Former Christians: What Made You a Skeptic?

[retro7sz10]

south park

 

[iblink]

Human understanding made me skeptical about religion.

Man thinks he knows it all.

 

[SUSHI AND GRITS]

if you look at it, anything "man made" is corrupted in some form... anything "god made" is pure. think about it...

 

[iblink]

What gets me is how people make these ancient texts so sacred. I mean, if I were to write a book and say it was God's word flowing through my pen, would itbe worthy of being placed in the bible?

 

[SUSHI AND GRITS]

the thing i don't do is force my beliefs onto people though. i believe what i believe and i'll communicate it, but as far as"converting" people to my way of thinking is on them to believe or not.

 

[theprocessofbelief]

Originally Posted by SUSHI AND GRITS

if you look at it, anything "man made" is corrupted in some form... anything "god made" is pure. think about it...

...but using your line of thinking, God created man. Who obviously are not pure.

 

[uknowdonti]

Originally Posted by SiMPLYDiMPLY

i think i was always a skeptic. at 7 years old when i had to make my communion i refused to do confession with a priest... i was like... if there is an omniscient God then why do i have to confess to a priest? kinda funny how it foreshadowed my future beliefs. i used to be an atheist.... but actually after getting a little education i found faith. i just resent religion and my views are unorthodox.

Yup, never wanted to confess to a priest because I didn't believe in it as well. I have been reading philosophy since I was probably 7 or 8,so that pretty much opened my mind up and allowed me to embrace other ideologies. I wouldn't say that I'm an atheist, perhaps more agnostic thananything else but really I'm more indifferent to the notion of an all powerful god. If there is a god, then cool. If there is no god, then it'swhatever. I have faith in humanity itself and that is all I need to live a morally and ethically sound life. The ignorant jurisdiction of a sin do not applyto those that lack faith in the subject.

We should heed Socrates' example and search for truth within ourselves, rather than through superficial means. Anyways, I recommend people read AlbertCamus' The Stranger. I feel this book could sum up nicely the reason why most people lose faith with their respective religious affiliations.

 

[mo matik]

Just because you are having second thoughts about your religion doesn't mean that there is no God.

I've heard of a lot of people brought up Christians that do not believe in Christianity anymore, but still feel that there is a higher power.

Check out some other religions and school yourself on them.

If anyone has any questions about Islam shoot me a PM or AIM: motheelawn

 

[chi ill]

Originally Posted by iBlink

What gets me is how people make these ancient texts so sacred. I mean, if I were to write a book and say it was God's word flowing through my pen, would it be worthy of being placed in the bible?

Yes if you have a strong enough following .

If a moderator on Niketalk posts something & ten people quote it & co-sign , people will think that word is golden .

Religion started as people not knowing & passing it along to others as truth .

& when that happens for thousands of years ... there you have it .

 

[step your game up]

Research intelligent-design.

 

[korto]

Originally Posted by kiuyt856

Because of this, which I asked in another thread-

Originally Posted by kiuyt856

I'm assuming we all know a little bit about Ghandi and his philosophy. He practiced non-violence, and through that he was able to help gain Indian Independence and civil rights for his people. He was all about peace and was a genuinely good soul, right? Now do you, most specifically Christians, believe that at this very moment and for the rest of eternity, Ghandi is burning and suffering in hell, right beside people like Hitler, Stalin, and Idi Amin? Regardless of the way he lived his life, do you believe Ghandi deserves that fate because he practiced Hinduism, and never accepted Jesus Christ as his savior?

I just don't believe that a good person deserves to suffer for eternity because he didn't accept anothers religion. I also don't agree with homosexuality being a ticket to hell for the same reasoning.Those are the main reasons I stopped practicing. And I went punctually to church for about 3 years. I finally realized that I just don't agree with it.

When the bible says that only through Jesus can people be saved, you have to understand that it means that only through God can people besaved, not the six foot tall human. Think about how many billions of people throughout the ages have never even heard of Jesus, how silly it is to claim thatthey are all doomed to "suffer in hell for eternity". It's unfortunate that so many Christians don't actually understand this though. Justlook through the bible, Jesus says things like "look under a rock, and I will be there" - clearly he is talking about God. And this is the same Godthat Gandhi discovered, the same God that millions of people discovered and gave thousands of different names to, but unfortunately too many people can'tsee this and start separating "my god" from "your god". Like that saying says: If Jesus and Buddha met, they would hug each other in love,but Jesus' sheeps and Buddha's goats would start to quarrel.

