Though things have been tough lately for me, it is no reason for my decision. I've been skeptical since I was a kid but my indoctrination was the strongest anyone would receive, so it was almost impossible to view myself deviating. But here I am today.
As I stated earlier, the troubles I am facing are no reasons. The main reasons are:
Conflicting doctrines which are all backed by the scripture;
Paranoia shown by religious folks despite having the backing of a superior being;
Inconsistencies in religious books;
Unverifyable miracles- before theist jump on me, all miracles I have SEEN (emphasis on seen) are nothing that couldn't have taken a natural cause. Attempted miracles to the unnatural have always failed (in my presence) even to a dumb man speaking.
I would say my mind is still open if these doubts can be cleared.
PS . I don't totally doubt miracles because the numbers may rubbish any doubt but i have not seen any clear miracle.

Certitude:
Though things have been tough lately for me, it is no reason for my decision. I've been skeptical since I was a kid but my indoctrination was the strongest anyone would receive, so it was almost impossible to view myself deviating. But here I am today.
As I stated earlier, the troubles I am facing are no reasons. The main reasons are:
Conflicting doctrines which are all backed by the scripture;
Paranoia shown by religious folks despite having the backing of a superior being;
Inconsistencies in religious books;
Unverifyable miracles- before theist jump on me, all miracles I have SEEN (emphasis on seen) are nothing that couldn't have taken a natural cause. Attempted miracles to the unnatural have always failed (in my presence) even to a dumb man speaking.
I would say my mind is still open if these doubts can be cleared.
PS . I don't totally doubt miracles because the numbers may rubbish any doubt but i have not seen any clear miracle.

Be strong
Miracles might not come when yu most need them as a human.
But when it finally comes wud solve every problem there is.

1. You are hanging on the need for empirical proof to back your faith. You are not the only one my friend. In fact most "Christians" have the need to feed their faith by seeing signs, wonders and miracles. Only that they don't have the courage to talk out. Have you seen how awed people are when they hear jist of a miracle? It's like food to a hungry soul.

2. From your write up, I can deduce you haven't given up on your faith! You are only at a low point in your walk off faith. Again everyone passes through that phase - in most cases, more than once.

3. Read John 20:29

4. My prayer for you, me and all other true Christians is that we may truly know him. Philippians 3:10.

.

OP

The Christian canon has internal contradictions and historical implausibilities so grievous that the canon has little or no credibility. Arguably true. The conclusion then is that there is no God. But this is a leap. The valid conclusion is that the Yahweh/Christ divinity is not credible and so does not exist.

We need more atheists, and nothing will get you there faster than a thorough reading of the Bible.

this also applies to the belief of Islam; same sheet different toilets



welcome to the fold of freethinkers

I rejoice everyime I see another human dump the Abrahamic god nonsense

me right now

Certitude:
Though things have been tough lately for me, it is no reason for my decision. I've been skeptical since I was a kid but my indoctrination was the strongest anyone would receive, so it was almost impossible to view myself deviating.

indoctrination is the most powerful thing that's keeping religion alive; when you're born your name, nationality, race and religion is made for you without your consent; you live the rest of your life defending these choices you never made in the first place

But here I am today.

I salute you Sir for having the courage to question your belief and why you need to believe in those things in the first place, not many people are courageous enough to do this

As I stated earlier, the troubles I am facing are no reasons. The main reasons are:
Conflicting doctrines which are all backed by the scripture;

and each doctrine claims to be the true doctrine

Jehovah's witnesses claim they are the true Christian sect and call foursquare church evil; foursquare also returns the favour by claiming Jehovah's witnesses are evil

both agree that the Catholic is evil and the Catholic thinks both are also evil

and what's the solution to this confusion? haha! holy spirit, he'll reveal the true doctrine and true interpretation of the scriptures to you

so which of them is actually having the guidance of holy spirit? each of them claim to, so confusion continues

you can check out this thread https://www.nairaland.com/3615455/does-new-covenant-abolish-ten/11#54467487 ; you'll see how Christians were trading insults and curses at each other with the guidance of the holy spirit of course

Paranoia shown by religious folks despite having the backing of a superior being;

what type of paranoia are you talking about here? an elucidation would be useful

Inconsistencies in religious books;

this is so true

"The bible" begs the question - which bible? There are many diverse and different, confused and internally contradictory editions of the bible that can be traced back as being written by men from the 4th century onward.
The oldest bible (Codex Sinaiticus" was written by a team of four men in the late 4th century and is significantly different to those we know today.

