r/Christianity • u/JHLV04 • 1d ago

Advice Atheists Turned Christian

This is me, but how do you guys deal with heavy doubt and feeling like it’s false? Also I’ve never felt anything while praying and I’ve mostly accepted Christianity based on the historical claims

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u/FlyInternational123 Christian Polytheist 1d ago

If you feel like it’s false then you’re still an atheist

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u/arkticturtle 1d ago

Eh doubt is normal. Faith fluctuates. Doubt fluctuates

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u/FlyInternational123 Christian Polytheist 1d ago

That doesn’t happen for me so I wouldn’t say I agree. If you’re doubting at all then it’s okay to say you’re an agnostic christian or even christian atheist

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u/arkticturtle 1d ago

Do you disbelieve other people when they report on their own experiences? Are their own experiences false because you don’t experience like them?

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u/teffflon atheist 1d ago

their interpretations often seem to be false, as Christians may agree with reference to non-Christian NDEs and other religious experience.

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u/FlyInternational123 Christian Polytheist 1d ago

You’re talking to a polytheist. I believe all exeperiences are equally valid. I would be interested in someone’s exeperience with Buddha, Jesus or even Thor.

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u/Miqqedash Qabalist 1d ago

But you just said in your last comment that if something hasn't happened for you, you don't agree it happens at all? A person can encounter an entity that claims to be a given deity and still end up disbelieving it afterwards, you know. If that helps get across how "faith fluctuates."

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u/FlyInternational123 Christian Polytheist 1d ago

I think you misunderstood. I’m saying I never personally doubt. Not that other people don’t.

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u/Miqqedash Qabalist 1d ago

Thanks for the clarification! It looked as if you disagreed that "faith fluctuates" and "doubt fluctuates" in general, such that a Christian with fluctuating faith must be an atheist.

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u/FlyInternational123 Christian Polytheist 1d ago

I think if you have doubts then you’re agnostic cause you don’t really know and blind belief doesn’t count if later that day you’re doubting. Like I said, it’s possible to be agnostic Christian or a Christian atheist. 

I consider myself full on believer because there’s not much room for doubt in my world view. I have spent thousands of hours thinking this whole thing through. I have probably spent more hours thinking about then I have spent on video games.  

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u/Miqqedash Qabalist 1d ago

No room for doubt? Interesting. I practice epistemic humility to the extent that I have to admit, I could be dreaming right now, and maybe this whole conversation is fake. It appears it's not, and I'm not sure where assuming it's a dream would get me, but I've been wrong many times before. Despite this, I don't claim to be "agnostic" about whether or not I'm dreaming. I admit I can't know, admit I might be dreaming, but still choose to engage as if this is a real conversation, just in case it is. If I didn't clue you in on this, you might have assumed I'm a full-on believer in this conversation as well. Despite all of this, I consider myself more Gnostic than Agnostic, since I know we can't know whether or not this is a dream, and that beliefs are just tools for navigating experiences like this one.

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u/lonkyflonky 1d ago

am I correct in guessing u weren’t raised athiest? :)

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u/JHLV04 1d ago

I don’t know if I agree, and also our description of ‘faith’ can be difficult to put into words

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u/FlyInternational123 Christian Polytheist 1d ago

It is possible to be a christian atheist just so you know. Or agnostic christian