Why I Don't Believe in God
On a warm late spring day in June of 2015, in an inflatable rubber raft manned by me, a guide and five other brave souls drifted down an ancient North Carolina River framed by beautiful green mountains and highlighted with rocks and boulders delivering an exhilarating ride through a series of white-water rapids. It was an incredible, heart-pounding, and breathtaking journey upon a refreshingly cool watercourse that challenged my sensibilities and reason. It was a moment to remember and to never forget.
That unforgettable experience was courtesy of the French Broad River, reportedly the third oldest river in the world; only younger than the oldest river in the world, the Nile in Egypt, and the second oldest river in the world, the New River in West Virginia. According to geologists, North Carolina's French Broad River may be as old as 300 million years old. How do we know that? Scientific evidence.
Many Christians, especially Christian apologists, deny or ignore scientific theory (evidence) that found the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old. Christians and Christian apologists claim the earth is only 6,000 to 10,000 years old because, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, so it says in Genesis, from the Christian’s go-to book, the Bible.
That Christian claim is nothing more than faith (belief without evidence) based assertion using the Genesis creation myth from a book filled with mythological stories and characters. Christians will never change their belief that the Earth is only 6,000 to 10,000 years old no matter what the evidence shows.
“The Bible has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies.” ~ Mark Twain
The French Broad River and its surrounding beauty were not made by a God. It is the result of millions of years of geographic and meteorological events. Scientific theory determined the age of the French Broad River, approximately 300 million years old. Scientific theory is not a guess. Scientific theory is an explanation of what something is and is based on extensive and repeated experimentation of evidence and peer-reviewed for accuracy. Scientific theory can change if new evidence is given.
Scientific theory (evidence) substantiated the age of the French Broad River and the age of the Earth. To date, there is no evidence or scientific theory that shows and proves the existence of a God or Gods, therefore, I do not believe in God. When Christians are asked to supply evidence for their God, they will say they cannot and offer "faith," belief without evidence, for the reason they believe in God. Faith is not a guide to truth, evidence is.
My atheism, disbelief, or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods, did not start with my white-water experience down the French Broad River. My lifelong journey toward atheism started years earlier and finally came about with the reading of a two-hundred-year-old book. That book is much younger than the Bible, but nonetheless a book of enlightenment (emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition) and helped me to evolve into a student of reason and truth and not a blind follower of tradition and faith.
In April of 2011, I read a book (first published in 1794) titled, “The Age of Reason,” by Thomas Paine. Mr. Paine did not only question the validity of Christianity and the Bible but all religions.
Mr. Paine's book was the catalyst that finally got me over the fear of hell and condemnation if I did not believe in the Christian way or doubted that the Bible was the “Word of God.” I already had doubts and questioned whether many of the stories in the Bible are believable. The book, “The Age of Reason” confirmed my thinking and allowed me to be true to myself.
“But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.” ~ Thomas Paine
In his book, Mr. Paine wrote, “I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine.” With the same reverence, I too do not mean to condemn or criticize those who believe otherwise. I trust you give me the same freedom of thought when reading this declaration of mine, without condemnation.
Except for the rare visit to church to attend a funeral of a seldom-seen relative, I don’t have many memories of church as a young boy. That’s because my parents didn’t go to church and therefore I didn’t either. I did on occasion attend a Christian (usually Baptist) church. With whom and why I don’t remember, but I did go to church at times in my childhood.
When I did attend church as a child, I usually went to Sunday school where Bible stories were read and discussed. But those experiences were few and far between. When I attended church as an adult, I seldom went to Sunday school.
Most of my early indoctrination into Christianity came by way of celebrating Christmas and Easter, even though my experience with those two Christian holidays was more in line with the secular celebration (Santa Clause and the Easter bunny) than about Jesus. It wasn’t until I grew up, got married, and at times attended church, that I became more aware of Christianity, the stories in the Bible, and Jesus.
I mention my lack of Sunday school attendance as a child because I believe it is important to note that my young mind was not filled with stories of the Bible as real events. Some of you will now think that is my problem—I was not groomed to accept Christianity as a spiritual concept and the Bible as the divinely inspired "Word of God."
I am thankful I wasn’t indoctrinated with religion at a young age because I believe it allows me to have a more open mind and allows reason and logic to decide my belief instead of religious indoctrination although I still find it hard to dismiss what I have been exposed to over the years. Christianity and the Bible are so much a part of the American culture and history. It is extremely difficult to let that go.
