Enter... Me!

[Aethelred]

Hello everyone!

 

To be totally honest, I don't know if I am up to telling my full story today. It is, like most people's, long; and I have already adjusted to my new life without God.

 

The short version is to say that for most of my life, I was among Christians one of the 'ringleaders'; I wrote my own apologetics, I was an evangelist, I was the one who coordinated worship sessions for my peers at a Christian college. It was everything that moved me, that gave to me life with rhythm and meaning. In the end, the problem was that faith mattered to me too much. I felt that many of my Christian peers lived with some degree of "de facto" atheism. So I tried living like God was really, truly real; but reality didn't cooperate. I lost my faith.

 

I am not bitter about leaving the Church. I do miss it sometimes. I am intensely aware that I have lost a piece of myself that meant a lot to me. But I am still young and have plenty of time to remake myself, this time on a solid foundation.  And I am more fortunate than many, because I have not suffered the rejection of friends and family for being who I honestly am.

 

At any rate, I wanted to announce my presence on this forum and let everyone know that I plan to be a member of this lovely community that I have discovered tucked away in a hidden corner of the Internet. I've browsed a few posts, and y'all seem to be pretty solid.

[Tsathoggua9]

Welcome aboard!

[Geezer]

It has been my experience that exceptionally devout involved Christians are often the ones that ultimately leave the faith at some point; because it eventually dawns on them the Bible is filled with endless contradictions & inconsistencies & there is simply no evidence that any of it is true.

 

An intelligent person's internal BS meter eventually sends a warning to the brain that believing religious dogma by faith only is a seriously flawed idea & the eject button needs to be activated ASAP. 

[♦ ficino ♦]

Welcome from me, too, Aethelred. I second Geezer's observations. I'm one of those people, too. 

 

As an engineer, did you ever think, these "God did it" explanations actually don't explain anything? And once the mechanism or process is understood, then the "God did it" part becomes superfluous. As with the passage from "Zeus creates thunder" to "thunder is a sound caused by the fire in the clouds' being extinguished" (Aristotle et al.) to what meteorologists now describe. We don't really add anything by tacking on "and Zeus is behind it all!".

[MOHO]

Welcome, Athelred!

 

There's still a ship-load of entertaining stuff here - even though you sound pretty well over the god virus at this point.

 

As for your crack about us sounding pretty solid...er...um...well..you'll get over THAT belief too.

    - MOHO (Mind Of His Own)

[Aethelred]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!

 

10 hours ago, Geezer said:

It has been my experience that exceptionally devout involved Christians are often the ones that ultimately leave the faith at some point; because it eventually dawns on them the Bible is filled with endless contradictions & inconsistencies & there is simply no evidence that any of it is true.

 

For me what really did it was this: if God really was the personal being that the Bible claims he is, then he would somehow be evident in the world. He would appear in visions, or speak as a voice from heaven, or come visit you during your commute to work. The only claims I've heard of this sort of thing ever happening, have been highly dubious.

 

Quote

ficino said:

As an engineer, did you ever think, these "God did it" explanations actually don't explain anything? And once the mechanism or process is understood, then the "God did it" part becomes superfluous. As with the passage from "Zeus creates thunder" to "thunder is a sound caused by the fire in the clouds' being extinguished" (Aristotle et al.) to what meteorologists now describe. We don't really add anything by tacking on "and Zeus is behind it all!".

 

I was shunning explanations like that long before I was an engineer. The way I saw it, if God was the god of creation, then he was the god of science. "All truth is God's truth," so the saying goes: If god bothered to invent the Laws of Physics, why would he want us to ignore them? If he made us in his image, wouldn't that include giving us the curiosity to go and find out what were the laws that he wrote for the universe? Ultimately, this belief - that God, as the author of all truth, loves the truth and loves those who seek the truth - was what kept me intellectually honest enough that my questioning led me right out the door.

 

I had a friend tell me in high school that when choosing between multiple opportunities in life (such as where to go over Spring Break), she knew where God wanted her to go when He provided three things: funding, a place to stay, and transportation, if I recall correctly. You get the picture. I thought that seemed like a person assigning meaning to coincidence rather than the Creator of the Universe speaking in a clear manner. After that, I was careful to avoid falling into such thinking.