There appears to be nothing unique or original within the Urban Myths at the root Judaeo/christian religion - but be assured that the rapidly growing and third largest "religious" cohort (the non-religious) treat all the thousands of apparently imaginary gods, goddesses and god-men/"messiahs" with exactly fair and equal skepticism.

We atheists find the human blight of religion fascinating but seek to educate and inform those who remain in thrall to one strange death cult or another and to encourage those so blighted to develop curiosity to to actually study the fraudulent roots of their particular cult and the ridiculous, contradictory, scientifically absurd and historically inaccurate content of their particular version of bible or other unholy book.

Unverifyable miracles- before theist jump on me, all miracles I have SEEN (emphasis on seen) are nothing that couldn't have taken a natural cause. Attempted miracles to the unnatural have always failed (in my presence) even to a dumb man speaking.

another truth!!

I asked my distant relative once what miracles she had witnessed(her family sees miracles everywhere) and she said the "healing" if her youngest son who has a genetic condition called Hurlers syndrome I think she saw my Eyeroll. Yes, this miracle that included a brand new enzyme replacement therapy, not one but two bone marrow transplants when the first one failed, multiple surgeries since that time, never ending Dr.s visits. But, yeah, other than all that totally a miracle. Truth of the matter is, if he had been born 20 hears ago, maybe not even that long, he would have died a very slow, very painful death by the time he was two or so. But I'm sure that would have been some kind of miracle too. I sincerely hope they come up with Gene therapies to eliminate these diseases, but the religious will just call that a miracle too.

I would say my mind is still open if these doubts can be cleared.
PS . I don't totally doubt miracles because the numbers may rubbish any doubt but i have not seen any clear miracle.

Christians are often baffled how atheists could deny the existence of their (originally Canaanite) god, "Jehovah/Yahweh" and their (Roman) god-man/"messiah" "Yeshu/Jesus", but they shouldn’t be. Christians deny thousands of the same gods that atheists deny. Atheists just deny one more ridiculously unconvincing god and one more mythical god-man (among many hundreds of thousands of very similar undetectable and imaginary gods, goddesses and god-men) than Christians.

Some fail to justify their enthrallment to their specific brand of religion by pointing out that the non-existence of any of the gods cannot be proved. If inability to prove the non-existence of deities is enough for some to believe in them., they must be very busy worshiping Amun-Ra, Apollo/Zeus, Quetzalcoatl, Pratibhanapratisamvit, Buddhist goddess of context analysis.and Acat, Mayan god of tattoo artists. and Tsa’qamae, north american god of salmon migration - and many thousands of other undetectable hypothetical entities among which "Yahweh" and "Jesus" remain merely mythical and of which no one ever provides proof or reason of (or for) existence and therefore non-existence may be assumed by default.

All the evidence indicates that the christian religion was cobbled together in the 4th century from mainly "pagan" components and exclusively "pagan" feast days and festivals.

So all you gloomy and fearful christians: Please at least try to have a happier life and shrug off the self loathing and hatred of humanity your death cult demands and reject all the other evil influences of a death cult that invokes terror of an imaginary and disgusting "wrathful god".

hopefulLandlord:
OP

The Christian canon has internal contradictions and historical implausibilities so grievous that the canon has little or no credibility. Arguably true. The conclusion then is that there is no God. But this is a leap. The valid conclusion is that the Yahweh/Christ divinity is not credible and so does not exist.

