My journey to atheism.

I was never a dedicated christian(whatever that means).

Like everyone else, I was forced-fed on christianity before I was able to think. When I was able to think, I tried very much to make sense of it, but somehow,it never made any sense. So I became obsessed with trying to understand it. They more I looked, The more I prayed to the holy spirit to come into me and make me understand, the less sense it all made.

God was a contradiction,Jesus was a contradiction, the Pope was a contradiction, prayer was a contradiction,blessing was a contradiction,sin was contradiction,forgiveness was a contradiction, judgement, heaven and hell were all contradictions.

At a time when being born again was in vogue, I was the odd person out. I tried so much to see the light, I read the bible day and night, I prayed for the holy spirit to infuse my mind with its mystery and new way of understanding,but all to no avail.
The more I tried , the more silly the whole thing seemed.

In my tender age, the very important tangents occurred when,in my search, I discovered ,

A. That Jesus was neither from my Village, the neighboring village, nor even my townsman.lol
B. That Israel was not even In Africa, but in a very far place that most people cannot even find on a map.
C. That Jesus lived 2000yrs ago(that was a real shocker)
D.Finally, when in class two secondary school, I read Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and finally realized how Christianity came to our shores as perfect tool for the pacification,division and control of African people. That made a lot of sense to me.

It also struck me as not being a mere coincidence that modern Europeans themselves were not teaching religion to their children because they themselves had long jettisoned religion.

By mid secondary school, I had confirmed that organised religion was the perfect fraud.
However, I remained puzzled about the nature of god, and was still intrigued by ,and even revered the character of Jesus, based solely on the teachings attributed to him. By this time, I had become an Agnostic.
So my hunger and thirst for understanding religion only increased. So over the years ,I went on a reading frenzy to discover all I could about the various religions and their histories, especially the Judeo-Christian religions.

Another turning point in my road to atheism occurred some years ago when , one after another as if by design , I cam across in a bookstore, 3 books that really laid rest to my mind, the mystery of god.

The first one was the Pulitzer-Award winning book by former Jesuit priest Jack Miles, aptly titled, "God, A Biography". This is recommended reading for everyone.
The other book,again a best seller,by British Journalist Karen Armstrong titled " The History of God" even had a greater influence on my thinking.
http://www.amazon.com/History-God-000-Year-Judaism-Christianity/dp/0345384563

The third book, The one that threw the knock-out punch was titled "God: A Brief History" by John Bowker, former dean of Trinity College in Cambridge.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Brief-History-John-Bowker/dp/0789480506

After reading this last one, I had a sort of an epiphany, a great realization.
Yes.
OMG.
That was it .
God is a mystery because god is an evolving idea, or a set of evolving notions and ideals.

That is why god had different, even contradicting characteristics.
That is why god was different from individual to individual, from culture to culture, from era to era: Because god was in the mind. Each mind or cultural mindset, creates its own god.
That is why wicked people or wicked prophets create a wicked god, kind and loving people or prophets create a kind and loving god.
That is why greedy people and prophets create a greedy money-grabbing god.

Wow!
So the quality of the god created depends on the quality of the mind that creates it.
Bingo!!
SO I had finally found god, right in the sacred ,but fragmented precincts of the human mind.

So religion was just a set of contrived notions and ideals patched together, often by the stronger, in order to control the weaker.




As for understanding the origin and dynamics of the universe, I have turned to my scientific education in physics as my guide.

Were you a catholic or a protestant before becoming an atheist?

Logicboy03: Were you a catholic or a protestant before becoming an atheist?

Half of my extended family (my father's side)were catholic and the other half(my mother's side) were Methodist. A few were white garment.
I gravitated towards methodists because I thought Catholism was too ritualistic.

plaetton:

Half of my extended family (my father's side)were catholic and the other half(my mother's side) were Methodist. A few were white garment.
I gravitated towards methodists because I thought Catholism was too ritualistic.

Wow.

