Atheist: What do you suggest as the best course of action in this scenario?

Question

Sincerely: let’s reason together…
Obviously for some, the only way for you to believe in God is if God Himself provided some incontrovertible proof to you personally. No one else can tell you of their “proof”, for you can simply reject such “proof” as a lie, delusion, or brainwashing. Yet, God Himself (IF He exists) could reveal Himself to you in an incontrovertible way.

This is what happened to me. I was an atheist. I sat down to read the Bible to prove it wrong, and the Lord God revealed Himself to me, directly and personally – despite having lived over 20 years without perceiving any evidence of the existence of any so-called god.

So please, for just a moment (if it is possible for you), forget all the “assumptions” and arguments about “how this never happens” or how it has never happened to you, personally…

But consider my situation and answer this:
What am I to do now?

Should I just shrug my shoulders at all my former and current atheist friends...?

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Just Curious - actually, I did NOT make it through Genesis! Whether written abstractly or literally, there was no way for me to "prove" it wrong. After 1 week of aggravation, falling asleep, and getting more bitter, I turned to the so-called "New Testament". That night, I read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

Godless - it is sad to see how you cannot even be reasonable and answer the question I asked, but instead attack me as being a liar or lunatic. My question was sincere and honest.

Wolfechu - sadly, you are still caught believing the same "strawman" of Christianity that I was before. I, too, would reject the "god" that you think the Lord God is.

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I will not boast about what I have seen or experienced, but neither will I deny it. And I will freely confess that I did not - in the least - deserve any of God's grace. Who does???

No, I was a boring non-drug doing, non-drinking, science major atheist - a happy-go-lucky, get along with everyone guy who was just an extreme skeptic regarding all things "supernatural".

I often see myself as the doubting Thomas-type Christian. As Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

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just curious re: your edit -
When I read Genesis, I had no concept of any Biblical doctrine, such as "original sin" - I was much more ignorant than you, at that time.
You were taking "doctrine" in which to "hold" the Bible to. I was reading it like any other book...ditching every presupposition.

And your pathetic taunts remind me of Satan in the desert "tempting" the Lord Jesus to "prove" that He was who He was. I will not subject myself to yield to such temptation to boast...and cast pearls before you. An adultress heart demands a sign...and no sign shall be given. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you...if you remain so hardened. The Pharisees claimed not to be blind, just as you claim to be...which is all the worse for them...and for you, for your sins shine for the whole world to see; and your harsher judgement will be seen to be that more just.
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Answer 1

I did the same thing you did and He caught me. Now I am His forever. Just a heads up you will lose some friends I had several that just walked away after my confession of faith to them, didn't try to convert them just told them my story.

Answer 2

I would question why you think that God revealed himself to you. Personally I was a Christian for the majority of my life. Given that God has to be taken on faith, I looked into evidence for events that were attributed to him or events that the Bible recorded. Clearly creation is not reconcilable with evolution as creation is mis-ordered. The time lines in Genesis are unsupported, and the lifespans decrease which has no evidence. Of course there is no evidence for the flood or that any of the events from Joseph to Moses happened. There is no collaborating evidence for any of the miracles or events of the Bible. These are not assumptions, these are facts.

But I digress. If you wish to believe, that is your prerogative, however remember your feelings at having some one try to witness to you when you didn't want it. Also remember that your morality should not be the basis for laws and that science still deals with facts not beliefs.

Edit:
There are several things to consider, are you willing to accept the whole thing on the basis of a small part of the book? Can you objectively reconcile the god of the OT with the god of the NT? Can you justify, again objectively, why god waited for over 30,000 years to reveal his plan of salvation? Are you willing to trust books that were written potentially 70+ years after the fact and that were most likely revisions of another book? How was your "experience" different than a Native American finding their spirit guide or totem, or any other religion's personal experience?

By the way, I'm a confirmed atheist, but I still speak in tongues, ironic, no?

Answer 3

In the alien scenario, if I saw all this in front of my own sober, awake eyes, I'd believe it was real. I've been called a little weird, but I don't have psychotic episodes to imagine something like that. I'd share the experience with my people, report it to the proper authorities and do some research of similar events. In the God scenario, the word "incontrovertibly" is the key. The experience would have to be as obvious as in the alien scenario. God would need to appear before me in a totally unambiguous way when I am awake, sober and thinking clearly. If that happened, I would believe what I saw was real. But that has never happened to me, I don't think it ever will, and people who say something like that has happened to them sound like crackpots. That's why I remain and unbeliever. As for which is more likely, I think the existence of aliens is more likely than the existence of God. The existence of aliens requires simply that other intelligent being exist in the very vast physical universe we also inhabit. The existence of God requires a whole other divine realm of reality for which there is no empirical support.

