GenesisNemesis
06-22-2007, 11:56 PM
I'd like to share a brief story on how I lost my weird beliefs.
I'm fifteen years old, and I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God because I see no reason to put something bigger than ourselves before something that is already bigger than ourselves- which is the Universe. I find it arrogant and stubborn though, to say that there isn't a God, because He/She may exist but mightn't have presented itself yet. It could be a matter of time, or we may become extinct before we find out.
I was once a New-Age believer. I believed in everything: aliens, ghosts, demons, UFO's, UFO abduction stories, healing energies, etc. I believed God was a form of energy, something that existed to keep us in check. But, one night, when I was watching Comedy Central, a comedian was on who, by chance, mentioned a "theory" called "Intelligent Design". He was a comedian, so you could imagine he made some reference to a flaw in the human body.
I searched for it on the Internet (I was already a big fan of it), and I came up with videos called "Does God Exist?" It was probably a Christian/Catholic-made video. I watched it anyways, I guess I was a religious pluralist at the time. So, I watched it, and the arguments were very powerful and convincing. They all seemed to stump me, the first cause argument, the argument from design. But then, the man mentioned a thing called "Creation Science".
I searched for that. I found a sly fellow named "Kent Hovind", who I now know (so I've heard) is spending 10 years in prison for tax evasion. His arguments were convincing too, as convincing as the other guy's. I searched for him some more, but stumbled upon a curious site, Kent Hovind - Analysis of Kent Hovind (Dr Dino) (http://www.kent-hovind.com). It provided a critical, scientific analysis of Kent Hovind's claims. In fact, it was every single statement he made.
I was astonished. How could someone go through all of this? For what purpose? Was it to indocrinate, or to liberate? Was this person bad? Was Kent Hovind actually a good guy? A bunch of questions popped into my head. I kept on reading it. It became my favorite site for a few weeks, when I found more science-related sites like "talkorigins.org". I quickly abandoned all of my crazy New-Age beliefs and adopted the skeptical, scientific view of the world.
I don't know why I wasn't emotionally attatched to my beliefs. I didn't cry when it happened. It was natural to me, I guess. But now, I cry whenever I look at a picture of the Hubble Deep Field, or a colliding galaxy. I can't believe I was away from Science for so long. I can't believe I even considered joining Scientology!
Now, pretty much everything makes sense. Why people believe in their religions, what religions are for, scandals within religion. The Internet brought me to Science and skepticism, and I'm 100% glad that it did. Every day is a new day, something new to learn, something new to debunk, all using pure logic, with no faith involved. I don't believe in God anymore, the laws of nature can clearly be seen acting around us, every day.
Sorry if that was too long. Anyways, glad to be here!
I'm fifteen years old, and I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God because I see no reason to put something bigger than ourselves before something that is already bigger than ourselves- which is the Universe. I find it arrogant and stubborn though, to say that there isn't a God, because He/She may exist but mightn't have presented itself yet. It could be a matter of time, or we may become extinct before we find out.
I was once a New-Age believer. I believed in everything: aliens, ghosts, demons, UFO's, UFO abduction stories, healing energies, etc. I believed God was a form of energy, something that existed to keep us in check. But, one night, when I was watching Comedy Central, a comedian was on who, by chance, mentioned a "theory" called "Intelligent Design". He was a comedian, so you could imagine he made some reference to a flaw in the human body.
I searched for it on the Internet (I was already a big fan of it), and I came up with videos called "Does God Exist?" It was probably a Christian/Catholic-made video. I watched it anyways, I guess I was a religious pluralist at the time. So, I watched it, and the arguments were very powerful and convincing. They all seemed to stump me, the first cause argument, the argument from design. But then, the man mentioned a thing called "Creation Science".
I searched for that. I found a sly fellow named "Kent Hovind", who I now know (so I've heard) is spending 10 years in prison for tax evasion. His arguments were convincing too, as convincing as the other guy's. I searched for him some more, but stumbled upon a curious site, Kent Hovind - Analysis of Kent Hovind (Dr Dino) (http://www.kent-hovind.com). It provided a critical, scientific analysis of Kent Hovind's claims. In fact, it was every single statement he made.
I was astonished. How could someone go through all of this? For what purpose? Was it to indocrinate, or to liberate? Was this person bad? Was Kent Hovind actually a good guy? A bunch of questions popped into my head. I kept on reading it. It became my favorite site for a few weeks, when I found more science-related sites like "talkorigins.org". I quickly abandoned all of my crazy New-Age beliefs and adopted the skeptical, scientific view of the world.
I don't know why I wasn't emotionally attatched to my beliefs. I didn't cry when it happened. It was natural to me, I guess. But now, I cry whenever I look at a picture of the Hubble Deep Field, or a colliding galaxy. I can't believe I was away from Science for so long. I can't believe I even considered joining Scientology!
Now, pretty much everything makes sense. Why people believe in their religions, what religions are for, scandals within religion. The Internet brought me to Science and skepticism, and I'm 100% glad that it did. Every day is a new day, something new to learn, something new to debunk, all using pure logic, with no faith involved. I don't believe in God anymore, the laws of nature can clearly be seen acting around us, every day.
Sorry if that was too long. Anyways, glad to be here!