Reply to I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you don't believe in anything, what is life to you?

A chance to experience some highs and thrills before you decompose?[/quote]

Pretty much. Also a chance to give to others, learn and see as much as I can, and try make the world a better place at least in my little corner of it.

I've never understood the concept of doing good to gain some eternal reward. That just makes no sense to me at all.

[/quote]
Are you unaware that this is not what Christianity teaches?[/quote]

No.  Because most atheist/agnostics stopped learning about religion when they first started to question it around age nine or ten. If they ever learned anything about it at all.  So they think that adults believe in the way that we teach religion to children.  That’s why they think religious people are a bunch of morons.  
It’s like if you stopped reading anything new in second grade, and you believed that people who love to read are reading the equivalent of Frog and Toad and Mrs Pigglewiggle.  Of course you would say things like, “I learn about life from experiencing it.  Reading about it from the eyes of some random author is a waste of time.  I just don’t think there is much to be learned from magical fictional characters.” [/quote]

Not true. Atheists/agnostics are the most knowledgeable about religion (along with Mormons) -- because they tend to study it thoroughly before giving it up.  There are a few child atheists, but most don't quit religion until they are adults and can make decisions for themselves.[/quote]

I think that this path is very rare.  Not many people continue to believe throughout adolescence and young adulthood, then get very interested in religion and start reading and learning more, then discover that it is all bunk and give it up as mature adults.

I really think that nearly everyone starts to question around 10 or so.  The questioning continues for a lot of people into adolescence.  Then in early adulthood, many people get a little lazy about going to church when their parents aren't there anymore.  Then as people get married and have children, they either wander back into the church, or they decide they are athiest/agnostic.  Only the people who wander back in begin to really learn about it as adults.  
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You may think that, but it's an opinion that is not supported by the statistics provided.  Anecdotally, I know mnay people, including myself, who did not question relligion as a child -- didn't think about it much - just did it.    A lot of kids are that way about a lot of things.  They go along with the status quo and only consider options when they are older and more independent.[/quote]

https://lifewayresearch.com/2007/08/07/reasons-18-to-22-year-olds-drop-out-of-church/

This is just from a quick google search, but it does show that a lot of people stop attending as soon as they don’t live with their parents any longer, then return later.  [/quote]

It's important to note that "Lifeway research" is a Christian firm conducting research for Christian interests. It's tagline is "Biblical solutions for life".  Not to say its findings are necessarily skewed, but the findings are limited to the research questions that this Christian-based firm or want to ask or that churches who pay for the research want to know.

Here's the most interesting finding in my opinion: 
 [i] The final category of reasons, “religious, ethical or political beliefs,” contributed to the departure of 52 percent of church dropouts.
Two reasons for leaving reflect this category: “I disagreed with the church’s stance on political or social issues” (18 percent) and “I was only going to church to please others” (17 percent).[/i]

18% and 17% obviously don't add up to 52%, so one wonders why the other 17% were left out and what their reasons were.  I thought perhaps it was  "because I longer  believe" and that the church-based researchers did not want to report that.

To find out, I went to the original research: 
http://lifewayresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Church-Dropouts_How-Many-Leave-Church-and-Why-8.07.2007.pdf

There is an analysis of reasons for leaving on page 10: 
- Disagreed with the church's stance on political/social issues 18%
- Chose to spend more time with friends outside the church 17%
- Was only going to church to please others 17%

So, not only did they leave out and misrepresent some information in the summary, they didn’t even ask a specific question about non-belief – which is an obvious reason for not going to church.

It's likely that some in the 3 categories listed also don’t believe and that the researchers just didn’t want to consider non-belief as an option.

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