I found an interesting thread on another forum

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Former atheist/agnostic converts I can think of:

John C. Wright (Sci-fi author - His conversion story is pretty impressive)
Peter Van Inwagen (May be misspelling the name. Currently a well-known philosopher over at Notre Dame.)
CS Lewis (Naturally)
Francis S. Collins

There’s plenty of atheist converts. On these forums, probably fewer in number. I would actually love to get into a debate with atheists about why they feel the need to proselytize, and on what grounds they do so.

As for the original post - I think it sums up why atheism, when taken seriously and grounded in culture, inevitably kills. Not always actively and aggressively, but passively - through apathy, focus on self, and internal degradation. But at least the poster was honest.
 
Nullasalus said:
Former atheist/agnostic converts I can think of:

John C. Wright (Sci-fi author - His conversion story is pretty impressive)
Peter Van Inwagen (May be misspelling the name. Currently a well-known philosopher over at Notre Dame.)
CS Lewis (Naturally)
Francis S. Collins
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I always recommend CS Lewis’ autobiography “Surprised by Truth” to non-believers because he travelled a path that is so common today, through a world of pagan myth, to find the Christian God.
 
ribozyme said:
From:
theud.com/pokecommunity/showthread.php?t=74338&page=2

Any comments, I think that guy is extremely insightful for a fourteen year old.

He got it right on the mark, and I agree with him completely.
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I would say that for a fourteen year old, he is extremely arrogant.

Anime (things like DragonBallZ, Akira) are very attractive to young male teenagers. I was there 3-5 years ago myself. They proclaim a power that can be harnessed and controlled, a mystery force that one can get in touch with.

Thankfully I never took it too seriously, but his posting about God, for me, embodies the spirit that Anime proclaims.

A power without God. Actions without consequences. Life is what you make of it.

He has a long time to learn I suppose.
 
Atreyu said:
I suppose I would qualify as a convert from agnosticism, even though I am a Cradle Catholic. I spent years away from the Church, thinking there probably was a God but not doing anything about it. Does that count as agnosticism? I don’t know. Anyway if you would like a debate, you’re more than welcome to tackle my previous post in this thread.
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Well, why were you an agnostic, my story can be found here:

iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=163978

Yes, Joyce does not believe in anything that is supernatural. I am willing to bet that Joyce’s religion is the same as the religion of Ash Ketchum.
 
Magicsilence said:
I would say that for a fourteen year old, he is extremely arrogant.

Anime (things like DragonBallZ, Akira) are very attractive to young male teenagers. I was there 3-5 years ago myself. They proclaim a power that can be harnessed and controlled, a mystery force that one can get in touch with.

Thankfully I never took it too seriously, but his posting about God, for me, embodies the spirit that Anime proclaims.

A power without God. Actions without consequences. Life is what you make of it.

He has a long time to learn I suppose.
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Fascinating analysis…

Surprising, I think it is correct. Here is the theme song for the first season of Pokémon. You should always add the “é” in “Pokémon”.
I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was.
To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause…
I will travel across the land, searching far and wide,
Each Pokémon to understand, the power that’s inside.
Pokémon…gotta catch 'em all!!
It’s you and me…
I know it’s my destiny
Pokémon…Oh…you’re my best friend,
in a world we must defend.
Pokémon…Gotta catch 'em all!!
A heart so true–Our courage will pull us through!
You teach me and I’ll teach you!
Pokémon!
Gotta Catch 'Em All!
Gotta Catch 'Em All!
POKE-KE-MON!
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In a way, it is a substitute for God, but unlike God it is much more tangible.

Also, the show promotes atheism. Ash Ketchum became an excellent Pokémon trainer and he never prayed, attended a church service, receive sacraments, or do anything that is religion. Also, he was a moral person in the show. It shows that God is not necessary in someone life as shown in the case of Ash Ketchum.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is another great show too. It also proclaim a power that one can harness and control as expressed in the power of the Millenium Items.
 
One of the best-known atheist converts is Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta a Cruce). She was born Jewish, was an atheist for almost 20 years, was baptized into the Catholic faith and then, of course, became a martyr and a saint:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Stein
 
ribozyme said:
Fascinating analysis…

Surprising, I think it is correct. Here is the theme song for the first season of Pokémon. You should always add the “é” in “Pokémon”.

In a way, it is a substitute for God, but unlike God it is much more tangible.

