Love help: Ok, so I’ve been a catholic since I was born.. - Help.com

Wow i just want to congrat you on letting your daughter go to church and have her own belief. Most parents determine their childs religion. Like if they leave a religion they will convert their children as well. So i think that was good parenting on your behalf.

If you dont have faith then no one can make you change your views/beliefs but you. Only you can find it again… If that makes sense

I understand. Most ppl find it will they cant turn to anything else. Their life is so miserable that they have the other choice but to turn to faith. So i guess in a way you should be happy. Are you happy with not having faith? What im trying to say is, do you want faith because your daughter has it or for another reason?

I think everyn goes through faith crises at times. I believe that God allows us the choice to believe or not. If He spelled out something in the stars or “proved” His existence, would you really have a choice in the matter? Science is about proof, faith is about belief. Good luck on your quest.

Ok i made a lot of typos lol

*Most ppl find it when they cant turn to anything else
*Their life is so miserable that they have no other choice

its amazing the kind of faith children can have

Yes i know what you mean. Sometimes i look at my family and friends and wish i had the faith they have but i dont. It took a lot for me to understand what faith truly was but now im back to my old self a little. I miss that feeling though. I believe in faith not the other stuff they teach so my friend thought i was committing a sin because i didnt believe that you would go to hell if you didnt believe in Jesus. So now i just dont know what i believe…

psyflyer wrote:
its amazing the kind of faith children can have

yea then they grew up and see that life isnt all peaches and cream

Why are you not satisfied with essentially being an atheist?

you said you lost your faith through science and all the proof that god doesnt exist? Science can’t prove that, all science is based on theories, which them thereself aren’t 100 percent accurate. There is no absolute proof in this world. In the end, its a question of opinion, the Science Big Bang Theory, cannot tell you where the original dust matter that caused the big bang came from…i mean im all for science as the next guy but its not absolute by any means, hell 100 years ago scientists thought the world was flat.

just try to think about that, maybe get back into church and just take it slow. pray about it as well.

And I would encourage you to strengthen your atheism by going to www.atheistforums.com and creating an account there.

I think part of the problem lies with your church, which is the most dogmatic on earth. The Catholic Church seeks to “cross every T” and “dot every I.” It asserts that the pope is infallible on matters of faith. My own church, the Episcopal Church, broke from Rome in the 1500s. We base our faith on three things: the Bible, church tradition and reason. We don’t teach things that are in the Bible. We are content to let certain things remain a “mystery,” such as what happens to the bread and wine during the Eucharist. And I am sorry to have to say it, but your church is very unforgiving. My wife was once married to a man who knocked her down the stairs, and she finally divorced him after years of continued cruelty. But you want to know something? She is denied communion in the Catholic Church because she’s (gasp!) divorced! For me to have joined the Catholic Church, I would have had to go through a “marriage tribunal,” because I, too, was divorced. So, I am not surprised that you have had a “crisis of faith” in the Catholic Church. I would encourage you to visit an Episcopal/Anglican church. Beyond that, you may have to have your own “road to Damascus” experience. In our church, we believe that it’s healthy to doubt things and to seek answers. And we don’t condemn people because they have been through the tragedy of a divorce.

Can you gain faith without having to try to believe something you know to false?

You love your daughter, so you don’t want to have this difference between you. I get that, my family are church going. Great people, they have faith, and somehow it doesn’t conflict with their common sense.

Honestly, what would you gain from a “faith”? maybe you can get that with out surrendering to a dogma?

Verum Causa wrote:
And I would encourage you to strengthen your atheism by going to www.atheistforums.com and creating an account there.

Well thanks Verum, but I think she said she wants to find her faith, not strengthen her atheism.

At times I can have this problem, but I’m a bit more of the philosophical one, though science does interest and intrigue me. I have a lot of friends who are more interested in science and better at it, and they struggle with this a lot.

Really whenever I’m questioning our origins or the existance of a creator, I just have to think about how great life is. The fact that we could all be here by coincidence, chance, that we could learn to love, that we can learn at all…I mean at times it just seems to intense for the “Big Bang Theory” to hold any meaning to me. At times I’ll go out and watch a storm, or listen to music, or think of things that are all too incredible and beautiful to just be here.

Before you try going to a different church, which I agree with chev.jame that that’s what you should do, you need to try to find the creator in your mind and soul again. More and more people and pulling from the strict Christian religion and believe in God alone. To believe in creationism, you’d have to start with him.

I’m certain there are sites and groups of people with this same problem, as it is getting more and more common. I’ll see if I can find one for you.

