My Personal Experience with God (As an Atheist)

I'm an atheist, but I've personally experienced God in the same way that many religious people have. I left Christianity and my "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" a while back even though I had those experiences, and I think I have good reasons for that. The argument from personal experience is thrown at me often, so I wanted to have this on the record, as well as explain why personal experience isn't evidence for god.

This video contains 100% therapeutic grade skepticism.*

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*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA

[GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

I'm super curious to know what you all think of this. Have you had a spiritual experience like this? How did it affect you?

[paulban]

A formerly Hindu man who is now an atheist told me he thought he had seen Vishnu when he was languishing in hospital with malaria. Strangely, people only see or hear the characters they are conditioned to think about in their culture...

[oanaomg]

'So, how did you become an atheist?'
'Basicaly, essential oils'
Brilliant 👏

[AlphaOfCrimson]

There are 4 things I always try to keep in mind.
1) I can't trust my senses
2) I can't trust my memory
3) I am full of confirmation bias
4) I am unaware of what I don't know

[Mutantcy]

Who would win in a fight?

Years of faith and a relationship with Jesus

or

Essential Oils

[janehughart]

Even now as an agnostic I still feel more spiritually connected to “something” when I go out for a walk in the woods. I know it’s most likely because of air quality and other factors but it’s such a beautiful feeling in any case.

[Aaron.Drake.Ames.]

Sunday school, the only "school" that will kick you out for asking too many questions...

[OliviaKathryn]

As a Christian, I really appreciate your approach to discussing how you became an atheist in a tactful and respectful manner. And like you said at the end, this came from a conversation between you and a Christian friend. I may not agree with your beliefs, but I do wish there were more people like you in the world. People who are able to discuss differing views without turning disrespectful and even hostile. I know my experiences are extremely personal, so by your definition they're unreliable. And I can respect that. But there are too many instances in my life that make no sense, to me, outside of supernatural intervention. I don't understand most of what happens to me because I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty dumb. But this Jesus Thing has been working well for me so far, so I'm just going to continue to trust it even when somethings don't make a lot of sense. Ignorant? perhaps. but it is what it is. I've questioned EVERYTHING around me, and this is one thing that no matter how many doubts I have, I still find my way back. It's hard to explain (because, yes, it is personal) but it feels like something steady deep in my core. No amount of doubts or questions (and even unanswered questions) have been able to shake what I feel is the only solid thing in my life.
I didn't expect to go on this long in the comments. Sorry about that. I'd like to just reiterate that I appreciate how you handled this delicate topic in your video. And I hope that people of different beliefs can continue to have civil, productive conversations like you and your friend. Empathy for one another is the only way we'll ever connect.

[kilibubblecata]

"Is this real? Or is it happening inside my head?"
"Of course it is happening inside your head, [Drew]. But why on earth should that mean it is not real?"

[Chtchav]

You were completely indoctrinated and managed to get out from it by yourself. That's admirable. A true open mind.

[indelibleink]

As an Ex-Muslim, I used to be extremely religious. I did feel that I had a personal relationship with God. I always said du'a (prayer), never made a choice without istikhara (prayer of seeking advice from Allah). Now I see that all that was just temporary psychological comfort.

[Camalonious]

I experienced similar calm and peace when praying. I used to get a shiver down my spine, which I interpreted as the presence of Jesus / God. Then, one day I used a video to meditate to a Buddhist teacher and got the *same* tingle down my spine. I wasn't talking to or inviting God to be present, but the physical reaction (as a result of my brain's meditative state) was the same even with Buddhism. Then I started to realise it was more to do with the chemical state of my mind than the actions of the supernatural. Cool video dude.

[rhar]

I used to look forward to my time driving an hour for work every day. It was my alone time with God. I would turn off the radio, and pray, and speak to God. I would confess my struggles and repent, and I would praise God for everything he had done in my life.

Cut to the time in my life when I realized I had lost my faith in God through similar experiences to what you had... I caught myself still talking to God in the car ride. I stopped mid sentence, and the hairs stood up on my arm, as I came to the realization that I was speaking to no one, and the words were not traveling beyond the walls of the car I was driving. No one was hearing what I had to say but me.