I respect guys like you who come to atheism on their own.

It was abuse that was the catalyst for me. I was always a skeptic christian but I was forced to read myself about christianity after someone had made a comment which I feared true about christianity and slavery in Africa.

plaetton:

Half of my extended family (my father's side)were catholic and the other half(my mother's side) were Methodist. A few were white garment.
I gravitated towards methodists because I thought Catholism was too ritualistic.

I am happy for you dude. My mum was an evangelist. She died of an illness that could have easily be cured medically. She was encouraged into uneccessary prayers and fasting. It got to point the pastor adviced she visited the clinic. She died on the way.

That was marked the begining of the turning point in my life.

I have empowered my self ever since. I dont need a sugar daddy.

ifeness:

I am happy for you dude. My mum was an evangelist. She died of an illness that could have easily be cured medically. She was encouraged into uneccessary prayers and fasting. It got to point the pastor adviced she visited the clinic. She died on the way.

That was marked the begining of the turning point in my life.

I have empowered my self ever since. I dont need a sugar daddy.

Sky daddy

plaetton:
In my tender age, the very important tangents occurred when,in my search, I discovered ,

A. That Jesus was neither from my Village, the neighboring village, nor even my townsman.lol
B. That Israel was not even In Africa, but in a very far place that most people cannot even find on a map.
C. That Jesus lived 2000yrs ago(that was a real shocker)

I don't know if you are being sarcastic or you think these are valid reasons for you being an atheist, but I'll tell you that they harm your arguments. If you reject christianity because it's not from your village, or not from Africa or that it was invented 2000 years ago, then one can reasonably summarize that you don't have the ability to critically analyse and judge a any important matter, therefore would not seek your opinion when looking for some sound logic. Was the computer invented in your village? was Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein african? Do you know that the Archemedes principle was established before Christ? Yet we continue to hold this principles today. So, you see, the above reasons don't speak well of your mental abilities. Even as a child, I wasn't this dumb, but that you choose to include them in your arguments today..., well, you get my point.

D.Finally, when in class two secondary school, I read Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and finally realized how Christianity came to our shores as perfect tool for the pacification, division and control of African people. That made a lot of sense to me.

Even if you are correct, it is still not a valid reason to reject the existence of god. Every new idea(whether true or false) will always cause division and resistance and eventually bring about subjugation and control if proven to be superior to the current ideas\knowledge of the time. You forget that every knowledge you and I take for-granted today went through the same processes of resistance, division and eventual acceptance(control of the people). Again you fail to make a valid argument.

It also struck me as not being a mere coincidence that modern Europeans themselves were not teaching religion to their children because they themselves had long jettisoned religion.

Again you fail to demonstrate that you have any capacity to reason for yourself. The reason you reject god is that "god rejection" is popular in europe? What is your own particular conviction here? This is a drone mentality, you jump on the bandwagon, you are a man of the crowd instead of your own self. You sound just like Goodluck Jonathan, whom every time he want's to adopt a new policy, his reasons are always: 'the whole world\outside world is doing this..., we cannot be different...'

By mid secondary school, I had confirmed that organised religion was the perfect fraud.

TRUE!! Either a deliberate fraud or an honest mistake.

Another turning point in my road to atheism occurred some years ago when , one after another as if by design , I cam across in a bookstore, 3 books that really laid rest to my mind, the mystery of god.

The first one was the Pulitzer-Award winning book by former Jesuit priest Jack Miles, aptly titled, "God, A Biography". This is recommended reading for everyone.
The other book,again a best seller,by British Journalist Karen Armstrong titled " The History of God" even had a greater influence on my thinking.
http://www.amazon.com/History-God-000-Year-Judaism-Christianity/dp/0345384563

The third book, The one that threw the knock-out punch was titled "God: A Brief History" by John Bowker, former dean of Trinity College in Cambridge.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Brief-History-John-Bowker/dp/0789480506

After reading this last one, I had a sort of an epiphany, a great realization.
Yes.
OMG.
That was it.
God is a mystery because god is an evolving idea, or a set of evolving notions and ideals.

