Looks like I'm a little late to the party
I just joined. Pleased to meet you.
I'm a new atheist (going on 2 years) after 40 years of being a Born Again Christian.
Once I starting looking at everything more objectively, I realized there was really nothing holding the entire faith/religion together.
It wasn't a question of whether god is real or not, but what is demanded of every Christian (and perhaps the same with most religions) is that you are compelled to have faith in the authors of the "holy" books, that they weren't complete lunatics. This puts them on the same level as their god they're talking about. I mean it wasn't written by the finger of god, and it didn't just poof into existence. It was written by a bunch of self-proclaimed 'godly' men who ultimately say what's what. That's ludicrous. I mean, why would there be any less 'godly' men alive right now? Yet no Christian is going to put their writings on the same level as the bible written by a bunch of people who are long dead, we can't interview, and many we don't even know by name.
Two things were the last straw for me. One is that my parents are two of the most "Christian-like" people in the world: They pray a lot, they read the bible a lot, etc. Yet, they don't allow any gay couples in their house because doing so is like condoning their sin. WTF? They're people. God is supposed to love everyone, and yet you won't allow them in your house. I figured since we're supposed to get all our wisdom from the bible, and there is no one who studies it more than they do, it's obviously not doing them any good in the wisdom category, so there is precisely no incentive for me to keep studying it myself (though years ago I read the whole thing).
The other thing was that 81% of Evangelical Christians voted for Trump. Evangelicals aren't just playing around. They're the go-to-church-every-Sunday Christians who pray for the sick, seek god's wisdom and will. Yet, the best they could come up with was Trump and the majority of those after all that has happened STILL support him. This makes god look like a complete idiot whose Holy Spirit is not able to minister to the 'body of Christ' or effectively communicate with anyone in any way, or ultimately that he doesn't exist at all.
When I first walked away from Christianity in June 2016, I still briefly called myself an agnostic, and since I couldn't explain the evolutionary existence of consciousness, color, or love, I felt there must still be some intelligent being behind it all. But of course, now I don't think that.
Anyway, Cheers! :)
I'm a new atheist (going on 2 years) after 40 years of being a Born Again Christian.
Once I starting looking at everything more objectively, I realized there was really nothing holding the entire faith/religion together.
It wasn't a question of whether god is real or not, but what is demanded of every Christian (and perhaps the same with most religions) is that you are compelled to have faith in the authors of the "holy" books, that they weren't complete lunatics. This puts them on the same level as their god they're talking about. I mean it wasn't written by the finger of god, and it didn't just poof into existence. It was written by a bunch of self-proclaimed 'godly' men who ultimately say what's what. That's ludicrous. I mean, why would there be any less 'godly' men alive right now? Yet no Christian is going to put their writings on the same level as the bible written by a bunch of people who are long dead, we can't interview, and many we don't even know by name.
Two things were the last straw for me. One is that my parents are two of the most "Christian-like" people in the world: They pray a lot, they read the bible a lot, etc. Yet, they don't allow any gay couples in their house because doing so is like condoning their sin. WTF? They're people. God is supposed to love everyone, and yet you won't allow them in your house. I figured since we're supposed to get all our wisdom from the bible, and there is no one who studies it more than they do, it's obviously not doing them any good in the wisdom category, so there is precisely no incentive for me to keep studying it myself (though years ago I read the whole thing).
The other thing was that 81% of Evangelical Christians voted for Trump. Evangelicals aren't just playing around. They're the go-to-church-every-Sunday Christians who pray for the sick, seek god's wisdom and will. Yet, the best they could come up with was Trump and the majority of those after all that has happened STILL support him. This makes god look like a complete idiot whose Holy Spirit is not able to minister to the 'body of Christ' or effectively communicate with anyone in any way, or ultimately that he doesn't exist at all.
When I first walked away from Christianity in June 2016, I still briefly called myself an agnostic, and since I couldn't explain the evolutionary existence of consciousness, color, or love, I felt there must still be some intelligent being behind it all. But of course, now I don't think that.
Anyway, Cheers! :)