That was the first time it TRULY hit me, how alone I actually was. Before that, I had always felt a "presence" as I had convinced myself God was always with me and I had a personal relationship with him. But after that moment, that was the first time I ever realized what alone meant. I had never been alone.

It was like having a best friend pass away, while at the same time being trapped in solitary confinement, then finding out that friend never existed.

Once someone has grown up their whole adolescent life in a particular religion, it is easy to see why they would continue to delude themselves rather than face the cold hard painful facts.

[biggieb]

DAMN bro you were balls deep in religion...I'd think very few can come back from the level you were at.

[mikenash]

I grew up agnostic and became a Christian when I was 17, having started going to a local Baptist church a few months earlier after encouragement from a friend at school. My motivation for going to church at that time was that it was a safe space for a nerdy, unpopular kid to have a social life, but when I asked Jesus into my life, I was sincere. I was baptised a few months after that, and I enjoyed a healthy social life at university in the campus Christian Union. Once I'd graduated, religious conviction started to fade. Everyone else my age got married and had kids; I gradually and reluctantly accepted that I was gay. So I no longer fitted in at church. Despite praying earnestly throughout my Christian life, I never felt the presence of God or "heard" him speak. I joined a Quaker group because I much preferred a silent approach to worship than the noisy, have-to-be-happy environment I was used to in the Baptist church. The Quakers put a good deal of emphasis on not blindly accepting second-hand doctrines but instead being honest about your personal experience. I'd experienced nothing, despite begging God for decades to speak to me, so I (again reluctantly) came to the conclusion that there must be... nothing. Maybe it's because I'm on the autistic spectrum that I'm unable to have religious experiences. But if those experiences are an essential part of being a "real" Christian (and therefore being saved), why would a just God make me in such a way that I'm effectively predestined to be lost?

[MyopicTurtle]

I've had similar spiritual experiences. I was raised christian, and spent a lot of time in prayer. The kicker for me is that I've had similar experiences since I lost all faith in God. A while back I started waking up early to go on long walks in the morning as a method of fighting off depression while my commitments kept me from getting much social contact with others. That's how my walks started, but they soon morphed into something else, because I found that from time to time, while I was deep in contemplation, I would slip into a state where it felt like my entire being was in alignment. Instead of communing with God, I was communing with all of the different facets of myself, yet it was the same.

[tristanneal]

This reminded me of Durkheim’s assertions about social power. Powerful experiences can form out of nothing more than personal will or the feelings of those around us. We have to acknowledge that these experiences are real, but that doesn’t mean you can immediately attribute them to God, or Allah, or cosmic power in the universe.

“Professor, is any of this real? Or is it all happening in my head?”
“Why of course it’s happening in your head, but why would that mean it isn’t real?”

[Baa]

Fuck there's some rude people!! "You never were a real Christian". "If you truly believed, you still would". Just bug off!!

[Bri_]

I'm only about a minute in, but I'm also now an atheist who used to be hyper religious, and I too thought I had a "personal relationship with God" and other "paranormal" experiences. I grew up as a sorta Catholic, though my mom never believed in the bible. Don't ask me how that works 😂

instead we were taught about ghosts, Ouija boards, tarot cards, possession, channeling, and the occult. Everything had Christian overtones. I believed everything I was taught, and had experiences that at the time, had me absolutely certain that God and the afterlife existed.

Now that I've got the tools to explain these things though, I don't know if there are experiences I had that can't explained. These were the biggest hurdle for me becoming an atheist. See, my dad had died when I was 12, and all I cared about for years was reconnecting with him somehow. Becoming an atheist meant letting him go, and appreciating the memories I already had.

I spent so many nights crying my eyes out, "talking" to my dad, "talking" to God, and maybe it was just a coping mechanism, but I think I can somewhat understand where you're coming from. Alright, now I'm gonna finish this video. 💕

[ErinJanus]

I find it interesting that as an atheist you just told a more beautiful story describing your spiritual experience than I have ever heard any Christian tell. lol. Is it because the Holy Spirit isn't ready to give Christians the ability to tell stories like that yet??