Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is why all these debates lead nowhere. Atheists never experienced faith, they don't know what they are talking about. They try to reason their way into convincing religious people that God doesn't exist. But faith is never logical or mathematical. It's like love. Do you have to reason you way into loving your kids? I hope not.
It is completely irrational and yet it is the most beautiful thing I have known. Once you truly experience it, you never want to go back, because life is so empty without God in it.

I was a religious little child/young teen and I agree it gives meaning and a sense of peace, but you cannot help lack of belief. I think it would be wonderful to still belief, but I just do not.

What would make it wonderful, in your opinion?

The idea of being reunited with loved ones after death would bring great comfort about loss. Feeling that you can give your worries to a higher power and everything will be okay. It’s all a sense of peace and less anxiety about both life and death.

So, it helps you in this life, plus, if you believe, it offers you another unending life.

I am still an atheist but choose to follow Christian teachings because Christianity is the foundation of western civilization and responsible for the morality and societies that do the most good for humanity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a long story. I got extremely lucky connecting with church community, which completely transformed my life and conception of the world. I was raised as an atheist, but changed my ways in early 20s. Even though I had a great childhood and was a happy kid/teen, I have to tell you - atheism is pretty depressing lol. Don't subject your kids to it, it's just sad. There is so much more to life.

What does being "raised as an atheist" mean? I understand being raised as a Catholic, or a Methodist, etc., because there are regular services that you go to and things you learn as a child, but my understanding is that atheism is a lack of that. Thus the question.

It means I was raised without any knowledge of God or religion. I was told by everyone (including my parents) from a very young age that such concepts are false, and obviously as a child didn’t question the validity of such statements.

I doubt the post above is honest. Most people raising kids without religion just say nothing about it at all.

Anonymous wrote:I investigated the claims of Christianity from a historic perspective. The bottom line is that there is strong evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Is it airtight? No. But nothing is airtight.

You're someone that I would be highly intrigued to meet IRL and discuss religion over coffee. However, without that, I am curious about your evidence for the death and resurrection.

I won't debate the scant, and inconclusive information related to an actual historic Jesus, but I am curious what your evidence is for him being divine, resurrected, etc.

Like some other people who responded, I, too, had much success in my career, achievement, performance, money, etc., and still felt incredibly empty.

In addition to that, I had some major addiction issues that I carefully hide from public view but that were threatening my life. It had destroyed one marriage and was on the cusp of destroying another one. I had been through years of secular therapy, “trying” really hard on my own to stop, support groups, you name it. Nothing worked. I felt trapped in prisons with no way out.

Thinking seriously about religion again was about the last place I ever thought I would look.

But sometimes you realize that Jesus is all you need when Jesus is all that you got.

I had grown up in a Christian household and my impression of Christianity was that it was a bunch of rules, I wasn’t doing a good job of following them, so what was the point?

In my early 40s when I actually read the Bible, and heard the Presbyterian minister Tim Keller explain the Gospel, I saw an entirely different religion.

Christianity is not a religion for a bunch of people who are very “moral” and “do good” to “get” to heaven — it is a religion for people who are humble enough to admit that they are very weak and need help.

It is a religion that is not based on what I have done, but based on what Jesus has done for me.

It is a religion that is not based on me being morally superior to anyone but recognizing that we are all flawed people saved only by grace, which gives you an amazing capacity to have empathy with people from all walks of life and people you don’t agree with at all. I am not better or morally superior to anyone else.

And when that penny dropped, so did a lot of other things. Yes, you are supppsed to follow rules, but the motivational structure is completely different. I am not “obeying” rules to “get” to heaven. I am “obeying” rules as a way to honor and show my love for Jesus. I do things out of fullness of heart, not because I am trying to “get” something from God or because I am afraid of his wrath.

Romans 7 also had a profound impact on me. I felt like the Apostle Paul was describing my exact life — always striving, always trying harder, falling down, feeling very bad about myself. His lines about how the more he tries not to covet, the more he covets — it described my addiction in a nutshell. Like him, “miserable one that I am!” — until I found Jesus and true freedom.