Faith gives us the strength to carry on, providing the hope of a better world to come. By the way, I was once an atheist. I had put my faith in mankind. Then I found out that mankind wasn’t up to the job–just look at the financial mess on Wall Street today. People are fallible, and have weaknesses that will keep us from ever having a “utopia” on earth. I found out that I hadn’t really ever convinced myself that God didn’t exist. I discovered that I was simply angry with God, because I thought the world was a mess. It dawned on me that the mess in today’s world was man’s doing, not God’s. And I realized that God didn’t want us to live like this. The main problem with the world today is lack of love. God is the source of all love, and if we deny Him, then we are cutting ourselves off from that all-important “Font of Love.” No, putting our “faith” wholly in ourselves and denying God is not the answer. If you want a REAL crisis of faith, put your faith wholly in humanity–and you will never fail to be disappointed. You can already see that putting ourselves above others isn’t the answer–it’s the problem. Love is the answer, and love comes from God. Pretty simple, isn’t it?

Mandolin: Would someone saying they wanted to strenthen their atheism prevent you from posting the suggestion of Christianity? I think we should just leave it up to sugarinjection to decide. It is entirely possible that she has already considered and dismissed atheism, but it is also possible that she hasn’t considered it as a viable option. I’m letting her know it is. Also, please stop spreading that lie about atheists and scientists believing we arose by chance. That is not true. Thank you.

Well, if God didn’t create the universe, and we didn’t arise by chance . . . could you explain how we got here?

It’s all about perception, especially in this matter, therefore I see God vs. big fat coincidence.

And yes, if someone had wishes to strengthen their atheist beliefs, I would not try forcing my very opposite opinion of what they should do down their pretty little throat. I’m sure if she’s lost her faith than yes, she has already considered and dismissed atheism, but it’s clear what she WANTS to do (”I’m not sure how to go about trying to find my faith again. Can anyone help me?”) rather than give her more of an argument in her mind and make the fight she’s trying to win harder, eh? I believe that’s the point of this site.

It’s all about perception, especially in this matter, therefore I see natural causes vs. some old man in the sky creating everything from magic.

I’m not forcing atheism down anyone’s throat here. I am suggesting it. It’s possible that she has considered and dismissed atheism. But it is also possible that she didn’t consider it a possible choice and I am giving her hope that it is. I will let her speak for what she wants to do.

Sugarinjection, I admire your strength to let your child to go to Sunday School after you lost faith. I don’t think you lost it, you are just doubting and you are confused. There comes a time in everyone’s life when we seek out the Unknown, the Highest, the Great Creator, God. Life without belief is not life. Life is not all about facts and proven facts and if it can be proved then there is no life. Sugarinjection, don’t force the issue right now. You are not ready to hear. Time will come when you will discover by yourself the answer to your question.

I’ve been through a “lost” phase myself. Sometimes it can seemed you can struggle and search for signs or reassurance that your doubts are wrong, and that can make it somewhat worse.

The key here, is to not worry about what faith you follow, just that you have faith. Try looking around and finding the things that give you that uplifting feel and little spark. Like watch a breeze sift through the tops of the trees, or if you’re out, watch a toddler laughing and smiling. It certainly does wonders for your faith in not only creation itself, but for life. However it came to be.

People go through feeling like they’re “losing” their faith all the time, but take it from someone who literally has almost been to hell and back; it’s still there. You just need to not look for it, and watch it naturally come to you in the slightest things you could never imagine.

Why should you be ashamed if you don’t have faith? Believe what you believe, not what you think you SHOULD believe.

Yes, Vilen. You’re right.

have you lost all faith completely? i was a Catholic too until it came around for the sacrament of my Confirmation. that was when i discovered that i could not accept Catholicism with a clear conscience. but i do consider myself a person of faith, since i do believe and external being exists somewhere out there and i do pray (to ask for things, to thank for things, and to sometimes just “praise” it for the miracle that is creation). for me, this works because i am not crossing any of my morals as i was with Catholicism or putting my faith in a mythology that didn’t make sense to me, and yet i have the faith that keeps me motivated when life’s got me down and something to hope for and serve as reassurance when i’m feeling overwhelmed.

having no faith is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is if this makes you feel lonely or unfulfilled in some way. the way i see it, the purpose of faith is to complete the individual. some people just need or take a liking to faith more than others.

I have actually felt fuller and more whole after I gave up my faith. I feel more liberated, like I am my own person now.

To find you faith you must loose your life. When you loose your life, you will get a new one. You probably need to accept that you are a sinner. And because of that You are going to go to hell when your flesh dies. That would really be a shame if you were to die in a car wreck or somthing tonight. The good news is that Jesus died for you to give you a new life, so that you dont have to go to hell. I suppose scientific theory explains things in such a way that you could be persuaded to think evolution takes place. But seriously, How ridiculous does it sound that you are willing to go to hell for some theory. Jesus was a real man who really did miricles, and really died and really came back to life.
First of all, Go into your room alone, close the door, get on your Knees and talk to God as if he were in front of you. Tell him how you feel, like this post, explain to him what your going through. Ask Jesus to come into your life and to change you into the person he wants you to be. Take a very deep breath and exhale. Surrender.
I would suggest getting involved in a protestant church. Not Just attending sunday service, but seriously getting involved in serving others. Try reading you Bible on your own. Maby read John first. You cant rely on people to give you a relationship with Jesus, you have to have your own.

