After completely letting go of trying to make sense out of the problems with "the truth", I really felt there just could not be a God, all religion was just insanity, and there was no meaning to life, no higher being. I was ok with that and thought I had finally settled in. But after some time, that didn't feel right either. There is something odd about the human tendency to want to be more than what we are, to want to create meaning to life, to want to do more than survive and continue the existence of the species. Why did evolution go so far past the point needed for survival? Why do humans make up stories about higher beings and believe them? Why is there this hunger for something more to life than biology? If there is "a God", why do we seem to on our own? Does God want us to invent our own religions to ease the pain of life? Those are just some questions I haven't been able to answer for myself. Now I think there is something more to life that I can't quite figure out.
I have tried to be an atheist
by stillajwexelder 54 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Satanus
It's cool, imo. Don't let the atheists convert you;) Keep your integrity.
While i generally side w the atheists, i'm not exactly one. I'm pantheist animist. Mainly my meditational practice has got me there. As for the socalled higher power, imo, it's actually a LOWER POWER, not very smart. But, that's just me, for now, anyway.
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SnakesInTheTower
I still think there is something higher out there... I dont know or care what it is. I believe we got here by a combination of creative (purposeful) acts and random or continuous changes over time ... maybe not evolution in the traditional sense... and certainly not evolution from beginning to end...
I dont believe that any higher being out there either cares or even knows we puny humans are even here... I have commented on this before with my ant farm analogy.......
Snakes ()
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OUTLAW
The closest I ever got to a burning bush,was a burning gym bag..I accidentally dropped a lit cigar into my gym bag while driving 80kh down the highway..Could`nt find it and drive at the same time..Had to pull over..LOL!!...........
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BlackSwan of Memphis
I don't think it's a matter of trying to be an atheist.
It's more of a gradual letting go of God, until one day someone makes mention of God and there is simple reaction of "Nope, I don't believe that." And in the same way that you at one time felt with every fiber of your being that Jehovah was real, you now feel, believe that the opposite is true.
That sense of struggle has come to pass and life is just good without belief.
So perhaps you don't need to try. Just continue doing what you are doing and things will take something of a natural course.
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stillajwexelder
stillajwexelder: I have a few questions for you. You can answer here, or just think about them a while. I'm guessing that you don't need to be convinced regarding the non-existence of Zeus or Apollo or Dionysius, or of Marduk or Tammuz or Ba'al. AGREED Yet, people of those eras built shrines and temples to these dieties, convinced of the gods' existence and insistence on worship. What - if anything - convinced you of the non-existence of those and every other so-called pagan diety? GREAT QUESTION -I suppose reading history books and generally doing background reading Could it have been a cultural bias that it was just accepted that all of those gods were fictional? YES What if you were born and raised in place where Voodoo was the religion of your people? I suppose by accident of birth I might have believed in VOODOO What would convince you that those beliefs were false, when it was everything you've known and believed and had been taught since childhood? Isn't what we end up being taught to believe in all a matter of the sheer accident of the time and geography of our birth? Accident of birth is the reason for about 99% of the religions of all people
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FreudianSlip
I haven't read the other answers so if I'm repeating something.. sorry. Belief in a god and therefore an "afterlife" is a coping mechanism. It helps us to not see life as futile.
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mkr32208
Having a burning bush experience sounds cool. But it would screw you up if ever did really happen to you.
Well... You wouldn't have to shave for a few weeks!
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Slappy
Science could tell us much if it weren't so incredibly biased. How can you believe in something when you know that those scientists that have 'proved' evolution set out to do just that. Their motives belie their integrity thereby leading me to question pretty much everything about them. Have you wondered how much evidence they chose to ignore (aka. incinerate) that went against their hypothesis (that's all evolution is) and only included the 'evidence' that seemed to support their theory? I have, still do, and always will. Show me a man with a motive that can still be completely objective? I haven't met one. And I've long lost hope that I ever will.
This fundamental flaw in human-nature has led me to realize that I just can't trust man. We tend to believe things that we want to believe, things that make us feel good. You cannot deny that. As you can see, most of the 'atheists' that posted in response to your question said how much better it made them feel when they gave up believing in God. We have this incredible ability to rationalize anything and everything to suit our train of thought and make life in general easier on us. A lot of responses urged you to just 'let-go' and put God on the back-burner as it were and live your life and let the answer come to you. Now why do you suppose that is? Because it's easier to ignore a problem than to deal with it. If something is bothering you so much, as it seems this question is, there is probably a reason. I know in my life, if I have doubts/questions it is best that I resolve them in as objective a way as possible. Otherwise I am only lying to myself and cheating myself out of a great opportunity to learn and grow.
I said it in another post, but I'll say it again; God IS NOT a 'religion', God is a 'relationship'. If you look at any and all organized religions in the world today, there is a man in a place of power over those underneath him. God is then just used as a 'tool' to further the benefits of the one in power. Nowhere is that supported in the Bible.
When one has had so many lies forced on them as truth, it is difficult to wade through all that and actually find out for oneself what one believes. The God of the Bible IS NOT the God presented to you by the JW organization. Just as the God of the Bible IS NOT the God presented by the Mormons. JWs use fear and God to rule and control and the Mormons use love and God to rule and control. Now, of the two, which one would you be more inclined to follow? Both preach a God and claim to use the Bible (both have their own versions however, and both are twisted), but both deny the importance of Christ. (That fact alone would make me wonder what it is about Christ that is so threatening that these 'religions' would seek to diminish Him even though He is THE point of the NT). In this way, these two religions appeal to two sides of human nature and attract twice as many followers. It makes me truly appreciate the many warnings in the NT about being wary of false teachers and religions because I have seen the havoc that can be caused by such. As a follower of one or the other, you are being denied the truth of Christ therefore keeping you away from God. Then, when you realize how false the 'religion' is, you leave and since all you know of God is the corrupted teachings of a self-motivated 'religion' you tend to leave God and everything to do with Him behind you. Satan wins, either way; he doesn't particularly care how. (I guess what I'm trying to say is that you cannot let the teachings of a corrupt 'religion' control your perception of God. You have to find out for yourself, ignoring Him will do no good. And the only way to find out for yourself is to let God tell you about Himself. Why do you think we have His 'biography'? I guarantee that once you study and gain an understanding of the Bible, without the lenses of any religion, things will make sense. I cannot tell you how things are, and neither can anybody else, this is only something that you can do for yourself.
I also urge you to find a book written by a former atheist and now-turned believer in Christ and a book written by a former believer in Christ to a now-turned atheist. Try to stay away from the writings of an atheist who has been an atheist all his/her life and stay away from the writings of a believer who has been a believer all his/her life. Their works are bound to be subjective and will be unable to give you the full picture. Two books I have read and found engaging are Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and Confessions by St. Augustine. (Lewis's book was definitely the easier to follow, being more modern.)
Keep searching for answers until you are at peace and doubt of such no longer exists; but DO NOT ignore it until you are peace with yourself; that is the easy and weak way out.
slappy
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Nathan Natas
To borrow a slogan from the Church of the SubGenuis, "Learn to pull the wool over your own eyes!"
...OUTLAW