Galan Ashta
Member
Greetings. This is my first post and it's an honor to be here on this forum. My screen name is Galan. I'm from Virginia and I've lived there for my entire life. I come from a great family. My parents were wonderful. I have two older sisters and a younger brother. In my home, there was a mix of Christianity. Both my parents came from Christian backgrounds. My mother was mostly protestant. My father was raised Catholic. We didn't go to church very often and religion was not really discussed all that much. I was never pressured to be part of a religion and neither were any of my siblings. It was just something that we didn't talk about.
Then when I was in middle school and early high school, I started taking religion seriously. I went to church more often. I found myself engaged more in being a Christian. I tried learning as much as I could. I was around relatives who understood the religion better. For a time I even wore this gold cross that I NEVER took off except to shower. I didn't really have a solid grasp of the bible or the message of Jesus. I was mostly focused on the concept of god, eternity, heaven, hell, and the bigger picture. Then when I started looking into the details, things began to change.
Towards the end of high school I started questioning not just Christianity, but all religions. Some of it came from when I studied different religions in high school. I had an English and History class where we actually read passages from the bible, the Quran, the Maharbarta, and the Rig Vedas. Then I learned about how many denominations there were in Christianity. I was overwhelmed by so many different messages, some of which completely conflicted with one another. For a time I was so overwhelmed that I just didn't think about it. But as time went on, I kept researching even more. Eventually, when I started looking into the bible more closely and the history behind it, I came to openly doubt not just Christianity but every organized religion in the history of mankind.
The more I learned about the world and the more I learned how to think and reason, the more I realized that the very concept of god just didn't make sense anymore. I still appreciated the philosophical component. I think Jesus Christ was a great teacher and laid down some of the basic foundations for Western Civilization. However, I don't consider him more holy than Plato anymore. The whole supernatural element just didn't fit for me. The idea that there were these forces that we didn't understand, but just had to assume on faith did not work. It seemed to go against everything I knew and everything mankind knew. The idea of just assuming things without reason or evidence just never fit. So in the end I became agnostic/atheist. I use the two interchangeably because it basically asserts the same principle for me. I do not believe in a supernatural deity.
In addition I became increasingly turned off by organized religion when I saw stories about bigotry and intolerance in the name of religion. The way women are treated in the Islamic world and the way homosexuals are treated in the Christian world really turned me off. It seemed completely against the idea of compassion and love, which I always believed to be the core of Jesus's teachings. It led me to wonder if people really understood who Jesus even was. When I read over the gospels, I get conflicting messages and when I look at them historically I find it difficult because Jesus didn't write anything down. We're relying on people who only claimed they knew and we can't verify it. I really didn't understand.
Then there was one other concept that truly confounded me. It has to do with infinite punishment for only finite crimes. With a Catholic background, I learned that god would punish people with infinite torment in hell for mere finite crimes. Yet at the same time this god was supposed to be loving. I honestly could never reconcile that. I tried. At one point I believed that every human being, even those not Christian, would accept most everybody and leave that punishment for the truly evil human beings. But it still didn't make sense because it conflicted with the very way this god was described.
That being said, I did not want to distance myself from Christianity and religion. I feel the moment that people start distancing themselves from something, they have more reasons to fear it. I truly want to understand religion and Christianity. I've met with so many other atheists who seem to only know what's wrong with religion. I don't meet many who are keen on truly understanding it and I think that's a problem. We all fear what we don't understand and if non-believers and believers simply don't understand each other, then they will never stop fearing each other.
So I've taken it upon myself to actively talk with Christians. I prefer not to engage with atheists because I already share their beliefs. There's nothing we really need to talk about. Most people I come across only associate with those that share their beliefs and I think that's a problem. If you don't put yourself around those that are different you can never challenge yourself. You can never relate to your fellow man or understand those who are different. That's my reason for being here. I want to understand and I look forward to talking to those who are willing to listen.
Then when I was in middle school and early high school, I started taking religion seriously. I went to church more often. I found myself engaged more in being a Christian. I tried learning as much as I could. I was around relatives who understood the religion better. For a time I even wore this gold cross that I NEVER took off except to shower. I didn't really have a solid grasp of the bible or the message of Jesus. I was mostly focused on the concept of god, eternity, heaven, hell, and the bigger picture. Then when I started looking into the details, things began to change.
Towards the end of high school I started questioning not just Christianity, but all religions. Some of it came from when I studied different religions in high school. I had an English and History class where we actually read passages from the bible, the Quran, the Maharbarta, and the Rig Vedas. Then I learned about how many denominations there were in Christianity. I was overwhelmed by so many different messages, some of which completely conflicted with one another. For a time I was so overwhelmed that I just didn't think about it. But as time went on, I kept researching even more. Eventually, when I started looking into the bible more closely and the history behind it, I came to openly doubt not just Christianity but every organized religion in the history of mankind.
The more I learned about the world and the more I learned how to think and reason, the more I realized that the very concept of god just didn't make sense anymore. I still appreciated the philosophical component. I think Jesus Christ was a great teacher and laid down some of the basic foundations for Western Civilization. However, I don't consider him more holy than Plato anymore. The whole supernatural element just didn't fit for me. The idea that there were these forces that we didn't understand, but just had to assume on faith did not work. It seemed to go against everything I knew and everything mankind knew. The idea of just assuming things without reason or evidence just never fit. So in the end I became agnostic/atheist. I use the two interchangeably because it basically asserts the same principle for me. I do not believe in a supernatural deity.
In addition I became increasingly turned off by organized religion when I saw stories about bigotry and intolerance in the name of religion. The way women are treated in the Islamic world and the way homosexuals are treated in the Christian world really turned me off. It seemed completely against the idea of compassion and love, which I always believed to be the core of Jesus's teachings. It led me to wonder if people really understood who Jesus even was. When I read over the gospels, I get conflicting messages and when I look at them historically I find it difficult because Jesus didn't write anything down. We're relying on people who only claimed they knew and we can't verify it. I really didn't understand.
Then there was one other concept that truly confounded me. It has to do with infinite punishment for only finite crimes. With a Catholic background, I learned that god would punish people with infinite torment in hell for mere finite crimes. Yet at the same time this god was supposed to be loving. I honestly could never reconcile that. I tried. At one point I believed that every human being, even those not Christian, would accept most everybody and leave that punishment for the truly evil human beings. But it still didn't make sense because it conflicted with the very way this god was described.
That being said, I did not want to distance myself from Christianity and religion. I feel the moment that people start distancing themselves from something, they have more reasons to fear it. I truly want to understand religion and Christianity. I've met with so many other atheists who seem to only know what's wrong with religion. I don't meet many who are keen on truly understanding it and I think that's a problem. We all fear what we don't understand and if non-believers and believers simply don't understand each other, then they will never stop fearing each other.
So I've taken it upon myself to actively talk with Christians. I prefer not to engage with atheists because I already share their beliefs. There's nothing we really need to talk about. Most people I come across only associate with those that share their beliefs and I think that's a problem. If you don't put yourself around those that are different you can never challenge yourself. You can never relate to your fellow man or understand those who are different. That's my reason for being here. I want to understand and I look forward to talking to those who are willing to listen.
