Discussion What has been your experience with religion?

[Pomegranate]

Whether you are/were a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, or a follower of another religion, what has been your experience? Has religion been a positive influence in your life? Or has it worsened it? I'm interested in knowing how suicidal people deal with topics surrounding God.

 

[_Alfarooq_]

Whether you are/were a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, or a follower of another religion, what has been your experience? Has religion been a positive influence in your life? Or has it worsened it? I'm interested in knowing how suicidal people deal with topics surrounding God.

I am Muslim and I feel that religion is the only thing that I don't have any problems with at all. And the consequences of CTB doesn't stop me from wanting to do it. It has been a positive influence to my entire life.

 

[MyChoiceAlone]

i've had a pastor who gave great sermons. he'd tell stories about how the entrance to churches back then were very low so you'd have to crawl and show your humility. that was when i was a child. but more and more other churches stressed tithing. that and you'd have to dress your 'sunday best'. seeing a pattern, i stopped going. read a book by dan brown. after that, i think i just lost all faith. religion was a nice sentiment but of course it got corrupted by the greedy.

 

[BloomingStrella]

I am from a Christian family, and it has been very rough for me. While it is true that believing in protection from a divine being can make you feel comfortable and safe, it's definitely a double edged sword. One wrong move, and you're essentially ostracized from the family. My family blame all my suicidal thoughts on Satan and insist that if I read the Bible, those thoughts will go away. They refuse to give me proper mental health treatment, and I've been forced to learn how to deal with it myself. The concept of divinity and religion have been a curse to me.

So, a couple of years ago, I decided I was tired of all the ridiculousness, and converted to atheism. God was never there for me, despite all my attempts to "connect" with him. I don't care if I burn in hell, or lose my "divine protection", as long as I can live a semi-realistic and rational life. Religion and law I've often seen are separated from each other in other countries. Why can't we do the same with logical reasoning? But I wouldn't dare inform my family that I'm an atheist, because they're the only people who support me. So while I solve the problem of being tormented by this so called "God", I also can't escape him totally because my family will always be there to remind me of how "gracious" and "forgiving" he is. Of course, while God isn't my moral compass anymore, I have my own moral compass now, so it's not like I'm going to go around murdering people. Worst part is, I have to keep acting like I truly do still believe in him, because of what I said before. It just hasn't been a good experience.

However, that is my personal experience. I've heard many stories where divinity and religion are the best things that happened to some people, and it saved their lives, which both surprises me and doesn't. Nothing is truly unbelievable these days, with so many crazy things happening in the world.

 

[moya117]

As a daughter from a Muslim familiy but doesn't really believe in that religion, it sucks, Muslim is the majority in my country too so that again makes me more Stressed. My mom had forced me to cover my head, controlled how I dress and all that and it just makes me feel horrible that i cannot express myself. Especially the mysoginy that's rooted in my cauntry makes my experience with Muslims so much worse. Don't get me wrong, Islam is a peaceful religion, but the people who believe in it nit-picks the rules on what you can and shouldn't do. The terrible things thoose so called Muslim people said to me is "boys will be boys, cover yourself" when I got sa'd (I Litarally wear my hijab and uniform). "What a beautiful girl, when will she get married?" Said a middle aged man (I litarally just a middle schooler at that time). "Depressed? Depressed people are just people that don't have enough Trust to God, just pray", "people who killed themselves are horrible and will go to hell, they're weak". That's not all but you already got the point.

 

[Seaghost]

I was born as a catholic but our family don't really lived that religion.
I left the catholic church 2008. Before and after none of my prayers werd heard of that so called allmighty beeing/thing which oversleept holocaust and other wars.
But I know there are things we can't (imho most of the time) see. I have some experiences that where astounding. Won't miss them. But for me it's mor like another world than "one big thing".
The interesting thing is I get sometime the feeling god listen to me but that's all no answer in any way. Thanks for suffering.

@moya117
I feel sorry for you.
Thats one of the reasons I don't like that religion. It is often used as an excuse to threat women worse than man. Like you said "boys will be boys". And women????
But don't get me wrong, some individuums use the "holy bible" the same bad way.