Former Atheists

[Ginger2]

I would like to hear from former Atheists how they came to be Christians.

 

[RebeccaJ]

I would like to hear from former Atheists how they came to be Christians.

I’m working on it. But I don’t know what it is that you want to know.

 

[Ginger2]

Well, an atheist probably wouldn’t be converted by reading Scripture, because he/she probably wouldn’t read Scripture.

Most atheists I know don’t want to talk about God, so there is little opportunity for a Christian to witness thru discussion.

I am interested in how God spoke to you to bring about a change in your heart.

Was it a near death experience? A vision? You were trying to disprove the existence of God and ended up believing?

I am just interested in the different ways God reaches people.

 

[water]

This priest: Fr. Donald Calloway - Former Drug Dealer to the Catholic Priesthood. It was by grace of God and intercession of Virgin Mary.

catholicfamilycatalog.com/dvntb1.htm

 

[Ginger2]

That’s nice, but I have to pay to hear his testimony?

I would like the person him/herself to share their story. It’s for the glory of God.

 

[RebeccaJ]

I am just interested in the different ways God reaches people.

I’d say it has been a combination of things. My own self-reflection. The ear of a good and trusted friend. A lot of study. Attending Mass (and now RCIA). And prayer.

 

[Ginger2]

But, as an atheist you didn’t pray or attend mass.

So What caused you to study a God you didn’t think existed? What caused you to believe there was a God to hear the prayers you would one day say?

What happened to make you think, “Maybe there is a God?”

 

[onmywayagain]

I’d say it has been a combination of things. My own self-reflection. The ear of a good and trusted friend. A lot of study. Attending Mass (and now RCIA). And prayer.

Good luck on your journey to finding the truth.

 

[Peregrino]

I would like to hear from former Atheists how they came to be Christians.

I have no clue. I just came to believe in God. This belief doesn’t go away and I haven’t fallen into doubt since the day I acknowledged this belief. I happen to be Catholic, though I by no means believe that this is the “one and only true path” to God.

 

[Ginger2]

I have no clue. I just came to believe in God. This belief doesn’t go away and I haven’t fallen into doubt since the day I acknowledged this belief. I happen to be Catholic, though I by no means believe that this is the “one and only true path” to God.

Do you think the Holy Spirit spoke to you from with in? Or just over a long period of time God slowly opened your (spiritual) eyes through many subtle “events”.

For some of us (who always believed in God) it is in an instant that our lives are changed. Like it was for Paul. But for most of us it is a slow process, like it was for the disciples.

 

[rouselweis]

Peace of Christ be with You.

I am currently around 18 years old. I was raised in a strict Presbyterian/ Calvinist household. A few years ago, I rebelled against the teaching that a loving God would condemn innocent men, women, and children to Hell for not being Christian, even if they were raised in a country such as Saudi Arabia where converting to Christianity would mean having to die for your illegal faith.

From this point on, I became a strict atheist. I took pride in debating Christians on everything from similaraties between Christianity and Paganism to modern scientific principles.

Being an atheist, though, I noticed that I had become self-absorbed and almost heartless, as atheism in many ways closes your mind to the possibility of you being wrong.

With this in mind, I started reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I identified strongly with Lewis, a former atheist who found comfort in Christ. I realized that the complexities of Life could have in no way come about as a mere chance, and that there had to be a creator. Still, Deism seemed more rational than the idea of going back to Christianity.

So one day, while debating a religious friend of mine, I stumbled upon this website by the grace of God and found the answers to my questions. My problem was that, being raised strict Protestant, I assumed that in order to debunk Christianity all you had to do was debunk the Bible. It wasn’t until I discovered Catholicism that I understood fully that the teachings of Christ were not found solely in a book, but instead carried on over many centuries in the form of tradition.

From there, basically, I began to believe again in the Gospel, but this time, I found comfort in knowing that I would be a part of the Church founded by Christ himself.

 

[RebeccaJ]

What happened to make you think, “Maybe there is a God?”

Personal circumstances came about that caused me to do a lot of self-reflection about religions and God. That self-reflection led me towards a deeper unbelief, and I was on the verge of nihilism when I said “STOP”. I saw nothing and believed nothing. But I knew that I wanted and needed something. So I embarked on a construction of Rebecca period.

