By now you probably have realized that I was careening down a religiously destructive path. Whether or not you agree with my conclusions or even my questions, the questions had been asked and the evidence was allowed to steer me in the direction that it would.
The question I always asked people when they seem hesitant to question what they’ve always believed, particularly core beliefs (Jesus deity, the veracity of Scripture, etc) or hesitant to read opposing opinions is this:
If what you believe is the truth, and indeed you care about knowing the truth, why should you be afraid of challenging it? If the evidences backs it, your truth with be justified, and if not, why do you wish to continue believing a lie?
During my final years of college and my first year of working (from about 23 years old till about 26), I did some incredible soul searching, questioning, rethinking, and most importantly examining the evidence and seeing where it led!
This evidence first led me to question some of the moral regulation of my childhood. This was generally acceptable as well all know Christians have a vast array of moral beliefs and standards. While I wasn’t fundamental anymore, I was still probably on the more conservative end of Christianity.
From there I began to examine some of the more loosely held theological ideals such as tongues or science and faith. These areas are acceptable to challenge as they don’t threaten the core of Christianity. Many people have very strong beliefs in the areas but will generally accept another christian who doesn’t agree with them.
The final destructive step I took down the road to perdition was allowing myself to questioning the core of Christianity. Starting with hell, I worked my way deeper and deeper into Christian thought and continued to choose more and more destructive answers rejecting the truth I had been taught for so long. When I began questioning Jesus’ deity and the veracity of the Bible, I knew it was only a matter of time before I was doomed to receive the wages of sin (which ironically is death, something that happens to everyone, regardless of religion or lack thereof).
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thelovemanifesto 
I’m glad you’re here. Even if you don’t become an atheist I’m glad you questioned your faith, I can assure you it will make you a better person. I know it’s probably hard to take coming from someone who calls themselves Captain Atheist but please believe me when I say you’re on the right path. If nothing else know that as a long time atheist/anti-theist I’ve never seen such a brilliantly phased series of questions “If what you believe is the truth, and indeed you care about knowing the truth, why should you be afraid of challenging it? If the evidences backs it, your truth with be justified, and if not, why do you wish to continue believing a lie?” These are so sharp, concise and expertly reasoned I’m quite jealous I didn’t come up with them. I’m quite fond of saying “I value the truth because everything else is a lie.” Your questions fit so well. I thank you more than you can know. Never stop asking questions. – Capt.
Lol damn it, I did not understand this wasn’t a current story. I’m guessing you’re a full bore atheist now?
Haha yes I am! This occurred over a long time but I’ve been full athiest for about 4 years now (in the sense that I don’t believe there is evidence for any of the proclaimed gods on earth but of course there could be some god out there we don’t know about)
Thanks for the kind words. While (as you realized) I am now an atheist, these are exactly what I would have wanted to hear at this time in my life. I think we as atheists can be much benefited by encouraging and using kindness to advance our cause. Thanks again!
Thanks bud, that’s what I’m here to do. I want to spread reality. Sorry if I came off as condescending.
Not at all. Thanks for your imput!
Good point about encouragement, but I’m afraid that will fall on deaf ears to the vast majority of atheists I’ve encountered. Atheists love to throw around the buzzword “empathy” like a football (“tolerance,” as well) while seldom exhibiting any of its qualities. Atheists, just as much (if not moreso) than theists, have tried to break up me and my fiance just because I’m Christian and he’s not. If atheists are going to continue talking about empathy and tolerance like a broken record, two suggestions: 1) be less condescending toward others who have differing views from you (which is what true tolerance is – accepting that others have different views without constant adolescent mockery) 2) actually exhibit the empathy you claim to have, but almost never show, by stopping said juvenile mockery.
I agree those are some huge issues among some athiests. Just as the most vocal, outspoken, ignorant, intolerant Christians are the ones who get most noticed when in reality many Christians are quite nice, tolerant, accepting people. The most brash atheists tend to be the ones most noticed. My experience is that the most loving people I have ever had in my life are the group of atheist agnostic non religious people whom I am friends with now. And fyi (spoiler alert) I’m an atheist myself.
In your quest for truth, I would invite both of you…and all visitors here…to visit my blog site. I have many posts on Christianity, covering both my takes on various current topics as well as on scientific topics. I cite articles complete with links, urging you to read what I’ve read and check my conclusions.
I see that you went from Christianity to atheist. Usually, the stories I have heard went the other way around – an atheist set out to disprove God and they found Him. I am curious to know what exactly led you to that decision?
