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How old were you when you stopped being atheist?

Viker

Viker

Your beloved eccentric Auntie Cristal
I was born a redneck and into a religious background. I was supposed to be a believer in a higher power and be somewhat religious. It never worked out too well. I tried until my teens. I really did put forth the effort.
 
W

wubs23

Member
This story I heard from my parents, about how I became an atheist.

I was 2 years old, and looking outside the window at the moon, on my mother's arm. They already told me about the moon, sun, and planets.
Then I asked her: "mom, does God exist?". My mother answered: "well, some people think he does, and some people think he doesn't. What do you think?".

Then I said: "Well, if God created everything, then what created God?"
My mother replied: "Maybe he has always been there, or he came into being out of nothing".

My final reply was: "If God can always have been there, or appear out of nowhere, then so can the universe. So there is no reason to believe in God".

And that's how I became an atheist.
 
I

InformedIgnorance

Do you 'know' or believe?
Somewhat in line with those who believe certain famous persons spoke as an infant preaching divine revelation...

*coughs* 1000th post yay...... and im out of caffeine again
 
Gjallarhorn

Gjallarhorn

N'yog-Sothep
wubs23 said:
This story I heard from my parents, about how I became an atheist.

I was 2 years old, and looking outside the window at the moon, on my mother's arm. They already told me about the moon, sun, and planets.
Then I asked her: "mom, does God exist?". My mother answered: "well, some people think he does, and some people think he doesn't. What do you think?".

Then I said: "Well, if God created everything, then what created God?"
My mother replied: "Maybe he has always been there, or he came into being out of nothing".

My final reply was: "If God can always have been there, or appear out of nowhere, then so can the universe. So there is no reason to believe in God".

And that's how I became an atheist.
Click to expand...
...wow, that was a terrible lie.
 
W

wubs23

Member
Gjallarhorn said:
...wow, that was a terrible lie.
Click to expand...

Falvlun said:
Somehow I doubt you were two. But interesting story nonetheless.
Click to expand...

Kathryn said:
The grammar seems a bit stout for age two as well. :sarcastic
Click to expand...

It is not a lie.

I really was 2 years old.

I did use proper grammar; my parents always used correct grammar, and did not use 'baby words'.

Although I must say that English is not my mother tongue, so obviously I did not use these exact words. I will show you why it was maybe easier for me to say this correctly because I spoke Dutch.

'universe' is a difficult words. However, in dutch, you say 'heelal'. which literally means "whole all". You could therefore also replace this with "everything".

'created' is also a difficult word. In dutch, i used the word 'gemaakt', which also means "made".

As you can see; these words to describe these maybe difficult concepts, are actually pretty easy to understand for a kid, since you already encounter them in everyday life.

Per example; in dutch, the following two forms are identical:

1. God created the universe
2. My brother made a drawing of a mouse.

becomes:

1. God heeft het heelal gemaakt
2. Mijn broer heeft een tekening gemaakt.

(tekening=drawing, broer=brother, heeft=has done, gemaakt=made/created)

And I could also walk when I was 6 months, without having to hold on to something. Is that normal? No.
Is it possible? Yes. Look on youtube; there are loads of kids that can do that.
You can also find 2 years old there that argue just as well as I did on youtube.

There is a huge variance in early development, with some kids having an very incredible vocabulary and correct grammar at age 2, whereas other kids barely speak by that age.

This does not say anything about language development in years following this.

I suggest that before you guys call me a liar, you search for some literature about developmental psychology.
 
Caladan

Caladan

Agnostic Pantheist
I think I always believed in nature more than I did in God. I remember thinking about it as a kid, and the belief that a God existed or in anyway is responsible for the natural world simply did not compute.
to these kind of questions, I usually tend to say that atheism is my default position.
I think that world religion can be a great psychological vehicle, but this comes with the hard work of separating the supernatural and the superstitious from the great essence of moralistic teachings, philosophy, and cultural elements.
 
Kathryn

Kathryn

It was on fire when I laid down on it.
wubs23 said:
feel free.

it can be hard sometimes, to accept that other can do something that you couldn't at that time.

i understand.
Click to expand...

It's not that at all. As a child, I taught myself to read by age four and was reading at 8th grade level before kindergarten. I'm not insecure in my intelligence or abilities.

Now - you may be skeptical of my claim regarding my reading, and that's OK. In fact, that's terrific.

I'm a natural born skeptic, and my skepticism has served me well my entire life. Hence, I am skeptical of your claim.

Carry on.
 
Last edited:
`mud

`mud

Just old
Premium Member
We hear, through the knitted fingers covering one's ear !
We not hear the words of the "end of all" !
Such that we know from which way we came......
and where we are going......
in whatever form.....
you all will go.....
to somewhere.....
in tomorrow's morn.
Kiss the "now" goodbye...
and hug the new 'now'.
~
`mud
 
W

wubs23

Member
Kathryn said:
It's not that at all. As a child, I taught myself to read by age four and was reading at 8th grade level before kindergarten. I'm not insecure in my intelligence or abilities.

Now - you may be skeptical of my claim regarding my reading, and that's OK. In fact, that's terrific.

I'm a natural born skeptic, and my skepticism has served me well my entire life. Hence, I am skeptical of your claim.

Carry on.
Click to expand...

My apologies. I though you were the person that said: "wow, what a terrible lie".
You were not; you merely quoted this person.

I apologize for that.

Now about you reading; my little brother is even smarter than I am, and he also taught himself how to read around that age. Therefore I have no reason to doubt your claim ;)
 
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