At this point in my life I had made a new friendship that was built on a shared experience that was of the self-destructive kind. This friend said that this experience made him realize that he needed to return to God.

So, we started talking about God. I wanted religion and God out of me. Forever. I saw it all as a poison. I dumped all of this Anger and everything behind it out on this friend, over several months. His replies were usually something of, “God is Love”.

Over those months I came to realize that I still believed in a god. That god was not love, it was nothing but rejection and lies. I had a lot of cuss words to call that god.

When I realized I still had this belief in a god going on, I was angry with myself. I had purposefully spent a lot of time and effort at getting rid of religious belief, and there it still was.

I wanted to get myself reconciled with this belief. I tried to get rid of religion and god, to the point of nihilism. And that is not where I wanted to be. So I asked this friend what path he was on that was taking him back to this God that is Love. He said he was Roman Catholic. I decided to go to Mass. And I started reading and studying about Catholicism. (I also attended a few other denominations. And, I had previously studied Eastern philosophies.)

I struggled with everything I read, making sense of it, trying to understand. I kept going to Mass, for a year. And I tried to pray now and then. And I kept reading and studying. I still had no belief in God.

I was not sure if this Loving God was lie, like the other god I knew. I knew that if God was a lie again, that I would never believe. I had this worry about believing going on.

It was in the middle of this God broken-ness that I was at Mass, feeling more than ever like I didn’t belong there. That I was fooling myself. At that Mass the readings were about how God calls us to Him. In the homily the Priest specifically said that we all, no matter who we are, belong to God and with God.

I started sobbing uncontrollably and I left when everyone went up for Communion. I went to a park and cried for a good hour or more. I felt nothing but pain and I wanted that pain to go away, and I thought that the only way it was going away was by knowing God, but then I didn’t know how to believe in God, so I figured I was just screwed.

I spent many sleepless nights after that, feeling nothing but pain and praying that if there were a God, would He just take me from this life so that I could have some peace.

I told this Catholic friend of mine that His God was not Love. His God was nothing but pain. He suggested that I give that pain to God. So I did. It was done out of a desperate need for God to be there. But that was the beginning of my belief in a God that is Love.

Today, I have a “knowing” in my heart, and I keep following “God is Love”. I struggle still. I sometimes worry that I am deluding myself. But whenever I have those days where I struggle there is something in my heart that keeps me moving towards God.

I still have a hard time praying and not feeling very weird about it. But, our RCIA Dcn. told me it is OK to feel strange when praying. And that helped, because I figure something is still God broken, and maybe it isn’t. But, I can’t deny this “knowing” in my heart and there are days where I have nothing but a constant prayer of thanks going for it.

 

[Maxply]

Former agnostic. While dating my wife, I’d make an hour long drive. I tuned into a Christian radio station, since it was the ONLY thing on the radio that wasn’t an insult to human intelligence. Or lousy music. This had the effect of making me turn a bit toward God.

And around the same time, I was having pleasant arguments with some folks about politics, and they said my views were “Catholic” or that I believed that abortion was essentially nasty business because I was Catholic. I didn’t like that response; my views have been formed on some affinity for Aristotle. But it was this philosophical interest that led me to the Church’s views on human life, human society, etc. This was another strong element.

 

[Peregrino]

Do you think the Holy Spirit spoke to you from with in? Or just over a long period of time God slowly opened your (spiritual) eyes through many subtle “events”.

For some of us (who always believed in God) it is in an instant that our lives are changed. Like it was for Paul. But for most of us it is a slow process, like it was for the disciples.

It was definitely a slow process and had nothing to do with opening my eyes to any events. I am not really different other tha I just acknowledge the existence of another dimension to life, a spiritual dimension that I can’t justify. Heck, I am probably deluded! lol! It is a matter of pure faith and maybe a leeeetle bit of hope!

When I say that I have not doubted, that is not to imply that I have stopped questioning my beliefs. Doubt and examination are (for me) two separate issues.

