How Did You Become An Atheist? (page 4)

NewChapter

But that just isn't true. You could have two atheists who have differing opinions on every subject except: whether they believe a god exists.

Well if you're a REAL atheist, you will agree with me on all things!

skeeter1

Raised a JW. Around 13/14 years old, I was convinced there was A GOD JEHOVAH and the WTS had it right.

Around 15/16/17 years old, I started to disagree and question the WTS.

Around 30ish years old, I started to attend a mega church. Liked it alot, and still like the basic messages of forgiveness. But, the Sunday after Sept. 11th, I went to church. The pastor tried to discuss why God let 9/11 happen. Why God doesn't step into our problems. And, most importantly, tried to reconcile that the God of Abraham (warring God) could be the same as Jesus (peaceful). His reasoning had holes all in it. Why? Becuase the Bible has holes all in it. If God and Jesus are from the same mindset, then HOW could they be so different?

Ok, so I stop going to the mega church becuase I moved. Sometimes, I still listen to it on the Internet. Doesn't mean I believe in God or the Bible, but the sermons are interesting.

Then, I started to READ. I read up on the history of the Bible and the Bible stories. I begin to see how the modern Bible was created by men. Men choose which books to put in it, and which books to ban. So, the Bible that we have may, or may not, be God's word. But, it is Man's word. Man created the Bible! I read up on how ancient religions are carried into and through the Bible stories. The Bible is not a new religion, no, it is based on "pagan" roots. Man created God, the single Abrahamic God! Who is to say that there are not many Gods? Who's to say that Jehovah really exists, any more then Zeus!

Anyway, this is the BEST explanation of how I feel today about the Bible and God.

All the religions on Earth could be 100% wrong and there could still be a Purpose, a Reason, a Creator (or, perhaps more likely, creators). As an atheist I doubt it, but I don't object to THAT belief.

Through These Godless Eyes.

philhellenes

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Las Malvinas son Argentinas

For me it came when I was making a personal examination of the more fringe religions, not only JW, but Mormons, Scientologists, etc. It's easy to belittle JWs with their 1914 and Faithful and Discreet Slave doctrine because it all happened so relatively recently, and 1914 is a well documented year. Russell's writings have survived, and his fantasies are right there in print. Mormonism can be debunked by the very fraudulent nature of it. Joseph Smith manufactured a language (Reformed Egyptian) and falsely translated Egyptian funeral papyri into the 'Book of Abraham', authored by.. well, Abraham. What he didn't count on was the hieroglyphics being decoded. Likewise, Scientology is the latest religion to be exposed. Xenu and the volcanoes! Sounds old-school sci-fi to me. But a pattern exists. Add a thousand or so years to outrageous and scientifically impossible described events and they become more and more difficult to disprove. It's as if the intervening time has added layers upon layers of legitimacy and an aura of permanency to these movements. They become more difficult to counter due to a lack of contemporarily neutral sources. Who was in Mecca and Medina in the time of Mohammed to dispute his claims and teachings? They were either killed, converted, or forced into hiding. Either way, there are no contrary accounts that have survived. In Jesus' time, you had a restless, but hopelessly divided Jewish population under Roman or puppet-ruler administration. I think it's a mistake for atheists to deny Jesus' very existence. It's not a leap of faith by any means to believe that there was a self-styled Jewish messiah who hailed out of Nazareth who lived from 1 to 33 AD. The lack of contemporary sources from anyone outside of his own circle of followers makes for an intricate counter-witness. All you can do is cast doubt on the very miracles claimed based on their face value... Christians can (and do) quote from their own accounts. Josephus makes a passing reference to Jesus, and so we have a neutral confirmation of the existence of Christ.

It's testimony to the power of the message that three major religions all worship the same desert deity to this very day. If you consider the fact that the only real differences between the three are Jesus and Mohammed, it's a shame that all of this fighting couldn't have been avoided. For my part, I couldn't place my entire life in the hands of a theology which is based on unconfirmed miracles and higher powers. Come down here and prove it to me, and I'll become a believer. I guess that's what makes me an agnostic.

skeeter1

Can someone cut & paste my video? I can't do it :-( And, it's a great video very close to my heart.

botchtowersociety

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txp8LhL56rU

cofty

ZeusRocks

For me it just happened without me realising it.
The first step happened when I discovered the lies and deception of the watchtower (which also came about by accident). I was actually googling to try and find if there were any stories from gay jw's trying to find out how they dealt with life as a jw. I clicked on a story on the JWFacts website. Once I read the story, I deleted rest of the URL and went to the home page. Growing up I had a lot of questions that never got a satisfactory answer and there were a lot articles throughout the years that I just didn't agree with (eg. their view of rape). So I read through the website, seeing all the flip flops, the quotes from the various watchtowers over the years, which quite a few I remembered. I found it funny that I didn't even notice the flip flops within the teachings even into my 30's. But seeing it right in front of me, I couldn't deny the truth about them. I'd stopped going to meetings nearly 2 years earlier, but after 2 hours from reading the story on JWFacts, I was now and ex-jw both physically and mentally.

I went to a website call talkorigins.org. Wanted to read a bit about evolution, as I never paid attention in school in science because of jw beliefs. On that website I found articles relating to the biblical claim of a global flood. Geologists shoot that down in seconds. That got me thinking then about the other claims in the bible. Up until this point I'd kept researching online holding onto a belief in a god, trying to find proof that he exists.

I'd always just taken the orgs word on the bible's origins and who wrote it. Well, anyone who has honestly researched the bible and it's claims, knows the rest. The bible equals bullshit. About as factual as Gone with the Wind. Outside of the bible there is no evidence for a god, just what people want to attribute to a god. Growing up I was fascinated by ancient greek and egyptian gods and mythology and now there was one more god to add to the realm of mythology. I wasn't even sad or angry at losing my belief in the christian god or jesus. I'd held on to belief as long as I could, but I could no longer deny the evidence to the contrary.

All the questions I had growing up in the org have been answered and it is such a weight off my shoulders. I still hear christians ask about where life came from (you know, the last straw they have to clutch at when everything else they claim gets refuted), and my truth to that question is, "personally, I couldn't care less how life began". I will leave that answer up to scientists and just live my life the best I can. If the answer comes in my lifetime, great, if not, my life will not be affected one bit.

I never even recall hearing the word atheist until after I became one.

I quit!

I'm not an atheist but I'm open minded enough to know I could be wrong. I do remember after I had been out of the WT for about a year or so I decided to read the book of Genesis. It became so obvious to me that the Adam and Eve and the snake story was a myth and not a historic account. I couldn't believe people, including myself ever took it literally. I also found the same thing to be true about many of the other stories in the Bible.. the Tower of Babel, the flood, the story of Lot, Jehovah's wrestling match etc....

NewChapter

I just found the funniest website. It is so real, that at first I wasn't sure if I should be laughing. But then I saw they had a crusade to shut down Landover Baptist, LOL, because the internet was created for America and America was a Christian nation. Soooo funny. I googled it, and yahoo says that it is a spoof. For those that like Landover Baptist, you are going to love this.

http://objectiveministries.org/kidz/

jamesmahon

I think your question is slightly wrong NC. But this is because I have work to do so am in a bored and pedantic mood. The question should not be "why did you become an atheist?" but rather "why did you return to being an atheist?"

I was born without belief. I became a believer because that is what I was taught to believe. I then relinquished that belief to return to my original state when I learned how to think like a child and ask questions again.

How Did You Become An Atheist?

Through These Godless Eyes.

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