Skeptics, Atheists: What was the first thought that made you doubt?

[Spenсer]

So non-believers. What was that first little nougat of questioning that blossomed into your current ideology? Or you simply were raised not to believe?

For me, it was largely learning about other religions that first lead to my atheist stage. I was unnerved by the diversity of answers to the same questions, it made me question the correctness of my own creed. There was a lot of it which was based upon faulty logic or rationalizations which made non-belief seem more plausible to me.

If you believe in god and entities, please, PLEASE do not post. <- don't mind this -- I forgot this was a discussion section.

 

[twocows]

I was raised with an open mind and no religious guidance. I chose what seemed to make the most sense.

 

[Pym]

i grew up living right next to a church, and i went to that church until i was nine or ten. i was baptized catholic there too. i believed what the preacher said, every word of it, until i was seven. when i was seven, one of my best friends had died of cancer. this just killed me inside. my mother said "god has a plan for everyone". and i just knew that wasn't true, i knew if there really was a god, he wouldn't have done that. he wouldn't have been that cruel. and ever sense then, i just sorta knew that he wasn't real. i was forced to go to church until we moved, and our family hasn't gone to church since.

that's really it. i want to believe in a higher power, but i can't and i've learned to accept it.

~ true story ~

- // Pym
​

 

[xelarator]

First of all, im not Atheist, I belive in God, but I do have some doubts about him.

It all started 2 weeks ago when my dad started a heated discussion about God not being there for u when u need him with my grandma. It IS true, sort of...

Then I started thinking about what is 100% true and what makes no sense at all. Even the Pope doesn't completly know 100% that there is a god, so I ditch the belief of god being real.

But that night, something CRAZY HAPPENED, this is true and I can Respect your replies to this, when I went to the restroom at 10:39 pm, I fell and got my arm cut by the edge of the bathroom sink. I started bleeding, and I forgot where the first aid kit was, so I started praying,"Our Father" out loud. As I finished the prayer, my wound stopped bleeding. It was no scrap, the wound had to be at least 1 inch long. So i started to believe in God again.

 

[sonic smash down]

I just want to make a point that I learned from last semester in college. In this class we are called to take into account all belief systems, all societies, and merge it all into your own philosophy, but there was one lecture that caught my attention.
On a side note: I am catholic and do believe in God, so if you don't want to listen then don't. I'm just trying to expand this subject.
Alright:
Axiom: The world is full of cause and event chains. Yes?
If you agree (which this is pretty agreeable) then onto the
Theory: There has to be an initial cause that in itself is not caused to start a chain of events.
Now as far as I see, there are three types of cause/effect chains that exist:
1) Infinite Regrestion
Infinite<Cause<Cause<Cause<Cause<Infinite
- Now this chain is pretty understandable. There are causes that go back to an infinite amount of time. The problem with this one is that its like a stack of dominoes, there has to be an initial force for them to start toppling over. The same can be said about the cause effect chain here. There has to be an initial cause for the chain to even exist, and as you can see plainly in this world, the cause effect chain does exist, canceling out this chain in the theory.
2) Circle Chain
1st cause< 2nd cause< 3rd cause<1st cause<and so on and so forth
- This chain can be understandable but because of the nature of a cause and effect chain we can't use this one either. In a cause and effect chain NOTHING ever causes itself to occur, and in this natural world, it is reflected throught that certianty.

3) 1st Cause
Initial cause (that in itself is not caused)<cause<cause<cause<and so on and so forth
- This one being the only understandable cause/effect chain that we know of that can exist in this natural world, is the one we have to accept. There has to be an initial cause to set off a chain reaction.

Conclusion: This cause that in itself is not caused, we as a human race know as god. Now that doesn't mean there can't be several different initial causes (more then one god), just that there is an initial cause. If you would like to rebuttle it, please be my guest, I love learning more about philosphical thought. Also I do have some issues about what the church teaches but that doesn't mean that I don't believe in the Almighty (or at least an initial cause :P)

 

[Freedom Fighter N]

I never really cared. I always found religious practice boring and irritating.