Two other points —

I investigated the claims of Christianity from a historic perspective. The bottom line is that there is strong evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Is it airtight? No. But nothing is airtight. That’s not the standard I use for the rest of my life. If it was, I would never get married, never take a new job, never do anything. All you can do is look at all of the available evidence and decide that there is enough “there” to make you want to follow this path. Combined with the fact that I started to saw positive changes in my life almost immediately, I felt like the proof was in the pudding. It at least beat all the endless hours sitting in my shrink’s office spinning my wheels and getting nowhere.

And one last point - I got extremely lucky when I found a very supportive, kind, and loving church community. Before my conversion, I basically had no friends outside of work and my work friends were not real friends anyway. It was always very superficial. Even since that time, several have stabbed me in the back on important matters, showing their true colors.

My church friends are the real deal - we share each others burdens, we care for each other, I have seen such incredible love, dedication, and goodness from these people. My wife is not a believer and yet they are so incredibly kind towards her. It’s not the reason that Christianity is true, but having this wonderful group of people randomly appear in my life surely makes me feel like something larger than myself is at work in the world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Falling in love with my new baby. That moment was so profound I knew we humans were special and that we owe it to each other to love everyone as ourselves and to take care of this world. Those feelings felt anointed upon me by something greater so I started to explore faith in something greater than just this existence.

Di you choose a particular religion? If so, which one and how did you choose it?

Sort of. I went with Christianity to start, mostly because it was easy to fit in and just absorb J’s teachings. Over the years I read about a lot of different religions’ belief systems and found what I don’t like. What I don’t like is organized religion for the masses that dictates how you’re supposed to think. That’s where I pulled away from “church” but still believe in a higher being, a spiritual realm, and even that we can have previous lives, and be reincarnated. I now think it’s likely that we’re spiritual beings living lives over and over (if we we choose to be reincarnated) learning and developing in this material world in order to reach a higher level of spiritual development.

This is basically Buddhism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Falling in love with my new baby. That moment was so profound I knew we humans were special and that we owe it to each other to love everyone as ourselves and to take care of this world. Those feelings felt anointed upon me by something greater so I started to explore faith in something greater than just this existence.

Di you choose a particular religion? If so, which one and how did you choose it?

Sort of. I went with Christianity to start, mostly because it was easy to fit in and just absorb J’s teachings. Over the years I read about a lot of different religions’ belief systems and found what I don’t like. What I don’t like is organized religion for the masses that dictates how you’re supposed to think. That’s where I pulled away from “church” but still believe in a higher being, a spiritual realm, and even that we can have previous lives, and be reincarnated. I now think it’s likely that we’re spiritual beings living lives over and over (if we we choose to be reincarnated) learning and developing in this material world in order to reach a higher level of spiritual development.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is why all these debates lead nowhere. Atheists never experienced faith, they don't know what they are talking about. They try to reason their way into convincing religious people that God doesn't exist. But faith is never logical or mathematical. It's like love. Do you have to reason you way into loving your kids? I hope not.
It is completely irrational and yet it is the most beautiful thing I have known. Once you truly experience it, you never want to go back, because life is so empty without God in it.

I was a religious little child/young teen and I agree it gives meaning and a sense of peace, but you cannot help lack of belief. I think it would be wonderful to still belief, but I just do not.

What would make it wonderful, in your opinion?

The idea of being reunited with loved ones after death would bring great comfort about loss. Feeling that you can give your worries to a higher power and everything will be okay. It’s all a sense of peace and less anxiety about both life and death.

If only it were true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is why all these debates lead nowhere. Atheists never experienced faith, they don't know what they are talking about. They try to reason their way into convincing religious people that God doesn't exist. But faith is never logical or mathematical. It's like love. Do you have to reason you way into loving your kids? I hope not.
It is completely irrational and yet it is the most beautiful thing I have known. Once you truly experience it, you never want to go back, because life is so empty without God in it.

I was a religious little child/young teen and I agree it gives meaning and a sense of peace, but you cannot help lack of belief. I think it would be wonderful to still belief, but I just do not.

What would make it wonderful, in your opinion?

