Feeling help: I feel like I am losing faith and belief in God. - Help.com

anonymous wrote:
And I just want answers.

don’t we all.

a wild ozy appears wrote:

anonymous wrote:
And I just want answers.

don’t we all.

…

Hey Anon,

That seems to be an issue with some people I know personally lately as well. The only advice I can give you is to try to look back on your life and remember all the times God was there for you. Remember when you were down, and He brought you comfort. Look at your life as a relationship with God. Remember the good times and the bad times.

I’d also really suggest reading through the beginning of the New Testament again. Rediscover who Jesus is. Fall in love with Him again.

Deep down in your soul you know God is there. You just need to rediscover Him! :)

-WP

ur on the right track, just hold onto ur faith, realization is not to far away.

It’s perfectly normal to go through doubt, so don’t stress too much =)

WolfPrint wrote:
The only advice I can give you is to try to look back on your life and remember all the times God was there for you.
I’d also really suggest reading through the beginning of the New Testament again. Rediscover who Jesus is. Fall in love with Him again.

Very good advice. Memory can serve as a great help in times like this. Pray for guidance. Look for God every day, even in the small things. Reorganise your thoughts.

What really helps me is Scripture reading. I find that when I read, I feel a lot closer to God.

God will always be near, even if you drift away. He won’t desert you =)

Someone, I can’t remember who :(, said that a man died (kinda sad, but it gets better) and when he looked back on his life he saw a beach with footprints walking along the beach. Sometimes there were two sets, and sometimes there was only one set. The man turned to Jesus and said ‘Why did you leave me during the hardest parts of my life?’ Jesus responded ‘I didn’t leave you, I carried you’

It’s good to question these things anon. Either you will question your belief and come up empty handed and lose your faith completely, or you will question it and come back reaffirmed. How you end up is your choice in how much you want to know and rationalize your belief.

I went through the same thing as you almost four years ago and I came out an atheist. I feel fine, don’t need the idea of a god anymore. That may or may not work out for you.

At the end of the day it’s your life. You decide how you want to live it. You decide what you learn, what you don’t. And you will decide the outcome of this, don’t let others influence you into their way of thinking :)

And you aren’t giving a totally atheist opinion, without being to obvious that it’s a atheist opinion, about this???

Raisa wrote:
And you aren’t giving a totally atheist opinion, without being to obvious that it’s a atheist opinion, about this???

I never countered your comment on here, allow me the same courtesy. Not wanting to debate. Thanks.

☯Minerva☯ wrote:
It’s good to question these things anon. Either you will question your belief and come up empty handed and lose your faith completely, or you will question it and come back reaffirmed. How you end up is your choice in how much you want to know and rationalize your belief.

I went through the same thing as you almost four years ago and I came out an atheist. I feel fine, don’t need the idea of a god anymore. That may or may not work out for you.

At the end of the day it’s your life. You decide how you want to live it. You decide what you learn, what you don’t. And you will decide the outcome of this, don’t let others influence you into their way of thinking :)

‘Don’t let others influence your way of thinking’ didn’t counter the prior comments? Of which mine was one. And since all the prior comments were from the Christian point of view and you said you were atheist, I totally respected that you had a right to say your opinion, but then you said not to be influenced by others way of thinking… so if you want to let Anon decide without being influenced, then why give a opinion? And Anon posted it to get others opinions. Otherwise why post it and end saying ‘I just want answers’ if Anon didn’t want answers from various people?

I added my comment to show that there are other options out there than the Christian alternative, but that at the end of the day they decide what happens and shouldn’t let others dictate to them what is right and wrong. That is all. Now drop it.

Can I add one little thing to my argument?

Why are you arguing? Leave it. There’s no need to argue. If you want to argue start your own post, this is not productive for the OP.

I went through this struggle.

I would like to share the conclusions I came to, if that helps at all.

I feel like all this must have come from somewhere. The universe seems to work that way to me, that all things seem to have some source. But I don’t have any proof of it. I can’t argue for it. If you believe that it all came from somewhere, and you want to call that source “God”, fine.

But what else can you say about God, except that he might exist?

I heard a quote that has stayed with me for many years.
“When you understand why you don’t believe in all the other gods out there, you will understand why I don’t believe in your god.”

And I find it to be true. I had no more evidence for the God of the Bible than I did for the gods of Hinduism or Shinto or the ancient Greek or Roman gods. And I went on to study those religions. And I realized that I didn’t know enough about my own religion, so I went on to read the whole Bible and study Christian history. And something became clear to me.

Everyone is reaching out for understanding. Everyone seems to try and fit an explanation for everything into the framework of what they already understand. And most people seem to think that they are the Main Character in the story of reality. So what do you get? Gods in ancient Greece seem to have the values, culture, and knowledge of people in ancient Greece. Same for ancient Japan. Same for India. The God that Christianity teaches today is very different from the God that ancient Christianity used to teach about, and different from the God that the Jews taught about before Christianity, each reflecting the social norms and knowledge of the people of those individual times. And the dogma changes, usually correlating with whatever supports the people in power over those religions. That seems like an awful lot of coincidences, if a religion is absolutely true.

People talked to me often, telling me that it wasn’t about evidence. No, I couldn’t find any evidence supporting my faith, but that was the point - it was ‘faith’; you had to take it on faith. But a problem still exists - if every different religion is telling me to take their religion on faith, I need a reason to choose one over the others. I need evidence beyond “take it on faith” even to accept faith.

It seems more likely to me that religion is the creation of mankind seeking answers to questions that were unanswerable for them. “But what if you’re wrong?” I was often asked. This concerned me for a while. But then I came to this conclusion - If there is a correct religion that will save me, I’m unlikely to find it. There are thousands of religious beliefs, most claiming to be the exclusive truth; I’m statistically likely to be damned anyway if I choose a faith, so I’ve probably lost nothing if I have no faith and I am wrong. But what if I choose a religion and there is no god, or no correct religion? Then I have devoted my life to nothing, let myself be fooled by charlatans, lost the chance to gain at least some true understanding through rational inquiry and skepticism. If I choose religion and I’m wrong, I’ve probably lost a lot.

So I don’t worry about evidenceless supernatural beings. I try to live a life full of compassion and joy and quality anyway, even if there is no invisible father ready to punish or reward me, simply because if feels good and makes a better world for me to live in. If I make a mistake, I don’t worry about hellfire; I just pick myself up and try to do better next time. And my life is worthwhile. And it has gotten better with the conclusions I’ve come to.

I don’t know if I’m right. I don’t know if your experience can be the same. But I hope that seeing someone else’s journey has helped provide some insight.

Meaning in life is something you create for yourself. Some people adopt a religion and a “god” to create that meaning for them. Others find meaning in life in other ways. I think it’s a mistake to go around looking for meaning in events and believing you will somehow be rewarded for doing some arbitrary “correct behaviour”.

You can have a rich, rewarding life if you accept that you always have and always will create your own meaning in life… it’s your choice how you will do that. And when you accept people for who and what they are… frightened animals doing the best they can… you no longer feel that you have to judge them or yourself for behaviour… but instead you spend your life finding ways to influence people and motivate yourself to create the world you really want to live in.