My name is David, I’ll be 41 this coming June. My dad is an atheist. I was always skeptical about christianity and religion in general. My skepticism increased when I discovered that ALL the christian holy-days are taken from the pagan calendar. I dabbled with neo-paganism but quickly realised that it was fake. Then I discovered a web-site that challenged the historical validity of Jesus (I also found out that Jesus and Christ aren’t even Jewish names!) Then my now ex-wife (who is a christian) took an overdose of dextromethorphan and she started claiming all sorts of weird things. It was then that I realised just how chemical the brain really is, that if someone takes this drug or that drug how it affects their personality, thoughts, views of life etc etc etc. That’s when I really questioned if there is or is not a god. The more and harder I thought, the more I realised that this “god” couldn’t exist. So I did a bit more research and that’s when I discovered there are so many different religions around the world and they ALL claim to be RIGHT. Well, they can’t all be right but they can all be wrong, and I think that’s the case.

BTW: for anyone who is a christian, think of this: The roman empire is the whole reason that christianity exists.

You have only waded into the shallows of a very deep pond. It’s a big complicated mess. That’s supposed to make it harder to see through. There is a lot of disagreements among non-believers about how much of the Bible is reliable or not or exactly why Christianity is still here.

The main thing is to be examining it from the outside instead of the inside. Welcome out.

Darcbird: The roman empire is the whole reason that christianity exists.

I think Judaism played a role.

Also, Christianity returned the favor.  Christian scribes are responsible for the preservation of works of the Latin classics after the fall of the Roman Empire. 

Yours is an interesting story.  Many people here grew up in Christian homes and abandoned the church.  Did you become a Christian to rebel against your atheist dad? 

I had a friend who was a feminist liberal whose daughter secretly played with Barble dolls.

No, it wasn’t an act of rebellion. I just couldn’t conceive of a “nothingness” after death. That said, my dad recently had an experience when he actually died and instead of meeting with dead relatives et al, he experienced nothing. Mind you, he was unconscious at the time and I think this might play a role in our experience of death (but that’s just a personal theory…) I went to live with my grandparents when I was 10 years old and they were anglican. I also went to a catholic school so I guess some sort of faith was sort of expected of me. I went to various places and churches etc and couldn’t find anything that I really thought was… right. They all had their own thoughts (basically everyone else was damned except them) and I thought it was hilarious because they were saying that other branches of christianity were doomed too!

As many atheists say, it would be nice if there was “something” rather than “nothing” but given the balance of evidence, I think “nothing” is all we’re going to get.

saralynn - 25 May 2012 04:35 PM

Darcbird: The roman empire is the whole reason that christianity exists.

I think Judaism played a role.

Actually, with regards Judaism, it was waning in the Roman empire (the government was taxing converts at a higher rate, I believe). christianity proved to be a scapegoat when Rome was burning. But because of the message of christianity (that they would be made to suffer for their faith and that if they did, they were guaranteed a place in heaven) the Roman’s couldn’t seem to break it up - if they had taxed it like they had the Jewish faith, then it would probably have died out. Also, the roman empire was starting to crumble and the romans realised that if they used a single religion to “rally around the flag with” they could shore it up, somewhat. This has been done time and again throughout history. (The enemy DON’T believe in God, etc.) Also, by having a single religion, they could raid the pagan sites and take all the gold etc into the central government.

Welcome David,

it sounds like your moving in the right direction, keep on questioning but also keep an open mind.

Welcome, DarcBird

I look forward to reading more of your posts. My motto has long been “Question everything”. Good to see you are doing that.

Hi. I like the simple straightforward logic of it:

DarcBird - 25 May 2012 02:51 PM

. . . they ALL claim to be RIGHT. Well, they can’t all be right but they can all be wrong, and I think that’s the case.