The idea of being reunited with loved ones after death would bring great comfort about loss. Feeling that you can give your worries to a higher power and everything will be okay. It’s all a sense of peace and less anxiety about both life and death.

Thanks

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is why all these debates lead nowhere. Atheists never experienced faith, they don't know what they are talking about. They try to reason their way into convincing religious people that God doesn't exist. But faith is never logical or mathematical. It's like love. Do you have to reason you way into loving your kids? I hope not.
It is completely irrational and yet it is the most beautiful thing I have known. Once you truly experience it, you never want to go back, because life is so empty without God in it.

I was a religious little child/young teen and I agree it gives meaning and a sense of peace, but you cannot help lack of belief. I think it would be wonderful to still belief, but I just do not.

What would make it wonderful, in your opinion?

The idea of being reunited with loved ones after death would bring great comfort about loss. Feeling that you can give your worries to a higher power and everything will be okay. It’s all a sense of peace and less anxiety about both life and death.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is why all these debates lead nowhere. Atheists never experienced faith, they don't know what they are talking about. They try to reason their way into convincing religious people that God doesn't exist. But faith is never logical or mathematical. It's like love. Do you have to reason you way into loving your kids? I hope not.
It is completely irrational and yet it is the most beautiful thing I have known. Once you truly experience it, you never want to go back, because life is so empty without God in it.

I was a religious little child/young teen and I agree it gives meaning and a sense of peace, but you cannot help lack of belief. I think it would be wonderful to still belief, but I just do not.

What would make it wonderful, in your opinion?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Falling in love with my new baby. That moment was so profound I knew we humans were special and that we owe it to each other to love everyone as ourselves and to take care of this world. Those feelings felt anointed upon me by something greater so I started to explore faith in something greater than just this existence.

It's a natural thing to love your child.

However, if God is love, or loves us, its a highly abusive relationship. He dictates that you worship him, and only him - and gets extremely jealous if you are unfaithful. He has already decided on a plan for you life, kind of like a bad date that orders meals for you. He's terrible at communication, as its either silence from him directly or dismissive of your input since only he knows what's going on. Add to it the threat of eternal punishment for disobeying and his terrible mood swings (old testament vs new).

I got smart and got the hell out of that relationship.

Yup. A controlling, abusive boyfriend. Sin is any thought, word, or action that goes against the will of this controlling boyfriend. I ran for the hills too.

But he LOVES you. (Straight from George Carlin)

Anonymous wrote:That is why all these debates lead nowhere. Atheists never experienced faith, they don't know what they are talking about. They try to reason their way into convincing religious people that God doesn't exist. But faith is never logical or mathematical. It's like love. Do you have to reason you way into loving your kids? I hope not.
It is completely irrational and yet it is the most beautiful thing I have known. Once you truly experience it, you never want to go back, because life is so empty without God in it.

I was a religious little child/young teen and I agree it gives meaning and a sense of peace, but you cannot help lack of belief. I think it would be wonderful to still belief, but I just do not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Falling in love with my new baby. That moment was so profound I knew we humans were special and that we owe it to each other to love everyone as ourselves and to take care of this world. Those feelings felt anointed upon me by something greater so I started to explore faith in something greater than just this existence.

It's a natural thing to love your child.

However, if God is love, or loves us, its a highly abusive relationship. He dictates that you worship him, and only him - and gets extremely jealous if you are unfaithful. He has already decided on a plan for you life, kind of like a bad date that orders meals for you. He's terrible at communication, as its either silence from him directly or dismissive of your input since only he knows what's going on. Add to it the threat of eternal punishment for disobeying and his terrible mood swings (old testament vs new).

I got smart and got the hell out of that relationship.

Yup. A controlling, abusive boyfriend. Sin is any thought, word, or action that goes against the will of this controlling boyfriend. I ran for the hills too.

Anonymous wrote:Falling in love with my new baby. That moment was so profound I knew we humans were special and that we owe it to each other to love everyone as ourselves and to take care of this world. Those feelings felt anointed upon me by something greater so I started to explore faith in something greater than just this existence.

Di you choose a particular religion? If so, which one and how did you choose it?