A Continuation Of The Uncertainty Thread

[Guest Valkyrie0010]

For along while since deconverting last November, I started to be really fine with my new position on religion. But recently I told my family how unconvinced I was in regards to religion. Some took it bad, some took it alright, but that is not the point at the moment. But on uncle of mine, starting telling me about this friend of his, who is a christian now.

 

Well in short. The guy started out as a atheist. Then moved through like five different religions. And this guy is supposed to be super intellectual and the like, with a nearly photographic memory. Well after years of searching the guy supposed to have found truth in christianity.

 

Now I was and still am in a situation where I in regards to knowing why christianity is BS, I am very uniformed. Lucky thanks to my attempted reconversion I got my family off my back somewhat, because I haven't told them the reconversion I had didn't stick. That scared me to the point, this guy and his supposed knowledge scared me into that attempted reconversion. Well that failed, and I can thank this site for that mostly, but the problem remains.

 

I can't shake this feeling that I am wrong, and grossly uniformed to how true christianity is. I have gotten my head back on my shoulders somewhat but still feel quite confused on the situation.

 

any advice???

 

Valk

 

I am not reconverting by any means. I tried, and the dissonce was to great.

[Shyone]

Well in short. The guy started out as a atheist. Then moved through like five different religions. And this guy is supposed to be super intellectual and the like, with a nearly photographic memory. Well after years of searching the guy supposed to have found truth in christianity.

 

I haven't really got any advice, but the guy described above is nuts.

 

5 religions? Is that all? Geeze, the guy is unable to accept that if one is false, they are all false in their claims.

 

It wouldn't suprize me if in another year the guy doesn't change religions again. This time, it will be a cult, or perhaps the orange suited Hari Krishna guys.

 

Religion is for those who are unable to cope with reality, and this guy sounds like he's really not coping very well.

[Franko47]

I've known some "intellectuals" who were Christian, in fact, they buy the Bible hook, line and sinker. I've known some brilliant people who cling to Biblical beliefs like there's no tomorrow. Just being educated (although that helps) or having a high IQ is not necessarily the key; it's the ability to be able to perceive things at an intuitive level as well, and understand how psychology and emotional manipulation work, not only in religion but in social affairs and politics and so on.

 

Some of these Nigerian con artists with their Email come-ons about making you rich have still managed to bilk highly intelligent and professional people. I've just gone through a bit of a rough time with an old friend of mine who was getting just a little too interested in one of these scams.

 

The allure of millions of dollars, or eternal life, or having super-beings as personal friends, can make a lot of people lose objectivity fast.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Once you get into it, you're constantly told to:

 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not.

 

Eventually, if you try to follow that sort of thing, you begin to ignore all rational thought and ignore the obvious answers to your doubtful questions.

 

Why do I always feel like God isn't answering my prayers?

He's not. I just need to be more Christian.

 

I'm not so sure about the Bible's negative view of women.

You shouldn't be. It's wrong.It's just the way things should be.

 

I think the most important thing you can do is avoid the party line and enjoy some time studying alone. Your family means well, but you need to find the truth for yourself.

[Guest Valkyrie0010]

Well in short. The guy started out as a atheist. Then moved through like five different religions. And this guy is supposed to be super intellectual and the like, with a nearly photographic memory. Well after years of searching the guy supposed to have found truth in christianity.

 

I haven't really got any advice, but the guy described above is nuts.

 

5 religions? Is that all? Geeze, the guy is unable to accept that if one is false, they are all false in their claims.

 

It wouldn't suprize me if in another year the guy doesn't change religions again. This time, it will be a cult, or perhaps the orange suited Hari Krishna guys.

 

Religion is for those who are unable to cope with reality, and this guy sounds like he's really not coping very well.

I probably should have put this in the into but the guy(who went through five religions) has been a christian for 13 years.

[Vixentrox]

Maybe he's tired of thinking for himself.

[ShallowByThyGame]

Christianity is either popular because it is true (unlikely) or because it is good at tricking people into thinking it is true (likely).

 

It uses our own self-doubts against us, claiming that true happiness and joy are just a bible away. This works because life contains a lot of suffering. But Christianity simply manipulates that suffering, using guilt and shame tactics. It makes us want to be shamed, to prostrate ourselves before some cosmic judge, because it's easier thinking that our suffering was some sort of penance meant for the best, instead of simply the randomness of life. I've met many intelligent men that could name every bone and muscle in the body but could not reason themselves out of the reformed tribal religion of the Jewish tribes.

 

If you just want a confidence booster, just remember some of the greatest thinkers rejected Christianity's dogmas (Einstein, Franklin, Jefferson, Paine). Sure some were deists, but they still knew the bible was shit.