That is why god had different, even contradicting characteristics.
That is why god was different from individual to individual, from culture to culture, from era to era: Because god was in the mind. Each mind or cultural mindset, creates its own god.
That is why wicked people or wicked prophets create a wicked god, kind and loving people or prophets create a kind and loving god.
That is why greedy people and prophets create a greedy money-grabbing god.

Wow!
So the quality of the god created depends on the quality of the mind that creates it.
Bingo!!
SO I had finally found god, right in the sacred ,but fragmented precincts of the human mind.

So religion was just a set of contrived notions and ideals patched together, often by the stronger, in order to control the weaker.

As for understanding the origin and dynamics of the universe, I have turned to my scientific education in physics as my guide.

Now you are beginning to make sense, beginning to take subjects in their proper perspectives. I can't criticize the books you'd referenced because I'd not read any of them. I don't have any problems with you being an atheist but until this segment, you were not making any critical sense whatsoever, you did not present any thorough points that could be considered 'sound'. You need to learn how to focus and gather your points to make a good argument.

Logicboy03:
It was abuse that was the catalyst for me. I was always a skeptic christian but I was forced to read myself about christianity after someone had made a comment which I feared true about christianity and slavery in Africa.

You are not an atheist but a satanist. You reject the christain god not "because he does not exist", but because you disagree with his morales. You have the mentality of a rebel against god(therefore you believe he exists), not an atheist.

okeyxyz:

I don't know if you are being sarcastic or you think these are valid reasons for you being an atheist, but I'll tell you that they harm your arguments. If you reject christianity because it's not from your village, or not from Africa or that it was invented 2000 years ago, then one can reasonably summarize that you don't have the ability to critically analyse and judge a any important matter, therefore would not seek your opinion when looking for some sound logic. Was the computer invented in your village? was Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein african? Do you know that the Archemedes principle was established before Christ? Yet we continue to hold this principles today. So, you see, the above reasons don't speak well of your mental abilities. Even as a child, I wasn't this dumb, but that you choose to include them in your arguments today..., well, you get my point.


Even if you are correct, it is still not a valid reason to reject the existence of god. Every new idea(whether true or false) will always cause division and resistance and eventually bring about subjugation and control if proven to be superior to the current ideas\knowledge of the time. You forget that every knowledge you and I take for-granted today went through the same processes of resistance, division and eventual acceptance(control of the people). Again you fail to make a valid argument.





Again you fail to demonstrate that you have any capacity to reason for yourself. The reason you reject god is that "god rejection" is popular in europe? What is your own particular conviction here? This is a drone mentality, you jump on the bandwagon, you are a man of the crowd instead of your own self. You sound just like Goodluck Jonathan, whom every time he want's to adopt a new policy, his reasons are always: 'the whole world\outside world is doing this..., we cannot be different...'




TRUE!! Either a deliberate fraud or an honest mistake.




Now you are beginning to make sense, beginning to take subjects in their proper perspectives. I can't criticize the books you'd referenced because I'd not read any of them. I don't have any problems with you being an atheist but until this segment, you were not making any critical sense whatsoever, you did not present any thorough points that could be considered 'sound'. You need to learn how to focus and gather your points to make a good argument.

Comprehension problems?
I was taking you on a journey through my mind as a child trying to make sense of things, and the confusions and suspicions of my religion.
If you never went through this inquisitive phase of childhood, well, what can I say?
I came to accept that god was just a mental creation and projection much later in my adult life. Mind you, I never, and have never read any book on atheism. I did not want to , and did not need to be convinced.
I searched for god and found god in his cosy crystal palace high up in the human mind.

ifeness:
I am happy for you dude. My mum was an evangelist. She died of an illness that could have easily be cured medically. She was encouraged into uneccessary prayers and fasting. It got to point the pastor adviced she visited the clinic. She died on the way.

