> Even God would rather have you be passionate over being lukewarm. Revelation 3:15-16 says "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
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Yes, I'm familiar with that verse. To be honest, prior to making the conscious decision to become an atheist, I already started having doubts about many aspects of living as a Christian. When I remembered this verse, and realized that I couldn't reconcile my doubts satisfactorily, I said to God, "You want hot or cold? Fine, then I choose cold."

> It doesn't sound like you've come to this decision suddenly, either. That's also encouraging because you've probably been evaluating information as it comes to you and figuring out how it fits into the puzzle. Continue doing this and try very hard to avoid making the information fit your needs while avoiding what doesn't fit your needs.
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For a long time as a Christian, I avoided information that I felt would challenge my faith. In the end I realized that I was only lying to myself. I guess I'm trying to avoid doing the same thing, only in reverse, right now, which is the reason for my post to begin with.
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> The western world views fall into Theism and Deism; Naturalism, Nihilism and Existentialism; and Pantheism. The Christian, Muslim, and Jew fall into Theism and the Atheist falls into Naturalism, Nihilism, or Existentialism. For someone to be a Theist, a level of faith is required and it sounds like enough has happened in your life for you to question and drop that faith and move to look for explanations of life outside the spiritual.
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I suppose after talking about engaging in spiritual debate for so long, now is a good time to actually chip in my two cents. I've dropped my faith precisely because I've found plenty of explanations of life outside the spiritual, enough to remove my need for faith. I find that nearly anything in the world can be explained by science. Christians may point to certain scientific anomalies which we have as yet been unable to solve as signs of the divine, but scientific understanding has advanced so rapidly, explaining the previously unexplainable, that it is only a matter of time until these "unexplainables" are solved. Even emotion can be attributed to hormonal activity in the brain, stimulating various physical responses, depending on the emotion. Scientists have even pinpointed an area of the brain that controls our perceptions of reality; some people can, through meditation, shut down the activity of this region, leading to what may be interpreted as a supernatural experience. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I find no more need for faith in light of scientific explanations that make so much sense.

> I'm praying that you find the truth, not just what is true for you.

Thank you. While, as an atheist, I necessarily believe that prayer is ineffective, I genuinely appreciate your consideration for someone you hardly know.

knivetsil