My Testimony (Atheism to Christianity)

This is my testimony. I had once been an atheist actor in Hollywood, but then Jesus saved me from myself through five supernatural events.
(The end of the video cut off right before I closed in prayer, but I did finish sharing my testimony)
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[RapunzelASMR]

thanks for sharing this! I always love hearing how someone you think can never find Christ, finds him, or Christ finds him to put it better :)
Im a pretty new Christian myself btw

[steelfalconx]

This is a great story. You've only just scratched the surface, I wish you a fruitful journey, remember the path is narrow and long and it's a struggle everyday, and despair and pride are your enemy. Glory to God in all things.

[Theo_Skeptomai]

Hello. I am an atheist. I define atheism as suspending any acknowledgment as to the reality of any particular god until sufficient credible evidence is presented. My position is that *_I currently have no good reason to acknowledge the reality of any god._*

And here is why I currently hold to such a position. Below are 11 facts I must consider when evaluating the claim made by certain theists that a particular god exists in reality. To be clear, these are not premises for any argument which _concludes_ there to be no gods. These are simply facts I must take into account when evaluating the verity of such a claim. If any of the following facts were to be contravened at a later time by evidence, experience, or sound argument, I would THEN have good reason to acknowledge such a reality.

1. I have never been presented with a functional definition of a god.
2. I personally have never observed a god.
3. I have never encountered any person who has claimed to have observed a god.
4. I know of no accounts of persons claiming to have observed a god that were willing or able to demonstrate or verify their observation for authenticity, accuracy, or validity.
5. I have never been presented with any _valid_ logical argument, which also introduced demonstrably true premises that lead deductively to an inevitable conclusion that a god(s) exists in reality.
6. Of the many logical syllogisms I have examined arguing for the reality of a god(s), I have found all to contain a formal or informal logical fallacy or a premise that can not be demonstrated to be true.
7. I have never observed a phenomenon in which the existence of a god was a necessary antecedent for the known or probable explanation for the causation of that phenomenon.
8. Several proposed (and generally accepted) explanations for observable phenomena that were previously based on the agency of a god(s), have subsequently been replaced with rational, natural explanations, each substantiated with evidence that excluded the agency of a god(s). I have never encountered _vice versa._
9. I have never knowingly experienced the presence of a god through intercession of angels, divine revelation, the miraculous act of divinity, or any occurrence of a supernatural event.
10. Every phenomenon that I have ever observed appears to have *_emerged_* from necessary and sufficient antecedents over time without exception. In other words, I have never observed a phenomenon (entity, process, object, event, process, substance, system, or being) that was created _ex nihilo_ - that is instantaneously came into existence by the solitary volition of a deity.
11. All claims of a supernatural or divine nature that I have been presented have either been refuted to my satisfaction or do not present as _falsifiable._

ALL of these facts lead me to the only rational conclusion that concurs with the realities I have been presented - and that is the fact that there is *_no good reason_* for me to acknowledge the reality of any particular god.

I have heard often that atheism is the denial of the Abrahamic god. But denial is the active rejection of a substantiated fact once credible evidence has been presented. Atheism is simply withholding such acknowledgment until sufficient credible evidence is introduced. *_It is natural, rational, and prudent to be skeptical of unsubstantiated claims, especially extraordinary ones._*

I welcome any cordial response. Peace.

[Mexidgaming]

Thanks for your testimony. Very powerful…

I’m on the same journey as you. “Seeking, ” as we speak.

[EuclidFusionSupernova]

I'm agnostic about many of the theistic god-claims I've heard of, and I'm atheistic to a fewer number of these types of claims, but I can honestly say, with increasing confidence that the judeo-christian deity is one I'm NOT agnostic about -- it's clear to me THAT one exists only in human imagination. Historically unsubstantiated claims, unknown (and dubious) biblical authorship, biblical internal inconsistencies, biblical internal contradictions, and biblical departures from the facts about our natural world were key parts in my deconversion. Adopting an evidence-based reality is far better than theism in many ways... first and foremost because I don't have to vacate my own evidence-based rationale in order to believe (sometimes) absurd stories in the bible: like talking donkeys, talking serpents, a man living inside a fish for days, a man surviving unscathed in a fiery furnace, burning bushes that speak for god, a sun standing still for any length of time (catastrophic to Earth), human sacrifices, angels, demons, and resurrections. These are extraordinary claims that REQUIRE extraordinary evidence.... there is none, and what can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

[tonymiller]

Former evangelical for 40 years now atheist, listening to see if you have good reasons for your belief and making notes as I listen.

So you were an atheist but never a skeptical thinker (we are all born atheists, but not skeptics).

Compromise or christ is a false dichotomy.

Sounds like you've always been searching for your identity from something external to you. Possibly you still are by latching onto Christianity as your identity.

Agnosticism is not apathy. Agnosticism is lacking knowledge.

No atheist is trying to prove you don't need god to be good. That makes no sense. An atheist doesn't believe there is a god. That would be like saying kids who stopped believing Santa exists are trying to be good only to prove one doesn't need Santa to be good. Obviously if one doesn't believe Santa exists they have no reason to prove they don't need Santa to be good.