[Shyone]

Well in short. The guy started out as a atheist. Then moved through like five different religions. And this guy is supposed to be super intellectual and the like, with a nearly photographic memory. Well after years of searching the guy supposed to have found truth in christianity.

 

I haven't really got any advice, but the guy described above is nuts.

 

5 religions? Is that all? Geeze, the guy is unable to accept that if one is false, they are all false in their claims.

 

It wouldn't suprize me if in another year the guy doesn't change religions again. This time, it will be a cult, or perhaps the orange suited Hari Krishna guys.

 

Religion is for those who are unable to cope with reality, and this guy sounds like he's really not coping very well.

I probably should have put this in the into but the guy(who went through five religions) has been a christian for 13 years.

I was Christian for over 35 years. Being surrounded by those who believe in Christianity makes it easy to stay in the cult religion.

 

I imagine he's getting a lot of positive reinforcement from those who view his "testimony" as proof of the truth of Christianity. Like Bobby Jindal, he will be trotted out as an example that proves no other religions (that are not popular in the US) are true.

 

I wonder how he would fare in Pakistan.

[luvless]

It seems like that guy has really been looking for something to cling on to because I know few people who have gone through that many religions. He was determined to make one work and he found one. I wouldn't worry too much about it because if the Xian god exists and he truly lived in your heart, you wouldn't have turned away. When I have doubts I remind myself of that. We need to not second guess ourselves and go with our initial gut feeling because it is usually correct. Trust that voice that told you "something isn't right".

[Brakeman]

I would suggest reading Jewish apologia. When you see the excellent arguments why the New Testament is a fraud, made by the people that Jesus was supposedly from, it makes it so much easier to let the whole thing go.

 

Here's a link http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/jewsandjesus/

 

Or just google "why jews don't believe in Jesus"

[dB-Paradox]

I can empathize with your feelings of being uncertain. When you're constantly surrounded by other Christians, it begins to creep into your own life. My wife is still a Christian, her family also, as is all of my family. The atmosphere has a strong religious tone and when these people you're closest with give off that tone, you can't help but feel a connection. I, for one, have no problem seeing most Christians as being deluded, but when it comes to my own family, I just can't see them as being as such. Because I love them.

 

As far as an intellectual atheist converting to Christianity, this does not lend any weight to support Christianity logically. After all, remember the holy circle of logic....The bible must be true because God says it is...it's right there in the book that he himself says he wrote! (Compliments of Edward Current - YouTube) Most Christians don't realize that their circular logic goes nowhere. They actually feel as if they're saying very intelligent things by using the bible as proof! WHAT???? In any other context, this is completely absurd! Even Christians realize this! But for some reason, the rules are different when it comes to God. Don't ask me why. So, don't worry about some intelligent person converting to Christianity. I have no doubt he's a very smart person, but I also have no doubt he's filling an emotional need that isn't getting fulfilled elsewhere. Or maybe the fear of hell got to him. But whatever the case, you've done enough objective research on the subject to know there's no basis for the fear or comfort of religion. Just try to keep that in mind. Take care!

[Loren]

I would suggest reading Jewish apologia. When you see the excellent arguments why the New Testament is a fraud, made by the people that Jesus was supposedly from, it makes it so much easier to let the whole thing go.

 

Here's a link http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/jewsandjesus/

 

Or just google "why jews don't believe in Jesus"

I would totally second Brakeman's suggestion. There's a lot of well-written material out there, and the principles are straight-forward and easy to understand. As a Christian, the whole issue of why three thousand years of devout, diligent and scholarly rabbis didn't accept Jesus got to bother me more and more, to the point where I couldn't shake it off. More and more, I saw that the answers I got from the Christian damned clergy about it were dishonorable in how shallow, self-serving, dishonest and downright slanderous those answers were. And, primarily, ignorant.

 

Trust me, if you make just a little bit of effort to chase down the rabbinical reasons why rabbis don't accept the NT claims about Jesus, all sorts of things will come to light for you in very understandable ways.

[hereticzero]

When I first deconverted I thought it was wrong or that I had something wrong with me for deconverting. Then I read a book by Charles Templeton, Farewell To God. My opinion about myself improved after reading this book. Charles Templeton was the second half of the Billy Graham Crusades when he left Christianity as an agnostic and remained one until his death a few years ago. Templeton's writing left me feeling I was OK and not wrong for leaving a religion whose assertions no one could prove as true. Another thing, do not compare yourself or your situation to others. No one has the very same events happen in their lives, although similar at times, we are all different in how we think or believe. Even by definition, what is an intellectual? Someone who knows all the answers? Not hardly. An intellectual is honest enough to answer they do not have all the answers. Anyone who claims to have all the answers is conceited and arrogant. Do what you have to do to make yourself happy and confident in yourself and let the intellectual Christians go blow smoke up their own asses!