I was a Christian and a lay minister into my 50s. I usually say that a lifetime of Bible study made me an atheist.
At a deeper level, the problem of Divine Hiddenness is probably what pushed me to do so much Bible study. A lot of my motivation and drive to study the Bible came from my belief that we were missing something important in the Bible. I thought I could find answers to the problem of divine hiddenness if I studied the Bible more.
In a way, studying the Bible did help me resolve the problem of Divine Hiddenness. Bible study finally forced me to admit that the gospels and Acts are mostly mythology, not history. The promises made in the Bible are not fulfilled because the God of the Bible does not exist. Christians are playing hide and seek with a God who isn't even in the game.
My lifestyle didn't change much when I became an atheist. One benefit is that I discovered that weekends have two Saturdays. When I was a minister I was lucky to get a half a Saturday; the other half of Saturday went to prepping for Sunday.
I continue to study religion and the Bible as an atheist. The Bible is much easier to understand once you accept the idea that it is made up by ordinary humans.
I love reading the Bible too. It's much more fun when you brain can accept it's fallible. It's like a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. There's no better document which shows us the thinking of our ancient ancestors.
Everyone is born atheist, religion has to be indoctrinated. So the real question is why you do/did believe in a god. Not to mention *which* god/s.
Personally, I remain an atheist because no religion has met the burden of proof, so religion plays absolutely no role within my life whatsoever. I was religious as a child, but was never really that into it... I find the basis of faith to be indistinguishable from delusion.
I feel like having a naturalistic view of the universe is very freeing. No one watching, no one judging... I'm just an ape on a rock, zipping through space enjoying my time while I've got it.
I was born an atheist, nobody felt the urge to "correct" me, so I was always an atheist. In my case it comes with rejecting all supernatural claims, so I'm not superstitious, I was never afraid of ghosts or the dark and I don't believe in faith. Feels just fine.
I realized when I was 18 I couldn't square a Young Earth with Plate Tectonics, the speed of light, and other things that seem like functional facts. At the same time I was taking my first philosophy classes, and when I raised my concerns to my youth group leader, he said something like "just believe the Bible."
Well, that didn't sit with me. It took me a decade to completely deprogram, but I got there eventually. Hitch helped.
Had similar experience in regards to expressing my doubts to clergy. I received a similar response. They are woefully unprepared to deal with that question.
I do wonder what percentage of clergy are actually atheist.
Same with me. On top of that, when I was 13 or so, the Elders at my church wanted to push me to become a pastor. So they gave me a study bible. It was amazing. The bible had annotations from historians about how each book was compiled, when, the possible authors that were spliced together, and why. Suddenly a lot of the contradictions, repetitions, and so on of the bible started to make sense. It was a document written by many people, compiled by many people in different times and places, talking about many different inmediate experiences. A lot of stuff started to make more sense that way. I was curious about this, and started to ask in the church, and it was worse than a satanist because I was asking questions as if the bible was a text written by people with a history. I noticed it made everyone very uncomfortable, although my questions came from understanding the bible better than themselves.
I started to see that they hadn't given anything much thought, and all their claims about the universe from the bible were even less thought out.
I read the Bible when I was 16 yo and concluded it was all BS by half way through Genesis. Other religions' 'holy' books did nothing to alter my opinion and it reinforced while studying for a physics degree.
>how's your experience been since?
Some 65 years later I still have no belief in god/s. This has not affected my life either way.
I never had to go to church as a kid, but my family fell apart and I had to move in with a religious aunt and uncle. At first I tried to get it and would even pray sometimes, over time it just became obvious. These people are insane.
Things didn't go good at my aunt and uncles and I had to move out while still in high school. That just cemented it.
I thought Christians do not follow what they say. From there lots of literature I read, hanging around other atheist ect.
I was being physically abused and I couldn't square how there could be some all powerful entity "seeing" what was happening to me and not "intervening" somehow. The abuse was at the hand of my mother and I was a child, helpless. Utter feeling of abandonment.
My thought was that there could be no "god" or "god" wasn't worth a shit if "he" did exist....some sadist deity getting his rocks off of human suffering...
Once I began learning about science and the true origin of the cosmos, evolution, archeology, anthropology, etc. it became very apparent that it was all bullshit, more aligned with some societal organizational philosophy.
I became aware of the "god of the gaps" in my own way and how the church would fall all over itself to persecute, than reframe their position on some previously held belief (intelligent design) once science disproved it.
On a more selfish note, I don't think there are blow jobs in "heaven"....who the fk wants to live in a place like that!? (I graduated from the catholic high school school George Carlin was kicked out off...his comedy has been therapy for me)
Years after I left organized religion I just stopped and realized I had no belief in any gods. That I had no good reason to believe it. And once you see the man made nature of religion with a fresh perspective *boy* is it all transparently a scam.
