NAME: Kevin R. “Vin” Rohm
BORN: 1955
LOCATION: Milton, WA
ORGANIZATION AFFILIATION: MAAF, AA.
LABEL: Atheist
FORMER AFFILIATION: Missouri Mormon (RLDS)
MY STORY:
Mom was a very religious woman. She told my siblings and me that she would rather we were dead than to leave the church. I was such a disappointment to the poor woman. My doubts began when I was in my teens. I guess it began with judgment of homosexuals. I knew my uncle was gay and I just couldn’t see how that made him an abomination. He was pretty cool; just four years older than me. It just didn’t make sense I guess that good people like him were condemned to hell while horrible people who just happen to be straight and Christian get to go to heaven. Heaven must be a really sucky place.
When I was 26 and going to school in Texarkana, Arkansas, the trial dubbed “Scopes II” was being fought. I hadn’t paid much attention to the Book of Genesis, but the trial made me read it for the first time in light of the science of cosmology and evolution I had been taught in high school. It became pretty clear very quickly that “God” knew nothing about creation.
Reading the Bible for the first time was such an eye-opener. Noah’s flood was such a ridiculous story. A “world-wide flood” that left no spot on the geological record; it could not explain the marsupial population of animals on Australia, nor could it explain the animals that were unique to the American Continent. Never mind the fact that there just isn’t enough water in the world, liquid and ice, to raise the sea level enough to cover the Appalachians, let alone Ararat. Clearly this book was a collection of mythologies and had nothing to do with historic reality.
Even the story of Jesus was laughable at times for its mythological elements. I had already read the mythologies of Horus and Mithras and had noted their similar story lines to that told of Jesus. Common sense told me that there was more to this than mere coincidence. Clearly, the authors of the gospels knew the stories of Horus and Mithras, both much older than the gospels, and fashioned their story of Jesus with these same themes and legendary acts and occurrences. It didn’t take me long to realize that this story was just as impossible and fictional as those other mythologies.
By now I had shed my Christian skin and had become something of a modern day Deist. The internet was now the rage, and I often engaged Christians in debate in on line chat rooms and bulletin boards. As I was dismissing a Christian for his lack of belief in the gods of other religions, pointing out that his own god had no more proof for “his” existence than any of those others, it occurred to me that I too was making the same error. I had no more proof that my impersonal god of creation existed than my Christian friend, or our other friends who believed in other gods.
How can I believe in my god and not believe in these others when I have no more proof of mine than they of theirs? It was in that moment that I came to the realization that I didn’t have sufficient evidence to sustain a belief in god….in any gods. God was just a word, an invented place mark for what we do not know about the universe. And in that moment I became an atheist.
Tagged with: 1955 • AA • American Atheists • Atheist • Christian • deist • MAAF • Milton • Missouri Mormon • MO • RLDS • WA
One Comment
Leave a Comment
Donate to our cause
Get Social With Us
Hi Kevin
I see that you’ve been focusing on all the drama around the real issue than on the issue itself. Like the flood, some animals in america, mythological elements etc and not on GOD, HIMSELF. While yes it could be true that over the years when the story passed one generation to the other people may have added to the actual content to make it interesting / spectacular (for if you notice the primal need of man is for ‘more’. Man is not satisfied with what he has, he wants more, so when the story was being retold, maybe the story teller noticed that people were bored or not listening so added to make it interesting and people kept adding to the content of the story) Naturally the focus passed on to GOD’s capability than GOD HIMSELF. Today when we see wide spread chaos, normal people wonder – if GOD is all forgiving or this spectacular person why doesn’t HE turn and set things right? First of all GOD is not there to amuse humans. HE has much to take care than every trivial issue on earth. HE has put in a perfect system on earth which says for every action there’ll be a equal and opposite reaction as in the Newton’s laws of gravity. You do good / good happens to you and you do bad, bad happens to you. But this good and bad is not related to action alone – it also related to thougths and words and this is carried over many lives. So for now to keep it simple, whatever happens to us is what we’ve deserved over the past actions of ours and what we do now is actually determining our future. Maybe it is getting out of hand here.
Coming back, Human have been able to figure out earth and it’s various locations, but have still not been able to understand nature and it’s ways. Humans have also seen a bit beyond the earth and collect some piece of rock from the moon and mars etc but have no clue of the billions of other palnets / stars / galaxies etc other than click some pictures and say wow at the pictures rather than wonder what it could really contain. If life exists on earth of the 10 odd plantes we know in all probability life exists elsewhere as well simply because of the size of what we are speaking of which we have no clue except for some scientific explanation such as big bang theory etc
So if GOD exists, HE obviously has a lot more work than come take care of nitty grittys on earth.
So that leaves it entirely to us whether we want to know GOD? There as simple rules GOD has put forth, right at the beginning which is live a life (in the truest of sense) free of sins or mistakes knowingly or unknowinly in your deeds, thoughts or words. This to follow is not simple as it sounds, so HE said you can achieve the same if you think of ME all the time. Which is when devotion comes in as well. So ideally if a person wants to know GOD – he should live a life, day in and day out, without committing any sins or mistakes knowingly or unknowingly in his devotion, thought, deeds or words. If a person is able to do this consistently for a period in time then HE is automatically GOD Conscious. Then you further your knowledge by HIS help and see for yourself HIS wonderful ways. Every leaf my friend if it flutters is because HE wills it to flutter, you can experienec everybit of it provided you really want to know HIM and HIS ways.
What we’ve done here is, heard a bit about HIS ways and want HIM to come and put up a magic show for us everyday so that we have enough proof of HIM and once we are convinced HE is for real, we are ready to listen to HIM. This is like we want to use the state of art sports car or pilot a airplane without reading / understanding or training ourselves to do the same, is it posible to do so my friend?
It’ll be great if we can get the conversation going and if could also read other comments that i’ve posted in this site on essays posted after you.
GOD BLESS
Sanat Attavar
+ 91 96 770 520 70
sanatattavar@yahoo.com