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Young Atheists: What Turned Them off Christianity?

  1. Iamsam profile image69
    Iamsamposted 4 years ago

    Share your reason for not believing in Jesus?

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    1. wilderness profile image95
      wildernessposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps the total lack of evidence.
      Perhaps the inconsistencies and/or falsehoods in scripture.
      Perhaps the demand that any new knowledge conform to currently accepted mythology.
      Perhaps the poor moral structure of most religions, and particularly that of their god(s).

      There are lots of reasons to seriously doubt the ancient myths of our ancestors.

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      1. Zelkiiro profile image87
        Zelkiiroposted 4 years agoin reply to this

        "[...]If you read the Bible or the Koran or the Torah cover-to-cover I believe you will emerge from that as an atheist. I mean, you can read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, you can read "God Is Not Great" by Hitchens... but the Bible itself, will turn you atheist faster than anything." - Penn Jillette

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    2. psycheskinner profile image80
      psycheskinnerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Because I need a reason to believe stuff. Belief is not a default state.

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      1. HeadlyvonNoggin profile image88
        HeadlyvonNogginposted 4 years agoin reply to this

        Actually, if you look at human history, that's not true. Belief in a higher power is the default state as its nearly universally accepted amongst indigenous cultures that there is a spiritual aspect to life that ties all of us, and all of the natural world, together. The rise of atheism ebbs and flows with the availability of information and logical/philosophical thought. For example, Western Atheism dates back at least as far as the 5th Century BC in ancient Greece. Beginning with the fall of the western Roman Empire (400 AD) all the way through to the 15th Century, the same century that the printing press was invented, cumulative information gained throughout history wasn't readily available. The masses were generally left to depend on the interpretations of the few who had access. Atheism re-surged in the later portion of the Age of Enlightenment as information became more and more accessible.

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        1. psycheskinner profile image80
          psycheskinnerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          Any given person is not born knowing about religion and not born with the concept of God.  Someone had to tell you about it.  And then you need a reason to believe them.

          I am talking about default, native-born, state.

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          1. HeadlyvonNoggin profile image88
            HeadlyvonNogginposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Right, me too, and the default/native born state of humans is belief in a higher power. It's not Christianity or Islam or anything in particular, just belief. Even the simplistic reasoning of a child suggests that you came from your parents, they came from their parents, who also came from parents, and so on. It is not the default state to believe this progression started from nothing. in fact, you have to be pretty smart and pretty informed to even grasp the concept of how it could potentially have come from "nothing". This is not the default state. Belief in a higher power is nearly universal, with atheistic leanings only rising in those ages I pointed out.

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            1. psycheskinner profile image80
              psycheskinnerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

              I think that is nonsense.  A child is born with no knowledge.

              They *may* come to believe some kind of God for some kind of reason.  It is an acquired belief.

              I have not encountered such a reason, therefore I have no such belief.  That is my point.

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              1. HeadlyvonNoggin profile image88
                HeadlyvonNogginposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                Just look at humanity throughout the ages. True, children are not born with knowledge. But once they begin to conceptualize the world around them, they do not begin in a 'default state' of believing the world around them came from nothing until they're informed differently. Just look at the nearly universal standpoint of indigenous cultures throughout the world and throughout the ages, established long before any of the world's major religions. The default state would seem to be that there is a spiritual aspect at play that animates the world around us. It is only through logical assessment and reason that people historically arrive at a no-God concept, as our documented history illustrates. You may find it nonsense, but it's simply a matter of looking at the facts.

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                1. psycheskinner profile image80
                  psycheskinnerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  "True, children are not born with knowledge. But once they begin to conceptualize the world around them, they do not begin in a 'default state' of believing the world around them came from nothing until they're informed differently."

                  That is exactly what I am saying.  They have the default state of having no belief about where the world came from.  You seem to be going to a lot of trouble to agree with me using different words.

                  To enter into any belief at all a person must be given sufficient reason.  Thus I have no need to justify not having entered a belief state supporting Christ.

                  There is no specific reason that has not happened.  I have no idea what theoretical happening that never happened would have caused me to have that belief.  Because it didn't happen.

                  Thus I cannot answer the question as phrased with any hope of accuracy.

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                  1. HeadlyvonNoggin profile image88
                    HeadlyvonNogginposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                    Well, if you're speaking of a 'default state' as being where we are at birth then you're right. But that's simply how the conscious mind works. It establishes a concept of the external world by storing information via the senses throughout life experience. So, yes, at first there's no belief because there's no concept of existence needing an explanation. But before long you begin to establish that what's here now was established by people who came before. Reaching the eventual conclusion from there that there is no god is just that, a conclusion reached. And as history shows, it's not a conclusion arrived at very 'naturally'. There are very specific ages and regions where atheism's roots are found. And in both cases these conclusions were based in an age when logic and philosophy are employed. The 'default state', the conclusion first reached, is that there is a higher power that set things in motion. That there is a system in place. A spiritual aspect. If there is a default state of humanity, then human history (and prehistory) overwhelmingly shows that default state to be belief in a higher power.

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                2. profile image0
                  Rad Manposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  The only way to know for sure what you say is right is if we experiment of the isolation of individual people. Most often, I suspect, one would be to occupied with survival to have to to speculate. It's simply impossible to know as we can't experiment of individual humans.

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                  1. HeadlyvonNoggin profile image88
                    HeadlyvonNogginposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                    Or, you could look at the entirety of human history. With indigenous cultures you have animism across the board, spanning Australia, Africa, and north/south America, in cultures geographically isolated from one another. Then you have the Mesopotamian gods, the Nordic gods of eastern Europe, the Greek and Roman gods of western Europe, and Buddhism and Hinduism throughout Asia. None of which includes the major religions of today. Yet documented cases of actual atheistic viewpoints are limited to ancient Greece and Rome, then nearly 1000 years of silence throughout the dark ages, with a resurgence of atheism with the age of enlightenment only in the past few centuries. If a lack of belief were the default state then that should be the other way around.

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                3. profile image0
                  riddle666posted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  Their default state is not belief in god, but belief in their parents and authority!

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              2. jonnycomelately profile image86
                jonnycomelatelyposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                psycheskinner, I suggest that say something is "nonsense" when it has come from some one's careful thinking is not really good discussion. 
                Maybe I have been guilty of this too, on occasion.   Must be more careful myself.

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    3. profile image0
      Rad Manposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Believing in Jesus?
      Perhaps you mean believing what the bible says about a man called Jesus?

      Lack of evidence and knowledge that indicates the bibles contradictions and misinformation.

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    4. JMcFarland profile image88
      JMcFarlandposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Why Jesus specifically and christianity and not the other thousands of good claims throughout history?  They ask have the same amount of proof - none.

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