 

[Charizard★]

I'll just copy and paste from my Fb profile:

I am an atheist because I just figured that my life was so bad at the time, and nothing was going right, that there was nothing up there that was going to help me. So I stopped praying and took it upon myself to solve my own problems. I also stopped living in fear. Because with religion I felt like everything I did was a sin or my family would not approve. But now being an atheist, I have no fear of hell or demons, or the devil.

 

[Myles]

Christianity never sat well with me. It felt so archaic; like something an ancient people would believe and something to study, rather than believe. And it gave me cognitive dissonance with my otherwise critical thinking nature.

But that night, something CRAZY HAPPENED, this is true and I can Respect your replies to this, when I went to the restroom at 10:39 pm, I fell and got my arm cut by the edge of the bathroom sink. I started bleeding, and I forgot where the first aid kit was, so I started praying,"Our Father" out loud. As I finished the prayer, my wound stopped bleeding. It was no scrap, the wound had to be at least 1 inch long. So i started to believe in God again.

One inch wounds can heal.

Conclusion: This cause that in itself is not caused, we as a human race know as god. Now that doesn't mean there can't be several different initial causes (more then one god), just that there is an initial cause. If you would like to rebuttle it, please be my guest, I love learning more about philosphical thought. Also I do have some issues about what the church teaches but that doesn't mean that I don't believe in the Almighty (or at least an initial cause :P)

Even if you could prove that, that would only get you as far as deism, not theism and not Christianity.

 

[sonic smash down]

@Myles: I know the axioms I pointed out only get me as far as a deism in my arguments, but I wasn't trying to enforce my own religion in the subject as well. The point I was making was a completely open suggestion to the fact that there is a CAUSE THAT IN ITSELF IS NOT CAUSED (what we call as a human race, god). read my conclusion again, i said nothing in the fact about a specific religion just that the theory here points to some higher cause that does not need a reason for its own existance. again not trying to force my own religious views, I was just pointing out a lecture that I found intresting and that I thought my actually expand the subject on all religious views, including atheism. but thankz for the criticism

 

[Her]

I just never liked the idea of religion, there was no deciding thought for me.

 

[Shining Raichu]

I was raised without any form of religion in my life, it was just never mentioned at home whatsoever. The first thing I heard about God was in primary school when some doddery old ladies (who are probably all dead by now) came by once a week to teach us scripture. From then I did believe in God, simply because an adult was telling us and therefore it must be true, but never really did anything about that belief.

This was until I was around 13 and had what I refer to as my "lol wait a minute" moment. I was lying in bed thinking about it when suddenly the whole concept of it seemed so ridiculous to me, and I'm so glad that before that moment I had never spent too much time thinking about what having a God would mean in my life - because the idea of a God is absolutely perverse and terrifying.

Anyway, I looked into it a bit and my suspicions were confirmed. It was also around this time that I discovered I was gay, which helped the process along since my research opened that whole can of worms.

 

[Esper]

I wasn't raised not to believe. I simply was not raised to believe. Subtle, but important difference. I never went to church as a kid (or since) so I was never indoctrinated with the idea that supernatural things really existed. Consequently I never really believed in anything like that. There was no moment of doubt since I never believed. It's kind of like the color of the sky and how you never go "Wait a second... that sky is blue!" It's always been that way for me.

 

[Steven]

Ever since I was little I always thought "Why would you believe in God and live in fear your entire life without proof?"

And..that was the seed of dissent. :3

 

[Blue Nocturne]

I was never raised with a religious belief, but not necessarily raised as an Atheist, if I'm making sense. I had minor exposure to Christianity from my Nan, and sure, I believed in whatever this God thing was, but I never really learnt about it. Then I just sort of grew out of it in much the same way you grow out of Santa, there was never really a defining moment. The earliest that I can definitely say I was an Atheist would be around 6 or 7, where I was distinctly questioning other's beliefs!

 

[SirCmpwn]

I was raised Christian, and around the age of 7 or 8, I realized how utterly stupid it was. There are so many inconsistencies in most religions, especially Christianity, not to mention how bogus the whole idea seems in the first place.