I am a never Mormon atheist, previously a liberal UCC Protestant, but it was my investigation of Mormonism and many an exmormon poster, as well as others, which helped start me on my path of enlightenment.
Mormonism provides a short circuit to atheism. It is so incredibly easy to prove it false. Then, it just seems to follow naturally that you see every other religion as false as well.
I agree with asparagus. First, Mormon dogma is pretty outlandish and unbelievable when one thinks about it--gold plates, polygamy, seer stones. Then when one considers DNA evidence, errors in book of moron, and the multiple changes and corrections in revelation, scripture and theology, along with all of the other nonsense, it becomes increasingly obvious that if there were a god out there he sure would not have created this mess.
My atheistic world is comfortable and brings me peace. I am free to do, or not do, my own good works.
At first as I was having inclings toward atheism I felt guilty. Like Satan was leading me astray for disowning the mormon belief system. I had always been brought up to despise atheists. They were surely living in satanic darkness and were gods fallen. It is so difficult to overcome this programing that we were exposed to from a young age. Once you you see that Mormonism is false all other religions can't hold up to the scrutiny either.
I've noticed that people born and raised in the church become jaded about Christianity and religion in general. Since the only religious training you've had comes from LDS, Inc., and you discover LDS Inc. is a fraud, it stands to reason that all religion is fraudulent.
Converts who have religious apriori religious traditions are more likely to fall back on those traditions when they leave Mormonism. BIC Exmos have nothing to fall back on but their own logic, that is based in Mormon training.
It's because of that arrogance that leads them to do such a good job showing how every other religion is false. They just forget to talk about how theirs is false, too..
Christians who converted (like myself) were, first of all told how the last 1900 years of christianity has all been a lie..... which is basically true. protestantism is a lie, catholicism is a lie
when you leave, you find that a lot of the bridges back, have been burned
Ok, when did jesus begin to exist? Did jesus always exist alongside the father? Or did the father create jesus at some arbitrary point?
How about the holy ghost? Did the holy ghost always exist? Or was the holy ghost created at some arbitrary point by the father?
If the father, the son, and the holy ghost ALWAYS existed independent of one another, then they are truly 3 gods since one is not dependent on the other for its existence.
If the father existed alone, and then created the son and holy ghost later on, then they are simply clones and god is a schizophrenic.
If the son always existed alongside the father, there's really no point in calling one a son and one a father since neither came out of the other.
Please clear this up for me. Do you believe in one god or three?
and it became orthodox by suppression of other cults through violence, and discriminatory laws. Even so, it is only one version of "orthodox" xstianity.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2012 01:12PM by atheist&happy:-).
The Nicene creed isn't necessarily complex, but it is certainly illogical and self-contradictory. It basically falls back to we have no idea what god is, so we're making up some ethereal mystical thing that completely contradicts the message of god as Jesus presents it in the New Testament.
Catholicism is one of the more ridiculous versions of Christianity, frankly.
1) The history of Catholicism is more rife with non-Christian actions by it's leaders than any other Christian religion on the books. It arguably is the largest contributor to what history now calls the Dark Ages. It's history contains a whole lot of evil.
2) The whole patron saints as gods thing basically throws true Orthodox Christianity out the windows. Catholicism isn't even a monotheistic religion in practice - it's more like a Greek or Roman religion where you pray to the saint of choice to get the miracle you want.
I don't know of any other mainstream Christian religion who takes the Nicene creed at face value. (Just because I don't know of them doesn't mean they don't exist - educate me.)
After burning my bars and compasses I fully planned to remain a (non-denominational) Christian, that plan changed to uncaring agnosticism within the year. It actually took me about 20 years to admit to myself that I was an athiest. Probably because so many athiests treat their lack of faith as a religion and I don't give enough of a shit to care either way. Funnily enough, it was that great missionary, Christopher Hitchens who pushed me off the fencetop.
which, granted is a stretch since unless you live in the corridor, you would never get this many people who've even HEARD about Mormonism in one place-then I disagree. For one thing, I've never met so many atheists who were so missionary-minded; the atheists are like white-on-rice when it comes to tracking down and attacking anyone on this board who expresses even a hint of being a Christian.
And we can't forget Mr. Benson who practically has made a full time job of composing jaunty subject lines for posts that are largely anti-Christian in content.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2012 12:45PM by notmo.
> the atheists are like white-on-rice when it comes to tracking down and > attacking anyone on this board who expresses even a hint of being a Christian.
I was a TBM for 45 years. BIC of course. Served a mission, was in two branch presidencies, two Bishoprics, EQP, years of temple assignments and taught a lot of classes in Sunday School.
After I left the church, I did a profound study of Theology. The old and new testament, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita and Buddhism. I have a good knowledge of the history of the world and I see very little correlation between the religions of the world and the world history.
Three years after leaving the church, I felt as if I was Agnostic. After learning that around 20,000 children die of starvation every day, I became militant Atheist.
I love the theory of evolution. Darwin was a genius. Richard Dawkins is brilliant.
My life, my marriage, and my relationship with my children is so much better than it was when I was a TBM.
I have been able to shed the fear, guilt and false promises of a brainwashing cult.
> > I have a good > knowledge of the history of the world and I see > very little correlation between the religions of > the world and the world history.
Are you kidding me? I must be misinterpreting the above statement of yours. I don't think you'd find a historian of any ilk-especially a college professor (even a very liberal one) who would agree with this statement.
The ones on RFM, at least, never seem to have lost their missionary zeal; they've just changed the content of their preaching. These are the atheists that annoy the crap out of every living being they come into contact with.
What exactly is a 'great' atheist? Someone who really really really doesn't believe in any god(s)? Is there some sort of atheist code of conduct that we can use to judge how good of an atheist someone is? Maybe how many books one has read by Dawkins, Hitchens, and crew?
"One of the most amazing things about blind faith is the manner in which today, in the most enlightened and wealthy places on the globe, it can still function so as to insulate large groups of human beings from the information necessary to grasp their surrounding reality. The font of this harmful behavior is ignorance, uncertainty, and the fear they cause. In order to maintain control, many religions (including Mormonism) sustain this crippling teaching in spite of the negative effect that it has on their individual members. The perspective of people within the grasp of this type of ideology is so limited that they cannot see what is happening to them.
Blind faith builds walls of incredible imperviousness. I am proud to do what I can in my little corner of the world, in my humble way, to chip away at the walls of this type that a short time ago contained me. Such walls will not come tumbling down. But, when I look back a few hundred years, I see walls much higher than those that surrounded me.
I have faith that as a result of the little bit I will do, and the little bit that will be done by many others, the world in which my children will live will be more enlightened, and in that sense better, than my world. And that several hundred years from now, perhaps one of my progeny will even read something I wrote, like this, marvel at how far mankind has progressed, feel gratitude for the little bit I did, and commit themselves to do much more. May you also find all the freedoms that all humans have a right to. Keep your mind open, hold true to what you actually know, and question everything. This is my hope. In this I have faith.” Bob Mcue
A great Atheist?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2012 01:19PM by AmIDarkNow?.