Even if a person doesn't consciously believe in "God", if he lives life with integrity and does good things, and does so out of love and not outof fear or hate, what do you think he has discovered? Why do you think he acts the way he does? He may think of God as someone up in the clouds that iswatching him (unfortunately a lot of people seem to have this idea of God) and say that such a silly thing doesn't exist and may even call himself anathiest. But the very reason he lives an integral life, the very kindness which he treats people with, the love itself that his actions come from,that is what is discovering God, whether you realize it or not. And that is what will "save" you - living life this way, not your beliefs.

 

[uncalled4boy]

Originally Posted by eye see soles

Now, I look to those who still believe like they are crazy for believing in something that can not be proven empirically. We can't observe God or Christ, we can only go on what is said in the Bible and other readings, but even that is said to be written by man, "inspired" by God. I don't know. I just don't want to go about it haphazardly any longer.

You Do Realize That The Point Of Having "Faith" Or Believing Is Standing For It Even Though Its Inexplicable By Man's Theory Or Law....

I'll Admit It Is NOT Easy At All And Your Will And Mind Has To Be Firm In What You Believe In...

 

[ravagebx]

Funny people list common sense as a reason but that same common sense tells me there's much more to it all than what we can understand.

 

[bballah3]

I was blinded by church groups as social functions in my youth....

Once I realized that they wrote the Bible without actually seeing anything first hand...and It was written hundreds of years after Jesus' death...Iimmediately stopped believing in Jesus/God/Etc.


And a virgin birth....seriously?

 

[Jordan8]

I def believe in God and I believe that God sent a representative down here. do I believe the Bible......not so much

I watch Zeitgeist and it made believe maybe there was a Jesus but maybe that Jesus isnt the Jesus taught in the bible

 

[vatech733]

i don't believe in god, but i fear him- usual suspects

 

[danikerhino]

I still believe in God, but I'm no longer a Catholic. I stopped being one when I seen people kissing the statues' feets, doing the cross every timethey passed a church, and a few other things. Where in the bible does it say that you have to kiss a statue or bow to the cross?

 

[moonmaster3]

A lot of you guys don't believe for the entirely wrong reason. Even among historians/atheist scholars/apologetics, there is little debate about whether thehistorical Jesus lived. And among them, a good many believe Jesus did die on the cross. The argument lies within what happened afterwards. Did he or did he notresurrect, that is the essential debate.

Many of you guys seem to just claim you did "research," when in reality its just you trying to boggle it down in your mind. Honestly, start lookinginto Christian apologetics and then compliment that with atheist readings (no Zeitgeist please). There's a lot of misconceptions in here as to how theBible was written and to what sources are used to validate what scholars know and don't know about the Bible.

There's scholars out there who spend their entire lives studying Christianity and they come to the conclusion that it is the truth, along with those whospend their entire lives and realize it is false. Yet you NTers think you have it figured out in what? A span of a few years during your youth?

I can guarantee none of you here know Greek or have a professional understanding of scripture...yet you use "common sense" as your reasoning.

I'm not even Christian, I'm agnostic, and I find a lot of the arguments in here hysterical.

 

[Jordan8]

---

Originally Posted by eye see soles

Now, I look to those who still believe like they are crazy for believing in something that can not be proven empirically. We can't observe God or Christ, we can only go on what is said in the Bible and other readings, but even that is said to be written by man, "inspired" by God. I don't know. I just don't want to go about it haphazardly any longer.

But that goes for science, history anything. We believe in Dinosaurs and Far away galaxies before we believe in God or Jesus? We've seenneither but we've been taught or shown its so called proof of existence. I'm a skeptic of everything. Who's to say that the "Illuminati"didnt plant dinosaur bones across the world or destroy facts of Christ existence because they knew that eventually the World would start to question theirbeliefs? If you want proof of God then demand proof of everything that rebuttals the existence of a God.

 

[Jordan8]

Originally Posted by moonmaster3

A lot of you guys don't believe for the entirely wrong reason. Even among historians/atheist scholars/apologetics, there is little debate about whether the historical Jesus lived. And among them, a good many believe Jesus did die on the cross. The argument lies within what happened afterwards. Did he or did he not resurrect, that is the essential debate.

