Question for Former Atheists (or atheists)

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Question for Former Atheists (or atheists)

Post #1

Post by Furrowed Brow »

I have mentioned before that I struggle to understand how an atheist can become a theist. I really do not understand how. So here are some questions. I'd like to know just where you stood before you found religion and if what you are calling atheism bears any resemblance to what I have in mind.
  • 1/ Did you have no feeling for or sense of there being any god?
    2/ Did you accept there is no objective evidence for miracles or God, and that prayer studies show prayer does not work?
    3/ Did you recognize that scripture does not pass as evidence for the existence of God, God’s law, or Jesus Christ?
    4/ Did you recoil from religious apologists that tried to square a loving God with evil in the word disease, famine and natural disasters.
    5/ Did you fully sign up to methodological naturalism?
Which ones did you sign up to? How deeply did these questions press on you? As an atheist I answers yes 100% to all of them. Where were you on 1 to 100. Where are you now?
If there are any atheists that would like to share, please do as you would provide a comparison.

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Re: Question for Former Atheists (or atheists)

Post #2

Post by otseng »

Furrowed Brow wrote:1/ Did you have no feeling for or sense of there being any god?
I was a weak atheist. I was open to the paranormal, but I did not go much beyond that to accepting the existence of any deity.
2/ Did you accept there is no objective evidence for miracles or God, and that prayer studies show prayer does not work?
Miracles, prayer studies played no part in my belief or lack of belief at that time.
3/ Did you recognize that scripture does not pass as evidence for the existence of God, God’s law, or Jesus Christ?
I did not believe in the use of scripture to support itself. And I still don't believe in this when arguing with atheists.
4/ Did you recoil from religious apologists that tried to square a loving God with evil in the word disease, famine and natural disasters.
This issue had plagued me for years after becoming a Christian. I have since resolved the issue in my mind. For my views, please see this thread: The Problem with the Problem of Evil.
5/ Did you fully sign up to methodological naturalism?
I don't recall ever signing up for it. :-k

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Post #3

Post by C-Nub »

1/ Did you have no feeling for or sense of there being any god?

I have no 'sense' whatsoever of God, nor have I ever. Despite my theistic upbringing, I have never 'felt' God's love or existance, nor have I ever seen, heard, smelled or tasted anything that lead me for even a moment to think of or credit to a higher power.

2/ Did you accept there is no objective evidence for miracles or God, and that prayer studies show prayer does not work?

I do accept that, because of probability and the sheer number of human beings attempting to accomplish things that incredible events will occure. These are so unlikely that they could easily be called miraculous, and by that definition are not mislabled. There is no evidence whatsoever that prayer works, nor do I believe in any supernatural interference in the Universe. The evidence for prayer is usually limited to some teary-eyed little Christian explaining to other co-dependant members of whatever 'faith circle' is present that their prayers are what cured Uncle Larry of his cancer. They're is no consideration given to the fact that humanity has been fighting cancer for thousands of years and may have developed natural defenses and responses that look like a response to prayer, but probably aren't. There's a pretty famous question here, and it is "Why doesn't god heal amputees."

3/ Did you recognize that scripture does not pass as evidence for the existence of God, God’s law, or Jesus Christ?

The Bible absolutely IS evidence for God and Christ. My Frosted Lucky Charms box, however, is every bit as much evidence for Lepricauns, and Saturday Morning Cartoons provide even more compelling evidence that two-dimensional rabbits can talk. None of this evidence would stand up in any reasonable court, but it is still evidence.

4/ Did you recoil from religious apologists that tried to square a loving God with evil in the word disease, famine and natural disasters.

If so, what would I be doing here? I try to correct them, where I can, and engage them in debate because that's fun for me. Granted, atheists hold all the cards if you're actually debating by 'rules' of some kind, so it's fairly easy.

5/ Did you fully sign up to methodological naturalism?

