william Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I'm 22 and going onto 23. Since a personal incident at the age of 14, I have been at least in doubting mode. Besides, I was if not partially, attracted to Buddhism. The philosophy is so beautiful. I stopped going to church at an early age. It just wasn't fun anymore. Hence I was during that time, until recently, a Christian by name. Six months ago, by curious incident, I stumbled on fstdt, as well as a few atheist sites. I began reasoning the sense in de-conversion. Since I never belonged to any church in particular, there was no church leader for me to tell. Although most of my relatives kinow me as X'ian. They just don't know how strong. In any case I decided the first one to target was my uncle(dad's brother), who is your very devout Christian. I admit with guilt that I was very keen on testing this atheism thing. It's like a rush of adrenaline. I picked the fight, simply because I hate being preached at... It is downright annoying. Anyway, to make a long story short, I broke him literally. I simply make him spurt out logical fallacies, and hit at those. He got desperate, and started pulling anything, everything he had. I told him to find a pastor/priest to debate me, if he wanted. All he said was he didn't want to argue anymore. But his attitude changed, unsurprisingly. Back then I felt I had to come out due to honesty. I have yet to see a Christian with good apologetics. My blood cooled. Now I'm actually against provoking, and in favor of rational reasoning. What one beliefs is their business, so long as they are willing to play to the rules of rationality in society. There can be dialog, I'm sure, between theist and atheist. The common ground has to be common sense and rationality as we know it. That is a premise. I have no regrets in leaving, or maybe I wasn't indoctrinated enough in the first place. In any case I have no regret on this path I've taken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprus Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Welcome, william...glad you posted your testimony. I completely agree with you that it serves no purpose to provoke christians for the sole purpose of mixing it up with them. I don't try to evangelize for atheism, but if the subject comes up in conversation I'm able and willing to defend my position of simple non-belief. In the end the xian nearly always has to invoke Pascal's wager or some variant of it, or at the least terminates by saying "I'll pray for you". (Go ahead...knock yourself out) Greetings to a fellow "positive" atheist. Hope you enjoy the group here at ex-christian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 To most christians, looking at least to the minimum extent 'forgiving' is somewhat important according to the verse 'love your enemy.' But then usually, it is just looks. by saying 'I pray for you' etc At least it makes them look as if they didn't pick the fight. Now in my case I did pick the fight, but it is also obvious that there was no fight because there was no debate. They debunk themselves anyway. Hence they need a smokescreen to protect their somewhat weak ego... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 To most christians, looking at least to the minimum extent 'forgiving' is somewhat important according to the verse 'love your enemy.' But then usually, it is just looks. by saying 'I pray for you' etc At least it makes them look as if they didn't pick the fight. Now in my case I did pick the fight, but it is also obvious that there was no fight because there was no debate. They debunk themselves anyway. Hence they need a smokescreen to protect their somewhat weak ego... Thanks for your story. It was a vicarious victory for me--I experienced victory through reading your story of victory. Earlier tonight I was writing out some of my struggles with my family that happened in the fall of 2006. (Second post on this thread.) It seemed so totally unfair and hopeless. There's all of them and just one of me. Yet it seems they ganged up on me. And that makes absolutely no sense. If their faith is as strong as they profess, why did they have to resort to such low-down tactics? Maybe you're right--their faith is not very strong and their egos are even weaker. Maybe their strength is all in their numbers and voices. And when they yell loud enough, maybe they feel some sense of conviction that they're right. Makes no sense to me but neither does the religion they hug so close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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