I too had been one to question the things I was brought up believing. What I found was that I had been lied to about God and Christianity, especially by the church and Christians. It wasn’t until I began searching for myself that I found the complete truth. It actually brought me so much closer and stronger in the Lord.
Interesting, proverbs31life. I was raised Christian, became agnostic in my late adolescence/early twenties, and then went back to Christianity. I have sometimes detailed my thoughts on this period, my reading of different religions and science, my thoughts on truth and meaning/purpose and faith, and other related topics on my blog, which ties in topics of interest to neuroscience (religion included). The posts have been well-received by atheists, people of other faith, and Christians alike. I suppose they can all respect that I have given a lot of thought into developing and putting together my views, even when their final conclusions differ.
My fiance is still agnostic. He does not discourage my faith, the expression of which he finds mostly positive though he doesn’t agree with the premise of it.
I still don’t fit well in modern, westernized “church culture,” where more systematically-thinking women are not commonly found.
I still often find myself very frustrated by life because my thoughts and behavior are often not what fellow Christians or secularists expect, understand, or encourage. It is hard for me to relate to others.
None of what I just mentioned above, nonetheless, has swerved me from the faith – if anything, it usually drives me closer. If one searches for God, one will find Him, because there is nothing else anyone, an imperfect church, or the world, offers that’s any better, more motivating, or more meaningful.
I as well do not fit in with modern “church culture” because they have been deceived, led astray by Satan. They no longer hold to God’s word, but they hold to their feelings. They have been fed a lot of lies and they also feed a lot of lies. The Bible is God’s final authority and it looks nothing like the modern day Christian. Compare yourself to Christ and His Word, not others.
How can you prove that the Bible is God’s word using outside independent sources other than the Bible itself?
It’s interesting that you are with an agnostic. How does that work? Do you try to convert him? Make him go to church? Or just not care what he believes? It seems to me that many sincere christians find it hard to connect on a deep level with someone who wasnt. And also it seem that an agnostic would be frustrated if he felt any pressure to accept the faith
It has always worked pretty well – it’s others who often have problems with it. In Peter in the Bible, it states that an unbelieving husband can be won over by good conduct from the wife. There is nothing stated there about specific conversion or church-attending attempts needed. Besides, he is aware of what my faith stands for, so it’s not like I have to preach to him – he is already familiar with the basic framework of Christianity. As of right now, he continues in skepticism, yet sees faith has been a good influence on me, so we do not fight over it.
That’s good! Cheers to a happy marriage!
I came to that decision in my desire to find the truth using logic and reason rather than faith. And logic so clearly indicated the christian faith was in error that I had no choice but to leave it. The biggest impact I found was researching questions from sources other than Christian ones and seeing from the outside in just how biased so many christian sources are.
Well use logic to explain to me how we were created and the earth is just far enough from the sun that we don’t melt, and not too far that we freeze. How does our body work and heal itself? Use logic for me and create something from nothing. The ultimate source we need to go to is the Bible.
Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean you can say “therefore god”. It mean your only honest answer is “I don’t understand how something came from nothing and how the earth is where it is”. But that doesn’t make the bible correct. The bible must be proven. So far you have given me no proof that the bible is accurate, that it’s statements have been proven, that it is reliable, that it can be used to make predictive statements about the nature of things on earth. You are claiming that the Bible is the ultimate source. This is an extraordinary claim of a book. Therefore it demands extraordinary evidence.
Let’s get started then:
Scientific Facts in the Bible
1. Only in recent years has science discovered that everything we see is composed of invisible atoms. Here, Scripture tells us that the “things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
2. Medical science has only recently discovered that blood-clotting in a newborn reaches its peak on the eighth day, then drops. The Bible consistently says that a baby must be circumcised on the eighth day.
3. At a time when it was believed that the earth sat on a large animal or a giant (1500 B.C.), the Bible spoke of the earth’s free float in space: “He…hangs the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7).
4. The prophet Isaiah also tells us that the earth is round: “It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). This is not a reference to a flat disk, as some skeptic maintain, but to a sphere. Secular man discovered this 2,400 years later. At a time when science believed that the earth was flat, is was the Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world (see Proverbs 3:6 footnote).
5. God told Job in 1500 B.C.: “Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?” (Job 38:35). The Bible here is making what appears to be a scientifically ludicrous statement—that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. But did you know that radio waves travel at the speed of light? This is why you can have instantaneous wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth. Science didn’t discover this until 1864 when “British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing” (Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopedia).
6. Job 38:19 asks, “Where is the way where light dwells?” Modern man has only recently discovered that light (electromagnetic radiation) has a “way,” traveling at 186,000 miles per second.