I don't fully sign up to anything. I'm not completely convinced I exist, nor will I ever be. A philisophical surrender to any set of ideals limits the potential for future growth and insight. I support what the evidence convinces me is most probable, and only for as long as it remains so.

twobitsmedia

Re: Question for Former Atheists (or atheists)

Post #4

Post by twobitsmedia »

Furrowed Brow wrote:I have mentioned before that I struggle to understand how an atheist can become a theist. I really do not understand how. So here are some questions. I'd like to know just where you stood before you found religion and if what you are calling atheism bears any resemblance to what I have in mind.
1/ Did you have no feeling for or sense of there being any god?
I was aware of some of the theories about "God." I sometimes thought it might be cool if there was one, but "knew for certain" it was impossible to think there could be a God in a world that had so many problems.


2/ Did you accept there is no objective evidence for miracles or God, and that prayer studies show prayer does not work?
I didn't pray. Never considered it. Miracles were stories in a Bible and something kids had to listen to in Sunday school in order to get the free cake and koolaid from the sunday school teacher.
3/ Did you recognize that scripture does not pass as evidence for the existence of God, God’s law, or Jesus Christ?
I never considered it. I respected that the book was considered "holy" to some, but for me, it was usually big enough to prop open a door if need be.
4/ Did you recoil from religious apologists that tried to square a loving God with evil in the word disease, famine and natural disasters.
I spent as little time around a church or anything remotely religious as possible. However, the few discussions I remember, that was my justifcation for there being no God: disease, death, the Viet Nam war ended several years before I went to High School, etc etc. As a young kid I remember the 5 o clock news being report after report of death overseas, assasinations, and it was a constant barrage as my dad was somewhat of a political junkie.

5/ Did you fully sign up to methodological naturalism?
No, not fully...because the more I looked at and was forced to look at it (via school) it the more it looked like dots werent connecting in some of those theories either. I went to a Engineering and Technical College at first and learned you might as well ram you head into a wall as argue points of "logic" or methodologies with those who adhere to their dogmas.

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Post #5

Post by ollagram88 »

former Christian, i am agnostic. i am biased towards religion and ideally am for the idea of some God-related concept but have never been convinced and continue to remain agnostic.

1/ Did you have no feeling for or sense of there being any god?

as a former Christian, i have long outgrown the idea of an anthropomorphic deity out there and could never imagine going back to that mindset. however, the vague notion of "something out there" is still strong in me.

when i WAS a christian, i never doubted my faith until i started reading more scientific articles and being exposed to philosophical debates about God.

from my experience, that "sense" of a God is powerful, perhaps because i was raised that way. when i abandoned that notion, my entire perspective on life changed completely. but before being exposed to other viewpoints, i not once doubted the existence of God and felt his presence as a very real phenomenon. to this day, i still think the positives far outweighed the negatives of believing in a God but i cannot force myself to believe in something.

2/ Did you accept there is no objective evidence for miracles or God, and that prayer studies show prayer does not work?

if i did believe in God, i would not see prayers as a way of asking God to interfere. that kind of puts me in the minority, however. also, i'd like to throw out that prayer studies only measure direct interference by God, although that does absolutely nothing in proving his work. in addition, i think prayers would have a placebo effect (i'm not sure what these prayer-studies measured), and i personally don't see why a God-related concept can't be in harmony with a basis in scientific reasoning.

3/ Did you recognize that scripture does not pass as evidence for the existence of God, God’s law, or Jesus Christ?

i'm no Christian historical expert but from the endless debates i've looked at, i am not convinced that there is no basis in Christianity; on the other hand, of course, that basis is not strong enough for me, and hence, i don't consider myself a Christian anymore. most Christians i know personally are not aware of the loopholes in their evidence, but a good number i know would probably attest to the importance of faith.

one thing you'll find is that Christians are often more concerned with the way they live their life, which is completely different than answering questions about life (i.e., science and philosophy). Christians might find their life "saved" by Jesus Christ, their life completely turned around, them doing all sorts of good deeds and positive contributions to the world, their morals stronger than ever, their outlook on life is bright, etc. as far as they are concerned, their faith becomes real in its effects. this is a matter of LIVING your life instead of philosophizing and scientific understanding. the same actually goes for most people in the world; intellectual elites, debating christianity, those with the luxury of pondering and asking questions about God and Christianity, etc. are in the minority. this is probably important to keep in mind. when you look at the issue from this perspective, we see that the importance of historical or scientific evidence becomes of lesser importance to many religious people, and just people in general.