The great Anglican theologian, C. S. Lewis, said this:

“If ours is an examined faith, we should be unafraid to doubt. If doubt is eventually justified, we were believing what clearly was not worth believing. But if doubt is answered, our faith has grown stronger. It knows God more certainly and it can enjoy God more deeply.”

Go to a regular Christian church and not a Catholic church. It might be easier to have faith without so many rules. Also, do searches on Christian science and proof of God.

And there isn’t scientific proof saying Jesus didn’t exist. There IS scientific proof saying He did. And that’s not Christian science. I am a Christian AND a fan of science.

Just first know that no matter how much research is conducted and how many discoveries are made, scientists will never know everything. God does. So a lot of things may contradict what you are taught in church, but most likely what you are taught in church is the correct information. Science cannot prove everything.

I am sorry if my response seemed offensive.
I was looking at you post and I thought, “Here is a woman who is lost, or has “lost her faith… completely”. I thought that this woman is earnestly seeking answers. So I shared the truth of the gospel of Jesus the Christ in accordance with the teachings from the bible.
The Jesus I know is not shy to talk about hell. In fact I’ll reference several places in his ministry when he talked about it.
Matthew 5:29
“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”
Luke 5:1-5
In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Luke 5:8-10
“Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.”
Why would a Follower of Jesus neglect to warn a person that claims to have completely lost faith in God of the consequences of not accepting Jesus as the Savior in their life?
The Jews felt that they weren’t “sinners” and look what he has to say to them…
” And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
He completely bashes them through a story.
It seems to me that the Jesus of the bible is not only about the koombiyaah, I want to feel fuzzy inside. He hits us in our weak points and lets us know that we are in trouble without him. He says Hey, You are a sinner and you need me. Look at what I have done for you.” and this screams to You “I LOVE YOU!” And then he gives you a choice weather or not you believe in him.
” For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
As a follower of Jesus, we are sinners, saved by the grace of God.
There are nearly 600 Biblical laws that we are required by the law of Moses to follow. Breaking one of the commands automatically qualifies us as sinners.
The fact that you do talk to God, Shows that You do Have Faith:” The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God’s will.” Stating that you have completely lost faith is like saying “I don’t have a secure belief in God, nor do I trust in his will.
I hope you see this as a post of Love and serious concern rather than an attack.
I also hope this helps you find what you are looking for.
-Matthew

Vilén wrote:
I have actually felt fuller and more whole after I gave up my faith. I feel more liberated, like I am my own person now.

then i think you have found the lifestyle that suits you. anyone who claims that this is a bad thing doesn’t quite make much sense to me.

Too often those wanting the faith and the truth are deceived by those who should be serving God as priests. Find a good one. The best way is to go to the abortion clinics and ask the pro-life Catholics praying outside who to go to.

Use this website for good sermons: http://www.audiosancto.org

then i think you have found the lifestyle that suits you. anyone who claims that this is a bad thing doesn’t quite make much sense to me.[/quote]

Please permit me to post a respectful caveat: We may be “suited” by a life that is completely out of consonance with God and spirituality. This is often known as complacency. Most people are what I would call “spiritual couch potatoes.” I don’t think the answer lies in living life just for ourselves. I think we are called to a higher purpose than to just live a life of ease and comfort. I think Jesus really nailed it when he said that we must lose our life in order to save it. We were not put here on this earth to sit on the sidelines and eat hot dogs while watching the battle unfold on the field before us . . . no, we were put here to be a part of that battle. So no, I disagree that we have fulfilled our life’s purpose by becoming comfortable. In fact, fulfilling our life’s purpose will most likely have some distinctly uncomfortable moments . . . and it may require our life, as well. This earth . . . this existence . . . is not our “be all” or “end all.” It is a prelude to something else. If we just sit on the sidelines in our “comfort zone,” will we be considered worthy for that “something else”?

well suiting one’s self doesn’t just mean catering to physical pleasures. it also means fulfilling and enriching our mental, emotional, and spiritual states as well. this can be done without a religion too. for example, say i was to pursue happiness, without going througha church or organization. ok, well what makes a person happy? wellness of being, intelligence of mind, feeling capable of taking care of others, being loved, the wellness and happiness of their family and friends, etc. things like this are interconnected to the community and other people on a grand scale. because if you really focus and meditate on how to be happy you’ll find that this depends on the happiness of those around you, not in a superficial way, just purely for its own sake. and living life with this in mind, whether you believe in a god of not, you will never feel like you have lived your life without spiritual purpose.