The experience of converting

Hi notwise,There are a load of personal testimonies from people who converted from islam to atheism, explaining why and how.They are available here and have also been published as a book.Mick

Well, being Muslim, and not believing in God is a metaphor. Some people are forced to believe in God, and follow a tradition, then call themselves Muslims. I think you know about that first hand (your parents made you go to church.).
They should be given the chance to choose.
Terrorists are a prime example oh this. They kill people to prove their point, and claim they are representing a much larger group than they actually are.Or are you and Lam saying that its ok to be forced into that situation.
Do you believe in the rights of a human?

Hi there...Was looking around for a toe into the site and tripped across here. Seems like as good a place to begin as any.There's probably a label that can be attached to the views I held before conversion to Christianity... but I'm not sure what it would be. I didn't think about God, didn't think about where the world or all the things in it came from, didn't think about my nominal Roman Catholic 'faith'. Neither did I care. Iano was Iano and lived his life as he saw fit. The prime thing that concerned me, was me. And that was, by and large, the view that seemed to be shared by people I came in contact with - so there was no reason to think there was anything inappropriate/invalid about it.A constant throughout my life had been a tendency to live it intensely. As a kid it was the string of hobbies; entered into with relish, then developed to deep levels. Not for me, the casual picking up and discarding of interests once the initial novelty had worn off. Additional to a strong drive to seek fulfillment and enjoyment however, was a parallel companion called boredom. Whatever it was that gave initial satisfaction would eventually (even if it took years) loose it's lustre and I'd start to see the activity as being...well, a bit pointless really. There was always a void behind the surface satisfaction and pleasure. Something that remained untouched - no matter what I tried to fill it with: childhood hobbies, juvenile delinquency, drugs, sex and then when I came to my senses a little, university, work, success-seeking, homebuilding.Satisfaction-seeking had, for me, the characteristic that I needed more as I went along. Yet for all the new thrills I could access, they never even approached the peaks of childhood ones. The shiny new motorcycle I could now easily afford, not a patch on the beat up old Suzuki I scraped my pennies together for. Neither did anything ever seem to pan out as expected. The promise always had a downside. The bosses, to think of one example, I had so respected for their confidence/abilities/power, were the same folk who had non-marriages/70 hour weeks /no relationship with their kids - once I had climbed high enough to get a view of things myself.I couldn't have vocalised it so at the time but to me, life had to be about something and everything I looked at for meaning was transparent. They weren't substance - just beautifully packaged illusions.Mild disillusionment with it all set in at 30. By the time I passed my 38th birthday that disillusionment had cranked up to despair. I was trapped. I had tried innumerable things to fill the void and although there were things as yet untried, logic told me that the results could only be the same. The itch was getting worse, the attempts to scratch it more desperate and damaging. I was an object moving in a straight line and no exterior force was having any effect. And the only direction I could go in was down.It was at that point I turned to an unseen, unbelieved and unknown God and cried for help.He did...and I haven't looked back since.

Well, Hindu's do worship God in their own way, as do Jews, Muslims, Mormons, etc. So yes, they can and in fact do, and have been for hundreds of years and in some cases thousands of years.lfen

Quote Ramoss: (anybody tell me how you do a quote properly? Ta..)"The evil is the fact that many "christians" insist that not only that their specific beliefs are the only way to get to god, but those people who 'Do not accept christ's blood for the remission of their sins" go to hell forever. This causes them to be arrogant, obnouxious, and treat other people as second class citizens. That is the evil"Am with you on that one Ramoss. It's the simplest mistake in the world to cross the line when making such exclusive claims. Arrogance, piousness etc lie in wait. Me, to my shame can achieve expert status at times in this. However, telling someone that there is only one God and all other belief systems are wrong etc., is either:- exclusive,arrogant,obnoxious and false.or- true...and only sounds exclusive, arrogant and obnoxious (which, given that you are telling someone that(possibly)heart-felt and life-long beliefs are completely wrong - is hardly an unexpected reaction)The only way to avoid the charge of apparent arrogance/exclusiveness/intolerance (of any truth) is by watering down the truth itself. And who would want that?

If you see a post that contains stuff you'd like to do, click on Peek (lower right) and you will get to see exactly how the poster dood it.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Thats so profound, but you missed the point.

Thanks for that. Am a bit blown away by the site at the moment. Never seen anything like it in my life. The bloke who told me about it said it was....er....interesting. All my Christmas' come at once more like (I hope...a four page debate on what qualifies as an assertion almost had me run for cover...)And just now.. got a flicker of a notification that someones replied to a post I made on this site. My cuppeth overflowethThink I'll have to give up the day job.

Yes iano, run and run fast. This place is intellectual cocaine.If you choose to ignore this particular advice I have some more for you that may help.In my signature box are links to topics that are of help to newbies including our Forum Guidelines. When you reply to a message, to the left of the reply window are a few more links, HTML On, and dBCodes On. These are invaluable for formating help. (jar already told you about our "PEEK" function)One more wonderful place to look around is our Post of the Month forum. Here you will find some of the best that EvC has to offer.Welcome to EvC.

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AdminAsgara Queen of the Universe

http://asgarasworld.bravepages.com http://perditionsgate.bravepages.com

Cocaine? Oh dear...I did smoke a joint once... but didn't inhale.I have a medium-sized tendency toward arrogance, cutting remarks and pride. I've got a little tired of it. Evidently the Lord has too. Right...lets see how much of a thrashing I can take!Thanks for the welcome and d'info...

This process is called brainwashing of children, and I heard that christians are particularly good at it. Heck, just go to any anti-gay protest and you are bound to see a few signs that say "god hates fags" and "gay people are evil" being held by 7 yr olds, and I'm sure that 7 yr olds know everything about gay people

You see though, I don't think thats right. It should not be a Christians job to bring condemnation on people. It should be our job to love people. The Holy SPirit is the one who convicts.As a Christian, or any other person of any belief, we don't have to agree on things, but we should keep that to ourselves. Or if it comes to making things that we don't agree on legal, we have a legal right to vote whatever way we choose. If we are hated for it, then that is the person who is doing the hating, problem.

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It should not be a Christians job to bring condemnation on people. It should be our job to love people.

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So where do so many Christians get the idea that it is their job to condemn people?It's the same place you get the idea that it is your job to convert people to your religion.The Bible. [quote]Or if it comes to making things that we don't agree on legal, we have a legal right to vote whatever way we choose.[quote] Human and civil rights aren't decided by majority rule.They exist precisely to protect the minority from the tyrrany of the majority.I believe this has been explained to you many times already.This message has been edited by schrafinator, 08-17-2005 07:59 AM

I wish I knew. I think there is a movement now to abandend that idea, as it is not working. People can see through all the BS now. I think it's about time. I cannot convert anyone, I have said that many times. One has to be considered a minority first, not a chosen style of life, or desired sexual position.Please, show me the gay Gene.

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Please, show me the gay Gene.

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The Archbishop Gene Robinson...