4/ Did you recoil from religious apologists that tried to square a loving God with evil in the word disease, famine and natural disasters.

i don't see the problem with "evil" in the world. the issue is much deeper than that and in the end i fail to see any problem.

5/ Did you fully sign up to methodological naturalism?

while i think naturalism easily explains much of what people tend to attribute to God or the supernatural, all questions have not been answered yet. once again, i also don't see how God and natural explanations for our universe can't co-exist.

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Post #6

Post by wrekk »

Very good thread. I have always wondered this myself. Here's my take on it:

I'm calling this "An Atheist's Journey"

Image
Image

Now as we can see, as time goes by Person A arrives at destination E by process of elimination, where as Person B arrives at destination F by process of elimination and then questionably adds one back?

My question is how is this logically possible? My contention is that Person B never was an Atheist at all, but rather a Deist or possible Agnostic.
You never hear in the news... 200 killed today when Atheist rebels took heavy shelling from the Agnostic stronghold in the North.- Doug Stanhope

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Post #7

Post by Furrowed Brow »

Thanks guys. I’ve been leaving it to see if anymore former atheists wanted to comment.
Otseng wrote: I was a weak atheist. I was open to the paranormal, but I did not go much beyond that to accepting the existence of any deity.
Interesting. I see my atheism as arising from a deeper anti supernaturalism. That makes me not open to the paranormal. Whilst I reject the idea of God, and thus can be assigned the label atheist, really God fits in with whole way of thinking that I reject.

Twobits on the other hand responds with to a couple of question with an honest “I did not consider it”. Which was more what I was expecting. Certainly unbelief, but really not what I think of as atheism. Though we can quibble over the semantics, this kind of unbelief is of a different order what I have in mind when I sue the word ‘atheism’.

twobitsmedia

Post #8

Post by twobitsmedia »

Furrowed Brow wrote:Thanks guys. I’ve been leaving it to see if anymore former atheists wanted to comment.
Otseng wrote: I was a weak atheist. I was open to the paranormal, but I did not go much beyond that to accepting the existence of any deity.
Interesting. I see my atheism as arising from a deeper anti supernaturalism. That makes me not open to the paranormal. Whilst I reject the idea of God, and thus can be assigned the label atheist, really God fits in with whole way of thinking that I reject.

Twobits on the other hand responds with to a couple of question with an honest “I did not consider it”. Which was more what I was expecting. Certainly unbelief, but really not what I think of as atheism. Though we can quibble over the semantics, this kind of unbelief is of a different order what I have in mind when I sue the word ‘atheism’.
I say similar about people who claim to be ex-Christians. The way I see it, those who are more analytical are prone to do so from both sides.

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Re: Question for Former Atheists (or atheists)

Post #9

Post by beankitty »

I am a former atheist - but is this only for atheist to Christian?

1/ Did you have no feeling for or sense of there being any god?

Yes. I have been an atheist my whole life. A militant one, actually.

2/ Did you accept there is no objective evidence for miracles or God, and that prayer studies show prayer does not work?

Yes.

3/ Did you recognize that scripture does not pass as evidence for the existence of God, God�s law, or Jesus Christ?

Yes. Scripture is embarrassing. I could never see someone going from atheist to Christian. That doesn't make sense to me at all.

4/ Did you recoil from religious apologists that tried to square a loving God with evil in the word disease, famine and natural disasters.

Yes. Wait... "did"? I *do*, still... My Gods are not loving so this doesn't apply to my religion.

5/ Did you fully sign up to methodological naturalism?

Absolutely! Deus Sive Natura ~ The natural world is God, God is the natural world.
I don't think that everything can be explained with the use of physical science though. That is silly.


Which ones did you sign up to? How deeply did these questions press on you?

None of these questions have been altered by my transition from atheism to theism... except #1.

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Re: Question for Former Atheists (or atheists)

Post #10

Post by Thought Criminal »

I answer in the affirmative to all of the above. For the record, I'm an atheist who's never been a theist and doesn't expect to become one.

TC

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