Answer 4

Such a thing would be inherently unChristian, however, as the Christian you bear a strong obligation of charity. Given that there are several places in scripture where Jesus states that faith is not required for salvation, that the faith of others can save someone, then you bear a duty of prayer and respect, granting the same charity you would have wished as an atheist.

To give an example, in Greek, in the story where men lower the man down through the roof and Jesus heals him, Jesus states that it is the faith of those who lowered him that granted salvation. To whom Jesus is speaking is ambiguous in most English translations. However, the ill man is saved and sins forgiven on the faith of those who lower him, not on any faith of his.

Likewise, the Centurion's servant is healed not by the faith of the servant but of the Centurion. If you look you will find several such passages in the New Testament, both in the Gospels and outside them as well. It is easier to notice in the Greek than the English. Nonetheless, you may not abandon anyone, let alone a friend.

They do not share your view, and presumptively never will, however, if the Gospels are correct, then as a person of faith, you should pray to intercede on their behalf. Revelations states that the prayers of the saints rise like incense to the Father. So, what you are to do now is the same things you did before, except you are also to pray.

Note: I am an atheist, but a former Christian.

Answer 5

I guess it would depend on what exactly the experience was..


A few months ago I was having an extreme anxeity attack. I haven't been to church in 2 years, and it's been about that long as well when I seriously decided I did not believe. When I went to church, I had made this little hanging mirror, and on it it said "daughter of God". I had since taken of the saying, but since the mirror was cute I kept it hanging in my bathroom.
When I was having the attack I went into the bathroom and saw the mirror, and everything stopped. I stopped crying, my breathing was normal, I stopped shaking, and I was unbelievably relaxed.
It freaked me out a little, and I had to find an explanation for it.

I strongly believe it was because the mirror used to give me such strong self worth and reminded me of the God I believed in, and that belief was my security blanket. As well, having a simple distraction to take away from the thoughts that were causing the anxeity.

I believe there is a logical explanation for everything.

Answer 6

Reasoning together...

How do you stand in respect of someone who has had a convincing (to them) personal experience which revealed something/someone of significantly different character, intent or message to that which you believe you have encountered?

Is their experiential authentication equally valid, or less so?
How is an outsider to chose between the two (or more)?

As with others here, I'm an ex-Christian.
While struggling with issues in the bible (with prayer, tears and fasting... and I'm serious) I found no confirmation, intellectually or experientially. and had to go with my understanding and conscience: that the bible and Christianity were, neither, what they claimed to be.

Which does appear to set me up as one of the chosen "vessels of wrath made for destruction" in Romans 9.
If God's there he declined to choose me.
Or God's not there.

On what to do... Stay friends if you can. I lost most of my Christian friends when I became an atheist.
They appeared not to be able to handle the apostasy of such an active committed Christian.

Answer 7

A bit more info on 'the Lord God revealed Himself to me, directly and personally' would be nice.

Presumably whatever it was was enough to convince you. If you can honestly see no way that this experience could have a mundane explanation, I guess you're stuck with it.

I'd be interested to know if you're previously experienced any hallucinations - especially chemically-induced ones - that would enable you to differentiate between these and a genuine experience.

Under the circumstances, unless your experience included any instructions, I guess you should be a good person and hope for the best.

CD

Answer 8

I'm not sure I understand how a god revealed himself to you from the bible. The recent book Misquoting Jesus finally proved once and for all that a vast majority of the bible was falsified by translators and scribes over 1600 years.
So how did you come to have faith in something that has been overwhelmingly falsified?

My second point involves Frankenstein! There is a female scholar out there (I've forgotten her name) Who has spent decades researching Marry Sheley's Frankenstein. She is 100% convinced that the book is laden with overtones of rape and molestation. Very few others agree or even see it.

My point is that if you try hard enough, you can read anything into anything. If I tried hard enough, I would see Jesus being portrayed in a Tele Tubbies cartoon. People see what they want to see. People read what want to read. People understand what they want to understand. It does not matter if it is correct or not.

Answer 9

I am not an Athiest, but would like to say you should count your blessings that God did reveal himself to you and had mercy on your soul. For, as we have seen here, He does not do that to everyone.
You can still be "friends" with your other friends, you just need to walk cautiously, and if they see you really found God and your life shows them this, they will start to doubt their beliefs also.
God is a good God and shows mercy to who He will show mercy....like I said, count your blessings.

By the way, some of the Bible is hard to read, even for Christians, so that means nothing......

The word of God reveals so much, just keep at it......

Answer 10

You must follow your path.

My account and experience turned out differently. I was a Christian and was struggling with faith and asked God to reveal himself to me. He didn't, which lead me to re-examine my beliefs, re-read the bible, and eventually reject Christianity as false.

Assuming that both of our experiences are very real, where does that leave God?

It must mean that Predestination is a real doctrine, which means you are chosen and I am not. Which makes God an incredibly cruel being given the doctrine of hell.

Or, your experience was not supernatural and God doesn't exist.