First I’m going to get a few things that are NOT the reasons.
1- I don’t hate God. I don’t believe in any god, and haven’t for 35 years now. I can’t hate him. I DO have issues with his fan club, but that isn’t the same thing
2- I didn’t want to live a sinful lifestyle. I was only 10 years old when I figured it out. I didn’t even know what a sinful lifestyle was.
3- It’s not that I’d have to change my life now. I’m married and live closer to what the Bible says than most Christians. Other than I’d lose some free time on Sunday and I’d have to stop using most of my jokes, I wouldn’t have to change anything.
So now the story.
I seem to be a bit different than a lot of other atheists in one thing. I went from totally believing and praying everyday, to totally not believing in about a week. Most seem to agonize over it for quite awhile. I didn’t have that. I did have a period of time where I wanted to be wrong, but I never seriously thought that I was.
For background, my parents were both pretty religious. But they were also both college educated and valued science. They took me to museums and zoos and I watched a lot of PBS. I knew there was no doubt the Universe was very old, and that evolution happened. But they always took the approach that it wasn’t a literal day, and other than that the story fit pretty well.
That seemed reasonable to me until I was in Sunday School the one week and they started writing the things Genesis actually said on the chalk board.
Day 1- light, the Earth and the Universe – OK
Day 2- Water. Now they started talking about how the water above was divided from the water below. That seemed wrong, but this one I could let go.
Day 3- Plants. I don’t know if this was something I questioned right away or not, but I know I did in the days right after. Plants evolved the same time as animals and I knew that.
Day 4- The Sun, Moon, and stars – I remember being told this like it was yesterday. It was the stupidest thing I ever heard. First off, the Sun was way older than plants not to mention that the plants NEED the Sun to live. Second, the light was on day one with the Earth. That made sense in that the Sun formed the same time. But now they are saying that the main source of light was after the plants….wow.
I didn’t really pay much more attention. This was so breathtakingly stupid that the Bible couldn’t possibly say that. The teacher is just wrong.
That worked until I got home. I had a Bible, so I opened up. I found out that it really did say that. That was shocking to me, because it clearly meant that this book didn’t know how we got here….which means that it wasn’t inspired by God. I pretty much knew right then that I wasn’t a Christian.
Like I said, it happened really fast. I didn’t know another atheist. I wasn’t talked into it by anyone. I didn’t even know what the word for it was. I just knew that the Bible had it fundamentally wrong. That first week, I thought about it a lot. I couldn’t come up with a reason to believe in any god at this point. The Universe seemed to have natural explanations for the big things, and any details would fill in eventually. Introducing magic into the mix didn’t seem like it made sense.
And it still doesn’t.
Interesting take on it but the one thing you failed to realized is since God is God, why not just create everything in 7 days? You assumed that your parents explanation defined Christianity and it was either that or evolution but that is where you make you huge mistake. God could’ve created the plants fully grown and I’m sure they could survive on water for a day, in fact the plants underwater or in caves don’t have sunlight. Your parents 7 day explanation was simply wrong for the reason that evolutionists use fossils to date the rocks and rocks to date the fossils which is circular thinking. What surprises me is that you managed to out think your parents’ flawed explanation but go no further as to what else could be true and that mistake is fatal and if you don’t look into it, I assure you that it will cost you an eternity. If you have any questions which you think could disprove God, then just email me at stephenwalker955@gmail.com and I would be happy to answer them.
This is pretty simple….twisting things around to make it possible doesn’t equal evidence for it. The fact is the Bible got it wrong. Jesus came along and talked about Adam like he was a real person….so he didn’t know that it was wrong.
My parents are Christians, but they are educated and know that evolution happened. They take the position that a day is longer and that allows it to fit. The thing that got me was the order was all screwed up.
And geology doesn’t work the way you claim at all. There are at least 20 different dating methods, not to mention a geologic column that tells the story. Everything has consistently agreed on the time line. Agreement is confirmation, not a circular argument.
I’m not twisting it around. I’m taking it at face value and saying it was simply 7 days which makes sense and those 20 dating methods only shows that evolution is not consistent and the Bible is. The real twisting came along when people tried to say 7 days are not really 7 days. Are you kidding me, why not just say a long time if you don’t know how long a day is then theres no point in saying there was 7 of them seriously.
1- Dating methods are consistent. They can also hit known age samples in blind tests every time. The first Noble Prize on the subject was in 1956 for showing that C14 was able to hit samples from Egyptian tombs (that have the date right on the door) consistently. The method has been refined and is much more accurate now.
