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Raised Christian, became an atheist, then evaluated a bunch of religions for myself. Found Christianity to be the most historically and spiritually compelling b

Raised Christian, became an atheist, then evaluated a bunch of religions for myself. Found Christianity to be the most historically and spiritually compelling but still didn’t believe. After feeling hollow and aimless for years I re-evaluated things, read about Jesus love for me. Really meditated on His perfect life, sacrifice on the cross, and resurrection. He died for me, in my place. It became personal. When I realized that it changed my life. I’ve never felt love like that. It transformed me and freed me. I’ve been following Jesus, praying, and reading the Bible, the inspired and sufficient word of God, ever since.

coryfklein 5y ago
I'm curious; do you believe that your subjective experience of God's love to be objective evidence for the existence of God, and thus you made a scientific observation that God must exist and therefore believe in him? Or is it more that your experience touching the divine had such a positive effect on your life that you simply decided to continue cultivating that experience? Or maybe a bit of both?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- xupybd 5y ago
  Personally I've not met anyone who believes in God because of scientific evidence for Gods existence. However I think Lee Strobale makes a claim of that nature in "The case for Christ". Alvin Plantinga argues that you can have warranted belief without scientific proof in "warranted christian". Me personally I believe that God revealed himself through revelation. That is, He convinced me internally to believe in Him. I know most would discount this as a source of truth but it's enough for me.
  - par1970 5y ago
    I think that anyone who believed in Santa Clause as a kid should automatically discredit any “intuition” they have about things. How much more evidence do you need that you’ll just believe in kooky nice sounding things? Maybe you didn’t believe in The Red Guy, but I did, and in retrospect I must be a complete retard.
    - xupybd 5y ago
      I agree that people believe stupid things. I also believe that this is evidence that you can't trust your intuition. I think I believed in Santa but I can't remember. I do remember struggling with my intuition of physics thanks to Hollywood movies. I can say this feels different to that sort of belief. Not that I expect that would do anything to convince you of it's validity.
      - par1970 5y ago
        In what way does it feel different and why does this difference suggest a higher probability of truth?
        xupybd 5y ago
        Oh it doesn't
criddell 5y ago
I've never understood what part of the crucifixion was a sacrifice. Jesus is literally a god. He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. And how can his death on the cross be actually considered a death? If he was dead, are we to understand that for those few days there was no god overlooking all of creation? It seems to me that Jesus allowing himself to be crucified is poetic but ultimately an empty gesture.
- alecbz 5y ago
  > He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. Is any of this actually a part of Christian canon? It's not clear to me that by describing Jesus as "God", we're meant to understand that he's omniscient (is Yahweh/"The Father" God even omniscient in Christian canon?) or omnipotent with respect to his human form.
  - riffraff 5y ago
    > is Yahweh/"The Father" God even omniscient in Christian canon? I think it is canon in all abrahamic religions, based on the fact that there's a ton of literature around how omniscience relates to free will (Boetius, Aquinas, Calvin etc).
  - geoduck14 5y ago
    >He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. The first Messianic prophy is in Genesis. "Eve's seed (Jesus) would crush the snake (satan)'s head. The snake would crush His heel (Jesus on the cross)" He could have left at anytime is evidenced when Jesus is in the garden in Gethsemane right before He was arrested - he had a legion of angels at His command. I'm not sure about "He can return anytime He wants." I'm going to chalk this one up to "He is God of the universe and do what He wants"
- xupybd 5y ago
  Jesus was God in flesh. So God the father is separate but connected. ( I'm a little under qualified to describe the exact nature of the Holy Trinity) So God the father has always been looking over creation. After Jesus ascended to heaven the Holy Spirit was sent to help the church in place of Jesus her on earth. Jesus was God in flesh so he purposely limited himself to experience all that we experience, to suffer all that we suffer. There is nothing that He can't empathize with. There was also the spiritual law that had to be satisfied. The price of sin is death. Under the Mosaic covenant there were sacrificial animals used to pay that price. Jesus payed that price for all who are willing to take up their cross and follow him.
remram 5y ago
How can he die for you before you are even born? Would you truly be ok for the sin of Adam and Eve to be blamed on you from the day of your birth, simply because they were your ancestors, had Jesus not come along? How is his being put to death a good thing, earning humans salvation all around, when two people eating an apple is bad enough to damn countless generations?
rixed 5y ago
Many (historical) people have died for others, you do not need any mysticism for that.
- good8675309 5y ago
  Interesting. I’m curious though, how many of them claimed to be God? How many of them fulfilled over 300 prophesies written hundreds of years before their birth? And how many claimed to have died for the sins of the world?
  - rixed 5y ago
    I'm actually more moved by the sacrifice of a mere mortal who is trying to improve things by sacrificing himself/herself, than by someone who believes his sacrifice will not really be the end; And I have a really hard time to see things the other way around, in fact. Actually, I never managed to understand this: if one believes souls are eternal and virtue is rewarded in the after-life, then any kind of sacrifice seems cheaper and virtuous behaviors get closer to self-interest. How to reconcile morality with such beliefs?

