I Converted A Catholic To Atheism

reply to post by AfterInfinity


What will you do if come your NDE or DE (the one you don't come back from, in the same form anyway) and your friend is standing there with Jesus..?

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

Originally posted by vethumanbeing

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
"Let the little children come unto me and do not hinder them."

NewAge, youve got to be more specific, you are going to have Satanists crawling all over your comment.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Thats specific enough. So the waivers, need to go away and not monkey wrench the works, or they can simply just not participate; causing no confusion angst or future problems (war). Thats what the Essenes did, removed themselves. It worked.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Jesus had better have a few hours to spare...he's going to need them. Should I meet him, I will have questions and I will intend to have them answered. Until then I will operate under the reasonable assumption that I will never see Jesus in the capacity of Lord and Savior. Just because someone can give me hell doesn't mean I should respect them.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

That is brutal and highly unnecessary. And people wonder why I am neither impressed nor inclined to follow such a figure.

It all depends doesn't it.

"Live and let live" is a good saying. Bragging about converting a person from faith in Jesus Christ to (whatever it is), is ugly.

You need to see it from the Christian's POV.

Jesus I think understood how difficult it is to have an abiding faith, so what he's saying is that if you cleave someone from it, you're doing the whole world a disservice, because he is truth and life and love and the whole reason for creation.

It's like separating someone who was already part of the family just because you don't feel that you belong and you want to make them share the same POV.

Atheism is fine, but this thread and it's title is ugly and you ought to be able to see it even from Jesus' own POV.

reply to post by AfterInfinity

Just be prepared, in the final analysis, to laugh and cry, for all the right reasons that's all I have to say.

reply to post by anthonycooper

Originally posted by Joecroft
What were the key elements or deciding factors, in you letting go of your past beliefs and embracing atheism…?

Originally posted by anthonycooper
I had held on to the teachings of the catholic church until confirmation, after that while reading their own version of the king james bible I found many omissions. For instance Mary the mother of Jesus is not to be worshiped as a Goddess or on a par with the members of the trinity. Also there is no mention of purgatory or limbo. Their Bible says nothing about dispensations in either place. The worship of statues and venerating them. It was these and many other dogmatic things that made atheism the only logical choice.

Well, I totally agree with you, all those things are incorrect…but in reality, all you have done, is find some loop holes within the Catholic religion…That shouldn’t be the sole basis, for saying your now an Atheist IMO…

Originally posted by Jeocroft
And how can you be so sure from your research, that all other religious paths and belief systems, are all wrong…?

Originally posted by anthonycooper
Because most of the theistic belief systems all start out from the same points, such as the first people, the flood and so on. I found that none of these systems really assist us in the way of ultimate truth, because surely no ultimate truth would boast such methods of violence and disdain.

But your talking specifically about Christianity here, when my question was about how you can be so sure, that all other religions paths are wrong…?
For example, Buddhism doesn’t have a violent past etc…

I know it’s a difficult one, but you haven’t really answered the question…

You see IMO, the only way you can really declare yourself an Atheist, is if you have been able to negate all other belief systems…

Originally posted by Jeocroft
How can you believe in an “after life”, but not in a God…? How does that work exactly…?

Originally posted by anthonycooper
Not the traditional afterlife. More of a "soul conversion", the energy transitioning from one form to another or one place to another. I don't know enough to say anything more.

But if there is a “soul conversion” as you put it, then doesn’t there have to be some type of force, that controls it, and directs it etc…?

And again, any such power, which could do that, would surely be capable of doing far more, and would therefore have to classified as a God IMO…

A belief in an “after life”, goes hand in hand with a belief in God of some type or description. In fact, I can’t even think, of at least one belief system, that believes in an “after life”, but doesn’t believe in a God or a higher power, to go along with it.


- JC

reply to post by Joecroft


Hypothetically, even if there were to be a god, why would anyone need it? For my own part, no one has ever convinced me that a god is really necessary. It seems to me that many people only believe in a god because they believe the universe needs a god.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


I have never believed in letting one example of an idea embody the entirety of what that idea is. A Ford Explorer does not represent the entirety of motorized vehicles. There is a Hindu proverb that says there are a hundred ways that all lead to the top of the mountain. The only person going the wrong way is the person running around the bottom telling everyone else they're doing it wrong.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Joecroft

 

Hypothetically, even if there were to be a god, why would anyone need it? For my own part, no one has ever convinced me that a god is really necessary. It seems to me that many people only believe in a god because they believe the universe needs a god.

edit on 18-6-2013 by AfterInfinity because: (no reason given)

No, the universe as an expression of itself is God; just as you are the same expression. If the essense of faith is love, the Atheist has no place, as it does not understand or have the capacity to love anything; not even itself I suspect because you on some level are in denial, or have devalued your own existance.

reply to post by vethumanbeing

No, the universe is God. If the essense of faith is love, the Atheist has no place, as it does not understand or have the capacity to love anything; not even itself I suspect.

