I stopped believing way before I read this:

“It’s true, that which I have revealed to you: there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all A Dream, a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but You. And You are but a Thought-a vagrant Thought, a useless Thought, a homeless Thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!”

Wow, that is the saddest, most pessimistic thing I’ve heard lately.

I’m really sorry you feel that way, but consider the following statement which my 14-year-old son told me just the other day:

“I used to be afraid of death. I was frightened by the thought of you guys (mom and dad) getting old and dying. But I now realize that everyone must die. How can I live if I’m always in fear of dying? I really think that if you believe there is nothing after death, then there will be nothing. I think that whatever you believe becomes your truth.”

I learn so much from my own kids…

“It’s true, that which I have revealed to you: there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all A Dream, a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but You. And You are but a Thought-a vagrant Thought, a useless Thought, a homeless Thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!”

-No .44 The mysterious stranger, Mark Twain

Why don’t you post some stuff against other religions here? Christianity is not the only religion in the world, so it’s about time you post the lies of Islam, Hindu, Shinto, Judaism, Confucianism etc.

It’s not the only one?!?!?!

Seriously, we would if we had the background. Most of this blogs’ readers and posters are from the US, a christian-dominated country. Even though it isn’t supposed to be a religious state, it sometimes feels like one. We write about what we know.

I do wish we had more people with different backgrounds like yours to join in the conversation and fill in the blanks….

I like the idea… do I get a cut? LOL

Of course!

I’ve always thought that the rest of the world would figure out pretty soon with education and average wealth on the rise. Alas, it seems to go the other way, even in Europe (where both Christianity and Islam are strongly on the rise).

I worked for a small Catholic college. My supervisor, much younger than me, and I became close friends. When she had to go into the hospital with kidney problems or when she decided to attend night classes, I looked after her dog, collected the mail, etc. When she had to go for nasty gastro tests, I drove her there and made sure she got home safely. When she and her husband found themselves stranded after a car breakdown 100 miles from home, I drove up to bring them back. I was told many times that Jesus wanted to talk with me. I resisted because she had become heavily involved in the “Jews for Jesus movement,” and had told me a couple of times that she was worried about my soul. I assured her that I was not. I was and am aware that I am a kind and nonjudgmental human being who doesn’t particularly like organized religion.

She had encouraged me to take on more job responsibilities and told me several times about the promotion I would receive. One day. after lunch with school clients, she announced in a staff meeting that she had hired a search agency to find someone to fill the job which she assured me would be mine. I had to approach her after the meeting and ask. Her response was, “Jesus told me that you don’t belong here anymore.”

2) You wanted to live a life of sin.

That describes Lee Strobel, at least so he said at least twice in his book The Case For Faith. “You’re an ass”, I thought about him the second time he described, in greater detail, why he was “an atheist” (he reminds his readers that he was one at least 15 times).

Me, my morality grew during my unbelief (which I would refer to many years later as “atheism”), as much of my life growing up I was an unbeliever. I never felt this “pain” and “confusion” that many people have felt when they were on the verge of and after “losing” faith, and when I gave up belief in God, I didn’t have that intense feeling of “liberation”, that I can now do what I want, no matter how bad, come over me.

When I gave up belief in God, I just went about my life as I normally had, curiously exploring the surrounding area of my apartment, staring at the bubbles in the puddles resulting from the raindrops from the window inside my apartment, accusing girls of possessing “cooties”, arguing with another kid to give back my Stegosaurus dinosaur toy, and going over to my friend’s house to play the new NES that just came out, and years later spending much of my time in the libraries, quietly drawing pictures of future societies, eagerly awaiting school to end so I could watch the original Power Rangers, and even many years later flirting with the girls, playing basketball every day after school with the guys, studying hard to maintain my grades, stalking the bookshelf “halls” of the Barnes & Noble every other week, and browsing the Internet message boards.

I’m 20 years old. I’ve never smoked, I’ve never drank alcohol, I’ve never gotten in trouble with the police for anything more serious than speeding, and I’ve never harmed a soul.

Did I miss any?

We have attempted to compile the definitive list on this topic over at the deconversion blog. I think we’ve got more than 30 explanations we’ve heard so far.

I like the idea… do I get a cut? LOL