Discussion Discussion About Faith

[Lost in a Dream]

I'm not a religious guy and haven't been for a long time, but sometimes I wish I could be. I want to believe in a god who genuinely cares about the life on our planet. I want to believe I could kill myself for Jesus and get a free ticket into my own introverted paradise, but I don't.

Sometimes I wonder if a lot of religious people are just faking it til they make it like I tried to do. I realize now that the Bible I used to believe in does say that a true believer stays a believer, so I'm glad I never was a "true believer". That also means most current believers are on track for becoming atheists, Deists, or Gnostics anyway.

Only way I could be a true Christian is if I could be convinced it was true and could get blown away by an idiot with a gun at church. All they would do by killing me is give me the introverted paradise I want for myself. Seems weird to me for actual believers to not be suicidal 24/7 and beg for death every second. It seems like that only happens when true suffering is being experienced.

It's torture not having anything better than the right to die to believe in, but I don't even have faith in that. It sucks living in a world so terrible it requires being delusional just to function.

 

[QueerMelancholy]

Hard to say how I feel about faith it can definitely change depending on my mood.

I think with Catholicism I had faith in people's faith that their God loved them and that was all the faith I needed concerning them.

I do find myself praying saying the Rosary on Wednesdays from time to time. I like praying for all the people in the world. All ethnicities, creeds, and ideologies. Hard for me to believe that a God who is all this or all that could hate anyone for being imperfect.

And there are so many Gods out there to pray to. So many wonderful creation myths. I don't get why we limit ourselves to one God who has to be a supreme being. There are Gods for almost everything in the natural world and human nature. Makes more sense to me to spread it out between as many Gods as we need to.

I still find some peace in prayer. It helps me meditate and it helps me in ways faith can't on its own. I find that whether it's true or not doesn't really matter to me. I do it more so for quiet reflection. Inner peace? Hard to nail it down.

The Sun is the only God we really need. Without it, we'd all be dead. No life on this planet. Pray to the Sun if you need to. People have done it for a long long time. No right Gods or wrong Gods just whatever you think makes the most sense to you.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

I'm not religious and ever since I turned away from religion around roughly a decade ago I haven't found myself wishing to be a part of any faith. Even during my time going to catholic schools I never found myself envying my catholic peers. Even when taking world religion I don't think the idea of wanting to be part of some sort of faith ever crossed my mind. I don't like the idea of having to waste my time on some religion just to give myself a sense of purpose in life. If I want purpose on life then I'll either make my own or I'll just try to accept the fact that I have no true purpose. It also doesn't help that most religions have a history of being patriarchal and discriminatory. Death can be scary but I think it's better to just accept the inevitable for what it is.

 

[_AllCatsAreGrey_]

This is an interesting subject for me. I've never had any connection issues Christian faith, so perhaps my feelings around this differ from what others may be referring to. As I've shared on other threads, I was a Hindu monk and priest in my youth. I was completely immersed in it and found a lot of meaning and purpose in it. Unfortunately, I feel I was abused by the people in power. I left after nearly ten years. It was devastating to me.

Since then I spent some time practicing with Zen Buddhists, which was a good experience, but I still found issues with what I would see as misuse of power. Since then I've turned away from organized religion.

I continue my spiritual searching through studying Western philosophy - particularly existentialism and post-modernism/structuralism. I feel a lot of affinity with Spinoza's notion of God/Nature (particularly as presented by Delueze). In that I have found what resembles a resurgence in faith, although not religious.

 

[yellowjester]

The Sun is the only God we really need. Without it, we'd all be dead. No life on this planet. Pray to the Sun if you need to. People have done it for a long long time.

That's how I see it aswell. It's better to direct your most tender emotions at things that really exist, or can be brought into existence, rather than supernatural deities.

