Do You Believe There Is A God Or Creator Or Supreme Being?

[Jubilant]

I was a deist for a long time after my deconversion. I struggled back and forth with deism and agnosticism but quite a few months ago I came to the realization that I am an atheist. If it wasn't for ancient beliefs..."God' wouldn't be an issue today.

[Legion]

I was a deist for a long time after my deconversion. I struggled back and forth with deism and agnosticism but quite a few months ago I came to the realization that I am an atheist. If it wasn't for ancient beliefs..."God' wouldn't be an issue today.

If you don't mind me asking Jubilant, what made you realize that you were an atheist?

[Ouroboros]

I believe I created the world...

 

 

 

Ooops, wrong forum, I thought it was the forum for People with a God Complex.

[Legion]

I believe I created the world...

You know Hans, if everything has an indelible subjective component then in some sense you did/do create the world.

[Ouroboros]

I believe I created the world...

You know Hans, if everything has an indelible subjective component then in some sense you did/do create the world.

Yup. That's what I was thinking of when I wrote it. It's all an illusion, and I'm the creator of my private delusion.

[Legion]

I believe I created the world...

You know Hans, if everything has an indelible subjective component then in some sense you did/do create the world.

Yup. That's what I was thinking of when I wrote it. It's all an illusion, and I'm the creator of my private delusion.

I can only hope that it is a pleasant one for you Hans. All the best in your delusion. Use your delusion.

[Ouroboros]

"Luke, use the fork Luke - not your fingers."

[Legion]

"Luke, use the fork Luke - not your fingers."

[Jubilant]

I was a deist for a long time after my deconversion. I struggled back and forth with deism and agnosticism but quite a few months ago I came to the realization that I am an atheist. If it wasn't for ancient beliefs..."God' wouldn't be an issue today.

If you don't mind me asking Jubilant, what made you realize that you were an atheist?

 

Studying ancient religions and history and realizing that the only reason that the question of a Gods existent exists is because that was they only explanation the ancient people could come up with. They really had no scientific explanations at the time. They feared what they didn't understand. The ancients didn't know how storms came about, or how volcanoes errupted, etc. It is easy to see how they attributed events like that to some kind of divine angry being. It is also easy for me to see how they would then give explanations of a peaceful deity when the weather was warm and pleasant and crops and what not were good.

 

That there are so many people hurt and in pain, horrific sufferings that have continued throughout the history of man...it makes absolutely no sense that some intelligent deity created beings so vulnerable as we humans and that would knowingly let us destroy one another. People starving, diseases, rapes, murders, molestations, wars, beatings, tortures, and things of that nature are also another reason that I can no longer believe in a divine creator. A creator makes zero sense to me and I cannot even fathom one anymore.

 

Scientific explanations were something else that helped along the way especially with weather and all that. Now I can just look at the world and be in awe. It doesn't matter to me *how* we got here, I know that science will one day be able to probably tell us exactly but it really makes no difference in my day to day life...all I care about is living for the here and now.

 

Is that sort of what you were looking for? If I've missed something please go ahead and feel free to ask me to be more specific. :-)

[Legion]

Is that sort of what you were looking for? If I've missed something please go ahead and feel free to ask me to be more specific. :-)

Yeah, I think that covers it Jubilant, thank you. I just had the impression that it might have been a sudden thing for you. But that impression was wrong it seems. I don't understand how or why some people seem to wake up from Christianity suddenly. My deconversion was a relatively slow process as yours seems to have been. If yours had been sudden, I was wondering what it might have been that triggered it.

[Jubilant]

My deconversion was a relatively slow process as yours seems to have been.

 

LOL...PAINFULLY SLOW!

[currentchristian]

People starving, diseases, rapes, murders, molestations, wars, beatings, tortures, and things of that nature are also another reason that I can no longer believe in a divine creator. A creator makes zero sense to me and I cannot even fathom one anymore.

 

Other than people starving due to famine and diseases not brought on by lifestyle choices, all of these horrible things (murder, rape, war, etc.) are absolutely man-made. Do you, therefore, lose your faith in humankind?

 

-CC in MA

[currentchristian]

Is that sort of what you were looking for? If I've missed something please go ahead and feel free to ask me to be more specific. :-)

Yeah, I think that covers it Jubilant, thank you. I just had the impression that it might have been a sudden thing for you. But that impression was wrong it seems. I don't understand how or why some people seem to wake up from Christianity suddenly. My deconversion was a relatively slow process as yours seems to have been. If yours had been sudden, I was wondering what it might have been that triggered it.

 

I think the same applies to conversions. Some have a sudden, Damascus Road-style conversion, and others take years to convert and never have that one moment in which they just came to believe.

 

-CC in MA

[Jubilant]

Other than people starving due to famine and diseases not brought on by lifestyle choices, all of these horrible things (murder, rape, war, etc.) are absolutely man-made. Do you, therefore, lose your faith in humankind?

 

Personally, I've never had faith in humankind. I hold out hope for humankind, but faith? No. That kind of violence has been happening for millenia and I frankly do not see it ending, ever. The best I can do is offer my personal best to humankind, HOPE that my children turn out to be good adults who don't harm others. I need to enjoy life and be thankful that I was born here and not some war torn country, or place where food is surely lacking and that I haven't ever been a victim of violence, theft, etc.

 

Faith is a very powerful word and a firm belief in something that has no proof...As far as I'm concerned, man is still just as violent and cruel as ever and I haven't any reason to believe that that will ever change. However, I don't feel as though it is a grim outlook not to have faith in humankind, for me, it is a realistic outlook and I do not feel bad or guilty for not having faith in humankind.

[Vigile]

People starving, diseases, rapes, murders, molestations, wars, beatings, tortures, and things of that nature are also another reason that I can no longer believe in a divine creator. A creator makes zero sense to me and I cannot even fathom one anymore.

 

Other than people starving due to famine and diseases not brought on by lifestyle choices, all of these horrible things (murder, rape, war, etc.) are absolutely man-made. Do you, therefore, lose your faith in humankind?

 

-CC in MA

 

It seems to me that it's rather cruel to profer a benevolent creator to those like Madame M and her family who have suffered terrible losses. If you aren't familiar, she lost her child. Interpreted through the natural model, it just is. It's still tough to accept, but it just is. Interpreted through the loving God model and it just registers cold.

 

In general this rule applies across nature. Lions killing wildabeasts, mosquitos carrying malaria, worms that grow in the bellies of 3rd world children stealing their precious nuritionment. All these things just are. Factor in a creator though and you wonder if Hannibal were a nice guy in comparison.

[currentchristian]

There is a big difference between optimism and hope. I have a lot of hope for our human family, but I am not optimistic (or pessimistic, for that matter), and I don't have faith in humanity.

 

-CC in MA

[Skankboy]

Humanity is the only thing worth having faith in.

[Dave]

Humanity is the only thing worth having faith in.

We're all we got.

[Lycorth]

Humanity is the only thing worth having faith in.

We're all we got.

 

And despite the religion in question, it's always been all about us, anyway.

 

The sooner we realize that and place our faith in ourselves, the sooner we will progress as we ought.