re: For the ppl who believed in God but dont anymore or whose pa

I am not sure if anyone is still talking about this subject or how I even found this topic, but I was pretty surprised to see it on here. My husband and I have had many conversations about this. Neither one of us really believe in God. And to quote one of you...
Quoting HippieMommieArmyWife:“ Wow, everyone has a lot to say on the subject. I can sum up my reasons for no longer believing in God ... [snip!] ... God in one word. Education. I hope no one is offended by this! Its not meant to be a general statement, just my experience.”

I feel exactly the same way. Almost everyone else blames their lack of faith on bad things happening to them, whereas my reasons have nothing to do with that. Mine pretty much started when I started school for English Education of all things. A lot of my literature classes had a lot to do with religions. It was then that I started to see things differently. I can agree with most that I do believe that there is "something" out there. I don't believe the world was created by a freak accident, I don't believe in evolution, or that "God" hears any prayers. I do believe that praying is a good form of meditation, and can give you confidence that things will go your way, but I don't believe anyone is listening. I do believe you can be a good person without going to church. I was raised a Christian, and even went to church by myself until highschool, even after my family quit going. They have no idea that I don't believe in God, and there would be a lot of drama if they did. And just because I don't necessarily believe in God, doesn't mean I worship the devil. I don't believe in him either. I think the bible as we know it today may have some good guidelines to follow and some pretty verses to live by, but as a whole, I don't believe in it either. It's a good fairy tale. (I even told that to some Johova's witnesses that came knocking on my door, much to my husband's surprise). Anyway, this is a subject I could go on and on and on AND on about. My husband and I do it all the time! But I know these things get boring to read after awhile, so I am going to end it here... Do I make any sense?

Quoting -----:“ What made you quit believing or never believe even though your parents did?”

For me it was because I never got an answer...I prayed and prayed and went to church and all that good stuff but never recieved an answer from God nor did I get help...
Then I figured I will have to answer my own questions and help myself....and it worked....
God had to go and logic moved in.....

When there is debate of such things as abortion, many Xians retort, "It's God's plan."

When a child is sexually abused, many Xians retort, "It was free will." (Of the perpetrator).

So, what is it? Free will or God's plan? If my father had free will, then ultimately it was God's plan for me to be sexually abused. It's a bullshit contradiction. Thanks, but no thanks.

If I was God's plan to be born and I was victim of repeated assaults, then why couldn't it have been God's plan to not even have me or any other person go through such nonsense?

Iwish I had an answer for you but b/c of questions like yours, I gave up...It all makesnosense and God wasn't replying nor was he trying to explain when asked..
Iguess the Christians would say "God has a reason for everything"...which is bull in my eys

Quoting -----:“ What made you quit believing or never believe even though your parents did?”

I am agnositc now, and was raised Christian. No one thing made me stop believing in Christianity and the Christian God, it was just many many things over time. I realized that it just didtn make sense to me and that I was not comfortable with the whole concept of christianity. As time has gone one I have found more and more reasons to not believe in a God period. While I am not currently convinced there is no God, I am not convinced there is one either.

You have to have just as much faith to believe that there is not a God, to believe that there is a God.

Quoting amyc19:“ You have to have just as much faith to believe that there is not a God, to believe that there is a God.”

No, I dont think so. While I do agree PARTLY with that (considering that you cant prove it either way) I do think that it takes less faith to not believe in something than it does to believe in somethign and dedicate the entire way of life to that belief. Its why I am agnostic, that way I can take the super easy faithless road lol