Question on Doubt

[SoutherDem]

For most of my life I was a Christian. I really believed, the Bible was the "word of God". Yet, at times I found myself doubting my faith. For a few seconds I really did not believe.

Now I am an Atheist. I really do not believe in God, the Bible or any aspect of religion. Yet, at times I find myself doubting my non-faith. For a few seconds I really believe in God.

Is this just part of human nature? To question what you believe or don't believe?

[Warpy]

1. That's because no honest atheist will state that

there is no god of any form or description nor is it possible for there to be one. We've just never experienced on directly or indirectly and consider it highly improbable.

[SoutherDem]

3. Wouldn't this also be true?

That's because no honest Christian will state that there is absolutely a god nor is it possible that there isn't one?
Just wondering why did you choose to state the Atheist point of view and not the Christian point of view?

But, do you mean there will always be doubt?

And to answer your question, it depends on what type of Atheist you are.

An Atheist like myself who approaches it from a scientific/educational point of view. You are correct in that science will never state anything is 100%. There is always that .0000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance. So, yes that type of Atheist will say it is extremely improbable but you can't prove a negative.

I however know some Atheist who were not raised with a belief in a god. It isn't from a scientific improbability it is simply a complete unknown which they find no need to explore. They no more know why they don't believe in god than do Christians know why they believe in god. Meaning, for the most part your faith is based on you parent's faith.

[rrneck]

2. An unexamimed life is not worth living. nt

[TheWraith]

4. The best sign of true knowledge is to understand one's own ignorance.

Despite whatever anyone else might say, there is no way to really know The Truth with a capital T. People who insist that they have the real answer reveal more about themselves than they do about the universe with that attitude. When you contemplate the sheer scope and complexity of the universe, you eventually have to come to the conclusion that you don't KNOW anything for sure. There's no real way one can be sure that there's a God. There's no real way to be sure there isn't one. Unfortunately, human religions have dumbed down philosophy and spiritual experience to ridiculous terms; asserting that conventional religion could represent the will of an all powerful creator of the universe is like saying that the sound of a cave man pounding on one rock with another is an accurate representation of the entire body of all music ever created. If there is an intelligence beyond our own, the premise that we could really truly understand it with our limited capacities is kind of laughable. It would be like trying to have a conversation between us and a starfish with an IQ of 4 trillion.

In short? It's not so much the importance of what you believe, as long as you constantly think about and examine the world around you. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, if there is a God, it's highly unlikely he gave us intelligence and the ability to reason and then expected us not to use them.

[laconicsax]

5. I'd recommend "The Believing Brain" by Michael Shermer and "Breaking the Spell" by Dan Dennett.

While questions about the formation and retention of beliefs are certainly applicable to this group, you may get more discussion of your specific questions in the Atheists & Agnostics group or the Religion group.

I'd say that it's doubtful that doubting one's own beliefs is human nature given the tendency to cling to beliefs even after they've been shown to be false.

[skepticscott]

6. A mature and rational thinker

is always open to new or alternate possibilities, and is continually updating their evaluation of the best available evidence.

[Adsos Letter]

7. I wish it were a part of human nature more uniformly shared. n/t