As a believer Giordano I would say that if you’re a good person then that is what matters the most to any God worthy of anything.
Coping with becoming an atheist?
by Crazyguy 43 Replies latest jw friends
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Giordano
In principle I would agree....... unfortunately the gods tend to be petty, jealous, petulant and murderous. Nothing puts a smile on that loving god jehovah like human suffering.
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steve2
God will not bother to protect people from serious harm and even death but will "comfort" those left behind. Some would say God gets off lightly by filling the lesser need (consolation) than the greater one (protection from harm. Some deal.
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James Brown
Just wonder how you did it? Its been a very eye opening experience for me to find out that the god of the bible is as real as Thor or Ra. I still believe a higher power created life but can see now how it doesn't really care about us. So with this in mind realizing one has only 70-80 years to live and that may be just it, is very stunning.
I have been coming to that realization for the past 30 years. That the bible God is as real as Thor or Ra.
I have dealt with it lots of ways. Keep busy, exercise. I have taken anti depressents which I am now weening myself off of.
I lived 62 years following a lot of Godly principals.
I picked and chose to satisfy myself.
I have done everything I can or was interested to do and could afford.
If I had 100 million dollars. I would just buy more things and have fancier things.
Which I have come to realize things dont make me happy. Maybe for 5 minutes to one day.
If I had 100 million I probably would travel, but I can see most things on the travel channel and cable tv
from the comfort and security of my home.
I like to think there is a higher power. Some forms of new age religion might be comforting.
There are a lot of possibilities to explore but you will never find the smoking gun.
If you do tell us and someone will tell you its not the gun and its not smoking.
Then again thinking there is a higher power that doesnt care about us is kind of like looking
behind the curtain at the wizard in Oz.
Curiosity killed the cat. Its an immage you cant get out of your mind the wizard in Oz.
Once you stretch the elastic out of youre underwear they never fit right anymore.
Thats the way your brain is when you find out the truth about the truth and the truth about life.
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BackseatDevil
God has been silent for a few millenia now, and listening to people gripe and argue about WHY GOD this and WHY GOD that and WHY GOD hasn't done this or that is very much like watching a drunk person argue with a mannequin – where the drunk person thinks the mannequin is just an arrogant son-of-a-bitch who won't say anything, but that doesn't prevent the drunk guy from having a FULL conversation with him from heated argument to loving agreement.
That's all this is. We live on this planet for 80+ years (and that number is growing) and our DNA changes so rapidly in just just a few generations, but no matter what, mankind still wants to get angry with, blame, be at peace with, and give thanks to a mannequin. It's the most important thing in the world to them sometimes. Anyone who has had an arguement with a drunk can understand this.
And when we sober up... we will do everything in our power not to admit that we had such a strong emotional interaction with something that didn't exist. Maybe that's where you are now, maybe that is yet to come. I don't know.
The more science answers the big questions of life, the less space there is to fill in with the answer of “god.” This means that over time, god becomes smaller and smaller, occupying less and less space. He was once driving a chariot across the sky and leveled entire nations at the will of his people... and now he is only responsible for the Big Bang and a few pleasant coincidences found in a follower's life. The reality of god shrinks to almost nothing as we sober up.
For me, there was a 50% mark. In my mind, roughly 50% of the answers could be answered by science and 50% could be answered by “god.” This was in high school. Past the 50% mark, it became a higher probability that god didn't do it, and the unknowns are just sciences that are yet to be discovered. It made sense to me to spend more time learning, enjoying, exploring, and celebrating life than it was to focus on a god that had and continual increasing probability of not existing. There is so much of the world you could be absorbing rather than worrying about this... foods to taste, cultures to experience, drugs to try, and drinks to toast. There are so many people and philosophies and EDUCATION out there.
There was noting for me to cope with except the pain I felt over the lost time spent as I did not realize this sooner.
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Seraphim23
I wouldn’t worry over lost time because being dead forever is the same for everyone if your right. The man who lived for a hundred years won’t be able to feel superior over the man who died at thirty and the thirty year old wont regret the fact he didn’t get as much time as the hundred year old. Both will be dead for the same amount of time, forever.
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BackseatDevil
So by your logic shouldn't that put MORE value on time being alive? We will all be dead forever, but being alive is just a blip. Shouldn't we spend more time loving it than worrying about whether or not the mythos of a people who thought the world was flat is "truth" or not?
"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time." - Mark Twain
So yes... I mourn the loss time. And the time loss explaining such to people who do not hold the beauty of time as valuable as I.
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Seraphim23
Sounds like a case of having a cake but not being able to eat it. Have grief but not fear or no grief but fear. Probably means not much advantage over all whatever way round it goes.
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talesin
Crazyguy, to get back to your OP. :))
When I realized I was an atheist (I was about 25, and had left the religion when I was 18), it was like someone threw a glass of cold water in my face. I was kinda bamboozled. It's a big deal! Really, I hadn't ever 'believed' in God, just what my parents taught me. So this was the first time my intellectual self won out over the emotional belief system that had been grilled into me.
I don't know your age, but it's never bothered me that I am not going to live forever - well, except for the chance of endless learning, which I love! What did help me to adjust, was doing a bit of studying about what other religions have believed over the ages. I read up on, first of all, the Caltholics (of course, what ex-JW wouldn't? considering how much they love to put the Catholics down), and Buddhism, Taoism .... and you know, just got to see how the idea of god and religion had been used for millenia to control people. I, too, wonder(ed) if we have been 'planted' by an alien race .... I, too, wondered about reincarnation, and all sorts of things.
You may think this sounds silly, but years later, when I watched The Lion King, I thought "yes, the circle of life, we are all just animals on this beautiful planet". That about sums up what my conclusions about the mystery of 'life' is ........... we are born, and hey, shit happens. Some people have amazingly good shit, some have hellish bad shit, but most people just have an 'average' life, with ups and downs,,,, great joy at times, and great sorrow.
As you said, our time is relatively short, considering all the things we could do if given an eternity. I hope you find a way to reconcile what you have now learned is true .......... that there is little 'truth', just some certainty about the fact that we don't know a lot!Maybe reading some philosophy would help you out? I do love to read philosophy. Some other folks mentioned "Hume" - he is an older, very well-known philosopher. There is a really good textbook, called "Twenty Questions" - it's on Amazon for only a few bux... a great introduction to the subject, and hey, it might help you out.
xo
tal
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Terry
Believers think belief is a light switch; believe and light appears; disappear and darkness swallows you.
It's rather less binary than that, alas. Belief is closing your eyes and declaring you can see.
Disbelief is opening your eyes and understanding the darkness.