I wasn’t even aware of the existence of this forum! Thanks Ingwe for pointing me in this direction. ;D
I’m an atheist and am also a member at RatSkep and Ratz (with the same username). You can also find me on facebook under the same name.
I grew up in the Afrikaans apartheid christian era. I was a christian for a short while (from age 17 - 22), but then abandoned it. There was just too much in christianty that just didn’t make sense to me anymore. I retained some woo-ish ideas (that god was an invisible kind of force etc) for a while, but eventually abandoned it as well.
I look forward to talking to you all!!! ;D
Can someone please point me in the direction of the pub on the forum (I enjoy drinking large amounts of brandy in the evening ;D ;D :D)
Welcome Dries. I always have extra respect for Afrikaaners who make a stand for truth. It’s more difficult for you since Christianity is so closely tied to being Afrikaans. Us Souties - well, we get accused of abandoning our families and our traditions etc. but our Boer friends get accused of abandoning Volk en Faderland as well. Respect to you Dries - and welcome.
Welcome Dries, I have the same background as you do and also retained some woo-ish thoughts after abandoning Christianity at age 18. Thankfully these disappeared over time as my critical thinking intensified.
Before I was 17, I went to church and sunday school. My parents told me to do it and everybody else was doing it, so it was more of a cultural thing. I never thought much about it as faith, but more as religion. If you had to ask me during that period what my religion/faith was, I’d probably say “NG kerk”. AT 17 however, I had a conversion type experience. Went through the whole process of accepting jesus as my saviour, becoming a “born-again” christian; leading prayer meetings and bible studies at school, etc. After school I did my stint of two years in the defence force, still clinging to my faith. It was only after I went to university that things about christianity started bothering me. Eventually I got to a point where I had to look at christianity from a critical perspective. After doing that, I realised it was a load of bullshit, and walked away from it.