Many of you guys seem to just claim you did "research," when in reality its just you trying to boggle it down in your mind. Honestly, start looking into Christian apologetics and then compliment that with atheist readings (no Zeitgeist please). There's a lot of misconceptions in here as to how the Bible was written and to what sources are used to validate what scholars know and don't know about the Bible.

There's scholars out there who spend their entire lives studying Christianity and they come to the conclusion that it is the truth, along with those who spend their entire lives and realize it is false. Yet you NTers think you have it figured out in what? A span of a few years during your youth?

I can guarantee none of you here know Greek or have a professional understanding of scripture...yet you use "common sense" as your reasoning.

I'm not even Christian, I'm agnostic, and I find a lot of the arguments in here hysterical.

I feel that way exactly. Alot of non believers try to use The Bible to dismiss God when they are 2 different entities. Im not familiar with Christianapologetics tho. I learned something today

 

[fade on you]

Interesting thread...

 

[finnns2003]

i just look at things too deeply, the systems that construct society, our values, why we are here... etc. right now i'm going through a lot, and it made methink even harder about the big picture. what are the fates of people who believe in different religions? it's all... very complex.

 

[daytona 5000]

Originally Posted by dgk3188

i believe we can learn from all religions, and they all basically have the same message.

Originally Posted by buggz05

The false idol strategically created to portray the Son of God and oppress/brainwash my people.

I reject the notion that Jesus of Nazereth (not Christ; I refuse to call another flesh-and-blood man my savior)was a blond hair-blue eyedMiddle Easterner.

It really all started with me asking myself a question. "DAYTONA, if your parents where muslim would you still believe in Jesus?" And the answer wasa big fat NO. I would believe what they believed. As a child many of us don't have a choice which religion we will practice. I was reading a book and itsaid "an individual's adherence to a certain faith is often determinded by "the geographical accident of the locality of his birth-place"basically saying that religion is imposed on you depending on where you were born. Doesn't matter if it is completely false, but you will grow up hearingotherwise.

Another reason I don't believe anymore, is because people take the Bible waaay out of context. All my life I grew up hearing that if you don't acceptJesus you will burn for all eternity in a blazing inferno, but Jesus loves you, yes he does!

Way to scare me into becoming a christian reverend

. If accepting Jesus is the only way to heaven, what about the people in SouthAmerica that were alive while Jesus was alive? They couldn't have possible known what was going on in Rome and Jerusalem. And what about mentallychallenged people? Stillborns? They are going to crisp because they didn't accept too? Give me a break..(That version of hell isn't even in theoriginal text for those who didn't know. It was created to scare people, and it has down a marvelous job. Replace the word HELL with GRAVE everywhere inthe Bible. Doesn't have the same effect, now does it?)

 

[rko2004]

On the behalf of my fellow religion/spiritual followers. I'll apologize if our actions have led you away from God/Christ. I know I/others had/have an inyour face attitude and that was wrong. So yeah, sorry.

But back to the thread...

 

[bonafide hustla]

Originally Posted by RavageBX

Funny people list common sense as a reason but that same common sense tells me there's much more to it all than what we can understand.

this is exactly why when people go into rants trying to de-convert per se I take a step back and tell them to chill out. its in our human natureto want to know everything, but just realize we are all only human. a lot of my belief goes into what I have experienced and felt. and to be honest yea Iwould be lying to sit here and say my upbringing in the Church did not influence my thoughts, but I am educated and I try to think rational at all times butall said and done I let my experiences/feelings help tailor what I believe. That said, my views on religion have altered over the years but I definitely amnot in that boat of cats who are demonstratively trying to act like they have it all down to a logical science

Originally Posted by UnCalled4Boy

Originally Posted by eye see soles

Now, I look to those who still believe like they are crazy for believing in something that can not be proven empirically. We can't observe God or Christ, we can only go on what is said in the Bible and other readings, but even that is said to be written by man, "inspired" by God. I don't know. I just don't want to go about it haphazardly any longer.

You Do Realize That The Point Of Having "Faith" Or Believing Is Standing For It Even Though Its Inexplicable By Man's Theory Or Law....

I'll Admit It Is NOT Easy At All And Your Will And Mind Has To Be Firm In What You Believe In...

that typography is is UnCalled4Boy