Thanks for the greeting, Gabbylittleangel and vic C.
Gabbylittleangel said:
We will all be eager to hear both why you considered yourself to be an evangelical Christian, and why you now consider yourself to be an atheist.
There are many who believe that they are Christian just because they grew up in a Christian home, but never took that leap of faith and became born again; asking Jesus to be Lord of their life.
It has been my experience that there are two denominations among atheist. (Meaning "without God".)
The first, those who do not believe that God exist at all.
The second, those who know God exist, know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and for whatever reason want Him to leave them alone. Usually that happens when the atheist thinks God should have done something differently, or is mad at Him for some reason.
Which category would you best fit in?
I'm of the first sort; I don't believe that God exists.
It's curious, atheists of the first type would
not consider the second type to be atheists. Usually we, those of the first type, define atheism as only "disbelief in God" (theism = belief in God, atheism = disbelief in God.) I think your definition, Gabbylittleangel, is a much older usage. Apparently, early Christians where considered atheists by some Romans because Christians wouldn't worship state gods. They were without god/gods, in this case the Roman deities. With this usage, i.e. without god, an atheist could also be anyone who is not a Christian. I always use atheist in the more narrow sense, i.e. disbelief in God. But enough of my pedantry.
As for me being an evangelical Christian, I attended an Evangelical Free Church, two churchs affiliated with a local EFC congregation, and two Southern Baptist churches, and I held to the
EFC's statement of faith. I was brought to faith in Jesus by my father when I was seven. My father used the
Navigators' "Bridge Illustration." to explain salvation to me.
My conversion to atheism was a long process, it took around four years. It is hard to summarize, but I'll try to keep it short.
I'm an intellectual person; I have a post graduate degree in mathematics, write computer software for a living, and read philosophy, science, and history books in my spare time. (I say this not to boast, but to explain.) I came to the conclusion, mostly through the writings of Francis Schaeffer, that God was a rational being, that God had made me a rational being, that reason and intellect were to be embraced and not shunned, and that I could discover God largely through reason, or at least the things of God would be consistent with reason. I didn't think everyone should approach God this way, but I believed that God had made me more of a thinker than a feeler (or "intuiter" if you wish) for a reason.
So, I started to reason out my faith, and I failed. The more I learned, the more Christianity didn't make sense to me. I eventually became a naturalist, i.e. I don't believe in the supernatural, and believe that matter, energy, space-time, and the multiverse (if there is such a thing) is all there is. Now, I'd be the first to admit, that maybe rationalism always leads, if you follow where reason takes you, to doubt and then to disbelief. After all, how does one understand the Trinity with reason? Even so, I'm still a rationalist/empiricist.
I hope this answers your questions, Gabbylittleangel.
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