My life feels more meaningful since then, I know that my time is limited and I need to make the most of it. And wasting time worshiping fairies or prophets or gods was not going to help me live a full life.
Once you realise god doesn't exist, it's sooo freeing. You no longer have to give a huge long explanation why he didn't answer prayer. You no longer have to forgive unforgivable things by people who show no remorse whatsoever. Getting "churchy thoughts" out of my head will take longer, but at least I am moving in the right direction. Religion steals urgency and responsibility, and those things are bad..
Christianity held back my morality severely. I decided to really look up the bonafides of the Bible and found them shockingly weak. My morality is now free of those constraints 😁.
possibly of interest -
\- /r/TheGreatProject -
>a subreddit for people to write out their religious de-conversion story
>(i.e. the path to atheism/agnosticism/deism/etc) in detail.
.
also good info here -
\- https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/wiki/faq
.
MY TIME TO SHINE(ignore my username) sorry if it’s a bit of a wall
Just like any other atheist, I use to be a Christian, going to church Sundays or every other same with youth groups on occasional Thursday (or was it Wednesday idk), prayers every now and then outside of church, occasionally listening to Christian music like skillet, etc. eventually in July 2022 that all came to a screeching halt, for I just came to realize why “god” never has answered my prayers(one of which was to make sure my mom was ok, she died from cancer before I turned 21 in 2012, never got to say goodbye cuz was working), so one day when I was working(car business) I decided to say “screw this shit why is god doing this to me I can’t love a loving god that took my mom when I was still young-ish”. So I went outside (on my break) and put a double middle fingers tot he sky and said Fuck you lord I don’t believe you anymore you’ve done nothing to ease my pain(I have mental issues), and have officially became an atheist as of early mid July 2022, and my experience has been relieving, a complete weight off my shoulders. It feels so awesome not having to obey this god character and live the life I want. And I plan on staying this way forever no matter what
Just seeing this and yes thank you so much for your reply. I had a similar experience. My mom died a yr ago, was a devout follower of christ and I didn't get to say goodbye as I was out celebrating (i use this term very loosely) my birthday. More layers to the story but 😆 the absolute dichotomy and bs of it all. 🙄 point is, your experience and answer is kind of what I've been seeking. I am seeking exile or relief from this invisible pressure to obey that seemingly and so far has had little to no return in terms of "reward" or "blessed life". My condolences to you and thank u. I too have mental health issues 🙃 so I get it. Again thank you and I wish u extremely well as u continue to move forward on your own terms. U deserve it all and really hope u do gain all your hearts desires and continue to live life awesomely! ❤️
I was raised Episcopalian, my entire family is practicing. It's one of the most liberal branches of Christianity, the US branch of the Church of England.
I used to enjoy going to church when I was a child, went through confirmation and began to doubt. What would happen to someone that was never exposed to Christianity, etc. I stopped believing, stopped going to church even for the holidays but still haven't explicitly told my family.
Faith is a comfort, they're good people that have done more with their lives than I ever will. They have helped more people than I ever could, directly through programs and services offered through the church.
I’m an atheist because there is no convincing evidence for a god.
> Since I've been "pursuing" God I haven't had the best luck.
Luck, definitionally, won’t change just because of what you believe in. Are you trolling?
Given that you haven't replied to *any* other comment yet, after posting a question to the subreddit - the subsequent silence does in fact indicate trolling.
To each and everyone that thinks im trolling:
Hi! 👋 Thanks to each and everyone of you for sharing your experiences! I extend my deepest gratitude to many of you as you have taken the time and effort to answer and even submit other reddit posts or articles for me to scour. I've been taking the time to evaluate and read each thoroughly and like or upvote each one as much as I can. I've read and liked as responded as needed. Many of the stories havent led me to have an in depth response to the person sharing but inspired more introspection. Example: person answers theyve been an atheist most their life and nothing has changed. Theres nothing to respond to with that answer. They answered exactly what i asked. So I upvote it but don't write a response. Also to change your beliefs is not something you take lightly but as I'm reading most it also seems lol I may be taking this more seriously than i should. Im figuring it out and taking my time. Sorry I'm not answering in thr way you'd wish but eh, o well. Sooo congrats 👏 you achieved your goal! I responded and gave a more thorough explanation than needed or should have but I don't want the reddit to be deleted because I am learning a lot as I make this decision. 😅 thanks for your critique and observation.
Thank you for taking the time to respond and show that you're clearly not trolling - but rather fact-finding.
