in arguing the point.

What changed? It was an internal subjective realization.

Answer 6

I made the switch from theism to agnosticism.... I grew up catholic, went to a bunch of different christan churches, then when I read the enough different versions of the bible enough times, I realized that if there is a god out there, there is no way anyone on earth knows what he wants from us, and that religion is just a way to keep us in check and make us feel guilty. ever notice how all the things in the old testament are social commentary? they are rules that applied at the time? I have been so much happier and have lived such a better life and felt so much more fulfilled since I stopped trying to please some ambiguous "father figure" that told me that I could never ever ever ever ever ever be good enough for him

Answer 7

I guess it happens just before they die, Just in case ;-)

I find it difficult to see how a real thinking Atheist could especially in this day and age, with all the kind, Caring, Charitable Religious types hating the other kind, Caring, Charitable Religious types. Oh not forgetting the Atheist and Agnostics that are going to hell.

Answer 8

i wouldnt say im an atheist or a theist, but i have a really hard time associating myself with a watery bag of organs and bone

Also, methinks we are all a part of something bigger. I think 'god' is a poor word for it though; it has too many implications about beings who watch us from up in the sky and judge our actions. A better word for it would be 'it' :)

or maybe 'blob'

lol =P

edit: kinda like what impeyan link said above me

Answer 9

My little brothers. They brought me to god and showed me that what i was doing as an atheist wasn't working.
I was an atheist by choice. I was really embittered by religion, and I was just on the same rant that other atheists are, you know, science explains everything, can't prove there is God, a loving God wouldn't let bad things happen...blah blah. I became atheist shortly after I started middle school.
Anyhoo, a few years later I was in a really terrible place. My family had just fallen apart, i was seriously researching ways to kill myself, and one day, I was looking for the scalpels I used to cut myself, and my aunt had left a letter from my little brother in my nightstand drawer. She hadn't read it, cause it was sealed shut. He was twelve, I was 15. He said that he knew how much pain I was in, and that no matter what, he loved me and he didnt like to see me hurting s much. He asked if I would go to church with him. My brothers were always theists, and they always respected my choices. So I accpeted, and we went to church together that sunday like we used to.
IT was so weird standing there in Cedar Creek Church that day. I was so uncomfortable, but I stayed for my brothers' sake. Then I was fipping through the bible, just trying ot find somehing to occupy myself and I ran across Isaiah 43:2-3 highlighted in my other brother's bible:


"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the Lord your God..."

And that was that. I went home, mulled it over for a while. And I actually got on my knees and prayed. Nothing. Grawr. I hated that. I humbled myself and what do I get? Well, screw you God!

And then, suddenly I was bawling. I knew something was wrong in my life, something so messed up that i was praying ot a flying spaghetti monster! So, I let myself be humbled by the experience, and remembered all the things they taught me in little kids bible school about God finding you in the right palce at the right time....and I went back to church,and the rest is history.

*whew* Think I typed enough of that all over again? I aready answered this question several times....

Answer 10

i looked in another mans eyes as he died and was dragged into hell.
and then i thought of the first time i looked into the eyes of my newborn boys .
big difference.
one that was guilty of the most horrible sin, a child molester who victimized his stepdaughter from the age of 5 or so.the other two, fresh souls who were completely without sin.perfect in god's eyes