That was marked the begining of the turning point in my life.

I have empowered my self ever since. I dont need a sugar daddy.

The fact that other people have "mal-practiced" christianity is not a sound reason for you to reject god. I too have suffered from such malpractices. But I learn by re-evaluating my actions and the reasons behind them, knowing that I'd failed because of my ego rather than because of the falsity of christianity. I'm not persuading you to be a christian but your reasons above are just not valid.

Sorry for your loss.

Many of us including me have had gruesome experiences with religion , but never used this as an excuse to throw away a belief in GOD.

It is not God's fault if he is misrepresented by charlatans, crooks, questionable MOG etc.

There are still some good people out there who love God , and who are still treading the lonely path of righteousness and truth.

Each MAN must be fully convinced in his heart that there is or is not a GOD and live accordingly.

God is not putting a gun to your head to follow him, on the contrary he will only be found by those who seek him or those who answer the call to salvation.

The only problem I have with atheists is the way they go on and on about GOD as if that changes anything, it does not, God remains GOD to your horror I hope not , and there is nothing you can do about it.

Let us be wise.

frosbel: Many of us including me have had gruesome experiences with religion , but never used this as an excuse to throw away a belief in GOD.

It is not God's fault if he is misrepresented by charlatans, crooks, questionable MOG etc.

There are still some good people out there who love God , and who are still treading the lonely path of righteousness and truth.

Each MAN must be fully convinced in his heart that there is or is not a GOD and live accordingly.

God is not putting a gun to your head to follow him, on the contrary he will only be found by those who seek him or those who answer the call to salvation.

The only problem I have with atheists is the way they go on and on about GOD as if that changes anything, it does not, God remains GOD to your horror I hope not , and there is nothing you can do about it.

Let us be wise.

Fail


The bible is there for all to see. The bible is flawed

Logicboy03:

Wow.

I respect guys like you who come to atheism on their own.

It was abuse that was the catalyst for me. I was always a skeptic christian but I was forced to read myself about christianity after someone had made a comment which I feared true about christianity and slavery in Africa.

Altruism was the final straw for me. Humans like these exist while god frets over pig meat, what consenting adults do in their bedrooms (or how many wives/husbands they have for that matter), etc? If anything, god is holding back these people I speak of, as they now have some shortsighted and irrational hatred for some just because god said they were bad. Really? Then it proceeds to send down a famine or two and keeps a fire warm in order to punish his creations for his mistakes. Most of us cultured mere mortals would never even in the most remote way conceivable consider this. The human spirit seemed a lot more admirable than god's.

So yeah, the problem of evil basically highlighted to me via altruism. From there on out apply a little thinking to the doubt that had always been strongly cooking in my mind (just ignored because of societal pressure), and the damn was breached.

wiegraf:


Altruism was the final straw for me. Humans like these exist while god frets over pig meat, what consenting adults do in their bedrooms (or how many wives/husbands they have for that matter), etc? If anything, god is holding back these people I speak of, as they now have some shortsighted and irrational hatred for some just because god said they were bad. Really? Then it proceeds to send down a famine or two and keeps a fire warm in order to punish his creations for his mistakes. Most of us cultured mere mortals would never even in the most remote way conceivable consider this. The human spirit seemed a lot more admirable than god's.

So yeah, the problem of evil basically highlighted to me via altruism. From there on out apply a little thinking to the doubt that had always been strongly cooking in my mind (just ignored because of societal pressure), and the damn was breached.

And as soon as that dam is breached,say a big Hellooooooo to soveriegn mind, spirit and the imagination.

Logicboy03:



Fail


The bible is there for all to see. The bible is flawed

is that your favourite word , fail

Mate you were never a Christian, I doubt if you know anything about the bible or even cared in the past to perform due diligence on it's contents.