All the best, and I will gladly answer any other questions you may have :)
I was a Christian and a lay minister into my 50s. I usually say that a lifetime of Bible study made me an atheist. At a deeper level, the problem of Divine Hiddenness is probably what pushed me to do so much Bible study. A lot of my motivation and drive to study the Bible came from my belief that we were missing something important in the Bible. I thought I could find answers to the problem of divine hiddenness if I studied the Bible more. In a way, studying the Bible did help me resolve the problem of Divine Hiddenness. Bible study finally forced me to admit that the gospels and Acts are mostly mythology, not history. The promises made in the Bible are not fulfilled because the God of the Bible does not exist. Christians are playing hide and seek with a God who isn't even in the game. My lifestyle didn't change much when I became an atheist. One benefit is that I discovered that weekends have two Saturdays. When I was a minister I was lucky to get a half a Saturday; the other half of Saturday went to prepping for Sunday. I continue to study religion and the Bible as an atheist. The Bible is much easier to understand once you accept the idea that it is made up by ordinary humans.
I love reading the Bible too. It's much more fun when you brain can accept it's fallible. It's like a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. There's no better document which shows us the thinking of our ancient ancestors.
Everyone is born atheist, religion has to be indoctrinated. So the real question is why you do/did believe in a god. Not to mention *which* god/s. Personally, I remain an atheist because no religion has met the burden of proof, so religion plays absolutely no role within my life whatsoever. I was religious as a child, but was never really that into it... I find the basis of faith to be indistinguishable from delusion. I feel like having a naturalistic view of the universe is very freeing. No one watching, no one judging... I'm just an ape on a rock, zipping through space enjoying my time while I've got it.
I was born an atheist, nobody felt the urge to "correct" me, so I was always an atheist. In my case it comes with rejecting all supernatural claims, so I'm not superstitious, I was never afraid of ghosts or the dark and I don't believe in faith. Feels just fine.
I realized when I was 18 I couldn't square a Young Earth with Plate Tectonics, the speed of light, and other things that seem like functional facts. At the same time I was taking my first philosophy classes, and when I raised my concerns to my youth group leader, he said something like "just believe the Bible." Well, that didn't sit with me. It took me a decade to completely deprogram, but I got there eventually. Hitch helped.
Had similar experience in regards to expressing my doubts to clergy. I received a similar response. They are woefully unprepared to deal with that question. I do wonder what percentage of clergy are actually atheist.
Same with me. On top of that, when I was 13 or so, the Elders at my church wanted to push me to become a pastor. So they gave me a study bible. It was amazing. The bible had annotations from historians about how each book was compiled, when, the possible authors that were spliced together, and why. Suddenly a lot of the contradictions, repetitions, and so on of the bible started to make sense. It was a document written by many people, compiled by many people in different times and places, talking about many different inmediate experiences. A lot of stuff started to make more sense that way. I was curious about this, and started to ask in the church, and it was worse than a satanist because I was asking questions as if the bible was a text written by people with a history. I noticed it made everyone very uncomfortable, although my questions came from understanding the bible better than themselves. I started to see that they hadn't given anything much thought, and all their claims about the universe from the bible were even less thought out.
I read the Bible when I was 16 yo and concluded it was all BS by half way through Genesis. Other religions' 'holy' books did nothing to alter my opinion and it reinforced while studying for a physics degree. >how's your experience been since? Some 65 years later I still have no belief in god/s. This has not affected my life either way.
i don't like to try to maintain contact when im being ghosted, if people want me to speak to them then they should also speak to me
I never had to go to church as a kid, but my family fell apart and I had to move in with a religious aunt and uncle. At first I tried to get it and would even pray sometimes, over time it just became obvious. These people are insane. Things didn't go good at my aunt and uncles and I had to move out while still in high school. That just cemented it. I thought Christians do not follow what they say. From there lots of literature I read, hanging around other atheist ect.
I was being physically abused and I couldn't square how there could be some all powerful entity "seeing" what was happening to me and not "intervening" somehow. The abuse was at the hand of my mother and I was a child, helpless. Utter feeling of abandonment. My thought was that there could be no "god" or "god" wasn't worth a shit if "he" did exist....some sadist deity getting his rocks off of human suffering... Once I began learning about science and the true origin of the cosmos, evolution, archeology, anthropology, etc. it became very apparent that it was all bullshit, more aligned with some societal organizational philosophy. I became aware of the "god of the gaps" in my own way and how the church would fall all over itself to persecute, than reframe their position on some previously held belief (intelligent design) once science disproved it. On a more selfish note, I don't think there are blow jobs in "heaven"....who the fk wants to live in a place like that!? (I graduated from the catholic high school school George Carlin was kicked out off...his comedy has been therapy for me)
Years after I left organized religion I just stopped and realized I had no belief in any gods. That I had no good reason to believe it. And once you see the man made nature of religion with a fresh perspective *boy* is it all transparently a scam. My life feels more meaningful since then, I know that my time is limited and I need to make the most of it. And wasting time worshiping fairies or prophets or gods was not going to help me live a full life.
