Any former nonbelievers find religion later in life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

As noted elsewhere, these are not new concepts, first written in the bible -- they have been written about in other cultures with no knowledge of Jesus or Judaism. Some of the concepts may be complex and not immediately understood by many average people, whenever they are presented with these ideas, but they are simply not original to the bible.

I think it's possible to appreciation what wisdom there is in the Bible, without trying to present it as a one-of-a-kind breakthrough book containing wisdom never thought of before or since.

Since Bible, of course. Before Bible -- please, share the source that incompass all this values prior to the Bible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

As noted elsewhere, these are not new concepts, first written in the bible -- they have been written about in other cultures with no knowledge of Jesus or Judaism. Some of the concepts may be complex and not immediately understood by many average people, whenever they are presented with these ideas, but they are simply not original to the bible.

I think it's possible to appreciation what wisdom there is in the Bible, without trying to present it as a one-of-a-kind breakthrough book containing wisdom never thought of before or since.

Since Bible, of course. Before Bible -- please, share the source that incompass all this values prior to the Bible.

buddha, gilgemesh, aesop, greek myths, etc. Just like the bible? no -- lots of similar wisdom - yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

As noted elsewhere, these are not new concepts, first written in the bible -- they have been written about in other cultures with no knowledge of Jesus or Judaism. Some of the concepts may be complex and not immediately understood by many average people, whenever they are presented with these ideas, but they are simply not original to the bible.

I think it's possible to appreciation what wisdom there is in the Bible, without trying to present it as a one-of-a-kind breakthrough book containing wisdom never thought of before or since.

Since Bible, of course. Before Bible -- please, share the source that incompass all this values prior to the Bible.

buddha, gilgemesh, aesop, greek myths, etc. Just like the bible? no -- lots of similar wisdom - yes.

Sorry, wrong. Not even since the Bible is there any belief system on Earth that says that there is one God who loved you so much that He came to Earth himself and lived as a sinless man and died a painful death and then rose Himself from the dead so that you can spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

As noted elsewhere, these are not new concepts, first written in the bible -- they have been written about in other cultures with no knowledge of Jesus or Judaism. Some of the concepts may be complex and not immediately understood by many average people, whenever they are presented with these ideas, but they are simply not original to the bible.

I think it's possible to appreciation what wisdom there is in the Bible, without trying to present it as a one-of-a-kind breakthrough book containing wisdom never thought of before or since.

Since Bible, of course. Before Bible -- please, share the source that incompass all this values prior to the Bible.

buddha, gilgemesh, aesop, greek myths, etc. Just like the bible? no -- lots of similar wisdom - yes.

Sorry, wrong. Not even since the Bible is there any belief system on Earth that says that there is one God who loved you so much that He came to Earth himself and lived as a sinless man and died a painful death and then rose Himself from the dead so that you can spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

Oh, so is that the only thing the bible says? the only important thing? how about love thy neighbor and don't steal, lie, etc? only "Jesus died for my sins..." counts -- Gee -- maybe you should have mentioned that earlier. and since when is Jesus dying for our sins a "value?"

Actually there were other dying/rising gods before Jesus -- but some Christians who come here don't think they were real, like Jesus was, and really don't like to hear about them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[



Perhaps because the writings in the bible simply reflect the hopes, feeling and fears of the ordinary humans who wrote them thousands of years ago.

You see, there is the problem. There are so many concepts in the Bible that can't be written by ordinary people.

The concept of forgiving someone who abused you -- it is contradictory to the human nature. But in the end, you learn that only after forgiving someone who did wrong to you, you can move on with your life. Only after changing your own feeling toward the abuser you can live your life fully. Millions of people go to therapists for years to apprehend something simple as this. They spend $$$ to learn this. And all that they have to do is to open Bible to figure out how to do it.

Same thing is with the concept of loving your enemy -- it is irrational at the first glance and not in human nature. But only after long analysis you start to understand why is loving your enemy is actually benefit you as a human.

