Re: If You Are a Praying Person


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Posted by bathwater on June 06, 2015 at 08:48:34

In Reply to: Re: If You Are a Praying Person posted by Pastor Don on January 22, 2015 at 18:56:24:

I've noticed that many of the second generation TFIers (myself included) are either agnostic, or completely atheistic. I'm not here to crap on your religion; I don't think it's sad, though. You would call it a case of 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater', but I believe that in most cases, people believe in what they want to believe in. Most of us only know Christianity, and indeed, religion as a whole, in a TFI context. That, coupled with the fact that many forms of Christianity sound enough like TFI to send alarm bells ringing in our heads is what sends us running.
We don't believe in God for various reasons. My initial disbelief in God was due to various personal factors. As time went on, I gradually lost my ability to believe in him due to reasons based more on evidence (or rather, the lack of it). I'm not here to discuss that, though. I just thought I'd help you understand why myself, and perhaps many people like myself, no longer believe. We don't believe in God because we need to, just like you believe in God because you need to (this opinion has both atheists and religious people eager to lynch me, which is the primary reason why I continue to hold it ;) There is, however, a degree of truth. Perhaps I'm projecting way too much, but I've believed in what I wanted/needed to, and found evidence to support me. I once thought my belief in Christianity was unshakable. I'm know fairly convinced that my disbelief in it will not change anytime soon.
In the end, I think many of us are like the Dwarves in The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. We've been taken in once, and we have no desire to be taken in again.
That said, if belief in a god makes you a better person, as opposed to a funda-mentalist (sorry, no more puns, I promise!), then all I can say is, "Good for you." I disagree with you belief, but keep up the good work. Don't let the unbelievers get you down! (Don't shun us, either, we're quite nice, if you can get us off the topic of religion!)
Why did I post? I don't know. Maybe it's 5:10am in the morning and I needed to rant. Maybe I thought I'd help you understand that atheists aren't the God-hating devil-worshipers the crazies make us out to be. In the end, we all would love to see the world a better place, and if religion helps you achieve that, then I'll be less cynical about the human race in general...
I'm not here to start a theological debate on the existence of God, though. Please don't get me drawn into that, or I'll be completely unproductive for the next 48+ hours :-D.



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