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Ex-Atheists.com About this Website: Thank you for visiting this site. I am sure you will find it unique from other sites related to former atheists. But what really is atheism? Simply put, it is the absence of theism or the state of not being influenced by a belief in God or gods. Allow me to illustrate with other words containing the a prefix.
adynamic (adjective) A reference to the lack of strength or vigor. Above are the typical examples of words with the Greek prefix a meaning: no, absence of, without, lack of, or not. It is important to remember this when accessing the true meaning of the words: atheist, atheistic, atheism. For example, there is a big difference in the mindset of a political activist and one who is apolitical. The apolitical person has no opinion, and would have no vested interest in the outcome of an election; he could care less. When a political conversation starts up, he does not join in the discussion; he either changes the subject or excuses himself from the scene. Activists today who call themselves atheists are, in actuality, not atheists but anti-theists instead. The mindset of a theist is geared toward God; the thoughts of an atheist are not. The far vast majority of people today are practicing atheists; they actively avoid the thought of God in their day-to-day lives. Even when they perform a theistic gesture, it is usually for show. Remember, the prefix a means: no, absence of, without, lack of, or not. So, we have the situation where people could be nominal Christians but practicing atheists. With this in mind, if you are an anti-theist you are as different from an atheist as an anti-socialist or an anti-capitalist would be from an apoliticalist. Get the picture? To get a staunch socialist to convert to capitalism is like getting a fanatical capitalist to become a socialist. So it is for a theist to become an anti-theist or an anti-theist to become a theist. Theism to atheism and atheism to theism is as natural as political becoming apolitical. Because of disillusionment with all types of government people become apolitical; they stop caring. Theists who become disillusioned with their faith become atheists. Make sense? For me the stupidest response a theist can say to an atheist's position of non-belief is to suggest that silly eternal-carrot-or-stick-afterlife notion. You know, Heaven-or-Hell Theology. The internet is flooded with conversions of former atheists due to visions of a future fairy tale. A typical example is Howard Storm's experience. Notice the manipulating technique used by traditional theists to persuade atheists to reconsider as writer Mark Ellis relates this atheist professor's near-death experience in hell:
Emboldened, he began to shout out bits and pieces of the Lord’s Prayer, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “God Bless America.” Finally, he was screaming any fragments of God’s truth he could muster from the moldy recesses of his memory bank. The article concludes: [Howard Storm] also wrote a book about his experience, “My Descent Into Death,” which he says was written primarily to non-believers [i.e., atheists]. You might say this is the stick version to the carrot, "The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven." Atheists do not need another fairy-tale effort to change their lack of faith in gods, whether they be Jesus, Buddha or Allah. The concept of hell (conscience afterlife suffering) is an established myth. The only way anyone could suffer pain or experience pleasure would be if that person were brought back to life. The visions experienced by Howard Storm in hell and Alex Malarkey in heaven had to do with their concept of an afterlife they inherited from their upbringing. Similar experiences of Islamic, Buddhist, and other religious groups confirm that these visions are always in accord with their belief system; something that would not be the case if there were any validity to their claims. Notice how Howard shouted “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “God Bless America” as fragments of God’s truth while he was he was being tormented in hell; so, What would he have shouted if he had not been a patriotic American but a middle eastern Islamic fundamentalist? Maybe Salman Rushdie would know how to answer that question since he converted from being a Muslim to atheism and then back to Islam again. The heaven or hell concept, something that all religions [except for ancient Judaism and primitive Christianity] hold in common, makes no logical sense to anyone who understands the dying process. There is no invisible body inside our visible body that separates from our visible body when our visible body dies and goes off to another location, heaven or hell. Belief in a Creator, however, has nothing to do with being gullible towards a particular myth; the oxymoron of life continuing after death. If you chance upon a house in the middle of a desert, with running water, air conditioning, a well-stocked refrigerator and all the comforts to enjoy life; Would your belief in the maker of the home hinge upon your enjoyment or suffering after you die? We all live in this well-stocked home called planet Earth