We need more atheists, and nothing will get you there faster than a thorough reading of the Bible.

this also applies to the belief of Islam; same sheet different toilets



welcome to the fold of freethinkers

I rejoice everyime I see another human dump the Abrahamic god nonsense

me right now

lol, baba landlord.

all they need is simple.
study the origin, history, a-z of the Bible, and the first five centuries.

MrMontella:

lol, baba landlord.

all they need is simple.
study the origin, history, a-z of the Bible, and the first five centuries.

true

Pastafarian:


true

I'm telling you bro

hopefulLandlord: what type of paranoia are you talking about
here? an elucidation would be useful

A religious cat is always fighting what is not there. My mum was always fighting a perceived witch with her prayers. My friend in school are always apprehensive- we had our project approved just two weeks before exams- they already feel something is against them.
They already know my stance, they already told me that my experience with my supervisor will make me acknowledge GOD.

I'm keeping it a secret from my parents and my uncle with his wife. They are going through a lot and i can't afford to tell 'em.
There are lotta things i can't say here.

Certitude:

A religious cat is always fighting what is not there. My mum was always fighting a perceived witch with her prayers. My friend in school are always apprehensive- we had our project approved just two weeks before exams- they already feel something is against them.
They already know my stance, they already told me that my experience with my supervisor will make me acknowledge GOD.

I'm keeping it a secret from my parents and my uncle with his wife. They are going through a lot and i can't afford to tell 'em.
There are lotta things i can't say here.

been busy I'll reply you soon

Certitude:

A religious cat is always fighting what is not there. My mum was always fighting a perceived witch with her prayers. My friend in school are always apprehensive- we had our project approved just two weeks before exams- they already feel something is against them.
They already know my stance, they already told me that my experience with my supervisor will make me acknowledge GOD.

I'm keeping it a secret from my parents and my uncle with his wife. They are going through a lot and i can't afford to tell 'em.
There are lotta things i can't say here.

I can relate with your first paragraph. There is virtually nothing an unbeliever faces, that a believer doesn't. We all fall sick, lose loved ones, suffer set backs s in careers and relationships, etc. I am atheist and I still top my class, in spite of the Muslims and Christians in my class who think they deserve the best because they serve the true god.

And again, what sort of god chooses to prove himself to a skeptic by messing up his/her life? Why should your god make things difficult for me just to prove his/her/its existence when there are better, effective and convincing way of doing just that? This part actually bothers me about theists, Christians especially, makes one wonder the amount of damage religion actually does to people.

OP.

Good for you.

Just keep your mind open. Things would become clearer with time.

Don't allow the fear of the unknown control your thoughts. Everything you have no reason to be taken as true should be scrutinized.

Goodluck.

hopefulLandlord:
OP



me right now

Nairaland 45:1

for the hopefullandlord moves around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour

Why are you justifying losing your faith? Are you now an Atheist? Abeg if you're leaving christianity, leave it for something reasonable. And not to an unorganized belief way of thinking who's only reason of exiting is fuel by their there's no God concept which can never be logically proven by them.

luvmijeje:
Why are you justifying losing your faith? Are you now an Atheist? Abeg if you're leaving christianity, leave it for something reasonable. And not to an unorganized belief way of thinking who's only reason of exiting is fuel by their there's no God concept which can never be logically prove by them.

This nonsense Again?
we are wearisomely tired of correcting arrogant individuals like yourself who repeatedly lie about what atheists believe to make themselves sound superior to both sides.

To whit:
Theism/atheism speaks to what you *believe*. Gnosticism/agnosticism speaks to what you *know*. One can claim to be a gnostic theist (very common), an agnostic theist (far less common but not unusual), an agnostic atheist (virtually all atheists are this), or a gnostic atheist (these are incredibly rare, and will usually clarify their position by stating that they only take this position regards to specific god claims, as Matt Dillahunty does). Richard Dawkins, easily the most famous atheist advocate, calls himself an agnostic atheist, because he does not believe, but he does not claim to know for certain.

I find it nigh-impossible to believe that you have not received this explanation before, which is why I called people like you liars. If you have not - if this is genuinely your first time exposed to this explanation - then you have my apologies.

