@fmf saidBut you chose to believe that realization, just as you chose to believe your prior realization that God exists.
It was the result of a long process of gradually increasing doubts which ended in a realization and not a decision.
Why are you not willing to accept responsibility for your atheism?
Plenty of believers have doubts but choose to trust God to get them through those doubts and difficult times and they choose to keep their faith. You chose not to.
@pb1022 saidThat's right. There was no decision. There was a realization. I cannot decide not to love my wife. But I could one day realize that I don't love her anymore.
And if a person asked you when you were a Christian if you believed God exists, you would have said Yes.But if a person asked you now, you’d say No.But there was no decision on your part not to believe.
@fmf saidI mean you could realize you no longer love your wife only to realize a month later that you do love her.
That's right. There was no decision. There was a realization. I cannot decide not to love my wife. But I could one day realize that I don't love her anymore.
@pb1022 saidIt's a spiritual matter rather than a matter of feelings.
@FMF
You seem governed an awful lot by your feelings. Is that what you think faith is? Is that what you think love is? Your feelings?
A reasonable definition of faith from the internet: "A strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof".
I eventually came to realize I had lost the "spiritual apprehension" needed to sustain Christian beliefs.
@fmf saidOk, but then the choice and decision came to abandon the faith, the same way if you no longer felt in love with your wife, the choice and decision would be to abandon her or stay married and try to work things out (such as going to counseling.)
It's a spiritual matter rather than a matter of feelings.
A reasonable definition of faith from the internet: "A strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof".
I eventually came to realize I had lost the "spiritual apprehension" needed to sustain Christian beliefs.
At some point, you made the decision to give up, you made the decision that your faith was not worth holding onto.
Why you seem to want to absolve yourself of this is strange.
@pb1022 saidI did eventually make a decision to stop self-identifying as a Christian when I realized my faith was gone. But no decision was made to stop believing in Jesus. It was a gradual process.
At some point, you made the decision to give up, you made the decision that your faith was not worth holding onto.
@fmf saidI realize you don’t want to talk about the process that caused you to abandon the faith and become an atheist, but it seems odd to me that you don’t think you had anything to do with it.
I did eventually make a decision to stop self-identifying as a Christian when I realized my faith was gone. But no decision was made to stop believing in Jesus. It was a gradual process.
Do you at least acknowledge that you made choices in how much to cultivate and grow in your relationship with God before you became an atheist?