 

Quote

MOHO said:

There's still a ship-load of entertaining stuff here - even though you sound pretty well over the god virus at this point.

 

I am emotionally stable, as in, more often than not I am comfortable in my new identity. But make no mistake - the work of deconversion is only just beginning. I have been profoundly influenced by Christianity; in some ways for the better; in some ways, very much not! And it's time to find a new basis for morality. There's a good chance I'll be jumping onto these forums to help work out the whole morality thing...

[Bedouin]

Welcome to the forum and looking forward to your observations.

[knightcore]

Welcome! I hope you're able to settle in alright. And that you're able to find a new center for your morals. I'm still dealing with that a lot myself.

[☆ DarkBishop ☆]

On 4/27/2017 at 1:36 PM, Geezer said:

It has been my experience that exceptionally devout involved Christians are often the ones that ultimately leave the faith at some point; because it eventually dawns on them the Bible is filled with endless contradictions & inconsistencies & there is simply no evidence that any of it is true.

 

An intelligent person's internal BS meter eventually sends a warning to the brain that believing religious dogma by faith only is a seriously flawed idea & the eject button needs to be activated ASAP. 

 

That's an awesome assertion Geezer lol. It does seem the more someone is educated on the bible, the flaws start to break through to the forefront.

 

And welcome to ex-c aethelred. I'm sure with your experience in the faith that you will have much to share concerning doctrinal and biblical flaws. Looking forward to hearing more from you ?.

 

DB

[DarkFlash]

On 4/27/2017 at 0:14 AM, Aethelred said:

Hello everyone!

 

To be totally honest, I don't know if I am up to telling my full story today. It is, like most people's, long; and I have already adjusted to my new life without God.

 

The short version is to say that for most of my life, I was among Christians one of the 'ringleaders'; I wrote my own apologetics, I was an evangelist, I was the one who coordinated worship sessions for my peers at a Christian college. It was everything that moved me, that gave to me life with rhythm and meaning. In the end, the problem was that faith mattered to me too much. I felt that many of my Christian peers lived with some degree of "de facto" atheism. So I tried living like God was really, truly real; but reality didn't cooperate. I lost my faith.

 

I am not bitter about leaving the Church. I do miss it sometimes. I am intensely aware that I have lost a piece of myself that meant a lot to me. But I am still young and have plenty of time to remake myself, this time on a solid foundation.  And I am more fortunate than many, because I have not suffered the rejection of friends and family for being who I honestly am.

 

At any rate, I wanted to announce my presence on this forum and let everyone know that I plan to be a member of this lovely community that I have discovered tucked away in a hidden corner of the Internet. I've browsed a few posts, and y'all seem to be pretty solid.

And in similarity to those who've completely opened up to us are you more than welcome to as well. So please, don't hesitate. You have people like myself who actually sit, ponder and literally motion visually about another's origin after walking from the nonsensical on either more than one occasion, or to successfully finalize things in just one blow to wake up. Superstition is strange, yet idiotic to today's people and by far have I seen it myself. Mine was relatively long, and though i'm not sure if it was read did I still have it in me to bring comfort to myself in introducing not only myself, but how I escaped idiocy at it's finest. Also like you on the day I finally opened my eyes to the fallacious was it also amazing to me how this comfort shrouded with much, much ease and since then has it been that way. But always since the age of thirteen did I have my doubts. .but I never opposed them like I should have. Bible studying after church, before I slept, all of that did it come to together but again, to oppose wasn't my strong suit at the time. Truly did it take Ex-Christian and discussing things with another strong non-believer recently just before the fatal blow of my beliefs was I convinced yet reassured that all of it was from an episode of Care Bears. However in doing so was the shame there in falling prey for many years and at the same time anger toward my father's side of the family, but after really sitting down and thinking about it did I tell myself "Whereas anger and fear is a natural thing, rationality with ignorance depending on that person is an eternal war." My father's entire side of the family are strong believers and to be the only one who is not, isn't so bad. I call it, and still do, a 'silent subjugation'. So again, are you not only welcomed, but also will you have listeners and readers who can either relate or even pass down new techniques to retain what is there with you already. You've awoken like us, and that alone am I happy for when it comes to you. 

[Margee]

Welcome to Ex-c Athelred. Looking forward to hearing more from you! Glad you are here with us!