Hello To All

[54Quix45]

Hello to everyone . I don't consider myself an Atheist, Mormon, Protestant, Baptist, Catholic or any religious or non religious label. I'm on the outside looking in. I just read and take everything in and form my own conclusions.

Throughout my life I pretty much followed Christian Beliefs. I never really went to church much. As a young adult I made a conscious decision to get closer to God. My(then)Girlfriend and I started going to church regulary. I started reading the Bible daily. At first, I only read the parts that the pastor picked out for reading. One day I decided that I would read the Bible from start to finish for total comprehension of the book.

I've always been a very skeptical person. If I read something, and it doesn't add up, I have questions! I didn't make it too far into the Bible before I had some major questions. There is stuff in the Bible that I couldn't believe was in it. Without being controversial, If I was to completely follow the Bible, I would be a pretty hateful person. There are tons of contradictions and stuff that just doesn't make sense! I didn't make it far into the Bible before putting it down. After I get to my 10 posts, I will add some of my reading to a thread that is already on the Forum.

Several years have passed by since my attempt at reading the Bible. At this point, I have a wide open mind. I sought out a forum like this because I don't have too many people to talk to about the subject of religion and its BS! People are such sheep. I've already found some quite interesting reading here. I like reading a contrarians view of things to do with religion. Hello again and I look forward to my stay here.

[Whitney]

Hi, welcome to HAF.

Not to force a label on you...but I'm guessing you are still some kind of theist since you aren't an atheist.  Perhaps a deist (inclined to think a god exists but doesn't involve itself in our lives)?  Or perhaps agnostic is a better fit?  Depending on which discussions you may involve yourself in, it helps people to know the general direction from which you are coming on the god question.

[Recusant]

Hello and welcome to HAF, 54Quix45. So you reject all religious and irreligious labels? I admire that.    Still, as Whitney indirectly pointed out, it's likely that one or another (or more than one) of them may be applicable, despite your reluctance to be categorized. I look forward to your contributions to discussions here.

Notes for new members from Tank:

The Rules.

Users who comply with forum rules will graduate to full membership after 10 posts. Till that time your ability to post is limited to the "Getting to Know You" section of the forum. It is our hope that this small restriction improves the overall atmosphere of HAF.

Some threads you might find interesting.
Where did you get your username from?
10 Things About Yourself
Tell us A Bit About Where You're From
Photography
Non-religious pet peeves
Pets...what do you have?
How to tell your family you are an atheist.*
"Rules for Conducting a Discussion" by Dr. Mortimer J. Adler*

*You will need 10 posts before you can add a post to this thread, but you can read it at any time.

I hope you enjoy your time reading and posting here!

[Tank]

Hello 54Quix45

Good user name if you want to stay unique, but it very nearly got your account deleted as it looks a like a lot a spammer. If I hadn't been able to determine through other means that you're real I would probably I would probably have zapped it. Very good thing I didn't!

Welcome to HAF

Regards
Chris

[Asmodean]

"Atheist" is not exaclty a label on an atheist forum.

It is an umbrella term for people who don't believe in gods, and is no more a label than "blue-eyed" or "male"

[54Quix45]

Thanks for the welcomes. I apologize for not being more clear. If I had to label myself, it would be more towards being a "Free Thinker", I guess. Honestly, I don't know much about the belief system of Atheists(other than the lack of belief in god), Agnostics or Deists. I just know that I'm totally done with religion and God in the traditional sense and love to read views of other people on the subject. Does that make me an Athiest? When I'm able to post in different areas I'll explain my position more. Thanks.

[Too Few Lions]

Welcome to the forum 54Quix45. I don't think atheists really have a group belief system, it's just an umbrella term to cover people who don't believe in the existence of gods. Apart from that we're generally quite free thinking and there can be quite a broad set of beliefs about most other things. You're free to think and believe whatever you choose.

[Tank]

There are generally 2 types of atheist.
Weak. There isn't sufficiant evidence of a god to make me believe in its existance.
Strong. I don't believe a god exists.
The split is roughly 75/25 weak/strong.

Hope that helps a little.

[Crocoduck]

Welcome to HAF 54Quix45

[Anti-antidisestablishmentarianism]

Welcome! I myself tried the Deist thing, but when I look at the way things are and how the universe is set up, everything just seems way to random for there to be a designer.  I guess that would put me in the "strong" atheist category.  You could always switch to the view in Stephen King book IT.  A turtle puked up the universe.  Yeah that man was on some strong stuff back in those days!

