Atheists Who Convert To Christianity

[Ravenstar]

"converted to evangelical Christianity after many hours of intellectual discussion with a Christian guy on campus"

 

This is an oxymoron  LOL

 

sex is a powerful thing, isn't it? especially for the young.

[ClaraOlive]

I find it quite odd in a place where many of us are people who have been 'real christians' and are now atheists (myself being an agnostic so perhaps this is why I'm confused about this - as I can't relate to the atheist mindset so well) explain the opposite process with 'oh they can't have been proper atheists'.

Not that I'm saying that explanation is incorrect! just wondering if what the reasoning behind it is.

 

Because we've seen it happen over and over again that a Christian will have a sensational story about being an atheist who converted - not just a non-religious person, but a hard-boiled god-denying Christian-persecuting sin-loving nonbeliever... and then it turns out that if you dig into the story, they were actually a theist with doubts or had been "angry with god".

 

That's not to say that no non-theists have ever converted, only that you can't take stories that Christians tell at face value. And it's particularly irritating when they try to tell you - well Bob was an atheist JUST LIKE YOU and then he met Jesus - and then it turns out that Bob was a rebellious Christian the entire time.

 

While anyone who doesn't believe in gods is an atheist and we shouldn't commit the no true Scotsman fallacy, a backslidden or doubting or angry Christian ISN'T an atheist. A doubter might be agnostic, but the backslidden and angry often are gnostic theists, and no amount of relabeling after a big sensational declaration of faith changes that.