Any Atheists that have now converted to a religion?

I am I suppose, an atheist Recently I started to blog my accounts of reading religious scriptures. I only started reading and researching about different religions to reinforce my views that religions have "got it wrong" so to speak.

But something strange is happening, and I don't know if it due to something psychological about religion texts or what but I am starting to doubt myself.

So just wanted to know and hear from any former atheists that have now found a religion or a god(s) and how that came to be ?

reply to post by eyesdown


What's so hard about being convinced that this it and there is no such thing as an after life?
Knowing that this is all there is, for me, makes life so much more precious and vibrant.

Everything else is just mythology; Egyptian Mythology, Greek Mythology, Christian Mythology, Islamic Mythology, so forth and so on.

If you really need community and faith, and all that mythology imaginary friend kid stuff, I recommend you check out Hinduism. They've some beautiful ideas, and all sorts of fun little cartoon characters for you to choose from. Hinduism can also trace it's origins back some 8000 years, so, it's one of, if not the oldest continually practiced and surviving religions into modern times.

reply to post by eyesdown


i was an Athiest... i just saw all the lies in the world and wanted to find truth...

And i found just that, though i have no religion...

reply to post by nineix



You say what's so hard like it is trivial. Yet it is one of the most debated questions there is. It divides the world.

reply to post by Akragon


So what do you now believe? In some sort of "creator"?

reply to post by eyesdown


I went through a period of life when I could not see past my own pride to find God. My childhood was filled with faith in the heart but not the head. There is a point at which a person comes to terms with all that is in error with life as compared to all that is good in the world. Anger at God is typically the result. What I came to find as my faith grew is that the pillars of stability, peace and satisfaction in life can only come form loving others. This message, once found, reveals the purpose of God in the Bible. There is only one religion that is not based on works. Christianity is based on faith in God first. The works are not the point of finding God, but the byproduct of a faith in God as it should be. There is so much of the Bible that speaks to this message that it become obvious that were must grow beyond our own childish understanding to see God properly.

We are only children of God until we are no longer children. In life, we have questions for all our answers. We typically start with the answers first. With God, He provides the answers for all our questions if we approach Him with humility, apart from pride--just like a child.

1 Corinthians 13

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Originally posted by eyesdown
reply to post by Akragon

 

So what do you now believe? In some sort of "creator"?

So to speak, but not in the sense that you'll hear from most Christians...

More along the lines of what we know of the universe...

What are you looking for? Perhaps i can help

Originally posted by eyesdown
reply to post by nineix

 

You say what's so hard like it is trivial. Yet it is one of the most debated questions there is. It divides the world.

But it's no more important than Pepsi VS Coke.

Some might vehemently defend Pepsi as the greatest of colas. The funny part about the whole argument is that you find those who abstain from all cola altogether are the healthier humans.

reply to post by eyesdown


If you want more of my own personal search for God, you can view my blog. Start with this article and then work your way forward. LINK

reply to post by eyesdown


I was brought up as an Atheist, but could never reconcile the beauty in nature, the diversity of life and order in the Universe with having no beleif in an intelligent creator. Parents were horrified at first, but over the years mellowed and actually agreed my faith made me a nicer person.

Religion has been used for the most heinous of acts to be carried out by human beings and many have bought nothing but shame on the God they say they worship and represent. This alone I think is responsible for many turning against their Creator asking "if there is a God, why does he allow such suffering"...but then again Atheistic regimes have been some of the most blood thirsty in human history.

reply to post by SuperiorEd


Thanks for sharing your experience. I understand what you mean about pride. The things I have said about religion and god, I have said with such certainty and now that i feel a twinge of doubt inside me, i wonder would i ever be able to get past my pride to admit it to those around me.

reply to post by Akragon


Thanks for the offer,I don't really know what I am looking for, I guess I am just looking to be sure. The only religion I ever really took the time to look at before was Buddhism and that was because I could mould that around my own atheist views (which still mostly stand btw).

Originally posted by nineix
reply to post by eyesdown

 

What's so hard about being convinced that this it and there is no such thing as an after life?
Knowing that this is all there is, for me, makes life so much more precious and vibrant.

Everything else is just mythology; Egyptian Mythology, Greek Mythology, Christian Mythology, Islamic Mythology, so forth and so on.

If you really need community and faith, and all that mythology imaginary friend kid stuff, I recommend you check out Hinduism. They've some beautiful ideas, and all sorts of fun little cartoon characters for you to choose from. Hinduism can also trace it's origins back some 8000 years, so, it's one of, if not the oldest continually practiced and surviving religions into modern times.

edit on 23-10-2011 by nineix because: (no reason given)

whilst not devout I find the belief in there only being the physical a rather soul crushing one- basically we are no better or different from animals rutting around in the mud, the love and feelings you have for your kids (for example) are just chemical responses in the brain with no deeper significance- nah, not for me, you can have that atheist faith, I will have faith in there being something other than the physical

Any Atheists that have now converted to a religion?,

Not me.....

I feel that if you really see religion for what it is, you will never go back

reply to post by JB1234


Did you find a specific religion or just a belief in god?

I do think that faith changes people, but I don't think it automatically makes people better. I understand where you are coming from with your parents, as I have very few religious people in my life, about 3 and everyone else would not understand if i were to change my mind.

Originally posted by eyesdown
I guess I am just looking to be sure.

Good luck with that. Not ONE of us is sure. You can never be sure. My advice is to embrace and accept the fact that you cannot know. I've become quite comfortable in not knowing.

Originally posted by eyesdown
reply to post by SuperiorEd

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I understand what you mean about pride. The things I have said about religion and god, I have said with such certainty and now that i feel a twinge of doubt inside me, i wonder would i ever be able to get past my pride to admit it to those around me.

Someone here on ATS pointed this passage out to me. Since then, I have derived many good insights from the Gospel of Thomas. You are at the stage I hit of disturbed faith. This is what Christ says should happen as a natural progression toward truth.

2. Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

Read the rest of my thoughts on the Gospel of Thomas here. LINK

Originally posted by eyesdown
reply to post by Akragon

 

Thanks for the offer,I don't really know what I am looking for, I guess I am just looking to be sure. The only religion I ever really took the time to look at before was Buddhism and that was because I could mould that around my own atheist views (which still mostly stand btw).

Interestingly, neither camp can prove a thing.
Which really makes us humorously similar.

We can't prove that there is a God and we can't prove that there isn't.

Be a good person.
We all know what that is.

reply to post by liejunkie01


Had you said that too me about three weeks ago I would agree whole heartedly. I see what religion has done to the world, I see all its hypocrisies.

I don't think the answer to god is found in mainstream religion and I am not looking for an after life. But some atheists do convert and although right now I couldn't picture switching my thoughts so drastically, some have been able to do that.

Originally posted by spinkyboo

Originally posted by eyesdown
reply to post by Akragon

 

Thanks for the offer,I don't really know what I am looking for, I guess I am just looking to be sure. The only religion I ever really took the time to look at before was Buddhism and that was because I could mould that around my own atheist views (which still mostly stand btw).

Interestingly, neither camp can prove a thing.
Which really makes us humorously similar.

We can't prove that there is a God and we can't prove that there isn't.

Be a good person.
We all know what that is.

While its true one can not prove the existence of God to another person, you can prove it to yourself...

If that is what you seek