Baptist, Noahide, Atheist.

Hey guys. I'm afraid this description will be short but I am super busy moving.

I was raised briefly as Pentecostal, but mostly as Baptist. I took my faith pretty serious until I went over seas and realized that I had been growing up in a box designed to make me see the world in a certain way. People of other faiths were raised to believe things by people they know and love just like I had. Some of those belief systems were more moral than my own. So I sat down and began to build my biblical knowledge and eventually rejected it because my scientific knowledge was growing as well.

But, an apologist told me a lie that I believed and I dove back in to discover how the NT was inconsistent with the OT and coupled that with an empathetic understanding of what it was like to be a 1st century Jew. I became a Noahide and began to learn the Jewish perspective as well.

My transition to atheism was a gradual one, having already endured the pain of the crisis of faith during the time of the first paragraph. The more science and history I learned, the more God became a mythological character. One might be embarrassed to have gone through 3 different worldviews but I think they were each academically rewarding because of the perspectives. Perspective is everything in religious thought.

That being said, I feel that I should explain my name. I do not claim to have all truth, I am in search of the truth. What I feel to be true has reason behind it, or I wouldn't think it. This comes from so many theist debates where I was accused of being an agent of the Devil. It is also my YouTube channel name.

I'm also writing a book discussing dishonest apologetics and how they are self-defeating if not downright damaging to faith. I also engage the Kalam and introduce a counter argument that demonstrates that God could not have possibly created the Universe unless He was self-creating. Something Craig says is impossible.

That's me and I look forward to many discussions. I'm moving so I can't really fully engage in anything right now. Clint invited me, so here I am.

Hello,

Interesting story. I'm curious about the timeframes for you on these things (like how long you held certain worldviews). I also have some questions about two things you said, which I have quoted below.

TheEmpiricalTruth wrote:So I sat down and began to build my biblical knowledge and eventually rejected it because my scientific knowledge was growing as well.

Could you give a little more detail about this?

TheEmpiricalTruth wrote:But, an apologist told me a lie that I believed

What was the lie?

Also, do you want to continue our email discussion in the general debate forum?

Knowledge about the age of the Earth and of the cosmos.

Kirk Cameron said there were no transitional forms (evolution was not in my knowledge base at the time. I accepted evolution because no God meant no creation.) There are actually many, many transitional forms.

This brought on the suspicion that academia is a tool of deception that I was raised with I think.

The timelines are hard to nail down. I'm not sure if you have ever had a crisis of faith or have always been a believer or whatever. I'm not even sure if everyone's experience is similar, but my experience was very non-linear. There is a lot of internal back and forth, reconsideration, prayer, begging, etc. Consider how important your faith is to you and how devastating it would be to lose it. I mentioned the major turning points in order.

Anyway, I would be more than happy to continue the discussion in any forum you wish. But I am still moving and everything is still packed. Will be a week or so before I can give the conversation the attention it deserves

TheEmpiricalTruth wrote:Knowledge about the age of the Earth and of the cosmos.

Kirk Cameron said there were no transitional forms (evolution was not in my knowledge base at the time. I accepted evolution because no God meant no creation.) There are actually many, many transitional forms.

Do you think Scripture can only teach Young-Earth Creationism?

Also, I have started a thread in the debate forum continuing our email discussion.

Young Earth Creationism?

Yes.

I might accept Genesis as metaphor/allegory if the creation account was at least in order. But it is not. To quote Ken Ham on the matter, millions of years of evolution before Jesus makes salvation meaningless.

Millions of years of death and suffering before a metaphorical fall from grace that was later metaphorically redeemed by way of torturous execution is, quite frankly, absurd.

At least 700,000 years of generations upon generations of homo sapiens lived before God was invented. Now we are expected to believe that such a Being condemns us to Hell for not accepting His Son.

Those things are major factors but they are not the only ones.

TheEmpiricalTruth wrote:Young Earth Creationism?

Yes.

I might accept Genesis as metaphor/allegory if the creation account was at least in order.

I strongly disagree with what YEC's say about the text. You may be interested to see the links I posted in my testimony section. Especially the powerpoint, but it requires the least time. Basically, it shows how to take the creation account as historical narrative while still being able to accept an old earth and evolution.

TheEmpiricalTruth wrote:But it is not. To quote Ken Ham on the matter, millions of years of evolution before Jesus makes salvation meaningless.

Millions of years of death and suffering before a metaphorical fall from grace that was later metaphorically redeemed by way of torturous execution is, quite frankly, absurd. At least 700,000 years of generations upon generations of homo sapiens lived before God was invented. Now we are expected to believe that such a Being condemns us to Hell for not accepting His Son.

The NT teaches God's holds us responsible for the revelation he has given. So they had a chance to accept or reject him. Them not knowing about Jesus didn't set them back. The atonement wasn't about torture either, but shame. The text doesn't teach that there wasn't death before either because they needed the tree of life to live. They would die without it. Anyway, if you want to debate any of these, you could make a thread in the other subforum.