So therapists are taking biblical studies in college?

Love thy Neighbor 101

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, faith does cleanse you.

Do you think, then, that people who do not believe in god are less clean than people who do? and that you were not as cleansed when you were a non-believer>

Absolutely! Once you with God, you have a better feeling for people. You feel their emotions better. You resonate better with them. I don't know how to explain it properly. It is like you know that some people don't get regular sex -- they don't talk about it, but you just know it from their look, behaivior, etc. that they don't get laid regularly.

Same thing you just feel it about human souls -- the heaviness, mild depression (even though outside everything looks fine and successful). This people smile, laugh, have successful carreers, married with kids -- but I can feel how superficial it is. Most of them either in counseling or on some type of meds. I always feel like they are missing something, no matter how self confident they are.

When people live their life to the fullest and happy -- you know it, you feel the vibration. You feel the love is radiates from them. You see the light in their eyes. That is the God.

It may sound confusing the way I am describing, but it is more on subconscious level that I feel "cleansing" in another people. Maybe it is wrong choice of word, but this is how i feel it. I've met a lot of people in my life, I travelled large part of this world and lived in many countries before, but never met any single person who is truly happy and live without God in his heart.

You write as though what you experienced happens to everyone in the same way.

No, the question above was addressed to me: "Do you think..", so I just answered what I am thinking. Please, do not project my thoughts and feeling to general public.

And what you were thinking is that what you say applies broadly to others, e.g. "never met any single person who is truly happy and live without God in his heart." suggesting that you somehow know this about everyone you've met. Did you ask everyone you've met if they had god in their heart?

How do you know the light you see in people's eyes is God? How do you know that most of the people who seem happy are in counseling or on meds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many coincidences in life. what you describe is one of them. Also, it's possible that if you had not called out to God at that moment, you would not have noticed or interpreted all the same "signs" that were there for anyone passing by to see. 

I say this not to disagree with or diminish the profound emotional experience you had, but rather to respond to your request for another interpretation of it.

Interesting point/perspective. 50/50 chance that at that precise moment I would or would not have seen something in my field of vision that I could have interpreted as coming from a divine source. Billboard for walmart, Red Roof Inn, McDonalds etc i would NOT have interpreted as diivine. I could have seen what looked like an apparition of jesus in the dirt on my windshield or heard a random love song on the radio and thrown "it must be from God Im saved!" onto those things. Could argue that people who are in despair will grasp onto anything as a way of making their pain more palatable. To me, billboard seemed pretty unambiguous. And if it had been a song on the radio, a "vision of Mary" on my leftover pizza or a gust of wind I would, now that Im no longer in despair, take those to mean that I was so desperate at that time to believe in a benevolent God that anything would have looked like a sign.

Heres a thought...if I end up sick with cancer some day or lose a child or my husband...what will happen then if I ask for divine intervention and dont get it? I miscarried at five weeks on my daughters birthday...so whats the "god talks to us through coincidences" logic of that? And people go through s hittier circumstances than divorce...what about all the people who asked or proof of Gods existence during Hurricane Katrina, on 9/11 or when repeated losses and tragedies happen in a single life and those people ask for proof and dont get it?

Right - you never hear about the people who prayed for intervention in a hurricane and get killed instead, because they are dead -- but you can pretty much bet that some of them were praying just as hard as people who were spared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many coincidences in life. what you describe is one of them. Also, it's possible that if you had not called out to God at that moment, you would not have noticed or interpreted all the same "signs" that were there for anyone passing by to see. 

I say this not to disagree with or diminish the profound emotional experience you had, but rather to respond to your request for another interpretation of it.