Anyone can boast about how flawed the bible is, however this is not normally based a factual research into it's truth worthiness , but a hastily drawn conclusion derived from personal experiences in the negative.

At the end of the day no one is asking you to believe in GOD , it is you and your hyperactive opening of threads attacking a non-existent God that normally leads to all these arguments.

God does not exist, if this is not a nag to your inner man, move on and get over it.

God is a mystery because god is an evolving idea, or a set of evolving notions and ideals.

That is why god had different, even contradicting characteristics.
That is why god was different from individual to individual, from culture to culture, from era to era: Because god was in the mind. Each mind or cultural mindset, creates its own god.
That is why wicked people or wicked prophets create a wicked god, kind and loving people or prophets create a kind and loving god.
That is why greedy people and prophets create a greedy money-grabbing god.

Wow!
So the quality of the god created depends on the quality of the mind that creates it.
Bingo!!
SO I had finally found god, right in the sacred ,but fragmented precincts of the human mind.

So religion was just a set of contrived notions and ideals patched together, often by the stronger, in order to control the weaker.

As for understanding the origin and dynamics of the universe, I have turned to my scientific education in physics as my guide.

Waxing philosophical.Philosophy and science sure makes religion look like child's play. Religion needs to sit up and evolve instead of holding on to dogmas cos even satanist are lurking around to finally nail it.

plaetton: My journey to atheism.

I was never a dedicated christian(whatever that means).

Like everyone else, I was forced-fed on christianity before I was able to think. When I was able to think, I tried very much to make sense of it, but somehow,it never made any sense. So I became obsessed with trying to understand it. They more I looked, The more I prayed to the holy spirit to come into me and make me understand, the less sense it all made.

God was a contradiction,Jesus was a contradiction, the Pope was a contradiction, prayer was a contradiction,blessing was a contradiction,sin was contradiction,forgiveness was a contradiction, judgement, heaven and hell were all contradictions.

At a time when being born again was in vogue, I was the odd person out. I tried so much to see the light, I read the bible day and night, I prayed for the holy spirit to infuse my mind with its mystery and new way of understanding,but all to no avail.
The more I tried , the more silly the whole thing seemed.

In my tender age, the very important tangents occurred when,in my search, I discovered ,

A. That Jesus was neither from my Village, the neighboring village, nor even my townsman.lol
B. That Israel was not even In Africa, but in a very far place that most people cannot even find on a map.
C. That Jesus lived 2000yrs ago(that was a real shocker)
D.Finally, when in class two secondary school, I read Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and finally realized how Christianity came to our shores as perfect tool for the pacification,division and control of African people. That made a lot of sense to me.

It also struck me as not being a mere coincidence that modern Europeans themselves were not teaching religion to their children because they themselves had long jettisoned religion.

By mid secondary school, I had confirmed that organised religion was the perfect fraud.
However, I remained puzzled about the nature of god, and was still intrigued by ,and even revered the character of Jesus, based solely on the teachings attributed to him. By this time, I had become an Agnostic.
So my hunger and thirst for understanding religion only increased. So over the years ,I went on a reading frenzy to discover all I could about the various religions and their histories, especially the Judeo-Christian religions.

Another turning point in my road to atheism occurred some years ago when , one after another as if by design , I cam across in a bookstore, 3 books that really laid rest to my mind, the mystery of god.

The first one was the Pulitzer-Award winning book by former Jesuit priest Jack Miles, aptly titled, "God, A Biography". This is recommended reading for everyone.
The other book,again a best seller,by British Journalist Karen Armstrong titled " The History of God" even had a greater influence on my thinking.
http://www.amazon.com/History-God-000-Year-Judaism-Christianity/dp/0345384563

The third book, The one that threw the knock-out punch was titled "God: A Brief History" by John Bowker, former dean of Trinity College in Cambridge.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Brief-History-John-Bowker/dp/0789480506

After reading this last one, I had a sort of an epiphany, a great realization.
Yes.
OMG.
That was it .
God is a mystery because god is an evolving idea, or a set of evolving notions and ideals.

