by cyberjesus 47 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I think it was when I was around age 3.
My father taught me how to read before I was 2 years of age; I remember asking him how we came to be.
He told me to look into the Bible for the answer.
I did, and I believed.
I've been a believer, albeit a questing one, ever since.
Syl
Great question. I cannot remember when I first conceived god. I am sure my mother forced him on me at every opportunity from the moment I was born.
Whether or not we are natural born believers, the god most people start and end up worshiping is a result of the indoctrination they receive as a child. Whether he has the qualities of one of the Hindu God's, an Allah or Yahweh or Jesus is rarely a choice.
My parents were raised Methodist, so from early age we attended Sunday School and had Bible Stories read to us at night. My mother prayed with us as children and taught us to say prayers.
So, from infancy, I was operating under the assumption that the Bible was a special book.
A simple Haiku in response:
Babes come pre-programmed
Courtesy? – Great Engineer
Peek-a-Boo, Mark One
I remember going to church as a child but I don't really remember what my thoughts about God were. For the most part the concept of God was unimportant and, if anything, I didn't like God because church was so boring and took away time from doing better things such as playing. I first started to really believe when I was a teenager in youth ministry, and any question I ever wondered about was answered, and new questions I would not have thought to ask were also posed... and answered. It all made sense to believe in God. For me, God still makes sense.
You don't know what you knew as a child. It's entirely possible you knew nothing, as you stated.
But atheism is a belief. A religion. It posits that there is no God. Thus, it's more accurate to say that you were born an agnostic. (After all, you were born not knowing about Los Angeles, but that doesn't mean it didn't exist and that you believed Los Angeles didn't exist. Chances are, if your father told you at 3 that you and the rest of the family were going to Disneyland in L.A. that you would have been ignorant of L.A., but nothing more or less.
You can say that you were ignorant of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny at 3, but that didn't mean they did or didn't exist. It simply means that you didn't know enough to have an opinion. That came later.
Some people who have near death experiences say they saw people they knew before they were born, and that they had a clear memory of knowing them; however, at birth that knowledge was not part of their mental make up.
The bottom line is that you were born an agnostic and then taught things that were both right and wrong. If you argue that God is one of them, so be it. I believe the case for God is considerable. The Earth's exact placement in the solar system, the existence and placement of the Moon (a foreign body to our solar system); the fact that the Moon is the exact size, mass and distance from the Earth to keep it stabilzed, and the exacting complexity of advanced life forms all attest that there is a God. If the Earth was any closer or further from the Sun, life would not be possible. If the Moon didn't stabilize our orbit, we'd have a new equator every day. Amino acids can sit around for untold millenia and not form anything other than a puddle, so who kicked things into being?
I don't begrudge anyone being an atheist. It's a free country (for now). But atheists shouldn't treat God like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. The very fact that many billions of years ago, the Universe was not...then suddenly it was. It's not static. Babies are taught what they're taught. I'm not saying the Hebrew God brought everything into existence (though I personally believe it for other reasons), but something did...some Intelligence, and those of us who believe in God are not the idiots Bill Maher and Christopher Hitchens make us out to be. So show me a baby who's convinced there is no God, and I'll show you a baby who doesn't believe in Los Angeles!
There's a difference, I think, between atheism and nontheism. Atheism is the belief that God(s) do not exist. Nontheism is simply lack of belief(s) regarding God(s). A subtle distinction, perhaps, but an important one. For example, an atheist might say, "I believe that God does not exist", while a nontheist might say "I have no opinion regarding the existence or non-existence of God." I guess a "nontheist" could technically qualify as an agnostic. I think children are born nontheists in that the existence of deity is simply not an issue that naturally comes to mind. Now, precocious children at a very young age may question where we come from, and perhaps (if not supplied the answer) they might naturally come to the conclusion that somebody created them, though that "somebody" may or may not fit an adult's conception of deity.
The dilemma remains: Many, if not most, who believe in God were at least influenced by others who believed in God. So how do we avoid infinite regress regarding where the notion of God originated? I think that logically leads to one of two conclusions: 1) "God" DID in fact speak to the first sentient humans in some fashion way back when, or 2) an early sentient human way back when came to the "God" concept via a process of somewhat recursive reasoning as I described in the previous paragraph.
OR... ;)
3) Something that may have been an amalgamation of the previous two scenarios.
It's a mystery that, I am certain, will be resolved someday... though perhaps not in our lifetime.
Agonus, of the "too smart to be in the realm of certainty" class
There's a difference, I think, between atheism and nontheism. Atheism is the belief that God(s) do not exist. Nontheism is simply lack of belief(s) regarding God(s). A subtle distinction, perhaps, but an important one. For example, an atheist might say, "I believe that God does not exist", while a nontheist might say "I have no opinion regarding the existence or non-existence of God." I guess a "nontheist" could technically qualify as an agnostic. I think children are born nontheists in that the existence of deity is simply not an issue that naturally comes to mind. Now, precocious children at a very young age may question where we come from, and perhaps (if not supplied the answer) they might naturally come to the conclusion that somebody created them, though that "somebody" may or may not fit an adult's conception of deity.
The dilemma remains: Many, if not most, who believe in God were at least influenced by others who believed in God. So how do we avoid infinite regress regarding where the notion of God originated? I think that logically leads to one of two conclusions: 1) "God" DID in fact speak to the first sentient humans in some fashion way back when, or 2) an early sentient human way back when came to the "God" concept via a process of somewhat recursive reasoning as I described in the previous paragraph.
OR... ;)
3) Something that may have been an amalgamation of the previous two scenarios.
It's a mystery that, I am certain, will be resolved someday... though perhaps not in our lifetime.
Agonus, of the "too smart to be in the realm of certainty" class
whoops dbl post... sorry
ok here is a misconception again. atheism is not a belief, is not a religion and is not the affirmation of the non existence of god..... one again is the lack of belief in a deity. it means I dont have a belief in the existence of god due to lack of evidence. that's exactly how we were when we were born.... we are all atheist of the many gods some only belief in 1. and that belief was rather imposed than a well thought out conclusion
