Friday 20 February 2015

HOW I BECAME AN ATHEIST BY ROLU ADEBOLA!



I had wanted to title this confession "my journey into Atheism". But then I felt that this one was going to be more appropriate. As it is, the Atheist I am today did not happen in a day. I went through three different stages of atheism and that process is still continuing. As I describe my journey into becoming the Atheist I am today, I will briefly touch on these three stages. 

STAGE ONE
How did I become an atheist the first time? To start with, let me quickly define what Atheism is. Atheism is the lack of belief in God. This is simply what Atheism is. And I will tell you how I first became an atheist. It was a while ago, a young man met a young lady, they fell in love and married. Of course, after a while, she got pregnant. 9 months after this, an Atheist was born! That young man was my father and the young woman was my mother. And yes you guessed it, I was the Atheist they gave birth to. You see, during that period, which comprised the first 12 months of my life, I didn't believe in God; any God for that matter. I was a pure Atheist!

STAGE TWO
This confession may come as a shock to many, but it is true! My second stage of Atheism was due to my parents. Yes, my parents turned me into an Atheist. I was brought up in strict Christian upbringing and soon gave my life to Christ and entered into the then SU movement. During this time, I was taught how God is different from Allah and how Allah is an idol in Mecca. So yes, I didn't believe in Allah and in our local deities like Ogun, Sango and Obatala! You see, Atheism is the lack of belief in the "existence" of a deity. So of one deity or the other, everyone is an Atheist. But I was worse than many others, because I did not believe in Allah, nor in Obatala, nor in Buddha or Krishna. My strict Christian upbringing required it. And so whilst I was a Christian, to all other deities, I was an unbeliever. I didn't believe they "existed"! Of those deities therefore, I was an Atheist!

STAGE THREE
I grew therefore a Christian. And I thought Christians believed in one God. Until I found out that even within Christianity, there were many gods! This is one reason why there are many Christian sects and each one believes the other is in error and going to hell. You see, God is a personality, but also an idea, a concept and a perception. If the name changes will it still be God? I say no. If the definition changes, will it still be the same deity? I think not. And if the perception changes, will it be the same deity? I say no! 

That was how I became a full blown Atheist. I began to reject the existence of the Christian gods. I lost belief in the confused god, the vicious god, the greedy for money god, the do-for-me-before-I-do-for-you god, the corruption enabling god, the bloodthirsty irrational god, the man of god (yes that one is a god too), the wear ear ring and go to hell god, etc etc. As different descriptions and definitions of God inherent in my faith became evident to me, I had to decide which God I wanted to believe in and which I wanted to drop. I therefore became an atheist of so many gods within my faith.

This I believe explains why many Christians see me as an atheist. And they are right. Of many of their gods, I am an unbeliever. For example, if your god doesn't bless you unless you bribe him first, I'm sorry, I can't believe in that one. Or if your own sends a devourer after you for missing taxes, (sorry tithe), well, you're not talking about the same God I know. The same goes for the hundreds of gods people peddle in Christianity, these days, too numerous to describe. Once I see we are talking about different deities, I will respectfully reject yours and hold on to mine. My lack of belief in your god therefore, makes me an atheist of your deity!

I believe heaven exists. What it is, I don't know. I doubt its streets are laden with gold, that is rather ostentatious. I doubt it will have large breasted virgins waiting either. That is so depraved. However, I do believe it will be a spiritual plane. Heaven won't be a place for christians, muslims, or any other religion. Only children of God will go there. And I am one of them. Until I transit therefore, I will continue to reject deities that do not make sense to me, whoever is peddling them!

RESPONSE ROLU AGAIN
You talk with religious people and when they argue the existence of God, you get the sense that they desperately want God to exist because they just can't imagine a world where they are wrong. But then, you relate with Atheists and you find them argue so well and so forcefully against the existence of the spiritual, that you cannot but sense the same desperation to be right, the lurking fear of what it means if in spite of all their intellectual arrogance, that they somehow are wrong and a spiritual world actually exists.

So you step back and realize that they're each a side of the same coin, both wanting to be different, both wanting to be unique, both wanting to be right, but each being nothing else but human!



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