What made you want to become an Athiest?

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Originally posted by RBHILL

Birth.

I did't "want" to become one, it was just a natural progression as I got older (since I was raised Christian). I was a serious Christian once, and eventually realized that the Christian life was a never ending cycle of trying to convince myself this wasn't some BS. It became clear that everything I did or accomplished in life was through my own effort. If I lacked anything it was my fault; if I gained anything, it through my own effort.

I eventually started to realize that my life was no different with or without a god in the picture. I had some serious struggles at the time, and the fact this only magnified the fact that God was no help.

I lived a Christian life, took it seriously, and it was the most depressing and lonely time of my life. Looking back, I'm embarrassed by it, as well as angered by all the wasted time. So my atheism is more personal than others here, who are simply atheists because they never had a good reason not to be.

Originally posted by Great King Rat
Birth.

Good answer.

God was not real to me. So I may have not been a classic atheist. But I was some kind of anti-biblical, anti-Christian theist person for a near decade. (I think at least six years).

God was not real in my experience. So I assumed what I didn't know no one else probably knows either. An agnostic or deistic agnostic of some sort.

As some atheists of late have wanted to place both agnosticism and atheism in pretty much the same category, I don't see why atheist should complain about me volunteering my past experience for an answer.

Originally posted by RBHILL (OP)

What made you want to become an Athiest? "Original post by Subscriber RBHILL on 17 Mar '16 07:32"
______________________

This question is impertinent.

Why?

Because an individual's decision regarding God's Plan of Salvation and Eternal Life is a private rather than a public matter
between an individual and the Sovereign God of the Universe.

To any Agnostics or Atheists who may be here, please consider reading John 3;16-17 and/or Acts 16:31;

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
[b]What made you want to become an Athiest? "Original post by Subscriber RBHILL on 17 Mar '16 07:32"
______________________

This question is impertinent.

Why?

Because an individual's decision regarding God's Plan of Salvation and Eternal Life is a private rather than a public matter
between an individual and the Sovereign God of t ...[text shortened]... y Agnostics or Atheists who may be here, please consider reading John 3;16-17 and/or Acts 16:31;[/b]

Penn and Atheist would disagree that it's a private matter.

Originally posted by RBHILL

Corporate cultish religion, religious manipulation, religious fraud, religious hatred, religious bigotry and the stuff in my profile.

PS I'm not an atheist.

Originally posted by RBHILL

In my case I didn't become an atheist as I have always been one.

While I did go to C of E [Church of England] infant and primary schools where the daily
assembly ended with a prayer, I never believed in a god, and never saw the point of
praying [one of my earliest memories of school is deciding that praying was pointless
and couldn't work.] which was fine because nobody really cared if you joined in or not
and most of my contemporaries were also atheists.

Having learned about the issues as a teen and then adult I have come to the conclusion that
being an atheist is the only rational position to take [on this subject] but that conclusion is not
a reason for me becoming an atheist as I never have been one.

Religion has never appealed to me, and I have never felt the slightest need or desire to believe
in a god or gods.

Which makes for a pretty boring story, but in the UK I suspect this is the most common position
for people my age or younger who are atheists.

I suspect you are more likely to get 'interesting stories' of 'deconversion' from the USA or other
parts of the world where religion is a bigger deal. [not to say that there aren't people from the
UK with such stories, they are just rarer.]

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
[b]What made you want to become an Athiest? "Original post by Subscriber RBHILL on 17 Mar '16 07:32"
______________________

This question is impertinent.

Why?

Because an individual's decision regarding God's Plan of Salvation and Eternal Life is a private rather than a public matter
between an individual and the Sovereign God of t ...[text shortened]... y Agnostics or Atheists who may be here, please consider reading John 3;16-17 and/or Acts 16:31;[/b]

It's a perfectly acceptable question, very much suited for this forum, and anyone who
doesn't want to share their story is free not to answer it.

And I/We would have to not just be theists, but Christians to care what the bible says
on the topic.

Originally posted by RBHILL
What made you want to become an Athiest?

I never wanted to become an atheist, so presumably nothing 'made me want to'. I did become an atheist through the realization that God didn't exist.

What made you want to become a theist?

Originally posted by googlefudge
It's a perfectly acceptable question, very much suited for this forum, and anyone who
doesn't want to share their story is free not to answer it.

And I/We would have to not just be theists, but Christians to care what the bible says
on the topic.

So Jews don't care what the Bible says?

Last I heard, the OT is still their scripture.

Originally posted by sonship
God was not real to me. So I may have not been a classic atheist. But I was some kind of anti-biblical, anti-Christian theist person for a near decade. (I think at least six years).

God was not real in my experience. So I assumed what I didn't know no one else probably knows either. An agnostic or deistic agnostic of some sort.

As some atheists of ...[text shortened]... I don't see why atheist should complain about me volunteering my past experience for an answer.

I think you are [or were] very confused.

But I was some kind of anti-biblical, anti-Christian theist person for a near decade.

It's really quite simple. If you believed that any sort of god or gods existed, then you were a theist.
If you didn't believe that any sort of god or gods existed, then you were an atheist.

God was not real in my experience.

This sounds to me like you didn't believe that a god existed, which would have made you an atheist.
Although your words are very unclear on this point.

As some atheists of late have wanted to place both agnosticism and atheism in pretty much the same category,

None that I have seen.

The answers "I am/was an atheist" and "I am/was an agnostic" are answers to two different questions
and are not at all the same thing.
"I am an atheist" is an answer to the question "do you believe in the existence of a god or gods?".
"I am an agnostic" is an answer to the question "do you claim to know, and/or that it is knowable, that
a god or gods exist?".

You can be neither, either, or both an atheist and an agnostic. But they are not the same thing.

I don't see why atheist should complain about me volunteering my past experience for an answer.

I don't see why an atheist should complain about you volunteering your experience either.
Although for apparently for different reasons.

Originally posted by Suzianne
So Jews don't care what the Bible says?

Last I heard, the OT is still their scripture.

The Torah is not identical to the OT, and is not the Bible, it's the Torah.

Also GB was citing the NT, not the OT.