7. Science has discovered that stars emit radio waves, which are received on earth as a high pitch. God mentioned this in Job 38:7: “When the morning stars sang together…”
8. “Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures and evolution of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation, in imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth” (Time, Dec. 1976).
9. Solomon described a “cycle” of air currents two thousand years before scientists “discovered” them. “The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits” (Ecclesiastes 1:6).
10. Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power, and motion. Genesis 1:1,2 revealed such truths to the Hebrews in 1450 B.C.: “In the beginning [time] God created [power] the heaven [space] and the earth [matter] . . . And the Spirit of God moved [motion] upon the face of the waters.” The first thing God tells man is that He controls of all aspects of the universe.
11. The great biological truth concerning the importance of blood in our body’s mechanism has been fully comprehended only in recent years. Up until 120 years ago, sick people were “bled,” and many died because of the practice. If you lose your blood, you lose your life. Yet Leviticus 17:11, written 3,000 years ago, declared that blood is the source of life: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.”
12. All things were made by Him (see John 1:3), including dinosaurs. Why then did the dinosaur disappear? The answer may be in Job 40:15–24. In this passage, God speaks about a great creature called “behemoth.” Some commentators think this was a hippopotamus. However, the hippo’s tail isn’t like a large tree, but a small twig. Following are the characteristics of this huge animal: It was the largest of all the creatures God made; was plant-eating (herbivorous); had its strength in its hips and a tail like a large tree. It had very strong bones, lived among the trees, drank massive amounts of water, and was not disturbed by a raging river. He appears impervious to attack because his nose could pierce through snares, but Scripture says, “He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.” In other words, God caused this, the largest of all the creatures He had made, to become extinct.
13. Encyclopedia Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who gave birth in hospitals. As many as 30 percent died after giving birth. Semmelweis noted that doctors would examine the bodies of patients who died, then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next ward and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped to 2 percent. Look at the specific instructions God gave His people for when they encounter disease: “And when he that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself even days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean” (Leviticus 15:13). Until recent years, doctors washed their hands in a bowl of water, leaving invisible germs on their hands. However, the Bible says specifically to wash hands under “running water.”
14. Luke 17:34–36 says the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will occur while some are asleep at night and others are working at daytime activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night at the same time.
15. “During the devastating Black Death of the fourteenth century, patients who were sick or dead were kept in the same rooms as the rest of the family. People often wondered why the disease was affecting so many people at one time. They attributed these epidemics to ‘bad air’ or ‘evil spirits.’ However, careful attention to the medical commands of God as revealed in Leviticus would have saved untold millions of lives. Arturo Castiglione wrote about the overwhelming importance of this biblical medical law: ‘The laws against leprosyin Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the first model of sanitary legislation’ (A History of Medicine).” Grant R. Jeffery, The Signature of God With all these truths revealed in Scripture,how could a thinking person deny that the Bible is supernatural in origin? There is no other book in any of the world’s religions (Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita, Koran, Book of Mormon, etc.) that contains scientific truth. In fact, they contain statements that are clearly unscientific. Hank Hanegraaff said, “Faith in Christ is not some blind leap into a dark chasm, but a faith based on established evidence.” (11:3 continued)
1). Ambiguous. You can’t use that to prove science in the Bible
2). Once again, ambiguous. Also could have been discovered by trial and error (babies circumcised on the 8th day did better than on other days)
3). Once again, ambiguous, all you’ve proven is that they didn’t believe the animal theory, nothing about the actual state of the earth
4). Google “who discovered earth is round”. Aristotle at the latest believed it was round over 300 years BC
5). this statement makes no logical sense
6). Once again, nothing scientific about this statement, millions of men probably thought the same thing as Job
7). oh my goodness
ok I’m done,
nice try
A couple things: First, good reading by atheists who ended up accepting God would be C.S. Lewis. I recommend Mere Christianity. He’s very logical, going one step at a time. Also The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Both men set out to disprove God once and for all. The problem was, to disprove Him they had to look and show He isn’t there. But they found Him and didn’t have the heart to denounce Him. So they wrote the books they never intended to write.
proverbs 31life – I would be very interested to hear your story; what were the lies? What truths did you discover? I’m always interested in other people’s journey.
Another good one is Josh McDowell who set out to prove their was no God and he is a wonderful man of God today.
