by AlmostAtheist 6 Replies latest jw friends
I've spoken to a number of people that used to be atheists, but became believers. Not all of them in Christianity, and not all of them in a personal god of any kind, but believers of some stripe.
If that's you, what did it for you? What belief did you wind up with, and why?
I'm not currently in any sort of flux state; I'm very comfortable and happy as an atheist. But I have to admit that I was comfortable and happy as a believer, so who knows what the future holds?
Dave
Hopefully all the former atheists were in bed at 230am EST! Bttt
Dave
Personally, I have never known any reconstituted believers that formally claimed atheism, however I have heard of cases like this.
IMHO, those who return to a belief in the supernatural and particularly a belief in a judaeo-christian type "GOD", were never really atheists to begin with, merely
agnostics, living in a philosophical 'limbo'. Real atheism results from a cataclysmic psychological epiphany from which there is no turning back. It is in many ways
a very profound "eureka" moment of clarity and freedom that is deeply rewarding. For a real atheist, reverting to a belief in god would be tantamount
to reverting to a belief in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy after realizing that these are fictional, culturally constructed characters.
I've never heard of this and cannot imagine going back to believing.
I know that we have flogged this subject to death, BUT: an agnostic is not someone who doesn't know, or can't make up their mind; the agnostic position is that it is not possible to know one way or another.
Rachel (atheist agnostic class)
"the agnostic position is that it is not possible to know one way or another."
I dont want to sidetrack the discussion, however, if I may ask: Is it possible to "know" if there is a tooth fairy or not" Is it possible to "know" whether there is a Santa Claus or not?
Is it possible to "know" if there are purple unicorns or not?
If the answer is "no" it is impossible to factually "know" whether said entities exist, then the agnostic position becomes intellectual nihilism: i.e. We cannot really "know" anything. Why? Because there is as much evidence (perhaps even more) for the the 3 characters I listed above as there is for a supreme deity. Equally so, there is as much evidence to suggest that ALL of the above entities were creations of the human mind, and human culture.
If the answer is "yes", it IS possible to factually "know" that these characters do not exist. Then the agnostic position is completely non-generalizable and only applicable to the question of the existence or non-existence of a "deity". In this case, "agnosticism" becomes a circumscribed "belief" system devoted specifically to the question of god, and has no practical application to any other epistomological realm.
In summary, if it is not possible to know whether or not there is a "GOD", than it is equally impossible to know about the possible existence of Leprechauns, Goblins, Bugs Bunny, Xanadu, or any other "potential" reality.
Hmm... I suppose I was more atheist at one time than I am now.
I've not quite believed in the objectivity of any dieties for a very long time. However, as I learn more about myself and what I am at my core, I begin to wonder. Who I am, my being, is very... elusive. It seems as whisps of vapor to me. I can, by force of will, set myself, and yet that alone tells me a lot. I am not so much myself as I am what I want myself to me.
What I am is what I think. My being, who I am appears to be made simply of mind, of thought, and nothing more. If I seem to be made of something as elusively defined as Mind or as Thought, and I certainly feel like I exist, who am I to say some entity devoid of material body doesn't exist in some way, in the nature of pure mind?
Anyway, my jury is still out, as it always is, as to the nature of such things. I will probably need to go back to studies, lay though they may be, of quantum physics again at this point. But, in any case, I am less certain.