I wanted to believe in the Bible, Jesus, and the promise of everlasting life. I sincerely tried to believe. I have, at times, let it all hang out (emotionally) after a "fire and brimstone" ranting of a Baptist or Pentecostal preacher led me to the altar. I have at times, when devastated by a personal experience, like divorce or the death of my young sister and father, opened my heart and asked Jesus to help me deal with those awful experiences. Nothing happened.
I see religion as a vehicle to enslave humanity to an ideology. I do believe many if not most people sincerely believe in their religion and the respective holy scripture of their religion. Please remember, I am not challenging their belief—I am only expressing my disbelief.
I do not believe that any of the so-called holy scriptures of the various religions around the world are the word of a God, including the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible validates Christianity and Christianity confirms the Holy Bible creating a never-ending circle of self-fulfilling truth for those who believe that the Holy Bible is the “Word of God.”
Mr. Paine gave excellent arguments against all religions, especially Christianity. I found myself appreciating what Mr. Paine said, “…it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.”
On the surface, I thought and believed I was a Christian, but deep inside I doubted the stories of the Bible and the promises of everlasting life through Jesus Christ. I was trying to believe in something that my reason and logic told me wasn't real. When I professed my doubts, I was always told to have faith or that God worked in mysterious ways.
Thomas Paine argues how do we know the Bible is the word of God? Because the Bible tells us so? I believe the Bible is nothing more than a collection of myths and folklore. It was put together by men, unknown to us, selecting ancient writings from a collection of ancient writings some of which were said to be inspired by God. Men chose which writings to be included in the Bible and which writings would not. How can we trust a decision of such size to men we know nothing about and believe and trust in the result of their choice?
I know, it is said the books of the Bible and the "selection committee" were all inspired by God. I ask, could it not be said that Thomas Paine's book "The Age of Reason" was inspired by God so that humankind could be free from the slavery/tyranny of religion?
For those of you still with me, I know there are several of you, especially if you are a Christian, who believe I am on the path to hell. All members of a particular religion believe their religion is the true religion and that all others are false.
Christians believe, and the Bible tells them so, there was a talking snake, a burning bush that spoke to Moses, and a man who survived for three days inside a whale (or large fish). These are just three events in the Bible that reason and logic, in my view, cannot accept.
I do not believe that in the entire world there was only one family righteous enough to be saved from a great flood. I do not think a loving, compassionate God would kill innocent children and babies by drowning them for the sins of their parents.
I do not believe that in two cities, Sodom, and Gomorrah, only one family was worth saving. As it turned out, that was not such a good family. Again, what about innocent children, and babies? Would a loving, compassionate God murder innocent children and babies? I do not believe so.
I do not believe that a rebellious angel was cast out of heaven and into hell only to escape the bonds of hell and tempt humankind and Jesus. Surely God would have foreseen what Satin would do to his children and prevent Satin from escaping from hell. Why would God allow that to happen and then condemn humankind to hell unless they knew his only begotten son after he was tortured to death? That just does not make sense to me. I do not buy it.
I have always thought the stories in the Bible were much like fables and folklore. If the story of Pecos Bill were in the Bible, would it not be accepted as true? You remember Pecos Bill, right? Pecos Bill could ride anything. He soon became bored with riding broncos and wanted to ride a tornado. Well, as the story goes, he eventually ropes and rides a great twister.
Now we all know that is not possible to rope and ride a tornado. However, is it any more unbelievable than a man surviving three days inside a whale? We know that the Pecos Bill story is not true because it is preposterous. Well, in my mind, it is ridiculous to believe a man can live inside a whale or giant fish for three days and survive, or the story of Noah and the ark.
No doubt the explanation of my coming of age about Christianity and all religions will fall short of converting anyone to my way of thinking. That is okay because that was not my goal. As I said at the beginning of this writing, I am merely explaining why I cannot accept religion, in particular, Christianity and the Bible.
Religion, all religions, has taken hold in the world and it will be a part of human nature until something happens that shakes the very foundation of humankind. What that will be, if ever, remains to be seen. I do believe at some point in the future of the world religion will fall by the wayside and go the way of Greek Mythology--interesting to read and study, but nothing more.
Most of you reading this piece will disagree with my views and can probably find holes in my logic big enough to drive a missionary bus through. Well, that’s okay. We each have the right to believe what we want to believe.
I leave you with the words of Stephen Roberts to ponder. Mr. Roberts said, “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one less God than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”