That is why god had different, even contradicting characteristics.
That is why god was different from individual to individual, from culture to culture, from era to era: Because god was in the mind. Each mind or cultural mindset, creates its own god.
That is why wicked people or wicked prophets create a wicked god, kind and loving people or prophets create a kind and loving god.
That is why greedy people and prophets create a greedy money-grabbing god.

Wow!
So the quality of the god created depends on the quality of the mind that creates it.
Bingo!!
SO I had finally found god, right in the sacred ,but fragmented precincts of the human mind.

So religion was just a set of contrived notions and ideals patched together, often by the stronger, in order to control the weaker.




As for understanding the origin and dynamics of the universe, I have turned to my scientific education in physics as my guide.

all this from your mind also i supposed?

truthislight:

all this from your mind also i supposed?

Yes.
Which parts are you in disagreement with ?

ifeness:

I am happy for you dude. My mum was an evangelist. She died of an illness that could have easily be cured medically. She was encouraged into uneccessary prayers and fasting. It got to point the pastor adviced she visited the clinic. She died on the way.

That was marked the begining of the turning point in my life.

I have empowered my self ever since. I dont need a sugar daddy.

Am sure if your mother had somehow survived her illness her pastor would've encouraged her to give her testimony using her miraculous survival to encourage church members to risk their lives by ignoring medical treatment and your pastor would never admit the unfortunate truth about how she passed away because its not good for church business. You wouldn't even know how many people he has encouraged to forgo treatment and eventually pass away. Sorry for your loss dude.

okeyxyz:

The fact that other people have "mal-practiced" christianity is not a sound reason for you to reject god. I too have suffered from such malpractices. But I learn by re-evaluating my actions and the reasons behind them, knowing that I'd failed because of my ego rather than because of the falsity of christianity. I'm not persuading you to be a christian but your reasons above are just not valid.
Sorry for your loss.

Which means in your book no reasons are valid then. Reasons to reject God can be staring you right in your face but you have been so conditioned to see God as the answer that no matter what you will always find some reason or excuse to stick to your God of the bible. The guy with the blue tee shirt in the video is you. Because no matter what (to you) God is the answer to everything.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0EEKfTnfvA&list=UULhtZqdkjshgq8TqwIjMdCQ&index=12&feature=plcp

plaetton:

Yes.
Which parts are you in disagreement with ?

i am not here to find fault with what made you become an atheist.

Cus i know that there are too many false hood flying around that can make some one to become an atheist.

My point is that if you let this false hood to push you to the extreme you may not have done justice to yourself for going extreme based on a wrong premise you had used as a reference point.

If this false hood was not going to be around then their will had been no need for the admonition for you to be persistent
.
"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs 2:1-5).

We owe ourself the best short at what ever.

truthislight:

i am not here to find fault with what made you become an atheist.

Cus i know that there are too many false hood flying around that can make some one to become an atheist.

My point is that if you let this false hood to push you to the extreme you may not have done justice to yourself for going extreme based on a wrong premise you had used as a reference point.

If this false hood was not going to be around then their will had been no need for the admonition for you to be persistent
.
"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs 2:1-5).

We owe ourself the best short at what ever.

Sharaap. You have nothing to say. You claim that false christianity leads many to atheism but is there any true christianity?


What is true christianity?


Trinity or human Jesus?

Tithe or not to tithe?

Catholic or protestant?

Logicboy03: @truthislight



Sharaap.

do you really have a functional brain upstairs?

Have you ever been into drugs?

What actually went wrong with you?

How can your type mixed up in a decent society of people?

What and where did this all happened to you.

Logicboy03:

You have nothing to say. You claim that false christianity leads many to atheism but is there any true christianity?

What is true christianity?


Trinity or human Jesus?

Tithe or not to tithe?

Catholic or protestant?

silent is the best answer for a.........