2- The age of the Solar System uses other methods. The most important was U-Pb, but it has been dated at least 12 ways that I know of. I have a Chemistry degree and can explain how they all work. But the thing is they all hit within a few percent.
3- Do you really believe that the plants were around longer than the Sun Moon and stars? That’s what it says…and that is absolutely asinine.
4- There are other indications of age besides just the dating methods. You can tell the relative age of a star by its spectrum. We can tell the Sun is about half way through it’s hydrogen. That means you can do the math on how much fusion it is producing, and how fast it is converting it and take that backwards. This gets a rough date that is also consistent with the radiological methods.
5- The first way the we knew the Earth was very old was from geology. There is a pattern of layering that is easy to tell took a long time. The fossils that are in the layers become less like modern life the deeper you go. You won’t find anything even remotely modern in a Cambrian layer for example. Simple fish are as complex as it gets. What you will find is tens of thousands of animals and plants that aren’t around now. But no sharks or mammals.
6- Not only does it take light time to get here from distant galaxies, 13 billion years in many cases, but the relative amounts of elements are also dramatically different in older galaxies. Again this is easily determined by the spectrum. There is A LOT more hydrogen and helium in the old galaxies, and negligible amounts of heavier elements like carbon. This is exactly what the Big Bang said we would see, and it’s only been about 20 years we have had the technology to look at it.
You being an uneducated moron really doesn’t mean you have a point. You don’t have a clue how any of this works, while you are sitting there using the fruits of it. Physics is physics. That processor in your computer wouldn’t work if we were unable to tell something simple like rather the Universe is 6000 years old, or 13.5 billion. We wouldn’t be able to do the calculations to design it, we wouldn’t be able to make the lasers to etch the pathways, we wouldn’t be able to refine the silicone.
Stop being a moron. The Bible says a lot of totally asinine things. Just look at the rest of the site.
If you’re going to talk about “science” then talk about real science, for example this scientific law. 1. Science has proven that dead matter cannot generate life; life can only come from preexisting life and just like you said, “twisting things around to make it possible doesn’t equal evidence for it” well guess what? Evolution claims we evolved and although that seems to fit fit perfectly, we have never witnessed an actual evolution of an animal, only minor changes for the advantage of their environment.
Next, do you honestly believe that great scientists like Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and Robert Boyle, brilliant people who saw and understand the universe like no other human, would put their trust in God? Do you really think you’re smarter than them? We are just the right distance from the sun not to burn up and just the right distance to not freeze, we’re made up of intricate atoms and just like the atom, we know its there because its LOGICAL. All scientists believe in the atom yet we cannot even see it. The evidence is right in front of your face, if you don’t believe its not because of a lack of evidence, its because you don’t want to believe and no amount of evidence can make you believe.
He seems confused as to what he wants to ask.
Either you are looking for the proper exegesis on Genesis, or looking for evidence for it. You seem to have attacked the exegesis and when given a response quickly jumped to demanding evidence for it.
It is like, you asked someone to explain to you how X verse theoretically works out. Then when explained, you made it seem like your original question was give me evidence that X exists.
You actually have to ask the right questions to get the right answer.
Secondly “what the Bible says than most Christians. Other than I’d lose some free time on Sunday and I’d have to stop using most of my jokes, I wouldn’t have to change anything.”
It would be nice if you could actually give a quick list as to what you even think biblical lifestyle is.
Aside from that, it seems you have not even taken the first steps to even asking what the bible is and simply jumped to the assumption that claims made by religious people are accurate “its the word of God” and therefore should be a perfect rulebook text (what the quraan claims for itself)
a good place to start is to learn the definitions (google it) of exegesis and hermeneutics.
What I’m saying isn’t that tough….this page has been read more than 500 times and you seem to be the first confused by it. If the Bible doesn’t know how we got here, it can’t possibly know where we are going. The Bible beyond asinine, and if you want to know why just click on the “Stupid Bible Stories” category. I’m about half way thorough what I’ve thought of.
Thing is you’ll find that most atheists have read it as part of leaving Christianity. We always almost universally tell people on the edge that the first thing they should do is read it. I mean there is a talking snake right off. That and a perfect god, who manages to create imperfect humans, and then blames us for his screwup.
Trust me, I want it read. I wish that every Christian out there would read it instead of the 10% that most polls say. There would be fewer of you.
