Hey everyone, glad to be part of the forums.
A little background: I grew up in a very strict Christian household. I believed everything I was told, and I carried these beliefs into adulthood. I was a fanatical religious nut. Judgmental, sanctimonious, and preachy. The people around me must have wanted to smack me upside the head. When I think back to my former self, I am embarrassed about the way I presented myself to others with my holier-than-thou attitude. Oh well. Live and learn.
Although I grew up in a very loving family, life was never easy for me. I suffered from various physical and mental ailments. Over the years, I have experienced many tragedies in my life. Just when I think I am going to get a break, another tragedy or loss is right around the corner. For many years I told myself what all Christians tell themselves--it's all part of God's plan for me. I accepted this. But a few years ago, something happened that changed everything. My husband cheated on me and left me for another woman. I guess you could say that this was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Through the divorce, my Christian friends kept telling me that it wasn't God who was causing the divorce, it was my husband's free will. While this is true, this statement made me question some of my beliefs. If God is all-powerful and can do anything, couldn't he have prevented my husband from cheating? I had already endured enough pain in my life--why would God allow more? Couldn't he override my husband's free will?
Why was I chosen to suffer so much? Everyone has to suffer in life, but I had gotten more than my fair share. Why? I have had some Christians tell me that God allows the worst suffering to happen to those closest to him. That just seems crazy. Anyway, these questions and others are what ultimately led to me signing up for this website. I am questioning all the indoctrination, and I am looking to seek out logical answers. I probably would not say that I'm an atheist, but I'm no Christian anymore either. I'm more in the agnostic camp right now.
One other thing--has anyone ever noticed that the kindest, most generous, most ethical people are atheists? Even when I was a Christian I noticed this.
Welcome. Your story resonates with me, because I knew a woman who went through a very similar ordeal. She went from being a Mormon to being a Christian to being an atheist, much like me. Truth is, people are people and are generous or kind according to their nature. The difference is that atheists aren't compassionate out of fear of judgment after death, which means their attitudes are inbuilt and honest.
Welcome to reality.
Ever notice that the difference between a god that doesn't really care about us, a god that's insane and a god that doesn't exist are too small to see?
Also, if God knew everything that was ever going to happen, before he even thought of creating the universe (that's what all-knowing or omniscient means), we can't do anything other than what he knew we'd do, so free will is, at best, an illusion. If God exists, he knew that you'd suffer, that your husband would cheat on you and leave you, etc., long before your most distant ancestor was born.
Some "loving" god, huh?
As far as atheists being generous and ethical, I don't know. All "atheist" means is that the person doesn't believe in any god. An atheist can be stingy, cruel, stupid - but as long as he has no god-belief, he's an atheist.
But we don't believe that God will forgive us if we wrong someone, or that the person we wrong will be rewarded in some other life. This is it, it's all we get, so if you want people to remember you kindly after you're gone, you have to be someone people will remember kindly. There's no do-over in the afterlife.
And we don't have to kill those who believe differently than we do. We don't have a magic book that tells us to. Or some magic sky buddy that we can blame (as in "God wants us to ...").
But you're not alone. Many here reached the point that, for one reason or another, started questioning their beliefs, and ended up non-theists. (I didn't take that path - I just never became a theist in the first place, I retained the atheism I was born with for 7 decades so far.)
So again - welcome. And I hope your life gets better from here on.
greetings and welcome to the hub.
Welcome!
Personally, I'm a misanthropist. But, not devout enough to be a Christian.
My mother always considered herself a Christian, but quit going to church shortly after her divorce, because a married deacon kept hitting on her. She talked to the pastor about it, but he just thought she was lying. That was a long time ago, so things were different.
I became a Christian, then when I asked questions about the bible verses we were studying, I kept being told, "You have to take it in context." So, I decided to just read the bible straight through, rather than cherry picking the verses. By the time I was through Exodus, I was pretty much an atheist. I read the rest of the way through because I am a little OCD that way, but my heart wasn't in it.
Hope things get better for you. Or at least you can learn to cope with your problems better without having the burden of Christianity weighing you down.
Welcome, you've come a long way!
Quote from: "TimeChaser"If God is all-powerful and can do anything, couldn't he have prevented my husband from cheating? I had already endured enough pain in my life--why would God allow more? Couldn't he override my husband's free will?
It's odd, don't you think, that an all powerful god who listens to your prayers, would behave in ways that reflect random chance in just the way a world would operate without that god.
Quote from: "TimeChaser"I am questioning all the indoctrination, and I am looking to seek out logical answers.
I hope you like it here. You are welcome here.
Quote from: "TimeChaser"I probably would not say that I'm an atheist, but I'm no Christian anymore either. I'm more in the agnostic camp right now.
Been there. Done that. :-D
Quote from: "TimeChaser"One other thing--has anyone ever noticed that the kindest, most generous, most ethical people are atheists? Even when I was a Christian I noticed this.
Oh Hell, we come in all shapes and sizes. Some of us are pretty nice, but I've met some atheist jerks too.
I grew up in a strict christian household too. But I didn't believe everything they said. In Fact, while still a little kid I voiced how much of what they preached made no sense (did Not go over well). So..... kept my mouth shut till I was able to escape and explore.
Hope you are happy here. Welcome to the shark tank. :-D
A Methodist chaplain I encountered during college helped me out of religion. When he was a minister with a local congregation, the daughter of one of the members was struck and killed by a truck. The mother was inconsolable. She kept on asking, "Why? Why?" She was looking for a reason that her god had allowed that to happen. Finally, she asked "Why?" one more time, and the minister said, "I guess the truck driver didn't see her." She said, "Oh," and was able to move on.
If the god hypothesized by Christians existed, this would be a very different world.
Welcome to the forum.
Frank