 

[leaftomb]

I really relate to wanting to believe but not being able to. After living in the US for a bit and going to church weekly, I tried actually turning to Christianity. I prayed everyday, and read the Bible everyday as well (I still read it pretty often, even without believing), I'd go to church as often as possible.. But I never got myself to actually believe. I always thought maybe after a while it'd feel more natural, but no, I just kept doubting it more and more. Christianity is the only religion I've actually tried to force myself into, so who knows, maybe I just haven't found the right one, but for now all I can say is that I'm unsure of whether there is a "Creator" or not. I think the universe is far too big and far too old for me to figure it out by myself, so I'm just hoping if there's a God out there he'll be kind enough not to sent me to Hell, if it even exists.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

I'm not religious and ever since I turned away from religion around roughly a decade ago I haven't found myself wishing to be a part of any faith. Even during my time going to catholic schools I never found myself envying my catholic peers. Even when taking world religion I don't think the idea of wanting to be part of some sort of faith ever crossed my mind. I don't like the idea of having to waste my time on some religion just to give myself a sense of purpose in life. If I want purpose on life then I'll either make my own or I'll just try to accept the fact that I have no true purpose. It also doesn't help that most religions have a history of being patriarchal and discriminatory. Death can be scary but I think it's better to just accept the inevitable for what it is.

I think I'm just tired of being suicidal all the time and backing out of every attempt. I'd like to know that if I ever succeeded, my non-existence would be certain. Either that or whatever god exists would allow it. Not unless I can be in my own immortal island paradise where I have an infinite supply of rum to enjoy.

Having the ability to float through clouds of dust in space as a spiritual being would be cool too.

 

[sensitiveguy]

I don't like the idea of having to waste my time on some religion just to give myself a sense of purpose in life. If I want purpose on life then I'll either make my own or I'll just try to accept the fact that I have no true purpose

That's amazing and beautiful. I wish the girl I love had thought the same way as you when she turned to Christianity. If Jesus died for her once, I will die for her a thousand times.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

That's amazing and beautiful. I wish the girl I love had thought the same way as you when she turned to Christianity. If Jesus died for her once, I will die for her a thousand times.

There's nothing beautiful about it.

 

[sensitiveguy]

That's how I see it aswell. It's better to direct your most tender emotions at things that really exist, or can be brought into existence, rather than supernatural deities.

There's nothing beautiful about it.

You're welcome.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

You're welcome.

For what?

 

[sensitiveguy]

For what?

You must be really dead inside huh. I appreciated your beliefs about religion, and I personally saw beauty in them. I guess you are not familiar with compliments.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

You must be really dead inside huh. I appreciated your beliefs about religion, and I personally saw beauty in them. I guess you are not familiar with compliments.

Dead inside? All because I stated that I didn't find anything beautiful in what I said? Also, why would a give a shit about being complimented by some dude who just referred to me as "dead inside", claimed that I'm not familiar with being compliemented, and expected me to thank him because he made a short rant about being annoyed over his girlfriend thinking in a way that he prefers?

 

[sensitiveguy]

Dead inside? All because I stated that I didn't find anything beautiful in what I said? Also, why would a give a shit about being complimented by some dude who just referred to me as "dead inside", claimed that I'm not familiar with being compliemented, and expected me to thank him because he made a short rant about being annoyed over his girlfriend thinking in a way that he prefers?

I found it beautiful, and if you didn't care, why did you reply to me? She is not my girlfriend, I just love her, The girl didn't think by herself all through her life, she got manipulated by many, I just wished she had the same beliefs as you expressed, she is dead anyway.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

I found it beautiful, and if you didn't care, why did you reply to me? She is not my girlfriend, I just love her, The girl didn't think by herself all through her life, she got manipulated by many, I just wished she had the same beliefs as you expressed, she is dead anyway.

So you are obsessing over some chick who isn't your girlfriend and is dead? Not to be rude, but that kind of sounds creepy.

Anyway, I'm going to put an end to this conversation as we are just derailing this thread. Sorry OP.

 

[sensitiveguy]

So you are obsessing over some chick who isn't your girlfriend and is dead? Not to be rude, but that kind of sounds creepy.

Anyway, I'm going to put an end to this conversation as we are just derailing this thread. Sorry OP.

Nice, I really got tired of people telling me that my love doesn't exist and my feelings are illusions. And now this. I have to go through recovery season again to make sure I am not obsessing over her and also to make sure it is not "creepy." It is not just love;l, it is my meaning in life that allows me to mitigate my depression.