So basically you think nothing can exist outside what you can comprehend? (Same people who complain about God not doing something also think that God shouldn’t and couldn’t do something else, and then complain about statements like all powerful and all knowing)
God is spirit, not bound by physical limitations.
If you tell the person who created the first computer that you had 5 TB storage on your laptop computer, he would probably have the same reaction as you.
And again, I hope you don’t ignore the exegesis and hermeneutics. You’re an educated person so you should already know that before you study the advanced stuff, you actually have to study the basics. In this case, you need to study literature, exegesis and hermeneutics. I’m just assuming you ignored that part from previous post since you didn’t comment on it. Reading an english text is one thing, but studying the exegesis and hermeneutics, that is different.
Nope. I think that without evidence you are a sucker to believe in something.
And the Bible is asinine.
Yeah….you don’t have a clue. You so much don’t have a clue that it’s insane
We have observed evolution to the point that the ends can’t interbreed. There are several dozen examples, from mosquitoes that live in the London subway, to flowers that were imported to North America. Just saying we don’t know of examples is either uninformed or more likely flat out lying about it.
Here’s what modern scientists think: http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/news/file002.html To say that it’s overwhelming is an understatement. They aren’t with you and saying they are just shows desperation. And throw out that crap about evolution that you just did, you are going to be in the tenths of a percentage point.
Only 700 out of 480,000 U.S. earth and life scientists gave credence to creationism in 1987, representing about 0.146% of relevant scientists Source: Martz, Larry & Ann McDaniel (1987-06-29), “Keeping God Out of Class (Washington and bureau reports)”, Newsweek (Newsweek Inc.) CIX (26): 22-23, ISSN 0028-9604
FYI: Newton was brilliant, but he was a nut. You really want him with you? He spent more time on alchemy than he did real science.
Hi! I ended up here because I followed a link you posted on Y!A. I’ve enjoyed reading your humorous responses, and ordinarily I’d just laugh and appreciate at a distance without going so far as to stalk you on your blog… but I had a question for you that I just don’t have anyone else to ask. So I hope you don’t mind. I don’t know very many atheists.
Your stance on religion is quite clear, and you’ve said here that you are also a political conservative. Here’s my question: how do you feel about the Conservative movement’s stance on atheism? (For example, George H. W. Bush saying, “No, I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God. “) How do you overcome the religious views of the Conservative movement enough to side with them? I’m just curious. (I’m asking because as an atheist, I feel alienated by the Conservative movement to the point that I personally can’t side with it. I’m wondering how other atheists overcome this aversion.) Thanks for your time!
Most conservatives aren’t really all that religious. It’s blown way out of proportion by people on the other side. Sure you get the occasional ones who are. But let’s just take Newt as an example. He has quite the reputation for things that are certainly not in line with any religion. Reagan was divorced as well. Let’s face it, I go to Tea Part events at times. The topic of religion just doesn’t come up. They want a smaller government and more freedom which is what I want.
It’s funny that the other side tries to use it to attack conservative candidates. Newt actually was helped by it in South Carolina. The voter’s there didn’t like being told what to think about him, and they turned on the press for doing it.
But even so, say they are all religious. Just because they are wrong about religion doesn’t make them wrong about other things and it doesn’t mean they won’t separate their religion from the law.
My thing is that I’m an unrepentant capitalist with some serious libertarian leanings. Capitalism is what makes everyone richer. In the US our poor have cell phones and TVs, and rarely worry about eating. Capitalism is what got us there. $34.000 a year puts you in the top 7% globally…so contrary to what the idiotic Occupy crowd thinks we are mostly 1% people. That’s because of capitalism. Capitalism helps everyone because it encourages the creation of wealth. Wealth isn’t fixed pie that gets divided up. You can make more pie and more wealth. There more there is, the more it can go around.
Capitalism doesn’t drag the poor down, it pulls EVERYONE up.
If you look at the countries that are older and have been socialistic for a long time, they are poor. The problem with socialism is simple, when you spend someone else’s money they quit creating wealth and you run out eventually. There is no way around it, and no matter how fair it might seem everyone ends up worse off. Not to mention the freedom you give up depending on the government to take care of you.
I find your conversion story interesting but odd. Considering many theologians that accept evolution as well as Christian biologists don’t give a rat’s ass about the order of days and will write it off as “all it means is that God created stuff. that’s it. it doesn’t have to have any science in it, because God didn’t feel like it”
Also, when i was a Christian, I noted what you said about God getting angry at humans for their mistakes; well I followed a Calvinist, hateful god that set up a plan to harm people simply b/c he felt like it; call that “immoral” but i only deconverted due to the comparative mythology, lack of evidence for almost the *whole* OT and Jesus’ existence, but *not* due to simply reading the Bible.
