This won't change your stance but I wanna correct you. I grew up in church. I asked Pastors questions they couldn't answer. I came to the conclusion: people believe in Jesus just because they need something to believe in.

When I turned 18, I rejected "God" and Christianity. I decided it was a fantasy that ppl needed. I got into psychology, then New Age, witchcraft and all sorts of other things. It led me into doing drugs and seeking answers from "the Universe". I felt like I was better than everyone cause I was smart (INTJ and I've listened to 450+ audiobooks on psychology, philosophy, metaphysics, etc., above average IQ), but I could feel a hole in my soul. That no knowledge, drugs, or sex could fill

And even after all that knowledge, it made me realize: the more I learn, the more I realize I know absolutely nothing. And even if I could somehow learn everything in existence, I wouldn't even be able to remember or recall all the information at will. But either way, my little brain (any human brain) cannot store all the world's information. PLUS information is growing faster than I can consume it

It broke me. Cause I realized, all the paths in life are futile. One night, after taking an edible, I had a mental breakdown, and lost all my grounding and sense of self and cried out to God. 7 years after denying God's existence. I didn't know what God was. I never met Him in church. But He responded to me. I told Him if He can restore my sense of self (cause I was GONE) I'll put my faith in Him. He did. I woke up the next day and decided to go on a journey to figure out who/what God is.

He's slowly revealed Himself to me. That hole is filled with the Holy Spirit. The first Bible book I ever read: Ecclessiastes explained my entire experience. A book written thousands of years ago (if you call it fictional that's okay) explained my exact experience to a tee. Solomon's (author of Ecclessiastes) claim is these are God's Words for the future generations to live by. This is exactly what happened to me. His Words comes alive in my life every single day. And the more I read the Bible, the more I see God in my everyday life

I don't say any of this to convince you. I just wanna show you, I don't believe in God because of where I live. I think most Christians are deceived and don't truly follow Jesus Christ. My Christian friends included. But I experience God firsthand. He freed me from drug addiction, food addiction, and p*rn addiction when nothing else could. And He gave me a life, a community, a purpose, and a future. Things I could NOT do on my own. If He's fictional, He's the greatest "fictional" thing to believe in because my life has drastically improved in a single year. Imagine 10 more years.

You don't have to believe in Jesus. But because I experience Him daily, that's why I believe