Woodsy Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 Cheers Woodsy, I'm on the same boat. I'll admit I've still not completely deprogrammed, I don't think I can ever be. Choosing to stay around family that keep trying to reconvert me is probably not helping, but hey, my choice eh. Anyways, I still get those "turn back, submit yourself to jesus" messages in my head, especially when I meet up with christian friends and family after church service for potluck. The thing is, I can't unlearn what I've learned, same as you. Knowing what I know now about how the religion was formed, knowing about those OT and NT scriptures that no pastor dares preach about (not without heavy editing at least), I can't go back to actively promoting and teaching it. I'll give god something, threatening to burn with hellfire for eating/wanting the tree of knowledge was something I would've done if I were him. Knowledge is the kryptonite of faith. I'm with you, Roz. I always had to look things up. Guess that's a throw-back to my catholic school education. But knowledge is power and it can lead us to truth. After we arrive at a conclusion, it is impossible to go back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsy Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 While growing up, I've never had much interest in science while attending school, and even to this day I'm still not terribly interested in it. Despite this, I still ended up with a very analytical mind that demanded evidence to support a thesis or conclusion and would not let go until said evidence presented itself. When I was deconverting, I explored other religions during the process but failed to find any decisive evidence that favored anything beyond atheism. Since atheism is accepting a lack of belief in a god, personal or otherwise, and was the one thing that made sense to me from a religious standpoint, it ended up being the one thing I could call myself that fit my view of myself and was true to me. Welcome, Ninj! What you say here is true for me, too. Although I am officially a senior citizen, I still want to learn, I still do alot of research. I may be a little slow at it but that may just be the aging process...lol. It seems I'm saying alot these days about things just making sense. I'm realizing as I get older that making sense of things and keeping life simple brings much peace and sometimes a splash of joy! Glad you are here...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryG Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Knowledge is the kryptonite of faith. Amen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindersRemoved Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Not believing in gods is how we come into this world. Theism has to be taught. How it is taught depends on when and where you're born. I tell my friends that if they had been born in Saudi Arabia that they would be muslim. Their response is "not necessarily, there are christians there too." And I go beat my head against the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted March 24, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted March 24, 2014 To be honest, I chose atheism because they were giving away toasters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TrueFreedom Posted March 24, 2014 Moderator Share Posted March 24, 2014 I don't like the atheist label because I don't like the tone and authoritative claims regarding subjects outside of popular atheist speakers' areas of expertise. I don't want to be thought of as a disciple of Hitchens, Dawkins or Shermer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thackerie Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I didn't choose it at all. All that happened is that eventually I realized I've never heard, seen, or read anything which I could accept as evidence of a god. So, that's the definition of atheist, and I now realize it fits me. That's all there is to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklingphoenix Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I don't think I chose atheism either. After coming out of Christianity and seeing that the Christian god wasn't real, I just assumed that all religions have it wrong. Why would any one religion be right over another, when the only reason we believe in our own religion in the first place is due to where geographically on the earth we were born? If I was born in India I mostly likely would be Hindu. I went through a process of thinking well, I love god and jesus but I don't like religion, to well... I don't know if Christianity is true, but maybe there still is a god because I thought I experienced things with "him," to well... I don't think anything is there at all, religion is wrong and there is no God because there's no real proof for any of it. So for me, atheism was the inevitable result of a natural process of deconversion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraphicsGuy Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I refuse to call myself "atheist" or "agnostic" or anything. Whenever a label is applied to me, it is always someone else applying the label - usually a Xian since they go all bug-eyed and apoplectic when you refuse to call yourself anything. At that point I am usually labelled as "agnostic" since I won't commit to a concrete answer in the "god" department. So I guess I'll grudgingly accept that. However, the best label I've heard is from a friend of mine who, when put to task, calls himself an "apatheist". He just doesn't give a shit if "god" is out there or not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninj Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 While growing up, I've never had much interest in science while attending school, and even to this day I'm still not terribly interested in it. Despite this, I still ended up with a very analytical mind that demanded evidence to support a thesis or conclusion and would not let go until said evidence presented itself. When I was deconverting, I explored other religions during the process but failed to find any decisive evidence that favored anything beyond atheism. Since atheism is accepting a lack of belief in a god, personal or otherwise, and was the one thing that made sense to me from a religious standpoint, it ended up being the one thing I could call myself that fit my view of myself and was true to me. Welcome, Ninj! What you say here is true for me, too. Although I am officially a senior citizen, I still want to learn, I still do alot of research. I may be a little slow at it but that may just be the aging process...lol. It seems I'm saying alot these days about things just making sense. I'm realizing as I get older that making sense of things and keeping life simple brings much peace and sometimes a splash of joy! Glad you are here...... Thank you for the welcome! It's a pleasure to be here. Nothing wrong with learning, even as a senior citizen! I have a dear uncle who's almost into his 60s, and he's still asking questions and learning new