Help an atheist? Please?

[Exalt]

Hello! I’m here because I’m an atheist who has been reading too many things I shouldn’t have been, from CS Lewis to St Aquinas to Solokowski to the Catechism, and I’m now forced to wonder about becoming Catholic.

However, my life-long stances have been empiricist, materialist, positivist, and etc. I’m a very math/science person, who could until recently only stand very difficult, math/logic-heavy analytic philosophy. I’d like to be able to intellectually justify my potential Faith, and I know there have been many throughout history who have gone down the same road. However, my upbringing was not Catholic, and so I am unfamiliar with them.

Are there any philosophically-minded folks here, who could perhaps direct me to these readings, and help me learn how these intellectual hurdles are overcome? While I’d likely convert to Catholicism before solving these dilemmas (considering they haven’t, to my knowledge, ever been solved), I’d be most grateful if I could figure this out sooner rather than later.

Thanks!

That’s interesting. I read the same authors (minus Solokowski, plus Augustine, Bonhoeffer, and a few others), and came to a completely different conclusion.

I also studied the Bible. I think that’s important to understanding how I got to where I am now. I read it, sure, but it was also important for me to understand it. There is an entire field of biblical criticism out there that really get at the heart of something called “exegesis”, which is an intensive critical analysis of the text, keeping in mind it’s historical context.

Anyway, I eventually discovered that the water-tight theology and contemporary orthodox understanding of the Bible and the Church’s past (as well as Christian apologetics as a whole) isn’t exactly the way it really is. After finally admitting to myself that the Church was wrong on one specific issue, I looked honestly at all these other positions which I had serious reservations about (but continued to believe on faith), and had to work those out as well. Eventually, I found the faith I had to be quite hollow, and now consider myself somewhere between atheism and “practical” agnosticism.

 

[cyberjacques]

Anyway, I eventually discovered that the water-tight theology and contemporary orthodox understanding of the Bible and the Church’s past (as well as Christian apologetics as a whole) isn’t exactly the way it really is. After finally admitting to myself that the Church was wrong on one specific issue, I looked honestly at all these other positions which I had serious reservations about (but continued to believe on faith), and had to work those out as well. Eventually, I found the faith I had to be quite hollow, and now consider myself somewhere between atheism and “practical” agnosticism.

And what was the specific issue?

 

[po18guy]

did he have something new to say, or is he just one of those folks who rephrases the ideas of Aquinas?

Agnos, you are the vampire of faith! You haven’t been too bad here, though.

Minerva, you have been given both a brain and a heart. You are intended to use both and are making the difficult transition from the cranium to the thorax! Those of faith are disposed to believe in the unseen, and intellect can be a barrier to such faith.

Are you baptized? If not, then strive toward baptism first. In Baptism, you will receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will lead you to all truth. However, you must be open to the supernatural world, and that can be intimidating for sola cognita types!

We’ll be praying for you, as illogical as it may seem.