Guest Emerson Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 Has anyone ever gone back to xtianity here? Anyone ever gone back to atheism? I was reading through the threads & somewhere someone said that the guy who owns religionisbullshit.org or. net went back to xtianity. What makes someone go back to xtianity after everything or to atheism? I'd like to hear from everyone if possible including xtians. IF you've gone back to xtianity then what "proof" or verdict do you have for going back? What did it for you? ALso what did it for you for those of you who became atheists? I'd really like to know, please don't attack each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open_Minded Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 Has anyone ever gone back to xtianity here? Anyone ever gone back to atheism? I was reading through the threads & somewhere someone said that the guy who owns religionisbullshit.org or. net went back to xtianity. What makes someone go back to xtianity after everything or to atheism? I'd like to hear from everyone if possible including xtians. IF you've gone back to xtianity then what "proof" or verdict do you have for going back? What did it for you? ALso what did it for you for those of you who became atheists? I'd really like to know, please don't attack each other. Two different points of view, here. My own ... by the time I was 15/16 years old I considered myself Diest. That period of my life lasted about 10 years - into my late 20s. Then I went back to Christianity. I don't have any "proof" that Christianity has all the answers. In fact I don't believe any religion (or particular approach to spiritual seeking) has all the answers. I called myself a Christian again because of one experience in which the Trinity became very real to me, in which I came to understand Jesus as the Word made Flesh. It's just that simple, one subjective way of understanding something. But, I do not believe it is the final, ultimate truth, either. My father's experience... he left Christianity in my early teens. I was maybe 11/12 years old. He considered himself agnostic/atheist for many years. Into my late 20s early 30s he would have considered himself agnostic/atheist. Now he considers himself Christian - in much the same way that I consider myself Christian. I asked him once about this transition in his life and this is what he told me, "It's not so much that I stopped believing in GOD, it's that I stopped believing in the 'god' I was taught to believe in." For Dad - and I am not suggesting here that all agnostics/atheists feel this way, my time on this board has taught me there is great variety within the agnostic/atheist communities - but for Dad, he had to spend years struggling and grappling with what he had been taught. He had to let go of it and rediscover "that which is". And in this process he began to call himself Christian again. He would be the first to tell you, though that Christianity does not have a unilateral "truth" in which every person should bow to. Human perceptions of ultimate reality is very relative, and that's ok. We may claim for ourselves different labels during different periods of our life. If a label fits us today - we should not cling to it when it no longer has any real meaning for us. The most important thing, is to continue the search, the journey. And be willing to wear different labels when they are important and to discard them when they no longer have any real value. In the end it is only a label. The label gets us no closer to the truth - it is the journey itself which draws us nearer to that which we seek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycorth Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 I wavered when I was a Xian between two sects, the Catholic sect I was born and raised into, and the independent Protestant fundygelical sect, in which I spent about a year's time. I did revert back to the Catholic sect for a few more years, but when I left Xianity completely this past June, I never looked back. I've been a Deistic Pagan ever since. There's no turning back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 I know there are some members that have done it. Personally I haven't, and I can't say if something could happen to me in the future to make me do it. But most likely not. It has to be pretty darn convincing arguments for me to return. And that's what I find a bit funny. Being christian for 30 years, gone to Bible school etc. Wouldn't one of the fundamentalist christians that come here to argue understand that a couple of Bible verses won't do? It's not like I haven't read them before, a couple of hundred times... Some of them were mandatory to have memorized in our church, and I'm trying my best to forget them! Need the memory for other things to remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insomniac Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 Gawd I hope I'm never religious again, *cringes* But im sure it could happen if an atheist married someone religious...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefranden Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Gawd I hope I'm never religious again, *cringes* But im sure it could happen if an atheist married someone religious...? Be ye not unequally yoked! Emerson, I came to the conclusion that there was no god at about the age of 17. I joined the Army on purpose and fought in Vietnam. http://www.lzbravo.org/photo.asp?a=56&p=1281&s=0&sn=0 As you can see I was already crazy before I came home. Platoon Motto "We Kill for Ice Cream". I was a halfway decent Ice Cream getter. HurricaneMy dad's dead again We search the house Find only an angry note says, "be back after veitnam" The water runs outside we light candles open the basement door to let the water in to the house we built on sand. I spent the next few years looking for some peace trying various things like Zen and Transendental Meditation. I read what ever the Maharshi had in English, and one of his writings said that one ought to stay with the religion and occupation of one's fathers. I noted that since I was looking up to him at the time. Looking into existentialism I read Kierkegaard and was impressed by the leap of faith concept. But I didn't jump until I was a father with a kid, and figured I couldn't try peace by bullet method at least until the kid could take care of himself. So I lept in with all 4 feet in the summer of my 28th year. It took me until about 45 to decide that jump was completely an oops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Chef, were you a preacher for a