things every day! I suspect it comes from him being an engineer for Boeing, lol. We have such wonderful philosophical discussions during our weekend breakfasts together, and oftentimes stogies afterwards, so our discussions tend to go on for hours at a time. Always a fun time. And I look forward to participating on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I refuse to call myself "atheist" or "agnostic" or anything. Whenever a label is applied to me, it is always someone else applying the label - usually a Xian since they go all bug-eyed and apoplectic when you refuse to call yourself anything. At that point I am usually labelled as "agnostic" since I won't commit to a concrete answer in the "god" department. So I guess I'll grudgingly accept that. However, the best label I've heard is from a friend of mine who, when put to task, calls himself an "apatheist". He just doesn't give a shit if "god" is out there or not. Labels dont really describe a person well. It lumps you into a category. Then someone assumes because you use a certain label you feel a certain way about some subject and you end up having to explain how you feel about something and end up ignoring the label. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsy Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 To be honest, I chose atheism because they were giving away toasters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted March 25, 2014 Moderator Share Posted March 25, 2014 Never in my wildest dreams would I have chosen where I am today. Ditto, ole' beautiful doll!! Lol Me and you is going to make it hon...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pratt Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 why did i choose atheism? because i choose not to believe in a talking snake, a talking ass and a murderous god? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Was wondering why others may have chosen atheism after their deconversion. Not looking for "my label." Just curious. Thanks a bunch!! That's an interesting question. When put that way, I get the impression that someone assumes I went to the department store and looked at all the world views on display and decided, yep, atheism looks about right. That's not the way it happened. I searched for truth and one day it occurred to me that my view of reality can be called none other than atheism. How I arrived there is the story of my deconversion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 To be honest, I chose atheism because they were giving away toasters. What? We get free toasters? Why haven't I gotten mine yet? Who do I call about this problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 To be honest, I chose atheism because they were giving away toasters. What? We get free toasters? Why haven't I gotten mine yet? Who do I call about this problem? I hesitate to speak for florduh but my guess is he's saying much the same thing I am. You don't "choose" atheism. You follow your convictions and if atheism is where you land, so be it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Well, the free toaster just switches my rationale completely. I choose atheism for the free toaster. I have cold toaster strudels and very soft bread slices that need a toaster. It's gotten so bad that I've ditched eternal life for one perfectly toasted toaster strudel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninj Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 ...now that you mention it, I could go for some nice rye toast with strawberry jam on it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApostateAwoken Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Yup. Same with all the above "didn't choose it" comments. For a while, I believed there had to be a god, so I was agnostic theist/identified as deist. That was all nice and fine for a couple of months. One day, I realized that god was not necessary to explain morality/origins, and that was when *poof* I ceased to believe in God. And that's how I became an atheist. It's like asking, "Why did you choose to believe that Santa doesn't exist?" As a kid, you did because you didn't know any better, but then you grow up and realize it's all fake and it just ceases to be a belief of yours anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deidre Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I don't think I chose it as much as it became a natural path after leaving Christianity and realizing that no religion has anymore answers than Christianity claims to have. Mostly built on legends, myths and lies and superstitions, religion is man made, all of them. Mankind keeps searching for answers, and when stumped, turns to his comforting imaginary god. I'm not opposed to the idea that a god may exist, but I'm hopeful that if one does exist it isn't anything like the "versions" we have been introduced to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I liked the atheist thing because I can get free shit, have sex with whoever I want, drink myself into a catatonic stupor while doing massive quantities of drugs, and best of all I get to kill kill kill anyone I want with wreckless abandon in a consequence-free environment Not really... I simply disbelieve all god claims and therefore am an atheist by definition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MadameX Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Didn't choose it. All the competing god/gods claims contradicted each other, made no sense, and seem much more likely to be fairy tales of some sort. So many gods to choose from. It's more like not opting in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubtingNate Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I identify more with skepticism than with full blown atheism because it encompasses more of how I try to think about things, like the same principles of atheism applied to other things. That so because the science part of it is what convinces me more than anything else that Christianity is a very convincing illusion, and not in any way compatible with what we know to be true of the universe or ourselves. The principles of skeptcism and the importance of evidence-based reasoning for ruling out falsehood, deception snd superstition, are some of the MOST IMPORTANT tools we hav for improving the quality of life on this planet. I can't rule out the possibility of any higher mind, but is certainly not concerned with whether of not I play with my naughty bits or eat bacon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outlaw393 Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Was wondering why others may have chosen atheism after their deconversion. Not looking for "my label." Just curious. Thanks a bunch!! Because I got TIRED of the constant, 7 year long religious seeking. I figured if there was a god I would've found him/her/it by now. And in all my years of seeking I have yet to find anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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