Atheists - How Did You Become An Atheist After Waking Up?

by pale.emperor 31 Replies latest jw experiences

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  clarity

  Realizing about 2010 that the watchtower organization was just a brilliant business opportunity for men like Russel & Rutherford, I still believed in the god stuff for about another six months.

  First I thought "believing in the lord jesus" was the key .... thought I might be 'born again'.

  After looking into the possibility of a world wide flood I was so shocked at how delusional I had been and still was!

  Those doors in my brain started opening as evidence came pouring in.

  Along came Christopher Hitchens ........ and the game was over!

  Things have been tough at times but hey they are Real times in a Real world!

  clarity
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  stan livedeath

  i left the watchtower cult because i was--and still am--an atheist. i never believed in god--couldnt care less about what it might say in the bible. was a teenage pioneer just to please other people. took me till i was 23 to be honest to myself.
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  redvip2000

  Similar here.

  Left the cult, but still called myself christian. Thought about going to a unitarian church.

  Then really started thinking, especially how God could be so passive. What kind of ruler would let people suffer the way they do around the world? no way.

  Especially if you have a bzillion angels sitting around doing nothing. Nobody in their right might can believe.
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  EverApostate

  607 BC - This triggered off my (REAL) research about WT

  Bears maul 42 children in Bible. This triggered off my research on the ridiculousness of the Bible.

  Turned out to be a Happy Atheist in a Year. Thanks to WT and Bible
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  Phizzy

  At a certain point after leaving, within Months, I decided the only way to be sure that something was true was to use the "Scientific Method". In other words, only well established facts, based upon tested evidence, tested by experts in the Field in question, would do.

  I found no evidence for god. None at all. What I did find was lots of evidence and reasoning that a god as defined by believers, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and above all Just and Loving, simply COULD not exist.

  Say that to most believers, especially JW's, and they ignore what you have said and leap straight away to the matter of a Creator. Don't follow that line at that point, take them back to the point above, and ask them to prove that there is a Loving, Just etc etc god. (Without the Bible of course, that is proof of nothing).

  They cannot.

  There is no god, apart from in people's imagination.
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  pale.emperor

  As a true believer before I left the religion it puzzled me no end that after nearly 100 years of preaching D2D that if I went around the block where I lived and asked people what they knew about J.W.`s their answer would be they don`t take blood transfusions or they just come round bible bashing or they dont salute the flag and that`s about it .

  And I began to think what a waste of time ? their is something seriously wrong here ?

  I know what you mean smiddy3.

  It used to really confuse me (and annoy me) that we boasted about being active in almost all lands and preaching gods kingdom for over 100 years - yet nobody even knew what we believed! If God were calling us into account for preaching his word he'd surely have found us lacking. Wernt the stones supposed to cry out if nobody witnessed? (Luke 19:40)
  
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  My Name is of No Consequence

  I thought as recently as 2009 that the dubs had it right. Only when I became "inactive" did it completely sink in that was all a cruel joke. I currently feel that if (and I do mean if) there is a “higher being” out there, he/she/it doesn’t care about us. I can’t say that I’m an atheist yet, but I may not be far off.
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  OnTheWayOut

  My stages differ from yours, but I get it:

  1. Still believed in the God of the Bible. I figured "Christendom" had it more right.
  2. Believed the Bible "could" be God's Word.
  3. Completed enough study of why Watchtower was a cult and kept studying to see what was up with the root of that religion- The Bible.
  4. Included Eastern Thought in my studies.
  5. Similarly to your path, found great books from the likes of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens and also great videos on the secular establishment of the Bible.
  6. Finally broke through to see how the Flood could not be true, the god of the Bible was a war-god. Continued to read science and added much about Jesus being a myth or just a man.
  7. Just as I could never go back to the JW's once the truth about "the truth" was discovered, I could never go back to believing in the god that men created.
     
     My whole philosophy of life was flipped upside down. People come first. While we plan for our futures, we plan for NOW and our IMMEDIATE future, not some hopeful everlasting future. We do our best to enjoy life and family now, before we are gone forever. It is not a dismal outlook.
     
     Understanding "the big bang" and "string theory" are important things, but not knowing all about them doesn't default to "God did it." Humans are in the infant stage of understanding the universe, but religion asks us to stop seeking better answers.
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  scratchme1010

  I'd be interested in knowing how you became an atheist after leaving the JWs and how long did it take? Was it instant or did your belief in a deity gradually decline?
  

  Interesting post. First I just want to make sure that non-atheist people understand that atheism is not to be treated as a religious organization. Once doesn't study it, not all atheists believe the same thing, atheist are not united, nor are they organized, there isn't such thing as an atheist temple, nor do we get any endorsement or certification from any entity.

  I say all this since a lot of believers judge atheism for what they know, and sometimes is hard for them to understand that comparing their religious believes with atheism is far from a perfect comparison.

  That said, I have called myself an atheist, but that doesn't really quite define my complete stance on the subject of God and related stuff.

  I neither believe nor don't believe. I don't read anything to support either side, and the topic of god's existence is not something I have any interest in; it's just not part of my life.

  I have my own spirituality and I'm quite happy with the way it is, the rest, honestly, is completely irrelevant to me. If that's atheism, then I am an atheist. Otherwise, I really can't care less one way or another.
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  HowTheBibleWasCreated

  I became an atheist in about a day. My whole foundation of belief was:

  1. Evolution is false so god is real.

  2. The bible is true so Christianity is true

  3. JW have the true Christianity.

  So when evidence came to me disturbing #2 I was purplexed for awhile trying to firgue out how to deal with it but decided to go to the basicsstep 1 I went on the internet and looked for 100% proof of evoloution. I decided if I couldn't find 100% proof or if their were holes in the logic I would close my mind to what i had discovered.

  After ERVs and Chromosome 2 were discovered on the internet that evening and tracing all the evidence for them I rejected God and the bible that night. No question.