Hey everyone, just stopping by this place to make my first post. I came upon this website through the Skeptics Annotated Bible today and thought I would
register, just for the hell of it. I'm just starting to get more in to analyzing the bible itself instead of just discussing philosophical issues, as well
as evolution and other sciences, this looks like a good place to learn from both sides.
Might as well give a "brief" synopsis of my belief history:
Born: Didn't believe in anything, I was a baby
Age 5 to 12: Was in Sunday school, taught the classic stories of the Bible but never took them as anything more than stories, they held no significance. Wasn't in Sunday school a terribly long time, I disliked the teacher. As I got older I became more and more interested in science, but only had information from text books, no real access to scientific information for a young inquiring mind to feed on.
Age 13 to 18: Started reading the Bible and became a strong believer in young earth creationism, Jesus, and especially any type of prophecies from Revelations. At one point in time I was praying every single night to Jesus and God to forgive me for any sins that I may have committed that day that I wasn't aware of because I am only human and can't possibly have a full understanding that a god can.
Age 18 to 24 (present day): The fact that I was fervently praying everyday for fear of being doomed to a horrible and eternal torment in a lake of fire started to weigh on my mind. Wouldn't god get angry at me because I was praying so often? I thought people who truly accepted Jesus in to their hearts, like I thought I had, were incapable of any sin and were supposed to be perfect beings after their true acceptance of Jesus. This caused me to look at the bible more closely, to tighten the constraints of what I accepted as a fact, and to start thinking critically. This quest for the truth ultimately brought me to a ton of other religious sects that said they were Christian and said that they were the only way in to heaven, and that any other belief would doom them to hell. With all this new information I couldn't knowingly accept the fact that I was right and everyone else was wrong, because these other people felt the same way. Ultimately, this lead me to become an atheist.
I hope this isn't too wordy, but I thought it would be interesting, or at least informative, to show the people who I may be posting with in the future exactly where I am coming from.
See you around!
Might as well give a "brief" synopsis of my belief history:
Born: Didn't believe in anything, I was a baby
Age 5 to 12: Was in Sunday school, taught the classic stories of the Bible but never took them as anything more than stories, they held no significance. Wasn't in Sunday school a terribly long time, I disliked the teacher. As I got older I became more and more interested in science, but only had information from text books, no real access to scientific information for a young inquiring mind to feed on.
Age 13 to 18: Started reading the Bible and became a strong believer in young earth creationism, Jesus, and especially any type of prophecies from Revelations. At one point in time I was praying every single night to Jesus and God to forgive me for any sins that I may have committed that day that I wasn't aware of because I am only human and can't possibly have a full understanding that a god can.
Age 18 to 24 (present day): The fact that I was fervently praying everyday for fear of being doomed to a horrible and eternal torment in a lake of fire started to weigh on my mind. Wouldn't god get angry at me because I was praying so often? I thought people who truly accepted Jesus in to their hearts, like I thought I had, were incapable of any sin and were supposed to be perfect beings after their true acceptance of Jesus. This caused me to look at the bible more closely, to tighten the constraints of what I accepted as a fact, and to start thinking critically. This quest for the truth ultimately brought me to a ton of other religious sects that said they were Christian and said that they were the only way in to heaven, and that any other belief would doom them to hell. With all this new information I couldn't knowingly accept the fact that I was right and everyone else was wrong, because these other people felt the same way. Ultimately, this lead me to become an atheist.
I hope this isn't too wordy, but I thought it would be interesting, or at least informative, to show the people who I may be posting with in the future exactly where I am coming from.
See you around!
