I just want to officially introduce myself. Hi I'm lumax. As you can see i've been hanging out for a bit(mainly in games subforum but other forums too) trying to see if I liked it here and if my thoughts and opinions fit here. I think they do. When I first found this site(thru a link at FSTDT) I identified myself as Agnostic, now as Atheist. Back in February I was still grasping at the straws that were God in part because I didn't want to disappoint my parents(I was raised Roman Catholic). When I made the realization that I did not and could not believe in God I felt a weight had been removed. A combination of personal experience threads and continual repetition of “The God Delusion” in other threads brought me to Amazon.com where I purchased not only said book but also Letter To A Christian Nation and Everything You Know About God Is Wrong. I have had 6 more books delivered since and hid my credit card. The point I guess I'm trying to make is that this was not a frivolous decision. This was something I've struggled with since I was 13. I'm 39 now. For the longest time I thought which religion I practiced might be the issue and I went thru a bunch of different ones(Christian + Pagan) and never seemed to find the right fit. Then I concluded that it was dogma and tradition - Jesus was a Jew should not Christians actually be Jews as well? This was about the time I moved to North Carolina - where everyone is a Christian(at least in my town). Because my family was identified as Catholics we have been the focus of conversion by many of the Born Again Evangelicals in our neighborhood. I have a friend who is one of the above(she has never actively tried to convert us) but we have many other things in common one of which is heated debate. So for almost a year we have been discussing religion, in person and via email. Mainly Christianity but also Judaism as it relates to OT. I should clarify she is an Old Earth Creationist and Biblical literalist. Unbeknownst to her it was actually her arguments and my research to counter them that brought me to the brink. Which was when I found you and lost any delusion of god I may have had. Thank you.
*I need to clarify a few things... it turns out my "friend" was trying to convert me. How do I know? The big tell was that when I told her she said it changed nothing and we would remain friends but then she cut herself off from me completely - my parents as well. In fact even her children stayed away until my Dad died - go figure. Second I do not believe in an historical Jesus. The Jesus of the bible,IMO, is more a conglomeration of older myths possibly mixed with an actual Rabbi who may or may not have lived during said time period.
There are other posts earlier and later here that flesh this out better and I continually evolve in my thinking to try and make myself better understood. At least I hope so.
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