Jeffery, I had always grew up in church and learned from the church people. When I got older I met my wonderful husband who was not a Christian at the time. He taught me to question everything. Do not just believe it because someone told you, prove it! Find out for yourself. So him and I set out on that journey. We began reading the Bible together and realizing, the church was no longer teaching what the Bible says. One thing for example that I had been led to believe is how a person is saved. The church says all you need to do is pray a prayer and ask Jesus into your heart and you will be saved. So people walk the isle, repeat the prayer that they are told to say and they think they are saved! That is not what God’s word says:
One such term or expression is “Ask Jesus into your heart”. The same expression is sometimes phrased, “Ask Jesus into your life”, or “Invite Jesus into your heart”. Nowhere does one find anything like this in the Bible. The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31).” Why don’t we use Bible terms? Why not drop the unclear ones?
In other words, “asking” is not what saves. A person must “believe”, or trust that Jesus paid for his sins on the cross, was buried and rose again from the dead. In fact, a person can ask to be saved and not be saved.
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity (Matthew 7:22,23).” Many who were counting on being saved are lost according to the above verses. How tragic! They were lost because they were trusting in works and not trusting in Jesus Christ as their only hope for heaven.
What about Revelation 3:20? “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” First of all, the verse (Revelation 3:20) is not talking about salvation but about having supper or fellowship with the Lord. Second, the door mentioned is the door (read the context of Revelation 3:14-22) of the church of Laodicea. This is not a reference to the door of the heart or the door of your life, etc.
We are often told (and wrongly so) that we have a door to our heart. We hear that the door has a latch on the inside but not on the outside. Christ is knocking on the outside but can not come in unless we unlatch the lock from the inside of the heart. The Scripture teaches no such thing. This is untrue. This is nonsense.
The second thing they teach is that the Jews are God’s chosen people and they are saved just because they are Jews. That is not what the Bible says. It says NO MAN comes to the father except through Jesus Christ.
Last but not least, churches celebrate Easter, Christmas, ect. And teach people that these things are honoring God. My Bible once again proves them wrong. Look up the history of those holidays. They are from pagans. God tells us to not have anything to do with paganism.
I hope that you will also step outside of the “church building” and search God’s truth instead of the blindfolding lies. God bless.
Mark 7:8
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
Colossians 2:8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Isaiah 5:20 – Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Hosea 4:6 – My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Ezekiel 44:23 – And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
James 1:27 – Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Ephesians 5:11 – And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them].
Thank you for sharing your history!! You are so right about the church not really teaching doctrine correctly. I have always read my bible and had a good understanding of the Bible. But in the last 1-2 years I have run into things that have enlarged my understanding greatly. I hope to read more from you!
Yes, that is why my husband and I finally left the church. We learn more at home reading our Bible together or with other believers. You will definitely read eye opening things from me! Have a great week!
I’ve also read Josh. His arguments are probably the most fallacious of the three. All three (with CS Lewis being the only one slightly different) use the same old tried and found wanting arguments for Christianity and against science. They don’t hold water in my opinion.
I’ve read Lee Strobel and some of CS Lewis, interesting examples and there are many others of atheists turned Christians. There are also many examples of Christians turned atheist, or Muslim, or New Age. And vice versa. What matters is the evidence. And sadly their arguments aren’t based on good evidence.
I picked up a copy of The Atheist Manifesto last weekend at Barnes & Noble. It focuses on Judaism, Christianity, and Muslim. I’ve had some conversations with atheists but never really developed a clear understanding. Hopefully, I’ll understand better with this start.
I recently stumbled across your blog and have enjoyed reading it. I would probably still consider myself an Evangelical Christian, but I have wrestled with many of the same questions you discuss. Thanks for sharing!
Your welcome! Thanks for the comment
My opinion, huh? I believe all things, believe in nothing. That was what resolved the whole issue for me. I don’t care what “you” believe as long as “you” keep it to yourself unless you have something new, life saving and it can be demonstrated by action, not words. As Harry Crumb would say, “Believe what you will but don’t believe it here.” I’ve been thinking of sticking that on the front door actually, as a reminder to those wandering street converters. When I think Christianity, something I did for many years, I think of that Jesus statement: “Behold I send you out as sheep among wolves.” Then I look into history and realize, oh boy, how quickly did the sheep morph into wolves! The carnage wrought all over the planet by “Christian” empires is beyond mind boggling. And the wolves have only gotten hungrier year by year, deliberately aligning themselves with each new Master Empire and super power. By now, no one in any right mind should still be clinging to that failed attempt at bringing something new – and good – into the world. How to replace that failed belief? Detachment, self-empowerment, taking responsibility for one’s life, living in compassion and developing empathy. Religion can’t trump that.
Good words! Thanks for the imput!
I just discovered your blog and am really enjoying it. It’s very thought provoking especially when I’ve been questioning and analysing religion and faith constantly for the past few years.