What an ignorant statement! Do you honestly believe that atheists CAN'T love their mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, spouses, friends and neighbors?

We're talking about atheists, not psychopaths! Geez! Generalize much?

reply to post by vethumanbeing


I am an atheist and I have a very functional capacity for love. Obviously you miscalculated somewhere. It could even be a possibility that you don't understand atheism at all. Or at least not my kind anyway. Not all atheists are the same you know.

and no I do not deny my own existence. My existence is real enough to me to treated as though it were actually real, whether or not it is. You generalize far too much sir. You may want to attend to that.

I noticed anthonycooper mentioned the following:

after that while reading their own version of the king james bible I found many omissions. For instance Mary the mother of Jesus is not to be worshiped as a Goddess or on a par with the members of the trinity. Also there is no mention of purgatory or limbo. Their Bible says nothing about dispensations in either place. The worship of statues and venerating them. It was these and many other dogmatic things that made atheism the only logical choice.

Whatever anthonycooper is, or was, an informed Catholic is not one of them.

Catholics don't use a version of the King James Bible.

Catholics don't "worship" Mary.

Many things the Church believes aren't in the Bible, like the Trinity, and Incarnation. Prayers for the souls of the dead were being said by the Church in the 300s, or earlier. If you don't like the idea of purgatory, it won't get you sent to hell.

Catholics don't "worship" statues either.

And as has been pointed out, even if you were correct, which you're not, the idea that you don't choose to believe in Catholicism, so the only alternative is Atheism, is a strange one indeed. You seem to be taking the position that there are only two acceptable ways to believe about God, either Catholicism or Atheism. The Protestants, Jews, and Muslims will not be pleased.

Perhaps a "Catholic" has left his faith in whatever he believed in, but his beliefs were in something not recognizably Catholic.

Oh, and I'm a little disappointed that AfterInfinity gave me a non-answer to my question back on Page 10.

reply to post by vethumanbeing
I am definitely NOT an Atheist but you are soooooo wrong!!!! Atheists love their families just as much as any religious person does. I was raised by an Atheist father and have an Atheist daughter who both happen to be among the most loving and caring people that I have ever known. You must not personally know very many Atheists or you could not in good conscience say such a thing!

Originally posted by windword
reply to post by vethumanbeing

 

No, the universe is God. If the essense of faith is love, the Atheist has no place, as it does not understand or have the capacity to love anything; not even itself I suspect.

What an ignorant statement! Do you honestly believe that atheists CAN'T love their mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, spouses, friends and neighbors? We're talking about atheists, not psychopaths! Geez! Generalize much?

Honestly, I cannot say that I know atheists 'in general' to be sociopathic (NOT psychopaths GEEZ), however if so clinically being certainly would not have the capacity of love as would not know what it was; Self Sacrafice, Compassion, The do gooding philanthropist gestures: donating to the Red Cross, Pell Grants etal. Extra money lying about (no church to tithe an automatic10% of income to).

reply to post by littled16

Dear littled16,

You're absolutely right. Atheists can love, be kind, be generous, or self-sacrificing.They can be all-around nice people.

They're following something that all mankind has, and has been demonstrated as far back as we have records. Some call it Natural Law, or Conscience, or the Voice of God, but it is in us and guides us if we are willing to accept it.

Whether it's the Norse legends, Judaism, Ancient Egypt, wherever, the evidence is there.

With respect,
Charles1952

reply to post by charles1952


Nice post Charles, I also asked about Catholic doctrines (to AI) and what its knowledge of such was: in order to convert one of that faith to another. NO ANSWER Either. You made some very good points specifically the King James Bible, that is a protestant deal and very obvious.

yeah, now this thread really starts to read for me, Afterinfinity is converted! Yet stubborn in his replies, we hit the nail on the head. Is "atheist" just another word for 'swollenheaded"? I'm glad you're back AI!!

reply to post by AfterInfinity

Originally posted by AfterInifity
Hypothetically, even if there were to be a god, why would anyone need it?

Before I attempt to answer that question…I’ll just quote part of Anthony coopers reply, to my first post below…

Originally posted by anthonycooper
AI has told me that humans are not meant to be the mortal slaves of some cosmic being, and I have felt the same for a long time.

The problem here, is that you’ve already defined God, as one who keeps mortal slaves etc…

In asking your question above, you’re coming at it from that perspective. And are therefore rejecting a God, of that type etc, but what if God isn’t like that at all…?

You see, I don’t see God in that way...so for me, I see the question far differently than yourself.

Anyway, you’ve asked quite a big question there, but to answer it as simply as possibly, I believe that knowing that you came from a loving source/creator, can have a positive impact on a persons life.

- JC

reply to post by Joecroft


Throughout history humans have almost always been the toys and playthings of the gods. But how do you view your God and how did you come to this perspective?

reply to post by Angle


Back? I've been overseeing the progress of most of this thread. I can't really say that I've ever been gone. I have conveniently found myself with the time to devote such energy to the task.