Current Events > When did you become an atheist?

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I was never raised to believe in god. I distinctly remember asking other kids in 1st grade "do you really believe in God?" And they looked at me like I was crazy.

Found out Santa wasnt real when I was about 3 and saw my parents putting all the presents under the tree. They didnt expect me to get up to go potty.

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ekie posted...

You are the proof. You have a spirit and you are not a meat sack that spawned from nothing. Science pretty clearly states something cannot come from nothing. Once this universe was nothing. As was your spirit.

Show me evidence that I have a spirit. Because, from what science currently understands, that would be the part of my meat sack called the brain.

Also, science being unable to explain something given the evidence currently available does not automatically make the explanation supernatural or spiritual. Science is strong because it is always falsifiable and what the scientific community deems true can change dramatically if new evidence comes to light. What youre doing is the same as people in the Middle Ages who saw lightning and assumed it was one of their pantheon getting angry or drunk.

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Then I found belief in a God at 17/18 and have stuck to that

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Like 9

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Blue_School posted...

There's no way to prove that theory wrong. It's seems unlikely but I would never claimed it as absolute.

So do you believe in everything? If one does not require proof, then one can not rule anything out

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hockeybub89 posted...

So do you believe in everything? If one does not require proof, then one can not rule anything out

I don't "believe" in everything I base the likelihood of a particular belief on the amount of supporting evidence available.

If a belief doesn't have supporting evidence then I disregard it. Even though it's disregarded I would never make a truth claim stating it doesn't exist or isn't true.

I'm not an omniscient being.

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Blue_School posted...

I don't "believe" in everything I base the likelihood of a particular belief on the amount of supporting evidence available.

If a belief doesn't have supporting evidence then I disregard it. Even though it's disregarded I would never make a truth claim stating it doesn't exist or isn't true.

I'm not an omniscient being.

What supporting evidence are you talking about, though? Thats what these guys are asking for. In my experience, legitimate evidence is never provided.

Religious people offer only their feelings or faulty logic, usually both. Basic examples would be I believe because I need to know my loved ones are waiting for me after death; or something absolutely had to create everything, therefore its God, even though God is the big exception because conveniently nothing created God; look at the trees and how perfect and complex your eyes are; or the Bible (or Quran) says it, so it must be true.

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Lorenzo_2003 posted...

What supporting evidence are you talking about, though?

Material evidence, beliefs that can be substantiated through our sense perception to an acceptable degree.


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I confused a manic episode with a religious experience. I had no idea what bipolar disorder actually was or what mania actually was. I prayed every night my entire life asking to be normal and to have the energy to do what everyone else seemed able to do without effort. Until age 20. One morning I woke up, and had that energy. Thought it was god. It was great for about a week.

... It wasn't god.

About three weeks later at peak insanity it all came crashing down around me.

The memories of the things I thought, and did, were so shameful and embarrassing I stayed in bed for almost six months.

They say God has a plan for everyone. The way I see it, I had to be literally crazy to finally find absoloute faith in God. If that was his plan for me.. I'm good. So.. I'm athiest. Or agnostic. I don't believe in the biblical god, for sure.


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ragnarokius posted...

I confused a manic episode with a religious experience. I had no idea what bipolar disorder actually was or what mania actually was. I prayed every night my entire life asking to be normal and to have the energy to do what everyone else seemed able to do without effort. Until age 20. One morning I woke up, and had that energy. Thought it was god. It was great for about a week.

... It wasn't god.

About three weeks later at peak insanity it all came crashing down around me.

The memories of the things I thought, and did, were so shameful and embarrassing I stayed in bed for almost six months.

That's a pretty intense story, hopefully you've made some progress in your mental well being?

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Blue_School posted...

That's a pretty intense story, hopefully you've made some progress in your mental well being?

Yes, definitely. That was almost 8 years ago. It took a long time to get over.. years. And years more to get back to a good life that was healthy. But it's a very true story.

And it absolutely destroyed my faith in the christian god.

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Teen years. Even though I dont believe theres still a small possible chance but they say athiests go to heaven so...

When I was born? I've never been inside a church, and I didn't even know what religion was until I was in my teens.

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Blue_School posted...

Material evidence, beliefs that can be substantiated through our sense perception to an acceptable degree.

That literally makes no sense. You can have faith in anything you want; but.. to say "My feelings" as proof of god is as good as me saying this:

God promised an end to evil
Odin promised to end frost giants.

Haven't seen any frost giants have you?

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SolidShadow3 posted...

That literally makes no sense. You can have faith in anything you want; but.. to say "My feelings" as proof of god is as good as me saying this:

God promised an end to evil
Odin promised to end frost giants.

Haven't seen any frost giants have you?

Wtf are you talking about. I've never argued for feelings. I literally said evidence is based on senses. I also never argued God is real.

Are you fucking drunk, go to bed

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