LukeExChristian Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 i was raised in a christian house hold. but the older I got, the more i realized that attaching god to anything outside church became less and less necessary. in my late teens i did not know how to put what i felt into words, but i realized how shallow it is to accredit morality to god. as more time passed, i became less ashamed for thinking that it was more genuine to do good because it's good. rather than because god commanded it. At 18 i came to the conclusion that if you're not stupid, and you can figure out what's good and bad, and you can distinguish what's productive and beneficial for you and others around you, from, stupidity... than you don't need the bible. that was while i was a theist. before i had ever talked to an atheist. before i found this site, and while i wont use the terminology i used in this rant nor do i want to condemn others beliefs, but i want to shine light on others what i realized. at least get them to see what i saw. if only 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezia Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Yes, good point. It's been said and proven in scientific studies that smarter people are less likely to be religious. After all, what kind of thinking does it take to simply believe in a book that cannot be proven true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateur Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 At 18 i came to the conclusion that if you're not stupid, and you can figure out what's good and bad, and you can distinguish what's productive and beneficial for you and others around you, from, stupidity... than you don't need the bible. That's it right there. I heard over and over again that only xians had morality and there was no morality outside the bible and the church. But that was so patently NOT TRUE, even when I was young. The pastors and adults would just look you straight in the eye and say nobody could have morality without god. But they were LYING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted July 6, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted July 6, 2014 I've actually become much more moral over the past decade as an atheist. Knowing that I can't just run to jesus for forgiveness has forced me to take responsibility for my own actions and words. Besides, if the morals of most of the christians I know are the standard for christian morality, then I'd just as soon find my own path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuker12 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 This was a big stumbling block for me. However, looking at the world, I realized that anyone regardless of belief could be MORAL. I think we have a conscience to help us through moral choices, and intellect to give us rational answers about morality. We learn by mistake too, though you can't really do a mistake in everything for the purpose of learning. Hell, I used to fear satanists because I thought they ate babies and shit. Reading up on satanist philosophy has corrected me entirely on this viewpoint. Of course there's a criminal fringe to the satanists, but then there is a christian criminal fringe too which hits abortion clinics and unbelievers and shit. Being good has nothing to do with what you worship or believe in. God's morality is another subjective set of morals, to me. "An' it harm none, do what ye will" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinas Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 It is interesting that this realization came whilst "still a theist", and it should not be assumed that only atheists make up their own minds about right and wrong. Yes, I once tried to base my view of morality on the biblical deity - and a singularly uninspiring approach that turned out to be. I had to accept the moral rectitude of oppression, genocide of those that the bible saw as god's enemies etc... You all know the list of nonsense that is much discussed here without me having to repeat it again. On my way out of Christianity I realized two things: "Sin" depends on the supposed commandments of deity based on the doctrines advanced in relation to that deity; remove the doctrines and the commandments, it becomes a meaningless concept. By taking responsibility for my own actions I must weigh up consequences and take a reasonable view of what harm may be caused and its' necessity. That is a perfectly reasonable and proper approach to establishing a personal moral framework. It was also perfectly consistent with my developing view of deity as that which expects us to make our own way. The only persons incapable of a proper morality are those who sell out their judgement to the doctrines of a controlling and inhuman religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverlandrut Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Goes to show the power of reason and thinking for yourself. The idea that we need a god to tell us how to be good degrades humanity. We are just blithering, psychotic, baby killing idiots who don't know any better unless god guides us down the right path. What a poor view of humanity! You touched on Euthephro's dilemma. Is good "good" because god commands it? Or does god command it because it's good? The bottom line to this question is that you cannot have both an all powerful god and objective morality. God's omnipotence would make morality arbitrary. Objective morality would make god less than omnipotent because he does not determine the nature of morality. Morality makes much better sense when you conciser that we are social animals that evolved cooperative behavior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeExChristian Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 there were plenty if ideas and thoughts i had later in my christian life that i couldnt put into words nor did i know have names Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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