09 Oct 2017

Ryan Griggs on Why He Went From Atheism to Christianity

Religious 6 Comments

It’s a nuanced take, to be sure, which is similar to my journey. (At one intermediate point I thought Jesus was a regular guy who truly–but erroneously–believed he was the messiah, and so could heal people with similar religious views by the power of suggestion.)

For reference, Ryan used to be in our PhD program at Texas Tech but decided he no longer wanted to go into academia.

6 Responses to “Ryan Griggs on Why He Went From Atheism to Christianity”

  1. E. Harding says:

    I think it’s plausible Jesus existed, but there’s too much theological fiction to make out any real historical details of the man. Even the idea that he lived in the Roman Empire comes firstly and foremostly from the Gospels.

    Love how Griggs confirms Marx’s impression of religion as das Opium des Volkes. He also appears surprisingly open to Jesus non-historicism.

    I never understood the Jesus of the Gospels to be a model of perfection.

    “Reflect for a second on a time that you did something, without a guarantee of the outcome, because you believed in the righteousness of your course of action. How’d that turn out?”

    Usually with miserable failure. The way to get ahead is to follow the implicit rules set by others and by nature.

    • Tel says:

      The Unitarians believe in God (the singular) and in Jesus as a man and a teacher (but not the son of God, or at least no more godlike than the rest of us).

      The way to get ahead is to follow the implicit rules set by others and by nature.

      I would argue that most successful people tend to also be people not inclined to give up easily. Facing at least a few setbacks is normal, and in business, sport, politics, etc the person who is very determined and committed generally beats out the people who are kind of “guess so” dabbling around.

      Then again, as you point out, some spectacularly unsuccessful people should (in hindsight) have given up what they were doing a lot sooner. There’s great risk of a sampling bias when you attempt to measure this.

  2. Harold says:

    I first thought this was about a famous philandering footballer over here Ryan Giggs.

    The article is often confused, for example:
    “It’s silly when you think of it simply, if the truth is so great, why would it be the case that it’s so difficult to discover?” Why would greatness be equated with ease of discovery?

  3. RobertH says:

    People like the commenters and the person you linked too would benefit so greatly from amazing scholars like Dr. William Lane Craig and Dr. Michael Licona. Dr. Licona wrote a rather large book The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Or you could listen to talks by either of these men. What still shocks me is how almost no one knows about the wealth of information out there regarding the resurrection.

    • E. Harding says:

      My man, I know. I also know their arguments don’t even rise to a level worthy of mention or refutation. They’re apologist hacks, not “amazing scholars”. I shudder at even reading them, in the same way I shudder reading Nancy MacLean or Cathy O’Neil.

      • RobertH says:

        Link to some refutations that are even capable of rising up to their level? I’ll wait.

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