[Amicale]

Welcome! I myself tried the Deist thing, but when I look at the way things are and how the universe is set up, everything just seems way to random for there to be a designer.  I guess that would put me in the "strong" atheist category.  You could always switch to the view in Stephen King book IT.  A turtle puked up the universe.  Yeah that man was on some strong stuff back in those days!

Hmm... I've read 'IT' a couple times, and honestly can't recall the turtle reference...

Ah well, no matter. A warm welcome to you, Quix!

[Anti-antidisestablishmentarianism]

Welcome! I myself tried the Deist thing, but when I look at the way things are and how the universe is set up, everything just seems way to random for there to be a designer.  I guess that would put me in the "strong" atheist category.  You could always switch to the view in Stephen King book IT.  A turtle puked up the universe.  Yeah that man was on some strong stuff back in those days!

Hmm... I've read 'IT' a couple times, and honestly can't recall the turtle reference...

Ah well, no matter. A warm welcome to you, Quix!

You don't remember the turtle?!?! The turtle created the universe by puking and something else is lord over all.  He doesn't say what.  Near the end you find out that It killed the turtle, but the other thing is what gives them the power to kill It, I think.  I haven't read it in a year or so and I became addicted to Terry Brooks novels so my memory is a little foggy on the details.  My aunt said she didn't remember the turtle either. I had to go back and read it just to be sure I wasn't mistaken. Read it again it is in there!!

[Amicale]

Welcome! I myself tried the Deist thing, but when I look at the way things are and how the universe is set up, everything just seems way to random for there to be a designer.  I guess that would put me in the "strong" atheist category.  You could always switch to the view in Stephen King book IT.  A turtle puked up the universe.  Yeah that man was on some strong stuff back in those days!

Hmm... I've read 'IT' a couple times, and honestly can't recall the turtle reference...

Ah well, no matter. A warm welcome to you, Quix!

You don't remember the turtle?!?! The turtle created the universe by puking and something else is lord over all.  He doesn't say what.  Near the end you find out that It killed the turtle, but the other thing is what gives them the power to kill It, I think.  I haven't read it in a year or so and I became addicted to Terry Brooks novels so my memory is a little foggy on the details.  My aunt said she didn't remember the turtle either. I had to go back and read it just to be sure I wasn't mistaken. Read it again it is in there!!

LOL, OK, OK, I shall! And sorry, Quix, for hijacking your welcome thread. Ack! Didn't mean to. 

[Amicale]

I've always been a very skeptical person. If I read something, and it doesn't add up, I have questions! I didn't make it too far into the Bible before I had some major questions. There is stuff in the Bible that I couldn't believe was in it. Without being controversial, If I was to completely follow the Bible, I would be a pretty hateful person. There are tons of contradictions and stuff that just doesn't make sense! I didn't make it far into the Bible before putting it down. After I get to my 10 posts, I will add some of my reading to a thread that is already on the Forum.

I've heard it said that letting someone read the Bible front cover to back will put them well on the way to a healthy sense of skepticism if not outright unbelief. I know lots of Christians who admit to having never read the entire bible, or even most of it, or even part of it. What they believe is really the simplified story pastors and priests have told them about Jesus. They've maybe read the gospels, and a few snippets of the New testament, but that's often about it. There ARE lots of contradictions, mostly about the moral character of God and what exactly 'he' commands from us. After reading through the whole thing from Genesis to Revelation a couple times (MAN, Numbers is damned good if you have insomnia, LOL), I was initially pretty aghast at a lot of what I read. I even said "Holy book? Seriously??" -- and this was back when I still considered myself a Christian. 

So, yeah, you definitely have company.

A podcast you should check out is 'Ask an Atheist', they're out of Washington and they actually have airtime on a radio station there, but they turned it into a podcast as well. They have a segment called 'the holy book says whaaaaaaat?' and people call in with passages from various religious texts that are utterly absurd. It's amusing. 

[Ali]

Hi and welcome!  Haha, I have heard it said that reading the bible is one of the surest ways to turn someone into an atheist.  I have tried to read the whole thing before but couldn't get past all of the begats.  Good for you for having the determination!