I myself claim to be mostly an agnostic atheist. To the specific claim of the christian god, I will go so far as to claim gnostic atheism - not because of any special knowledge on my part, but simply because I have yet to hear a description of this deity that passes so much as basic logical coherence. There may yet be a god - but if we do discover one someday, it won't be the one the bible talks about.

Pastafarian:

This nonsense Again?
we are wearisomely tired of correcting arrogant individuals like yourself who repeatedly lie about what atheists believe to make themselves sound superior to both sides.

To whit:
Theism/atheism speaks to what you *believe*. Gnosticism/agnosticism speaks to what you *know*. One can claim to be a gnostic theist (very common), an agnostic theist (far less common but not unusual), an agnostic atheist (virtually all atheists are this), or a gnostic atheist (these are incredibly rare, and will usually clarify their position by stating that they only take this position regards to specific god claims, as Matt Dillahunty does). Richard Dawkins, easily the most famous atheist advocate, calls himself an agnostic atheist, because he does not believe, but he does not claim to know for certain.

I find it nigh-impossible to believe that you have not received this explanation before, which is why I called people like you liars. If you have not - if this is genuinely your first time exposed to this explanation - then you have my apologies.

I myself claim to be mostly an agnostic atheist. To the specific claim of the christian god, I will go so far as to claim gnostic atheism - not because of any special knowledge on my part, but simply because I have yet to hear a description of this deity that passes so much as basic logical coherence. There may yet be a god - but if we do discover one someday, it won't be the one the bible talks about.

Sigh..... . Not again. What's the difference? You still don't believe In God. So why your wailing?

luvmijeje:


Sigh..... . Not again. What's the difference? You still don't believe In God. So why your wailing?

I don't remember wailing but projecting your bitter emotions on me can make it feel better

@Certitude,

What is happening to you is very natural!!! I do not know how to describe it in layman's terms, but members of Current 218, refer to it as the rekindling of the "Black Flame"(The Black Light in the Outer Darkness) which has remained dormant in you for years!!! The Black Light is allergic to lies(talking donkeys), tyranny(if you don't pay your tithes, then god will not bless you) and all sorts of self-deceit(angels are protecting me with their chicken wings on their backs)!!! The force is in you and the force is very strong with you!!!

Niflheim:
@Certitude,

What is happening to you is very natural!!! I do not know how to describe it in layman's terms, but members of Current 218, refer to it as the rekindling of the "Black Flame"(The Black Light in the Outer Darkness) which has remained dormant in you for years!!! The Black Light is allergic to lies(talking donkeys), tyranny(if you don't pay your tithes, then god will not bless you) and all sorts of self-deceit(angels are protecting me with their chicken wings on their backs)!!! The force is in you and the force is very strong with you!!!

Many of these things were ridiculous but I never thought deep. It's always "God knows best."
On Nairaland, some arguements were those thoughts I had one time or the other. e.g What made Esau a bad guy and which famished wouldn't sell his birthright for food to survive. "Of what use is my birthright to me if I die."
I still have no conviction though.

hopefulLandlord:
OP

The Christian canon has internal contradictions and historical implausibilities so grievous that the canon has little or no credibility. Arguably true. The conclusion then is that there is no God. But this is a leap. The valid conclusion is that the Yahweh/Christ divinity is not credible and so does not exist.

We need more atheists, and nothing will get you there faster than a thorough reading of the Bible.

this also applies to the belief of Islam; same sheet different toilets



welcome to the fold of freethinkers

I rejoice everyime I see another human dump the Abrahamic god nonsense

me right now

There is joy in my head over one sheep(animal) that is converted to a human being(thinker) than over 99 human beings who don't need conversion anymore.

Certitude:

A religious cat is always fighting what is not there. My mum was always fighting a perceived witch with her prayers. My friend in school are always apprehensive- we had our project approved just two weeks before exams- they already feel something is against them.
They already know my stance, they already told me that my experience with my supervisor will make me acknowledge GOD.