Also, the show promotes atheism. Ash Ketchum became an excellent Pokémon trainer and he never prayed, attended a church service, receive sacraments, or do anything that is religion. Also, he was a moral person in the show. It shows that God is not necessary in someone life as shown in the case of Ash Ketchum.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is another great show too. It also proclaim a power that one can harness and control as expressed in the power of the Millenium Items.
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Well this is intersting. I know you have no faith in Scripture but appear get great enlightenment in a kids cartoon show?

I hate to break this to you but Yu-Gi-Oh is not real.🙂
 
a god? if there is one it’s nothing to do with me
a faith? only in myself
a religion? i don’t need, want or have one
a destiny? life is the present, memories are the past, mysteries are the future
a reason? a star explodes, the pieces form planets and new stars, which by chance could grow life, and our star (the sun) will die someday…
and me? i’m just an entity of carbon based life, a mere fruit of nature

though this is all in my opinion, science has proven the stars exploding part. i won’t argue or say what i believe is better, or even if the ‘proven fact’ part is correct

Any comments, I think that guy is extremely insightful for a fourteen year old.

He got it right on the mark, and I agree with him completely.

How empty. How sad. And how completely untrue.
 
ribozyme said:
From:
theud.com/pokecommunity/showthread.php?t=74338&page=2Any comments, I think that guy is extremely insightful for a fourteen year old.

He got it right on the mark, and I agree with him completely.
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Like it or not, he still have a “god” to respect: THE LAW. The judges (The book of Judges) in the Old Testament were called “gods” (Psa 82).

If not, he can kill all human beings that he would like, and according to his ethics it will not be a sin for him, but only if he do not have problems with his conscience. However, we will put this son of a bitch in jail. 🙂

And I quote:

Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these, having not the law, are a law to themselves.
Rom 2:15 Who shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them: and their thoughts between themselves accusing or also defending one another,
Rom 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
 
My Pilgrimage from Atheism to Theism
An Exclusive Interview with Former British Atheist Professor Antony Flew :
vidhyarthi.net/Flew.htm
*“Prof. Antony Flew, 81 years old, is a legendary British philosopher and atheist and has been an icon and champion for unbelievers for decades. His change of mind is significant news, not only about his personal journey, but also about the persuasive power of the arguments modern theists have been using to challenge atheistic naturalism.” *
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ribozyme said:
Huh? How is what he is saying completely untrue?
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This is a Catholic message board. That the Catholics here believe the statements of an atheist to be untrue should not really be a surprise to you.
 
Saint_Augustin said:
My Pilgrimage from Atheism to Theism
An Exclusive Interview with Former British Atheist Professor Antony Flew :
vidhyarthi.net/Flew.htm
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Interesting…
HABERMAS: In God and Philosophy, and in many other places in our discussions, too, it seems that your primary motivation for rejecting theistic arguments used to be the problem of evil. In terms of your new belief in God, how do you now conceptualise God’s relationship to the reality of evil in the world?
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FLEW: Well, absent revelation, why should we perceive anything as objectively evil? The problem of evil is a problem only for Christians. For Muslims everything which human beings perceive as evil, just as much as everything we perceive as good, has to be obediently accepted as produced by the will of Allah. I suppose that the moment when, as a schoolboy of fifteen years, it first appeared to me that the thesis that the universe was created and is sustained by a Being of infinite power and goodness is flatly incompatible with the occurrence of massive undeniable and undenied evils in that universe, was the first step towards my future career as a philosopher! It was, of course, very much later that I learned of the philosophical identification of goodness with existence!
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HABERMAS: In your view, then, God hasn’t done anything about evil.
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FLEW: No, not at all, other than producing a lot of it.
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Well, Flew doesn’t think that God has anything to do with him.

May I remind you:
a god? if there is one it’s nothing to do with me
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well if there is no God then …

Why should this bag of mostly water (with a some interesting chemical reactions going on inside) interact with some other bag of mostly water (with similar but not identical reactions going on inside) in any way?
 
ribozyme said:
Interesting…

Well, Flew doesn’t think that God has anything to do with him.

May I remind you:
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Yes, you are correct about Flew in that regard. I have read a couple of his papers on the problem of evil. I think that Alvin Plantinga’s works in response to Flew are far more persuasive. I have an abridged version of one of Plantinga’s papers resolving the problem of evil laying around somewhere. If you are interested, I’ll scan it in and PM it to you.
 
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