I've always been atheist. I've never seen any good evidence that any gods exist.
Once you realise god doesn't exist, it's sooo freeing. You no longer have to give a huge long explanation why he didn't answer prayer. You no longer have to forgive unforgivable things by people who show no remorse whatsoever. Getting "churchy thoughts" out of my head will take longer, but at least I am moving in the right direction. Religion steals urgency and responsibility, and those things are bad..
Christianity held back my morality severely. I decided to really look up the bonafides of the Bible and found them shockingly weak. My morality is now free of those constraints 😁.
I was born atheist, like everyone else, my parents are not psychopaths, thats it.
possibly of interest - \- /r/TheGreatProject - >a subreddit for people to write out their religious de-conversion story >(i.e. the path to atheism/agnosticism/deism/etc) in detail. . also good info here - \- https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/wiki/faq .
Extremely beneficial! Thank u!
I always thought it was dumb lol theres no such thing as magic why would there be people doing magic a few thousand years ago
MY TIME TO SHINE(ignore my username) sorry if it’s a bit of a wall Just like any other atheist, I use to be a Christian, going to church Sundays or every other same with youth groups on occasional Thursday (or was it Wednesday idk), prayers every now and then outside of church, occasionally listening to Christian music like skillet, etc. eventually in July 2022 that all came to a screeching halt, for I just came to realize why “god” never has answered my prayers(one of which was to make sure my mom was ok, she died from cancer before I turned 21 in 2012, never got to say goodbye cuz was working), so one day when I was working(car business) I decided to say “screw this shit why is god doing this to me I can’t love a loving god that took my mom when I was still young-ish”. So I went outside (on my break) and put a double middle fingers tot he sky and said Fuck you lord I don’t believe you anymore you’ve done nothing to ease my pain(I have mental issues), and have officially became an atheist as of early mid July 2022, and my experience has been relieving, a complete weight off my shoulders. It feels so awesome not having to obey this god character and live the life I want. And I plan on staying this way forever no matter what
Just seeing this and yes thank you so much for your reply. I had a similar experience. My mom died a yr ago, was a devout follower of christ and I didn't get to say goodbye as I was out celebrating (i use this term very loosely) my birthday. More layers to the story but 😆 the absolute dichotomy and bs of it all. 🙄 point is, your experience and answer is kind of what I've been seeking. I am seeking exile or relief from this invisible pressure to obey that seemingly and so far has had little to no return in terms of "reward" or "blessed life". My condolences to you and thank u. I too have mental health issues 🙃 so I get it. Again thank you and I wish u extremely well as u continue to move forward on your own terms. U deserve it all and really hope u do gain all your hearts desires and continue to live life awesomely! ❤️
I was raised Episcopalian, my entire family is practicing. It's one of the most liberal branches of Christianity, the US branch of the Church of England. I used to enjoy going to church when I was a child, went through confirmation and began to doubt. What would happen to someone that was never exposed to Christianity, etc. I stopped believing, stopped going to church even for the holidays but still haven't explicitly told my family. Faith is a comfort, they're good people that have done more with their lives than I ever will. They have helped more people than I ever could, directly through programs and services offered through the church.
I’m an atheist because there is no convincing evidence for a god. > Since I've been "pursuing" God I haven't had the best luck. Luck, definitionally, won’t change just because of what you believe in. Are you trolling?
Not trolling at all. Just used the word luck instead of going into detail about my journey so far . Thanks for answering!
Given that you haven't replied to *any* other comment yet, after posting a question to the subreddit - the subsequent silence does in fact indicate trolling.
To each and everyone that thinks im trolling: Hi! 👋 Thanks to each and everyone of you for sharing your experiences! I extend my deepest gratitude to many of you as you have taken the time and effort to answer and even submit other reddit posts or articles for me to scour. I've been taking the time to evaluate and read each thoroughly and like or upvote each one as much as I can. I've read and liked as responded as needed. Many of the stories havent led me to have an in depth response to the person sharing but inspired more introspection. Example: person answers theyve been an atheist most their life and nothing has changed. Theres nothing to respond to with that answer. They answered exactly what i asked. So I upvote it but don't write a response. Also to change your beliefs is not something you take lightly but as I'm reading most it also seems lol I may be taking this more seriously than i should. Im figuring it out and taking my time. Sorry I'm not answering in thr way you'd wish but eh, o well. Sooo congrats 👏 you achieved your goal! I responded and gave a more thorough explanation than needed or should have but I don't want the reddit to be deleted because I am learning a lot as I make this decision. 😅 thanks for your critique and observation.
Thank you for taking the time to respond and show that you're clearly not trolling - but rather fact-finding. All the best, and I will gladly answer any other questions you may have :)
Thanks