Former atheists, what brought you Christianity?

[catnamedgoose]

Hello everyone, I find myself in a strange spot right now. As a young teenagers, I was a creationist, fundamentalist, far-right Christian. As I got older, I naturally found out how flawed this world view was. It didn't make sense to me that the earth was literally 6,000 years old, that God wanted to burn gay people in hell, and that people born in predominantly non-Christian nations were predestined for hell because they weren't born into Christianity. For many years, probably something like 15 years, I've been an atheist. I thought that the only way to reconcile my views was to become an Atheist. In other words, I couldn't bring myself to believe that the earth was 6,000 years old anymore. It hasn't been until recently that I remembered, oh wait, there are non-bigoted, non-denialist Christians out there. That, and some life events and existential anxiety have brought me here. So here I am. I wouldn't call myself a Christian yet, but I am very curious. 

tl;dr, Former atheists, what was it that brought you to Christianity? 

[romansh]

Hi and welcome 'goose

I can't really answer in the spirit of your question. But growing up I would put down Lutheran on forms etc. Did not really believe the stuff, especially any literalist interpretations. I would fool myself (my interpretation) into accepting the Bible as a mixture of history and metaphor. Mainly the latter. In my late teens and mid-twenties, I drifted into agnosticism and never really left. And depending on one's definition I could be considered an atheist. The militant stage of atheism was not a requisite path for me. But pointing out, what are for me, nonsensical aspects of other people's positions does not seem militant. Would you not argue for say vaccination of your loved ones or even that of strangers? That one cares about an issue does not make one a militant.

Now, your description above seems to imply because one does not believe in a Christian interpretation of God that makes you an atheist. You don't mention the other flavours of gods like: deism, pantheism, or others of the ilk? Of course, some Evangelists would consider these effectively atheism. 

For me, Christianity holds little attraction, but funnily enough, a high school RI teacher taught us that Jesus taught from his own experience. This seems like good advice for all of us.  Learn from the universe and live our lives there.

 

It's OK to say I don't know.

 

ps a militant agnostic bumper sticker:
I don't know and neither do you.

 

 

[tariki]

Hello there 'goose (if I might be so familiar.....😀)

Like Rom above, I don't really fall into the category you specify. I would say however that there really is no need to feel compelled to assert and believe in many of the beliefs of "fundamentalists" in order to explore and deepen your faith, or to identify as Christian. Christianity really is a very broad Church, embracing the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and the various Protestant expressions. 

One theme often articulated by many of the Early Church Fathers was the incomprehensibility of God. Some of the great Christian mystics have explored this in their own spiritual journeys, with Meister Eckhart (13th century) saying:-

"Nothing that knowledge can grasp or desire can want is God. Where knowledge and desire end, there is darkness - and there God shines"

Such words are far from any transcendent Being imagined and "believed" in by many. Anyway, the above just one example. 

Recommended is "The Universal Christ" by Richard Rohr. 

All the best