while too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefranden Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Chef, were you a preacher for a while too? Yep! If you're going to take a leap of faith, there's no use being timid about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padreko Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 I feel people should believe what they want. I know what I'm about to say is probably wrong and pretty mean, but I feel anyone who'se been agnostic/athiest and then gone back to christianity is a weak minded individual. Its litereally retarded to go back to xtainity. So I say with the most loving and sincerest intentions to anyone going back to xtainity: Stop being a BIATCH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 ...I feel anyone who'se been agnostic/athiest and then gone back to christianity is a weak minded individual... Aaaah, but was the atheist too weak or his brainwashing too strong? That said, never forget that there's christians ("da wholly babble sez that...") and christians ("Yeah sure, jesus was kind of cool. Now hand me the beer, will you?"). Going from one of these brands to atheism, then to the other brand still seems like a change for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padreko Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 ...I feel anyone who'se been agnostic/athiest and then gone back to christianity is a weak minded individual... Aaaah, but was the atheist too weak or his brainwashing too strong? That said, never forget that there's christians ("da wholly babble sez that...") and christians ("Yeah sure, jesus was kind of cool. Now hand me the beer, will you?"). Going from one of these brands to atheism, then to the other brand still seems like a change for me Ok so the only thing that honestly reals'm back in is the promise of eternal life/possibility of burning in hell. It is a scary concept, I know. But to answer your question, the brainwashing is too strong. Brainwashing makes me sometimes feel insecure about my own beliefs. Its that lingering "but what if its true. If its true then I'm fucking screwed...all those mean things i said about jesus.." However, you quickly think about why religion doesn't make sense in the first place and your back on your center. And since many of us may not have someone to go an worship with at those particular moments, it can be a bit more difficult than a christian wavering in their beliefs because they have an entire congregation keep them in check. Mindfucking is terribly powerful tool. But in the end its like I said, believe what you want; to wavering atheist/agnostics, Stop being a b-I-otch. I can say that because I KNOW(epistemologically speaking, and I KNOW very few things) in my mind without a shadow of a doubt that xanity is seriously fucked up. If you're a free thinker that fact should be emblazed across your brain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Emerson Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 I feel people should believe what they want. I know what I'm about to say is probably wrong and pretty mean, but I feel anyone who'se been agnostic/athiest and then gone back to christianity is a weak minded individual. Its litereally retarded to go back to xtainity. So I say with the most loving and sincerest intentions to anyone going back to xtainity: Stop being a BIATCH! You're quite the comforter, aren't you padreko? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 ...to answer your question, the brainwashing is too strong. Brainwashing makes me sometimes feel insecure about my own beliefs. Its that lingering "but what if its true. If its true then I'm fucking screwed...all those mean things i said about jesus.." However, you quickly think about why religion doesn't make sense in the first place and your back on your center. Exactly. Man, after I gave in to my morbid fascination with the chicken tract bullshit, I sometimes have a moment of doubt too. Of course it doesn't last longer than a second or two, and it's not because I really believe or ever believed before, but because I'm kind of an imaginative person and sometimes can't stop myself from musing how things would be if it was all true... but still. ...I can say that because I KNOW(epistemologically speaking, and I KNOW very few things) in my mind without a shadow of a doubt that xanity is seriously fucked up... I hear you brother. Say about religion - in general - what you want... some will categorically say that there can't be any Divine force, some will say there might be one but you can never be sure, et cetera, ad nauseam... but at least the christian concept (and, as I see it, all the abrahamic ones) is so ludicrous that no one needs to worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gobbler Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 I was reading through the threads & somewhere someone said that the guy who owns religionisbullshit.org or. net went back to xtianity. Thankfully Brother Jeff is back in our fold! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entgegen Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 ...to wavering atheist/agnostics, Stop being a b-I-otch. Well, I think that atheists and agnostics should be thought of differently in this respect. An agnostic that goes back isn't quite the b-I-otch that an atheist would be, as agnostics' beliefs seem to be rooted in uncertainty and they may be more easily swayed. Atheists, on the other hand, feel certain in their views and generally have more conviction and therefore seem less likely to turn back to religion. So I guess my point is that wavering agnostics are little poons, while a wavering atheist is a total pud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amanda Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I think this site is a great learning experience.... and no one can go back as they were, after seriously considering the material here, open mindedly, IMO. I think there are wonderful philosophies, principles, and ideas in especially in the NT. However, you won't find many of them in any of the popular present-day Bible translations. Certainly not in fundamentalism mentalities. There's no magic or miracles, nor spirits flying around that can grab someone. LOL It has been a journey to make sense of it all, for me, and to understand more accurately what did happen. My beliefs have changed tremendously! It seems everyone contributes a piece to the puzzle. The Truth may be out there, but perhaps the fun part is searching for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts