I did not grow up in an extremely religious family, but as a Baptist, I was raised to believe in God. I was taught that God was the creator of the universe; that his son, Jesus Christ, died for our sins, and that the Bible was a sacred book; the infallible word of God.
Growing up, I often attended church whenever I had the chance. As adolescents, my siblings and I regularly attended Sunday school each week and Vacation Bible School during the summer. There was about a 5 year hiatus, from about the age 10 to 15, in which I never stepped foot into a church. However, my faith and beliefs remained intact and strong as ever, and after starting junior high, church going became a regular ritual once again.
During my junior year in high school, my school had a guest speaker. Classes were suspended and all the students gathered in the gymnasium to listen to this man speak. He had come to talk to us about Jesus, and the rewards we would receive by accepting him as our Lord and Savior. Being a believer that Jesus was the messiah, I found the sermon somewhat interesting, and listened intensively as he preached the gospel.
After his little sermon, he invited everyone to come and know Jesus as their Savior. He said that anyone who wanted to be saved, and to have their sins washed away, that they should repeat the prayer that he was about to say. He began praying, and I began repeating the prayer under my breath.
After he had finished, I just thought to myself, 'Cool, I’m saved', and that was about it. I didn’t feel this spirit move through me, or have this feeling of great joy come over me. I went home after school that day, feeling the same way I felt when I first attended school that morning.
I did however feel that I should try to lead a Christian life, the best that I knew how, since I was fairly new at it. I started attending church and Sunday school every weekend. I even began reading the Bible every night before going to bed, starting with Genesis.
At first I tried reading as much as I could before I got too sleepy and had to turn in. The book was so boring, it took every ounce of strength I had to stay awake long enough to get through a few verses. I was determined to read the Bible, no matter how boring it was, so I decided to dedicate myself to one chapter a night. This worked out fine for a while, until I got to a section that mentioned everyone that begat an offspring.
So and so was 800 years old and he begat what’s-his-face. What’s-his-face lived 750 years and he begat numb nuts. Numb nuts lived 890 years and he begat . . . Well you get the picture. Needless to say, there was a whole lot of chapter skipping.
Eventually I realized that this Christian thing wasn’t working out. Although I was new at being a Christian, I felt there had to be more to it than this. Where was this great feeling of euphoria that went along with it?
Upon graduating high school, I started attending a Freewill Baptist church. Not that I was looking to find religion again, but because it was abundant with the female persuasion. After attending this church for a couple years, at about the age of 21, I decided to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savoir again. I made this decision after viewing a film about Hell, and the consequences of not asking Jesus to forgive your sins. Once again, I became a devout Christian and a witness for Christ.
This phase of my life lasted approximately 1 1/2 years, at which time I started backsliding to my wicked ways once again. I have not stepped foot into a church since, except to attend weddings and funerals. I felt that Christianity just wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but still believed in the existence of God.
I have always had a fascination for science, and there was always this conflict of what science taught and what the Bible taught. Science said man evolved from a lower life form; a process that took billions of years, where as the Bible states that God created man from the dirt of the Earth in one day. Science also states that the universe is at least 12 billion years old, yet the Bible can only place the age of the universe at a mere 7,000 years. I suppose I always thought that there was some sort of logical explanation of why religion and science contradicted each other; of course now I know why.
I have always been a skeptic when it came to such issues as UFO's, Bigfoot, Psychics, The Bermuda Triangle. . . So why wasn't I a skeptic when it came to believing in an unproven God? The idea of God contradicted with everything I knew about the sciences, (i.e. Astronomy, Physics). I never questioned the existence of God, because I knew he had to exist. How did I know this? Because I was told so, and for no other reason.
I started questioning my beliefs one night, while I was out observing the cosmos with my telescope. As I looked upon the many wonders the universe had to offer, it dawned on me that they served no real purpose; they were just there. I had an epiphany if you will. If God created the Heaven and the Earth, as described in the first chapter of Genesis, and we are unique in the universe, then what was all this other stuff out there for?
Slowly, things started to fall into place. I began questioning the existence of the universe. I realized that the matter in the universe served no purpose. Not only was the universe immense, it was old. Much older than what the Bible described. I started to question other things that I observed around me; things that didn't make sense if one true benevolent god actually existed.
Why was there so much pain in suffering in the world?
Why did some people prosper in life, while others struggle?
Why are there so many different religions in the world?
Why does Christianity have so many different denominations?
Why does the Bible contradict almost everything that science has to say?
After these and other questions, I realized that everything I was brought up to believe could not be completely true. I was agnostic at first, and after further research, I apostatized my faith and became a strong atheist. That was about 15 years ago, and my life is no worse off now, than when I was a Christian. Frankly, it's actually gotten better.
It is hard for Christians to accept the fact that one of the sheep had left the fold voluntarily. Some Christians would say that I had become disappointed in my faith or that I blame God for some terrible event in my life and this is why I turned away from my religion. Well that is simply not the case. The fact is...My eyes were opened. To say that I blame God for something bad that may have happened in my life would be like a child blaming Santa Claus because he didn't get anything for Christmas. It is pointless to blame someone or something that doesn't exist.
Other Christians have said that I was never really a Christian, or I was never a "true" Christian; just because I went to church on Sundays. Well sorry; I was just as much a true Christian as Billy Graham.
funny how you say your life is much better now. You sound so absolutely miserable on here.
Despite your unbelief in God, you still have no explanation for the origin of anything. You can't simply say everything just "happened" for no reason. That is illogical. And even if you do say that, it doesn't help you with the problem of origins. For example, you have no clue as to how a cell originated. Or the genome of even the simplist creature. Or of any of the billions of compounds in the human body. Corinthian, you are not near as smart as you think you are....which is why you've ingnored my challenges over on the evolutionist board. You have no answers to even the most basic questions of life. Yet, you come across on this board as a pompous know-it-all. You are surely living your life in the dark and for you to pass yourself off as being happy is a laugh. You sound miserable, lost, frustrated and hopeless.
Pay attention Soupy, atheism does not require the person to be omniscient.I’m certain that any atheist you have met has been vastly intellectually and morally superior to you but they were not gods.Ignorance is no excuse to turn to god, I don’t use god as a convenient placeholder for ignorance.The studies do suggest that lack of intelligence/education is closely associated with religiosity which could explain your essential fundiness.What is worse is that by sticking to your creationist ideas you make sure you will never learn to think properly.
Since you mention BBT, physicists have worked out the nature of the universe to 1/ 1043 of a second after T=0.Many of the predictions of the BBT have been observed and they agree with the theory and there is no other logical explanation that takes into account all the cosmological data.
Soupy you are annoying and ignorant, those are the reasons I ignore you.You were also remarkably silent when I issued several plain and simple challenges to you.And my challenges were honest, not based on false premises. Your so called challenges are the equivalent of asking “have you stopped beating your wife?”
Finally I suggest you pay more attention when you read.The link at the bottom of the article indicating the source was the dead giveaway that I was not the author.
Nota Bene: I moved the link to the original source to the top so another semi-literate basher like you doesn’t make the same mistake.
Corrie is angry at God because of what he thinks God did to him and believes that by denying His existence God will make things right with him. I have been trying to tell Corrie that God didn't do that to him and that his problem is the work of Satin. You see, Corrie has had a problem for as long as he can remember so he believes that he was born that way. Actually Satin got to Corrie when he was very young and vulnerable. When he was old enough to know better he was also too ashamed and afraid to discuss his problem with someone who might could have helped him. So Satin was able to convince Corrie that it's alright and that he's just the way he is supposed to be.
Simple fundie fool; atheism means the person does not believe in any God.Your idiotic explanation is self-contradictory, which does not surprise.Fundies in general are incapable of intelligent, rational thought; you in particular epitomize the how dogmatic religious indoctrination cripples a person rendering them incapable of critical thinking skills. Simple-ton, shame, sexual repression, homophobia, guilt, supernatural explanations and magical beings are the things you sell.
I like Satin, it's so smooth and silky.You should try it Simple-ton.
I used to be a fence sitter until I had a couple brief out of body experiences. Now I'm a fence sitter because their was no answers. I think even when your dead their might be no answers to what is the correct belief.
I tend to think that you create your reality after your dead. A dark person with negative thoughts will attract a negative existence in the after life.
The reason you believe there were no answers is because you were fence sitter. Get off the fence and place your feet on solid ground and in your next OBE, which may last quite a bit longer, you're going to have all the answers you need. I, too, have had an OBE and while it didn't give me ALL the anwers it gave me enough. Perhaps I was on the right side of the fence.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 6, 2007) − Having an out-of-body experience may seem far-fetched to some, but for those with arousal system disturbances in their brains, it may not be a far off idea that they could sense they were really outside their own body watching themselves. In previous studies of more than 13,000 Europeans, almost 6 percent said they have had such an out-of-body experience.
Dr. Kevin Nelson and a research team at the University of Kentucky have studied the link between out-of-body experiences, the sleep-wake transition and near death experiences, and published their findings today in the March 6 issue of the journal Neurology in their case report, "Out-of-body experience and arousal."
The results are intriguing, and show that some people's brains already may be predisposed to these sorts of experiences. They found that an out-of-body experience is statistically as likely to occur during a near death experience as it is to occur during the transition between wakefulness and sleep. Nelson suggests that phenomena in the brain's arousal system, which regulates different states of consciousness including REM sleep and wakefulness, may be the cause for these types of out-of-body displays.
"We found it surprising that out-of-body experience with sleep transition seemed very much like out-of-body experience during near death," Nelson said.
For their study, the team conducted structured interviews with 55 people who have had a near death experience. They found those who had an out-of-body experience along with near death were more likely to also have had some sort of REM intrusion in their lifetime, where instead of passing directly between the REM sleep state and wakefulness, the brain switch blends these states into one another.
To survey out-of-body experiences that occurred during sleep transition, patients were asked, "Just before falling asleep or just after awakening, have you had the sense that you are outside of your body and watching yourself?" A similar question was posed to survey out-of-body experiences during near death, which asked subjects if during their experience they had "clearly left the body and existed outside it."
Because the arousal system controls or influences sleep-wake states, alertness and attention, Nelson and the research team questioned whether people with near death experiences may already have an arousal system predisposed to allowing intrusion of REM sleep elements during the transition between wakefulness and sleep.
Sleep paralysis is a common form of REM intrusion, which can cause a condition of temporary paralysis along with visual or auditory hallucinations immediately after waking up or before falling asleep due to an ill-timed disconnection between the brain and the body. Although it was once considered very rare, about 25 percent of all people have probably experienced sleep paralysis sometime during their life.
During a medical crisis, Nelson said muscle paralysis combined with an out-of-body experience could show many of the same prominent features of a near death experience. Near death experiences are responses to a life-threatening crisis, and are characterized by a combination of disassociation from the physical body, euphoria and transcendental or mystical elements.
This investigation supports the notion of out-of-body experiences as an expression of arousal in near death experiences and sleep paralysis. Almost all of the near death subjects having sleep paralysis, 96 percent, also had an out-of-body experience either during sleep transition or near death.
"The strong association of sleep paralysis with out-of-body experiences in the near death experience subject is curious and unexplained," Nelson said. "However, persons with near death experiences appear to have an arousal system predisposed to both REM intrusion and out-of-body experiences."
i have experienced sleep paralysis c, basically due to eating too much just before sleeping.
i found the 'escape' whilst in this semi-sleep state. i was pinned down on my back unable to move.it was a great struggle to turn on my side,pretty frightening.
the last time it happened i simply lifted my knee as one as does when putting patients in a recovery position after first-aid treatment. since that time i have not suffered sleep paralysis thank goodness.
the nde has many connotations, dreams, adrenaline when under anaesthesics,alcahol, endorphins,etc.etc.
I've heard the hypothesis before. No scientific proof when you examine closely.
The party line atheists say, "you are paralyzed so you won't move around and hurt yourself during dreams". Spiritualists say, "you are disconnected from your body so you can't move it.
So for a scientific experiment I learned to move my energy body away from my physical one when in the paralyzed state and it worked! Felt like I was breaking out of a weak magnetic field. When I was out it was almost the same as the physical except the rules of solids and gravity etc could be bent.
I am not an atheist. It doesn't really matter what I believe, however, for sake of my statement here. I don't think I'll be visiting this site again. I think the disrespect and insults that fly around these posts from both sides is disgusting. Must everyone always try to convince someone else of their side of the "argument"? Who cares what you believe? Who cares what I believe? Who cares what "scientists" believe? I don't see an honest, respectful exchange of ideas here. This is proseletyzing from both sides. If you're sure of your beliefs, what do you care what anyone says? And if you do, why do you have to be insulting? (By "you," of course I'm using the generic "you.") My father, who I loved more than life itself, was a lifelong, staunch atheist, very science-oriented, genius IQ, read physics textbooks for fun. I wonder where I came from. I didn't get anything of him except his bizarre feet. I believe in God, my interests lie more in history and English. My IQ is nowhere near genius. The point is, we were completely different. I didn't care what he believed; he didn't care what I believed. We often had discussions on the subject and agreed to disagree. I believe if you're a decent person, you're in, no matter what your beliefs. I have very good reasons for my beliefs which I won't elaborate on because it doesn't matter. Nonbelievers will explain away and believers will believe. You can be an upstanding, moral human whether you think toilet paper is your God or that there is no God. I believe there are threads of truth running through spirituality (I don't use the word "religion" because that is manmade) and Science that are inextricably intertwined and that they are absolutely not mutually exclusive.
Why can't we all be a little kinder to each other and just have a reasonable discourse instead of flinging you-know-what?
By the way, my father once had an OBE. He had no doubt that this is what it was, but it didn't change his mind and it had no impact on his life. He believed that things like that could happen, but they did not mean that there was anything "out there" metaphysical. I thought that was kind of interesting.
Anytime my views differ from yours, naturally I'm being judgemental. If I express those views it's hate speech. Apparently, like your 'good buddy' Corrie, you came here looking for support for your agenda. You won't get that support from me. I call 'em like I see 'em and tell it like it is.
I believe in God and I don't think that the original poster sounds miserable. Your post sounds extremely ignorant. Just because someone doesn't believe as you do, doesn't give you the right to attack them.
This seems to be a good case of the "clay" telling the "Potter" what He should do or be like. In simplier terms it is called, "pride" because God doesn't owe you, me or her an explanation of what He does since He wrote the rules, He can do whatever He wants!!!
Following some person in a prayer doesn't save you or thinking that when you are saved, everything is going to be all roses from here on and you will have all the answers to everything. You are saved when you realize that you are a lost sinner deserving of seperation of God and hell when you die and in need of a Saviour. If you don't realize you are lost in your sins and are sorry for them and willing to turn from them, you can't be saved. (Jesus said, "unless ye repent, ye shall all perish.") Salvation comes from a contrite and humble heart, not someone full of pride.
I wonder if this person ever read and considered these three verses in there bible?
Isa. 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD"
Pro 16:18 "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall"
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him(God): for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him".
How do we get faith? Rom 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
If this person truly did come to Jesus and ask to be saved, that is God's department because knows the heart. Eph 2:8-9,"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
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