My atheist story

(Via Kevin Forbes)

When I was a young man, I existed in that realm of what could be called "Sort of Christian." That is, I believed in God and Jesus, but I didn't study the Bible and I didn't go to Church.

When I reached the age of fifteen, my family decided to become 'religious' and as a result I was brought to Church for the first time that didn't involve weddings or funerals. That summer I became a born again Christian. In that time I got to experience the joys of religious hypocrites. I eventually abandoned the idea of Church, which was the first nail in the religious coffin.

Although I abandoned church, it would be much longer before I abandoned god. I lost my actual faith in the early twenties. I don't remember why I initially abandoned Christianity. It might have been my budding interest in Philosophy or my problems with depression. I do remember that it was for the wrong reasons-I abandoned Christianity because I was mad, not because I didn't believe in it.

Floundering around for some sense of certainty, I rediscovered the Problem of Evil, in it's form laid down by Epicurus. If you aren't familiar with it look it up. It left me with two choices:

I could accept the compelling arguments against god.
or
I could pretend that I never heard it and continue to live a life I honestly didn't believe.

I chose the former, and it changed my life.