Interesting point/perspective. 50/50 chance that at that precise moment I would or would not have seen something in my field of vision that I could have interpreted as coming from a divine source. Billboard for walmart, Red Roof Inn, McDonalds etc i would NOT have interpreted as diivine. I could have seen what looked like an apparition of jesus in the dirt on my windshield or heard a random love song on the radio and thrown "it must be from God Im saved!" onto those things. Could argue that people who are in despair will grasp onto anything as a way of making their pain more palatable. To me, billboard seemed pretty unambiguous. And if it had been a song on the radio, a "vision of Mary" on my leftover pizza or a gust of wind I would, now that Im no longer in despair, take those to mean that I was so desperate at that time to believe in a benevolent God that anything would have looked like a sign.

Heres a thought...if I end up sick with cancer some day or lose a child or my husband...what will happen then if I ask for divine intervention and dont get it? I miscarried at five weeks on my daughters birthday...so whats the "god talks to us through coincidences" logic of that? And people go through s hittier circumstances than divorce...what about all the people who asked or proof of Gods existence during Hurricane Katrina, on 9/11 or when repeated losses and tragedies happen in a single life and those people ask for proof and dont get it?

Right - you never hear about the people who prayed for intervention in a hurricane and get killed instead, because they are dead -- but you can pretty much bet that some of them were praying just as hard as people who were spared.

Or maybe they prayed "Lord, thy will be done" and God thought it was a good time for those particular, obviously willing, people to die. We'll never know.

[Anonymous]

Right - you never hear about the people who prayed for intervention in a hurricane and get killed instead, because they are dead -- but you can pretty much bet that some of them were praying just as hard as people who were spared.

Or maybe they prayed "Lord, thy will be done" and God thought it was a good time for those particular, obviously willing, people to die. We'll never know.

Didn't God create the hurricane?

How do you account for "acts of God?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Right - you never hear about the people who prayed for intervention in a hurricane and get killed instead, because they are dead -- but you can pretty much bet that some of them were praying just as hard as people who were spared.

Or maybe they prayed "Lord, thy will be done" and God thought it was a good time for those particular, obviously willing, people to die. We'll never know.

Didn't God create the hurricane?

How do you account for "acts of God?"

only God can account for acts of God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was raised to go to Baptist church with my grandparents, but gently and swiftly stopped going in my early teens. I have routinely gone to Passover and temple with my closest friend who is jewish. Currently consider myself a secular humanist rather than atheist. Militant atheism has just as bad a connotation as evangelical Christians.

Militant anything has a bad connotation. It suggests taking up arms for your cause -- something people referred to as militant atheists (e.g. Dawkins, Hitchens) have never done or encouraged anyone else to do. They simply talk forcefully - like "Militant feminists" did.

Atheism just means lack of believe in gods.

Yes I know, I have considered myself an atheist for many years. Sorry, I didn't mean that all atheists are militant but a lot are. I am mainly a humanist due to my belief in a strong moral compass.

[Anonymous]

I'm sad that atheists don't have a soul.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sad that atheists don't have a soul.

I'm sad that you don't have a soul either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Right - you never hear about the people who prayed for intervention in a hurricane and get killed instead, because they are dead -- but you can pretty much bet that some of them were praying just as hard as people who were spared.

Or maybe they prayed "Lord, thy will be done" and God thought it was a good time for those particular, obviously willing, people to die. We'll never know.

Didn't God create the hurricane?

How do you account for "acts of God?"

only God can account for acts of God.

and we've come full circle with the circular reasoning!

Thanks again! Keep 'em coming!

[Anonymous]

I grew up going to a UMC church that was barely Christian and more of a social club. I became Catholic in high school, then fell away after suffering a very traumatic event that led to PTSD. I spent years as a bitter self-described anti-theist before coming back. I felt myself start to believe again and believe me, I fought against it with everything that I had. I really agree with that saying, “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” If you have your mind closed to believing, no one can convince you. Anyway, the last year or so has been filled with church-hopping as we decide where to attend long-term. Trying to decide between Orthodox and Lutheran. Right now we're attending an LCMS church.