Were the majority of atheists once religious?

[Zetesis Apistia]

I raised this question in another thread. It is my contention that a bad religious experience and not a lack of evidence is the basic cause for atheism. I also believe that the majority of atheists came from either a catholic or a protestant background. What I would like to do is add a poll to the thread so we can get an accurate count. If you desire to add anything with your vote feel free to have at it.

[Zetesis Apistia]

Moses legislated laws that were intended to govern a nation that was about to be birthed. Those laws pertained to that nation and that nation alone. It would be impossible to enforce levitical law as Christianity spread abroad. Those laws were abolished in the new covenant. They had to be. It wasn't a divorce it was a transition that hardliners rejected. I shouldn't have to tell you all of this stuff when you already know it.

So by your own admission, the Ten Commandments are obsolete. Homosexuality is now ok, because Jesus never said anything about it. In the argument that you make, we cannot listen to anything in the Old Testament. If you do, (In the words of JoeyKnothead) then "ya have sum splainin to do."

God rest his soul. Joey and I were just startin to hit it off to. I miss the ole coot. I think we need a get Joey back drive. But anyway, I didn't say that God now promotes things he used to be against. God never changed his standards. I said he changed the way in which he deals with the transgressors. "We yousta stone homasectyals, now we gotsta lovem". To put it in the words of Joey.

The OT is divided into historical, prophetic, wisdom, and law books. All of that is quite applicable in Christianity except for the way we are to deal with law breakers. You know good and well that Jesus changed how we are to treat law breakers.

Jesus never said what you just said. Infact he said he came to uphold the law. You cannot uphold a law that you change. You're making absolutely no sense.

Reaally? Ac 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

God doesn't change but he reserves the right to develop a plan and make changes to it when he sees fit. Especially when he predicted that he would eventually make those changes...

Jeremiah 31: 31 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

What in the world do you think he meant by that? It has always been there but for some reason you guys keep saying, what...changes? It's in black and white. God said the time will come when I will make some changes. There it is in black and white and you still can't see it. So goes the verse...

Isaiah 6: 9 He said, "Go, and tell this people, 'You hear indeed, But don't understand; And you see indeed, But don't perceive.'
10 Make the heart of this people fat; Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And turn again, and be healed."

So what was the reason that he went with a plan that he already knew wouldn't work? He started out with a goal. That goal according to NT writers is that no one should perish. His abilities as an omnipotent, omniscient deity are not conducive with those attributes.

Maybe God first wanted to show the people that in fact it wouldn't work. God first needed to prove the insufficiency of the first covenant in order to confirm the necessity for the second.

Hebrews 8: 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

Not to forget that this God already made provisions in the OT that cancel Jesus completely.

2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

No sacrifice is needed according to your God's own words.

It says if "my people" which are called by "my name". You first have to belong to God before he will honor your request. This prayer is of no value to the man who is not "his people". So then you have to first become his people which you cannot do without coming to Jesus first.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

[Nickman]

Moses legislated laws that were intended to govern a nation that was about to be birthed. Those laws pertained to that nation and that nation alone. It would be impossible to enforce levitical law as Christianity spread abroad. Those laws were abolished in the new covenant. They had to be. It wasn't a divorce it was a transition that hardliners rejected. I shouldn't have to tell you all of this stuff when you already know it.

So by your own admission, the Ten Commandments are obsolete. Homosexuality is now ok, because Jesus never said anything about it. In the argument that you make, we cannot listen to anything in the Old Testament. If you do, (In the words of JoeyKnothead) then "ya have sum splainin to do."

God rest his soul. Joey and I were just startin to hit it off to. I miss the ole coot. I think we need a get Joey back drive. But anyway, I didn't say that God now promotes things he used to be against. God never changed his standards. I said he changed the way in which he deals with the transgressors. "We yousta stone homasectyals, now we gotsta lovem". To put it in the words of Joey.

I disagree. We used to stone them, now we pretend to love them while hating everything that makes them who they are, and then tell them they are going to hell. But we love you! That is ridiculous. Placing an ultimatum on someone is not love.

The OT is divided into historical, prophetic, wisdom, and law books. All of that is quite applicable in Christianity except for the way we are to deal with law breakers. You know good and well that Jesus changed how we are to treat law breakers.

Jesus never said what you just said. Infact he said he came to uphold the law. You cannot uphold a law that you change. You're making absolutely no sense.

Reaally? Ac 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

Actually this is the context

11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.

12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,

13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

The story is set with Stephen being slandered by the Jewish Council. They are accusing him of things he never said, and twisting his words.

Maybe God first wanted to show the people that in fact it wouldn't work. God first needed to prove the insufficiency of the first covenant in order to confirm the necessity for the second.

Hebrews 8: 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

So then God failed.

It says if "my people" which are called by "my name". You first have to belong to God before he will honor your request. This prayer is of no value to the man who is not "his people". So then you have to first become his people which you cannot do without coming to Jesus first.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Then he lied in the OT because he allowed them to come to him in his name Yahweh.

[help3434]

[Replying to post 350 by Zetesis Apistia]

So God set up a system that He knew would not work, and then left in place for thousands of years? The Jews certainly did not know that was the intention. Does God like playing practical jokes on them?