So, they don’t actually believe the Bible then. You can’t have it both ways. If the Bible doesn’t know how we got here, and it doesn’t, how can it be from God? All it has is an impossible story with a talking snake.
Basically they are doing the same thing they did when it was proven the Earth wasn’t flat. The Bible pretty clearly says it is many places. The Church considered it heresy to say otherwise. But now Christians just ignore that part.
I already didn’t believe by the time I got to the second part. It just told me the churches didn’t tell you the truth about what the Bible said.
right. I’ve heard some Christians state that church fathers such as Augustine and Aquinas read it metaphorically before anyone knew about evolution, somehow showing it’s an “allegory” that is simply saying “god created it in whatever way he felt like”
Of course, even if church fathers read it that way doesn’t make it an allegory. It took until *after* my deconversion to see that the account is meant literally and is obviously a made-up myth.
Catholics put the thing together so they know that it shouldn’t be taken seriously. The understand the process was as screwed up as it could be.
But the other thing that is fun to point out is what Jesus says about the whole thing. Jesus mentions Adam. Jesus talks about Noah and Jonah. So the supposed Son of God doesn’t seem to realize that they are just stories. It’s pretty hard to write it off to just a story given that context.
Like I said you’re a godless freak.
Your point?
You know you reaally inspire me. I was a Christian and I started doubting religion and stuff so I went to do my own research on Yahoo Answers and then I saw one of your answers so I clicked on your profile and came to your website. I totally agree with you and I’m in love with your website
I think I’m a atheist or maybe agnostic right now. Like if any type of god did exist it certainly wouldn’t be the Christian or Muslim one..I might look further into Buddhism or Hinduism. Anyways I just wanted you to know that you are AWESOME and I LOVE your website 
x
Thanks for the kind words. Most people who respond or email me do it to tell me I’m an asshole.
Which of course totally makes me laugh.
On the first day, the expression ‘Let light come to be’ was used. The Hebrew word there used for light is [ohr], meaning light in a general sense. But on the fourth day, the Hebrew word changes to [ma•’ohr], which means the source of the light.
So the light was around BEFORE the source. You don’t find that….well…..stupid?
Gazoo, you’re a fucking idiot. Actually study the manuscripts in their original language. Although I think it’s painfully obvious that the creation accounts in Genesis are at best, allegory, and at worst, sheer myth, it doesn’t take a genius to realize there’s no problems with it. You really ARE an idiot. I can’t believe there are so many willfully ignorant people out there. So much ignorance. Very few people understand the Bible because it is shrouded in ancient history, culture, language, and poor (personal!) interpretation. But there’s thing called the internet, retard – use it! I’m not going to write out a whole fucking essay on the topic because of the work needed to slog through the host of misconceptions and false premises imbeciles like you have created.
…Fucking retard.
Also, I’m 14
Be the bigger man and don’t insult and harass me… that would prove my point, that atheists are nothing but retarded scumbags.
Dumbass….I could say anything I wanted after your tirade and still be the bigger person. You wonder why we think you guys are stupid? It’s things like this.
First, so you know I can allow anything to post I want. It’s my site. I’m not afraid to let things like this post because it makes you look stupid, not me. But to be fair I shouldn’t let it. All you have are insults, not an ounce of actual intelligence in it. You’ve never even read the damn Bible. I can tell from just what you’ve said.
Second if it’s an allegory, how do you know Jesus isn’t an allegory? Where the hell does that leave original sin? If the Bible doesn’t know how we got here why would you think it came from God?
Third, why do you guys think that the original Hebrew says anything else? You guys hired the translators. It’s been translated hundreds of times and it always says the same thing. Do you hire morons to translate God’s Word or what?
Thing is it says what it says. Make excuses all day…it still says a talking snake tricked a woman into eating magic fruit and that’s where our problems come from. It still says that a guy lived in a fish for three days, and it still says a guy lost his strength over a hair cut. It still says the hundred or so other stories that are all over this website. You can’t change it.
You honestly think that your questions are so new and clever and crap? I’ve seen questions like this dozens of times. They are based on willful ignorance and pride.
I just asked three…and no answers.
That’s the way it always is. You say that you have them, but you never do.