I'm keeping it a secret from my parents and my uncle with his wife. They are going through a lot and i can't afford to tell 'em.
There are lotta things i can't say here.

Christianity thrives by creating imaginary problem (Satan, Devil, Lucifer, Demons, witches, wizards), create an imaginary solution (Yahweh, Jesus, Angels, Mary); create a problem (Hell, Hell fire), create a solution (Heaven)

this is how they keep people in perpetual fear, anxiety and stress all because they want to avoid the grasp of the "enemy" and also try to avoid hell by accepting Jesus and getting to heaven (Carrot and stick); live in fear that you'll lose your imaginary salvation

the cycle continues, and they also encourage you to pass these toxic emotions to the generations coming after you

hopefulLandlord:
OP

The Christian canon has internal contradictions and historical implausibilities so grievous that the canon has little or no credibility. Arguably true. The conclusion then is that there is no God. But this is a leap. The valid conclusion is that the Yahweh/Christ divinity is not credible and so does not exist.

We need more atheists, and nothing will get you there faster than a thorough reading of the Bible.

this also applies to the belief of Islam; same sheet different toilets



welcome to the fold of freethinkers

I rejoice everyime I see another human dump the Abrahamic god nonsense

me right now

Enjoy your athesim.
I will enjoy my Jesus.

Pastafarian:


Christianity thrives by creating imaginary problem (Satan, Devil, Lucifer, Demons, witches, wizards), create an imaginary solution (Yahweh, Jesus, Angels, Mary); create a problem (Hell, Hell fire), create a solution (Heaven)

this is how they keep people in perpetual fear, anxiety and stress all because they want to avoid the grasp of the "enemy" and also try to avoid hell by accepting Jesus and getting to heaven (Carrot and stick); live in fear that you'll lose your imaginary salvation

the cycle continues, and they also encourage you to pass these toxic emotions to the generations coming after you

Open an atheist church and preach this to them.
We Christians will continue to preach Christ.
Unless you kill us, else there is no end to it.

God's Wisdom. The Bible says, you want Wisdom, ask God. You don't know how to ask. You read, you don't understand, so you're an Idiot. And God doesn't reveal Himself to Idiots. God is too much of A Treasure and Precious Pearls to be left to swines and Idiots to trample upon. Haven't you seen that in The Bible?

And you lost your head.

orunto27:
And you lost your head.

Which head?

Junia:
Enjoy your athesim. I will enjoy my Jesus.

ok

The paranoia aspect is what is most disturbing and I am always empathetic towards the victims -who themselves feel secure in such condition. What kind of good God does that to his ardent followers? Keeping them in perpetual fear of everything and everyone. It's really annoying because I witness this too often even within close family circles.

Christianity is a religion most comforting for hypocrites. Hypocrites who do what they want regardless of what the tenets of the Bible dictates. People who preach what they don't believe or practice themselves. No truth seeker remains a Christian for long, not with the kind of access to information today. The honest and sincere adherents become tormented with doubts, and questions, and at worst become lunatics. Paranoid, obsessed in 'winning souls', 'saving' people from hell prophets of doom waiting for Jesus to take them away, for god to destroy the world along with people they know nothing about etc

How did we as a people get to believe such crap? and now it's so entrenched in our culture that it cripples us mentally. A religion that extols ignorance and fear as virtues Expecting reward with no effort and ridiculing effort - 'not by power, not by might.. ' - to promote grossly inefficient luck/miracles.

God in his multitude omnis sits idle and does nothing to save his followers from any of life struggles but expects full time worship and praise and prayer and thanksgiving and their last money too. Our traditional religions seem to be much better.

OP indoctrination is very hard to break out from and it requires replacing outlandish superstitions with established facts by reason. Also by changing your mind to have some sort of scientific systematic screening of what you accept as truth because when tragedies of life are encountered, atheists who never really broke out of such indoctrination through careful discovery that these Abrahamic religions are false are likely to return to old unproven mental prison belief systems.