 

[strngrnrth]

I was raised in an atheist family and I grew up thinking religion was nothing but circular logic and blind obedience. I stayed sometimes with a distant branch of the family that were Baptists, and their young daughter tried to convert me, but on my way home I got the full atheist diatribe and grilling from the rest of the family and I had trouble figuring out what to think. I was 10 1/2 to maybe 12. At 11 or 12 I got interested in fairies, ghosts, unicorns, magic and psychics. My best friend and I hypnotized each other to go to past lives. Disappointed in that stuff, I decided at 13 or 14 to be an atheist and please my loved ones.
I was drawn to carefree intellectuals a little older than I was. I learned a lot but I knew they were missing something. For example, most used street drugs. They were mostly atheists and some pagans, perhaps a Buddhist or two. I was attracted to Buddhism, yoga and Hinduism, whre Buddhism came from. I got more miserable and my life and thinking made less sense.
I studied magic and neopaganism. I decided I was WIccan. At first it was just straight Wicca, “harm none” and everything. Soon I couldn’t distinguish good spells from bad spells. My wish for oneness with nature was mutating. I was fascinated by darkness after a while. I got into serious trouble.
I went back to atheism though I’d had so many supernatural experiences the choice required a strict decision not to think about it much. My mind started to crack. I studied many subjects to keep my mind busy. Soon I saw evidence everywhere I looked that miracles happen for Christians, and that the Bible is full of fulfilled prophecies. I opened a Bible that was a gift and glanced in. I could gradualy take more and more of the light that glowed from the pages. Finally I opened my heart to the possibility Christianity is true.
Reading a book about Jesus, I thought,“That sounds like someone I wouldn’t have minded knowing.”
Someone said "Why not?’ Since I was alone, I startled. I asked some Christians some questions. We talked and talked. I thought it over. I decided all that was holding me back was a stubborn attitude and I surrendered. The miracles haven’t stopped since then. I could never go back. God is so merciful to want to save me!
:extrahappy: :heaven:

 

[water]

That’s nice, but I have to pay to hear his testimony?

I would like the person him/herself to share their story. It’s for the glory of God.

It is free at most of Catholic Parish - donation is $3.
Making CD’s is not cheap.

 

[Keikiolu]

I would like to hear from former Atheists how they came to be Christians.

Hunting in his solitude in the forest was hard.

He didn’t know what he was to hunt, but his stomach drove him onward.

He’d made the knife, but the knife broke quite often, and was used mostly to dig for grubs. Not a very good food.

The big food was fast, and could smell him coming, and the knife was of no use at all felling them because it could never reach that food.

The bow of his fathers was hard to pull, and required skill to use. It also needed to be “loved” so that it wouldn’t decay.

He needed the help of his people to make a good bow, and the arrows were great magic that only the old knew.

He hated needing the old, and the fathers. His father was weak, and so all fathers must be weak and unnecessary.

Grubs and carrion were his food while he agonized in his pride.

His body suffered. His mind descended into madness from what he called food. He called that food which the “unproud” ate, poison, because it was got with the tools of the hated fathers and the ugly old people.

An old cast-off bow and a single curved and worn arrow he found one day half buried while searching for his usual carrion.

His hunger pushed him beyond himself. He would use the cursed tool.

The great deer knew him. This man was prideful and harmless. Not like the other men who’s scent the great deer knew.

He asked the great deer to be his food.

The great deer knew this man well. The great deer assented.

The tears of new found plenty washed him of his pride.

This bow, this arrow, they are weak and bent, he thought. I must have a strong one, and a straight one.

I shall hunt with my people.

 

[Ginger2]

Hunting in his solitude in the forest was hard…

…I shall hunt with my people.

And that concludes today’s lesson in how to hunt down and kill a thread.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I enjoyed hearing your stories. It was an uplifting experience.

 

[Keikiolu]

And that concludes today’s lesson in how to hunt down and kill a thread.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I enjoyed hearing your stories. It was an uplifting experience.

…was I a bit “obtuse”…?

If you’d like a more prosaic version,… too bad,… ,… no do-overs…!

Best to 'yall…!

Mahalo ke Akua…!
E pili mau na pomaikai ia oe. Aloha nui.

 

[Ginger2]

Personally, I have never found people’s testimonies of God to be boring or dull.

I am always encouraged and filled with both joy and wonder.

Maybe I should start a new thread for people who have always believed in God to share their transformations.