Some say they believe/disbelieve in god mainly as a result of one specific event in their lives, have you?

Question

Has something like this happened to you? It is often most referred to in a negative sense by disbelievers and a positive by believers....But what about the opposite to this?

I have had experiences, not where I have been so down and stayed there that I thought god did not care (I suppose I am kind of agnostic, mostly, just to clarify) But where I have just for example argued for several hours about how god does not exist etc…. and then gone and had something really amazingly great happen that has changed my life forever…. It seems to me that most of these experiences are apparently totally random, and to link one to another is almost looking for something that is not there? But I suppose not in all cases….

Tell me about your experiences, about how you gained or lost your faith though a life changing experience, and how you linked it to god or a lack of god?

Awesome answers guys, I agree, you should never go looking or believing in something from a single experience, it just does not make sense and really is the epitome of a bias view....

Answer 1

Well I have been having some interesting experiences lately:

1 - I have been having an internal debate on whether there is a God or Afterlife which was sparked from my Uncle recently passing away.

2 - During this struggle I have been reading this book by Francis Collins called "The Language of God" which I borrowed from my friend

3 - One day as I walked towards my Car that was parked in the train station, I concluded that there is a high possiblity for a God, when I got in the car I was in the mood to listen to a particular song that always skips but nevertheless in the mood to hear it. It is a song about loving someone and that no one can say anything to ruin that love and faith in that person as long as I believe in the relationship....the song..played in full for the entire day...I felt an overwhelming amount of emotion when it played, I could not explain where it came from.

4 - The next day at the train station a guy gave me a church business card, the name of the church was "Agape" I didn't know what this word meant, I just thought it was spanish since the rest of the card was spanish, I was the only one he gave one too, that same day I decide to back track in the Collins book and re-read some stuff and the page I end up on guess what word I find, Agape, hi-lighted. I was stunned.

5 - Since then I have dismissed it as coincidence because I am a slave to my senses, since that day that I dismissed it all, the CD has not played in full no matter what methods I have tried to get it to function properly.

I can either say I will believe it when I see it because my senses tell me other wise or I can say I am a finite human being with a finite understanding and it would be arrogant of me to assume my senses know that there is no God especially if God technically resides outside the realm of our finite understanding. Right now I am a borderline Agnostic Atheist, still putting too much faith in my finite understanding.

Answer 2

I used to believe in god not because of an event, but because, well everyone else believed I guess. I guess I thought everyone believed in god and that's what 'normal' people do. I wasn't raised into a religion thankfully, and it just wasn't something that came up in everyday life.

No there was never a single event that caused me to disbelieve. It happened when I started to look into why things weren't adding up and why this god makes no sense. It was a long process for me in which I questioned everything I thought I knew and realized I knew very little.

Answer 3

I went to a Catholic grade school for a few years. I had questions...they had no answers. When I asked more questions, I was repremanded. I was a child trying to understand what this God thing was all about, and the best they could tell me is "Because the Bible says so". I was dissatisfied from the beginning. Even at just 8 years old, I felt that something wasn't right. My turing point was when our Monsegnior was dismissed for some x-rated folly with one of the nuns, and a new priest came in as a replacement. During our weekle confession, I noticed that the new priest stood at the alter while the other children confessed their darkest secrets. No privacy, face-to-face, in front of all my classmates, they wanted me to approach the alter, kneel in front of the priest and confess.....Hell no! I refused, was sent home, and was enrolled in a public school where I was much more comfortable. I explored some other religions, but none of them make much sense to me. I have settled in my Athiesm quite comfortably. I find it better for me to put my faith in myself, rather than a god.

Answer 4

I didn't read all of that, I'm just going to answer your main question. Um, I'm Agnostic, and no. Nothing big or traumatic has occurred in my life for me to be this way. I did use to go to church a lot, but then I started thinking, "wow..this makes no sense. What a load of bull...". And I just started researching all (if any) scientific proof was out there to concur everything the Bible says happened...and I found none. People say, "you don't need science. just faith"..but i apply everything to the five senses. If I can't see it, hear it, smell it, touch it, nor taste it...it doesn't exist in my opinion. Besides, the Bible is missing a lot of key elements that have occurred around that time period..so many gaps here and there, it's just too hard for me to believe something when there are so many holes in the story.

Answer 5

I never had faith in religion to begin with so it wasn't something I could lose. I have christian parents and I was raised within the baptist church. Even so, I never believed from day one. All I used to do was annoy the Sunday School Teachers and the Reverend with questions they couldn't answer and the only response I ever got back was that I had to just learn how to accept things as they are. To me that isn't an explanation, it's a cop-out. I walked away for good at the age of 15.

Answer 6

I have my own beliefs, which I am sure many would not accept.
Too many to go into in a short space, which is partly why I wrote my book, just many things I have learned through my life.
The only thing I will say and the reason is unimportant!
When my wife was in hospital expecting our child, I knew it would be a girl, well as there were complications I was not allowed in the delivery room.
So the doctor approached me and said “You have a son”
I replied “No I have a daughter”
He looked some what surprised, went back to delivery room and when he returned said. “Well yes you have a daughter”

Answer 7

Not one specific event caused me to believe that god does not exist. Actually it was a slow realization of the impossibility of a deity. Especially things like it's so called ability to create the universe and then be so petty as to punish me for eternity for not believing in him. Sounds pretty irrational to me. Sounds more like an emotional human being than a god.

Answer 8

Well no experience has actually made me believe or disbalieve as i have always believed. But it is in those down/good moments when you tend to question/thank him. Like i have been in near death twice in my life, and i have thanked him for watching over me and not taking me just yet. and then there are the times when really bad things have happened to me but i just say if this is what you want me to go through them so be it. cause the more pain you go through the better outcome you have. like they say after every thunderstorm comes the calm although you may have lost/gained something in that storm, what doesnt kill you makes you stronger. ............ loved your question...............love solitaire

Answer 9

I had an experience which strenghtens my faith in God. I was once travelling by boat, when we were about to dock on a pier, I felt the call of nature. I went inside a comfort room and did my thing. Before doing so, I got my wallet from my pocket, put it on a place nearby and when Im done, I went outside the CR and forgot my wallet. When I realized that I dont have my wallet in my pocket, I went back to the CR and found out that my wallet was gone. I went back to my cot and prayed to God so hard to help me get back my wallet and after 4 hours waiting, somebody came and returned my wallet. I thank God for the miracle that had happened that day.

Answer 10

It was not a single event but a process that I passed through in which I developed my brain to be analytical, and later the ability to observe human foolishness with humor.