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I 100% believed (and lived accordingly), and now I do not. When I tried to share Christ, my belief crumbled. I did not want it to. I was not afraid to believe. I didn't reject anything. I didn't pretend anything. But as I tried to find a way to show an unbeliever that there was something to believe in, I discovered that there wasn't.
My career was in high tech, and now that I am retired I teach part time at a college in that field.
When anyone tries to explain to someone else what the believe, or something works, they very quickly come to realize that they literally don't know what they are talking about. When a student says they think they understand, I ask them to explain it to someone else, and often they quickly recognize that they really don't have a full understanding.
"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." (Albert Einstein)
It's like the author Howard Griffin who wrote the book "Black Like Me." Griffin, who was white, dyed his skin brown to see what it was like living as an African American person. The color was superficial, he was playing a role. Like Griffin, I think Bell will go back to theism when his year at playing at atheism is up.
It's like the author Howard Griffin who wrote the book "Black Like Me." Griffin, who was white, dyed his skin brown to see what it was like living as an African American person. The color was superficial, he was playing a role. Like Griffin, I think Bell will go back to theism when his year at playing at atheism is up.
That's an interesting point. If he really lived like an atheist - if he can make any claim to this being an experiment rather than a bit of foolishness, he should at least read enough to be apply to make atheist - type talk - then seeing how he got treated by those people he thought of as perfectly good Christians might be a rude shock for him.
That's an interesting point. If he really lived like an atheist - if he can make any claim to this being an experiment rather than a bit of foolishness, he should at least read enough to be apply to make atheist - type talk - then seeing how he got treated by those people he thought of as perfectly good Christians might be a rude shock for him.
He lost his jobs. Of course, he received money from non-believers to help fund the *experiment.*
The guy is getting a fair bit of unwarented criticism in my opinion.
I don't think he is being a phony, He says he is a functional atheist, but he has been maintaining a Christian worldview. His experiment is to shed that worldview and live as an atheist without the trappings and crutches of Christianity to which he is accustomed.
I get the impression he is a functioning Christian but not all that deeply a believer.
My impression is that he has been living a Christian lifestyle akin to a fundamental Christian. Directly reading scripture for inspiration, church attendance, heavy reliance on other "believers" as a support system. All this is set up around believers as support, crutches, and influence to keep them plugged in and thinking they should believe (even if they truly don't). So they go through the motions, quasi-believing not out of true conviction but out of peer pressure and fear of "what if it really is true."
By unplugging to "live like an athiest" what he might be saying in a rather clunky fashion is that he is going to let go of the Christian trappings (as an athiest would have no use or practice in such things) to see if his real belief and faith are really Christianity, or elsewhere.
In a way, he sees this as himself testing God too. He thinks he beleives in the Christian God, so he probably is thinking that his belief in God may be reinforced by God even without the surround of the religious reminders and reinforcements he has been using. Hopefully, it also means he will not be trying to evaluate things in terms of a Christian outlook either, as an athiest certainly would not.
Overall, I think there is some flaw in it, but anyone who is not a true Christian believer is going to struggle to really explore what they believe when they remain immersed in Christianity.
Thanks. It's the same guy as mentioned in then OP (Bell) and he is taking his effort seriously. I withdraw many of my reservations and commend his guts. He has indeed found out what you get for questioning.
Mind, if you have a job in a bacon factory and convert to Islam, some changes can be expected. It is more his perception of a complete change of personality in his former friends that may shock him.
Of course, if I were to suddenly Do a Mystic, I might expect some flak from the Unfaithful here.
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