To quickly throw something in, I just wanted to say that not believing in God does not make your life meaningless. Something does not have to be eternal to be meaningful.
As human beings, we can experience moments of pure joy and beauty. I'm sure that we all have had moments that mean the world to us. Just because the moment that we loved was temporal does not mean its value is diminished. The same applies for the human life.
I think that life is meaningful from both a religious and a non-religious perspective.
ah I see. You have way more knowledge about it, so all I can say is I agree with Fruity. And idk for me, I don't really need a signal from God. I just 'have faith' in His presence tbh. I don't think you're missing anything or doing anything wrong. God works in many ways; we're incapable of knowing His will or plan, but I just believe that He has control over everything. Oh and also I have a really close friend who's not Christian. We've talked to each other about religion, but it's not like she would change for her friends as her family has brought her up in another religion. So she's deeply rooted in her religion as I am in mine. obviously I don't want her to go to Hell, but I'm pretty powerless rn. I'll try for real, though, when I learn more about apologetics. i can only pray for her.
I said it before, but i'll say it again. Religion evolved with people, and culture. First came animism, where god was in everything, then came polytheism, where there were many gods, after that came henotheism, where there were many gods, however one was "supreme," and last came monotheism, where there was one god.
Dear Pessimist, I see where you are coming from. I believe that God is the main source, meaning he reproduces everything. So of course, He does something after He created everything in the beginning. He also, rewards people who do good and punishes people who do bad. It may be hard to believe that He does everything at first, but think about it... science can't even explain most miraculous things in life. How does science create life from scratch. The farthest we can go with science are robots. The last time I checked, robots aren't life.
I've read the entire Bible and I really came out drifting a lot towards non-belief, so I'm not sure where the road will take me. I have no objections to being prayed for, so if you feel that you would like to, you may.
Take a class on world religions, look at religions other than christianity and you'll realize that they have just as much (if not more) merit than christianity. Did you know that mesopotamia had a flood myth? and it was written long before the bible? There are many similarities between christianity and more ancient religions and you should take the time to educate yourself on that.
Here's a comparison chart:
tl;dr: don't push your faith on others because there are many similarities between your religion and other more ancient religions, that many present religions share roots with.
I've spoken with a few people that I trust in real life about my issues with the Bible, and have searched/debated online with a lot of apologists about it, too. I find that the justifications to the problems that I have really don't work at all for me, but I'm always open to dialogue with people about it.
I have refrained from telling my pastor about the problems because the fallout of not being a -believer- in the very Christian area I live in is unfortunately not a good one. It isn't even intentional, but if you say that you don't believe, people tend to look at you less as a person with their own mindset and more as a problem that needs to be fixed. It's sad.
I see... I used to go to church because of my parents as well and sometimes because of my friends. I notice you say phase so maybe after exploring the Bible even more you can get out of that phase? I will pray for you if you like?
Matt, if you're unsure about your beliefs, then I recommend you going to the pastor or someone who is an expert on the Bible. It would be very sad to see a person surrounded by a Christian environment to be unsure about Christianity. Plus, God would be very sad as well. It's like losing a child. So please consider going to someone.
I've actually taken a few Christian apologetics courses myself, so I think that I have an okay understanding of the potential historicity of the Bible. I agree with you that some contradictions are simply tricks of wording, but I think that some parts in the Bible actually are contradictions as far as the narrative goes.
The four gospels are a pretty big example. If you read them side by side, it takes a lot of work to make them describe the same things.
Anyway, I used to consider myself a very devout Christian and I've been praying consistently for help -from- God through this process of doubt, and have unfortunately not felt any kind of signal from Him. If I'm missing something or doing something wrong here, I'm not sure what that is.
Anyway, thanks for being respectful as well.
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The world operates according to natural laws; there are physical rules which govern the universe. Though we still learn more about some of these rules, and how the universe operates, it is clear that there are certain patterns of behavior that will always be followed. Even if God exists, I fail to see how he would be capable of impacting our universe, when everything already acts according to its own physical laws. So, even if a god is real, then all he did was get existence rolling, then check out and grab some popcorn (I believe this is similar to the deist mindset). I think that whether or not there is a god, he can do next to nothing in the universe, and so certainly, despite what little I know of most organized religions, I think a god that I can believe in has never been described in scripture. Faith is never a compelling argument, but if you have faith, it should at least be in a plausible god.