Nihilism or secular humanism is another false dichotomy. There are a variety of value systems and ethical systems that people can live by. Purpose is something we create for ourselves. We can value things and create a purpose for ourselves and it can also not matter to anyone else or after some time. It only has to matter to us. It seems many of your issues come from your lack of an internal identity and purpose.

How do you tell the difference between the holy spirit flooding your mind with thoughts and your mind simply having thoughts? How do you know the lord did anything. You admitted people attempt suicide and fail. That includes having suicidal thoughts and not following through. That is probably very common and has a perfectly natural explanation.

It's called Frequency Bias. The more you immerse yourself into something the more you prefer it. You could have studied the Quran instead of the Bible and you would have likely reached the same conclusions.

The Bible contains events that are demonstrably not historical. You cannot find an event in the Bible that is historical and conclude everything is historical.

The way we treat historical documents is a scholarly judgment about what is more or less likely. Miracles are highly improbable if even possible at all. No evaluation of the reliability of a historical document can reach sufficient certainty to support the claim of a miracle. Direct first hand eye witness testimony is not even sufficient evidence to support the claim of a miracle. It is much more likely that the wittness is lying or self decieved, and that's if you talked directly to the witness.

An ancient highly flawed manuscript with demonstrably false stories and clear internal contradictions of which we only have complete copies from 3 or 4 centuries after the events it describes could never alone be sufficient evidence to accept a miracle claim.

Supernatural events.

1. You found a couple dead bushes. Dead bushes occur naturally. Maybe they weren't even the ones you prayed over. Maybe you made up after the fact that you prayed for them to die and now you mis-remember the order of events. You were highly emotional. Maybe you are intentionally lying for attention. I would never accept just someone's word that they can kill bushes with prayer. You'd need to prove it in a controlled test.

2. How do you tell the difference between normal dreams and visions that god gives you? How do you know you didn't just invent an interpretation? You'd been immersing yourself in the Bible so this is unsurprising and requires nothing supernatural.

3. "I thought it was just a dream at the time." So you invent an interpretation using the Bible that you've immersed yourself into and suddenly it's more than a dream. Nothing to see here. Your first thought was correct.

4. Wow, someone gave you a cold reading. AMAZING. Again, a nothing burger. It's a skill people develop that plays on our own memory biases to ignore the misses and count the hits and give meaning to vague words. Astrology does the same thing.

5. Another dream or lucid dream.

I'm sorry, you have no good reason to believe what you do. You have emotionally reasoned yourself into this belief.

You have latched onto Christianity to try to find your identity and purpose just like you latched onto sports, money, and a romantic relationship to do the same. You have not yet gotten to the root of your problem. You need counseling.

If you really want to seek truth you need to work on your epistemology first.

[MG-otyr]

So lets zoom out and look at the big picture, the history and evolution of religious belief.

The earliest evidence we have of religious practices, goes back up to 200, 000 years as evidenced by symbolic artifacts, cave paintings and ritual burials. Its unknown what the actual beliefs were, but widely understood to be some form of animism, everything having some supernatural agency...then transitioning to simple forms of polytheism, multiple deities but not arranged in any type of power hierarchy.

Between 10, 000 and 12, 000 years ago, when hunter gatherers transitioned to agriculture and began to establish permanent settlements, there was a shift to more organized forms of polytheism, and deities with more complex personages.

Around 5000 years ago, the earliest evidence of a more structured polytheistic belief system with a hierarchy of deities were the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations.

About 3500 years ago, the Canaanite civilization emerged, heavily influenced by Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations, their deities and myths carried forward. Its here we see the first indication of Yahweh, though the jury is still out whether he was a storm god, war god, mountain god or god of metallurgy...but believed to be a lesser god in some capacity.

When the Israelites split off, they took Yahweh as their national god, the chief god of Yahwism, a henotheistic belief system, he had a consort goddess Asherah, among other gods they took with them to form this pantheon.

Around 2500 to 2900 years ago, Yahwism transitioned to Judaism, a monotheistic belief system with Yahweh as the one and only god. In fact, you can see this transition in the Old Testament, with Yahweh jealous, trying to cancel out the other gods and reason for the 1st Commandment.

Then of course about 2000 years ago, an apocalyptic Jewish Christian cult emerged, and evolved into Christianity, still monotheistic but with a triune godhead.

This is just the evolutionary line to Jesus, there are of course many other pathways to different religions, and others that just hit a dead end.

But the point is, religion is clearly a social construct that has evolved throughout human history, with gods made up, redesigned and/or ending up in the dust bin of history, myths carried forward and rewritten, scripture modified and added, etc, to meet changing societal needs.

I'm an agnostic atheist, meaning that I reject man made claims like Jesus, Allah, Vishnu and the other thousands of claims, but am neutral on deistic and pantheistic concepts.

[stephaniebennett]

Glory to God that He gives you the strength to share your testimony! Powerful!

[Dkpesmerga]

what a load of nonsense and bunk /sigh there is no evidence or proof for any of the thousands of gods, including the one you believe in. Atheism is simply lack of belief in a god. the time to believe in something is when there is proof for it. and there is no proof here.