coryfklein 5y ago

I'm curious; do you believe that your subjective experience of God's love to be objective evidence for the existence of God, and thus you made a scientific observation that God must exist and therefore believe in him? Or is it more that your experience touching the divine had such a positive effect on your life that you simply decided to continue cultivating that experience? Or maybe a bit of both?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
xupybd 5y ago
Personally I've not met anyone who believes in God because of scientific evidence for Gods existence. However I think Lee Strobale makes a claim of that nature in "The case for Christ". Alvin Plantinga argues that you can have warranted belief without scientific proof in "warranted christian". Me personally I believe that God revealed himself through revelation. That is, He convinced me internally to believe in Him. I know most would discount this as a source of truth but it's enough for me.
- par1970 5y ago
  I think that anyone who believed in Santa Clause as a kid should automatically discredit any “intuition” they have about things. How much more evidence do you need that you’ll just believe in kooky nice sounding things? Maybe you didn’t believe in The Red Guy, but I did, and in retrospect I must be a complete retard.
  - xupybd 5y ago
    I agree that people believe stupid things. I also believe that this is evidence that you can't trust your intuition. I think I believed in Santa but I can't remember. I do remember struggling with my intuition of physics thanks to Hollywood movies. I can say this feels different to that sort of belief. Not that I expect that would do anything to convince you of it's validity.
    - par1970 5y ago
      In what way does it feel different and why does this difference suggest a higher probability of truth?
      - xupybd 5y ago
        Oh it doesn't

criddell 5y ago

I've never understood what part of the crucifixion was a sacrifice. Jesus is literally a god. He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. And how can his death on the cross be actually considered a death? If he was dead, are we to understand that for those few days there was no god overlooking all of creation? It seems to me that Jesus allowing himself to be crucified is poetic but ultimately an empty gesture.

alecbz 5y ago
> He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. Is any of this actually a part of Christian canon? It's not clear to me that by describing Jesus as "God", we're meant to understand that he's omniscient (is Yahweh/"The Father" God even omniscient in Christian canon?) or omnipotent with respect to his human form.
- riffraff 5y ago
  > is Yahweh/"The Father" God even omniscient in Christian canon? I think it is canon in all abrahamic religions, based on the fact that there's a ton of literature around how omniscience relates to free will (Boetius, Aquinas, Calvin etc).
- geoduck14 5y ago
  >He knew he would end up on the cross before he even took on human form. He could have left at any time. He can return any time he wants. The first Messianic prophy is in Genesis. "Eve's seed (Jesus) would crush the snake (satan)'s head. The snake would crush His heel (Jesus on the cross)" He could have left at anytime is evidenced when Jesus is in the garden in Gethsemane right before He was arrested - he had a legion of angels at His command. I'm not sure about "He can return anytime He wants." I'm going to chalk this one up to "He is God of the universe and do what He wants"
xupybd 5y ago
Jesus was God in flesh. So God the father is separate but connected. ( I'm a little under qualified to describe the exact nature of the Holy Trinity) So God the father has always been looking over creation. After Jesus ascended to heaven the Holy Spirit was sent to help the church in place of Jesus her on earth. Jesus was God in flesh so he purposely limited himself to experience all that we experience, to suffer all that we suffer. There is nothing that He can't empathize with. There was also the spiritual law that had to be satisfied. The price of sin is death. Under the Mosaic covenant there were sacrificial animals used to pay that price. Jesus payed that price for all who are willing to take up their cross and follow him.

remram 5y ago

How can he die for you before you are even born? Would you truly be ok for the sin of Adam and Eve to be blamed on you from the day of your birth, simply because they were your ancestors, had Jesus not come along? How is his being put to death a good thing, earning humans salvation all around, when two people eating an apple is bad enough to damn countless generations?

rixed 5y ago

Many (historical) people have died for others, you do not need any mysticism for that.

good8675309 5y ago
Interesting. I’m curious though, how many of them claimed to be God? How many of them fulfilled over 300 prophesies written hundreds of years before their birth? And how many claimed to have died for the sins of the world?
- rixed 5y ago
  I'm actually more moved by the sacrifice of a mere mortal who is trying to improve things by sacrificing himself/herself, than by someone who believes his sacrifice will not really be the end; And I have a really hard time to see things the other way around, in fact. Actually, I never managed to understand this: if one believes souls are eternal and virtue is rewarded in the after-life, then any kind of sacrifice seems cheaper and virtuous behaviors get closer to self-interest. How to reconcile morality with such beliefs?