Really engaging reading.
Thanks for the comment. I hope I can be of help in your quest for the truth. Let me know if you have any questions
I started following your blog recently. I do understand the struggle. I was raised in a similar church environment which also focused primarily on doctrines and heavily on externals, rather on the heart of a person before God. I agree with your questions: “If what you believe is the truth, and indeed you care about knowing the truth, why should you be afraid of challenging it? If the evidences backs it, your truth with be justified, and if not, why do you wish to continue believing a lie?” I have experienced a great deal of pain from religious people because of bad teaching and a legalistic subculture, but I cannot say the same about God. However, I had encountered a poor representation of God from the religious people I knew, and I became very distrustful of pastors and most churches because of those experiences. I did come to a point of questioning that left me in murky waters for an extended period. I was reading the Bible, but what I heard from the pulpit did not match what I read alone in the quietness of my own home. I began to understand that the focus on externals was nothing more than trying to legislate morality in an attempt to find continued acceptance from God. It was a tiresome treadmill of trying to do better and better that left me exhausted and defeated, and at last bitter toward the split personalities of hypocritical lives. About that time, I began to realize that even if my outward actions were deemed good enough to climb the ladder to God, my heart would betray me. How do you conquer motivations that are self-seeking? I began to “see through” those around me that talked about our duty toward God the loudest. There were holes in all the religious did or said. C. S. Lewis correctly pointed out seeing through everything eventually leads you to see nothing: “You cannot go on ‘explaining away’ forever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on ‘seeing through’ things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it…If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.” (The Abolition of Man, p.81). I remained struggling in murky water, unable to see, for there was a great disconnect between life and the presence of God. And that was the thing God wanted me to see through to more than anything. There was a great disconnect between Him and me. I did not understand His great Father love toward me, nor did I know how to be his child. You see, what was not taught very well was that God did not expect me to climb the ladder to get to Him, but that He was willing to come down to the mountain and bring redemption in order to have relationship with me. Love was missing. Empty religious performance creates the phony facade that everyone eventually sees through. But, God’s love is not phony. It is the one thing to be remembered. When I started asking God to see His love, He made Himself real and tangible to me in such full-disclosure and heart intimacy that I am convinced. I just flat out cannot deny it the presence of God. He also made the Scriptures “alive.” Where before it was merely academic knowledge, now the words are indeed powerful and the thread of His love leaps from page to page. So, although I identify with the struggle, the questions…I do have a different verdict. It was slow…there were a lot of working errors that had to be stripped away. I had misunderstood so much of the Bible having been taught it as a manual of how to measure up and “be like Jesus.” I could never be like Jesus. Purity cannot be corrupted. Our planet has never been home to a person so pure save the holy child who was born Lord at his birth. God never asked us to climb a ladder of do’s and don’ts to become accepted and loved by Him. No, God sent His Son down to us. It took “God here with us,” Immanuel, to satisfy justice and create a Father/child relationship. So, the Son of Man with a perfect life, came to satisfy the law’s demands. For if each of us are honest, there is no one whose heart does not deceive, who has never committed a wrong, and who is not indicted for anarchy against the Highest King. Yet, it is God’s very holiness that also transcends in love that ordained this sacred redemption. The Son of God emptied Himself of all privilege, made Himself nothing, and offered His body as bail; so that, justice would cry no more against us. “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” (Colossians 1:13-14). There is no one that loves like that. There is no one that can love me unfailingly, laying it all down in order to attain intimate relationship, whose presence is so tangible that I cannot deny it even if I wanted to, whose love will never be dissuaded, who sings over me in His love, and who will never break that commitment nor ever abandon me. It isn’t about what I do that makes Him love me; rather, His love infused me in such a real way that it is my final evidence for reality. No one has to tell me to how to live this life any more…there is a spilling out of what is now inside…love God…love each other. I know our stories are different, and I hope that it is okay to share a different conclusion to the same dilemma. I continue to ask questions, but I am now regularly amazed at the answers. The murky waters are moving, clear waters now, flowing freely. Thank you for letting me share my story. I will continue to follow your journey. 🙂
Its definitely ok to reach differing conclusions. As long as you aren’t hurting other people in the process and are sincerely pursuing the truth yourself. We are all flawed human beings who will inevitably have biases we can’t overcome. Thus we will reach different conclusions even when asking the same questions using the same evidence.
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine”-another great song answering this question. Sin is projection. People who have pure thoughts do not see others as sirnners.”hell is the other person”but so is heaven.
Continue to ask questions.
Read some comments.
Not following a religion does not mean not believing.