Also, some have brought up the idea that there is no purpose in living if God does not exist. That's simply ridiculous, I don't need a deity to tell me to pursue happiness, friendship, knowledge, and fulfillment.
Perhaps, yeah. And I attend church twice a week because of a family obligation but also because seeing different perspectives/meeting with friends is fun. I'm in a difficult, doubtful phase because I struggle with the content of the Bible - which is exactly what I would base my belief on.
I assumed you were atheist because you were doubtful about your position. Perhaps, you're agnostic? That's a better word I guess.. but wow you attend church twice a week? That's impressive. I don't see why you're in such a difficult, doubtful phase then...
Well, if you're caught in between both sides, I strongly encourage you to give it a chance. For the record, I'm not saying you have to, just saying if you did give God a chance, I don't think you have anything to lose. As for evidence that would compel you, the Bible is actually evidence itself. IK many say that the Bible is fake. The Bible, if you analyze it to a deeper level, like my pastor does and has revealed to us, is historically accurate and it does not contradict itself (tbh I've seen tumblr posts with verses that seem to contradict what Christians believe in and I forget what they are, but the people who make those posts are not Christian obv and interpret it incorrectly. well idk. If you know of a verse that seems strange, then,, I'll t r y to explain it to the best of my ability.. through the lens of a Christian). Although I'm not even the best Christian or most faithful,, I still want to try to defend Him. And as for reasons to believe in Him, well, I did just say a large part of my reason why previously. anyhoo, thanks for being respectful.
What is it that entitles you to say that the reason why I left religion is because I'm this lazy person that doesn't really want to find the truth? That's pretty arrogant and conceited. I know we might never see things from the same perspective but I've studied religion critically, considered all the possibilities, looked through all the arguments and concluded thus that religion is simply bullsh*t. You're free to believe in it, it's comforting, I admit, but that doesn't mean you can just have this narrow presumptions about me, about people who choose to not follow religion.
I'm not an atheist but I am very much in a doubtful phase. Also, I attend church twice a week, including a Bible study and a majority of my friends are also religious.
Well, I've literally written tens of thousands of words trying to figure out all my thoughts but some big ones among many are:
The inconsistency of God in the Old/New testament. Grappling with the idea that God specifically commands His followers to commit genocide against an entire nation - infants and children included, it becomes tough to justify. In the Old Testament, God is obsessed with death and commands the death penalty for pretty much anything you can even dream of.
God can not do anything that is immoral, so it's fair to assume that mercilessly slaying infants while their mothers watch in horror was a totally moral thing to do under the right circumstance. It also leads to the question of why God submitted to Old Testament morality but so fervently went against it in the New Testament. It makes sense to me that this was a product of the time, since back when the OT was written violent Gods of war were very common, while peaceful ones were not.
Also, the doctrine of Hell. The idea of Hell varies in a lot of denominations but I think the Bible clearly states that those who don't believe will be punished forever. I think that is a very terrible thing, and I wouldn't even want my worst enemy to suffer FOREVER. I wouldn't want my non-christian friends to suffer simply for not being able to figure out that God is true.
There are a lot of things but I'll leave it with those two major issues for the sake of the character limit.
I must inform you, projectmatt, that these are all supernatural acts that God performs throughout the Bible so it is absolutely impossible to read the Bible from a logical, scientific mindset. I admit, I never read the whole Bible (and I probably should), but His acts are credible to me because I trust Him through faith. I see that you have been raised in a religious area, but I don't understand how you have not been taught to see His Word through a faithful perspective?
I understand... you choose to be an atheist and you looked at all possible views of Christianity. I respect your decision, but have you ever tried visiting a church and maybe praying and studying the bible with other fellow Christians? Also, letting them pray for you?
What are the huge, huge problems? Also, it's impossible to believe in God without faith. I think that there is a fair percentage of faith in why I am a Christian.