out in the middle of desert called our Universe. We enjoy a seemingly endless supply of provisions necessary to sustain our lives. Some of us survive on less than a dollar a day and are grateful even for that while others of us enjoy an over abundance and are disgruntled because we don't have more. To suggest that belief in God has anything to do with our condition when we no longer exist is truly mind boggling. What is wrong with people's thinking? Notice Phil Donahue's comments when interviewed by reporter Amy Goodman: My first guest [November 6, 1967] was Madalyn Murray O’Hare who came on the program. The atheist who effected the Supreme Court decision banning the official reading of prayer in school. ’There’s no God, there’s no heaven, there’s no hell. When you die, you go into the ground. The worms eat you, you biodegrade, and you become part of the physical universe.’ [...] And she brought issues. 'I don't care if you worship a pet rock, you pay for it. I’m tired of paying more taxes because of your churches getting phony tax relief that causes my taxes to — ’oh, I mean, she was fabulous. And also, you know, a very, in many ways, a very, very unpleasant woman whom I happened to really like. I liked her a lot and still do and have fond memories of her, and sorry about her grim death. Other than stating there's no God, O'Hare spoke the truth when she stated, When you die, you go into the ground. The worms eat you, you biodegrade, and you become part of the physical universe. No one in their right mind can deny that fact of life. What THAT has to do with there's no God can only be in the mind of those who associated the two. There were many illogical connections that caused me to drift toward atheism in my mid-teens, however in the summer of 1968 after being shown what the Bible really teaches on the matter of creation and the condition of the dead and the true fulfillment of our hope for a future life, I became one of countless other ex-atheists who acknowledge God for the right reason. Faith has nothing to do with belief in fairy tales, magic nor any other unscientific notion one may have due to intellectual immaturity: There is a solid foundation for belief in God; it is the only logical conclusion for our existence. Some would have us believe that science discredits the Bible. Of course science will discredit a bias religious interpretation of the Genesis account of creation; such as the ridiculous notion the endless universe was formed in six literal days (144 hours) some six thousand years ago. A book I read in 1968 entitled Did Man Get Here by Evolution or by Creation? helped me to understand what the Bible really teaches.
You can download a copy of this book here
After downloading and reading this version that is in the public domain you may want to obtain a more up-to-date version without charge that Christians distribute in their door-to-door ministry and maybe even accept a free home Bible Study in that publication to clear up any doubts you may have concerning the origin of life. Quoted Statements from Secular Sources: “It was the Christian tradition that produced atheism as its fruit; it led to the murder of God in the consciences of men because it presented them with an unbelievable God.” Above Quoted Statement taken from: Paul Valadier, French Writer This statement is concise and accurate. Tradition hijacked the Christian faith and imposed on us myths about God and the promised afterlife, thus presenting the people "with an unbelievable God". Traditional Christianity tells us about a Triune God who gives everlasting life to all as a blessing (heaven) and a curse (hell). The fundamental message that all 40,000 traditional Christian denominations preach is: If you want to be "saved" from a burning hell you must confess Jesus as his own Father who died on the cross and raised himself up. Accept this traditional notion and, upon your physical death, your immortal soul will zoom off to eternal bliss in the presence of "the Lord"; reject it, however, and your soul will immediately be transferred to a place of continual conscious existence in excruciating agony. The "consciences of men", that Paul Valadier described, cannot possibly conceive of such a God who would give life without end for the sole purpose of torment, so they murdered this mythical Being and embraced atheism. After all, what kind of person deliberately inflicts pain and suffering upon living creatures - man or beast? A person capable of this type of action is called inhuman or inhumane, he denies the very essence of his being. Virtually every nation on earth has condemned torture as a violation of inalienable human rights, yet, Are we obligated to worship a God who would torment for all eternity everyone who had failed to say a few "magic words" in his heart (I accept the Lord as my personal Savior)? I ask you: Is such a God believable? For this, Christian tradition must be held accountable: 'It produced atheism as its fruit that led to the murder of God because it has misrepresented Him'. A better option than atheism, however, is available. We have a God that Psalms 31:5 mentions by name: It is "Jehovah, the God of truth."
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