HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Meister5(m): 1:45am On Feb 07, 2017 |
I'm Justice and i'm 22. I'm posting this to NL only cos I've sort help but haven't gotten any. It took months before i could summon enough courage to think of sharing my feelings online ,and i'm really looking forward to positive replies(only Christians).
For a while now i've found myself losing faith in God. Sometimes i feel religion is a joke. I still go to church ,still pray but within me i doubt there's actually someone listening to my prayers.
Sometimes when something good happens and people praise God i think it ridiculous. Reason is that good things are always bound to happen. Even to murderers.
I hate how i feel ,i'm gradually turning into an atheist. I've prayed for salvation, to believe Jesus lives and cares. I asked a guy for help all he said was i should read the new testament and believe everything written in it cos it's God's word. That didn't help.
Please i need someone in the right path(a good Christian) to help cos i really want to believe. I don't want to miss heaven. |
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Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by lionlamb020(m): 1:58am On Feb 07, 2017 |
hmmm... i've been in your shoes friend - for a short while though. and i know the origin of that was that i kept paying attention to what atheists say... rather than panic, i'd advise you to go back to the very beginning of your faith, and then ask yourself why you have been trying to hold on. don't also think you can get better by staying away from the bible - it won't help; feed your soul. in fact, the most likely reason for you being in this situation is what you've been feeding your soul with. don't also forget that living by mere logic is probably the biggest mistake in reasoning. whether we accept it or not, logic gets defeated over and over and even a lot of atheists are either silent or just ignorant about those occurrences. so relax, take a deep breath, you're not alone man ![wink](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/wink.png) 3 Likes 1 Share |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by hopefulLandlord: 2:25am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Music to Hopefullandlord's ears ![grin](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/grin.png) 6 Likes 1 Share |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by DoctorAlien(m): 2:28am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Well, it seems most people do get to this point in life.
Every honest intelligent person will admit that common sense points to GOD. Religion might be a joke today, but do you know that there is a religion of the Bible itself? Yes, the great majority of what we have today are greedy men peddling lies to increase their gain, either not having light from the Scriptures, or refusing to tell the truth. The religion of the Bible itself brings you into a close and sweet communion with GOD!
You can ask me any question you have. I pray GOD will reveal Himself to you. Amen. 3 Likes 1 Share |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by lionlamb020(m): 2:35am On Feb 07, 2017 |
hopefulLandlord: Music to Hopefullandlord's ears ![grin](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/grin.png) i could almost smell you coming..... chai |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by hopefulLandlord: 3:14am On Feb 07, 2017 |
DoctorAlien: Well, it seems most people do get to this point in life.
Every honest intelligent person will admit that common sense points to GOD. Religion might be a joke today, but do you know that there is a religion of the Bible itself? Yes, the great majority of what we have today are greedy men peddling lies to increase their gain, either not having light from the Scriptures, or refusing to tell the truth. The religion of the Bible itself brings you into a close and sweet communion with GOD!
You can ask me any question you have. I pray GOD will reveal Himself to you. Amen. erhm, never mind bro OP just wants free "license to sin anyhow" and not feel accountable for it isn't that the bullsheeet reason you say people become atheists for? ![grin](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/grin.png) 9 Likes |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by hopefulLandlord: 3:35am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Okay, you asked for "only Christians" but I can't help gatecrashing Meister5: I'm Justice and i'm 22. I'm posting this to NL only cos I've sort help but haven't gotten any. It took months before i could summon enough courage to think of sharing my feelings online ,and i'm really looking forward to positive replies(only Christians).
For a while now i've found myself losing faith in God. Sometimes i feel religion is a joke. I still go to church ,still pray but within me i doubt there's actually someone listening to my prayers. Studies also show that praying for other people either has no effect (if the recipient isn't aware of it) or has a small negative effect (if the recipient is aware of it). This rather suggests that the benefits of prayer are all internal, and that no "Almighty" is listening to them. Here are my thoughts on prayer. I'll compare how the Christian god acts regarding prayer with how a potential friend might ask. Let's say I contact a friend and tell her that I need some help doing something; I send an email, make a call, and she never gets back to me, not "Yes" not "No" not "maybe." I'd consider that pretty inconsiderate, though if she was particularly busy I might let it pass. If I ran into her and she said "well, I was going to help you, but I wanted you to stress out, send a few more emails and be more obsequious" I think I'd find a new friend. None of my friends treat me like this. But this is basically how the Christian god operates. Some people say that this is the wrong way to look at prayer, and it's like a *conversation.* But conversations require actual communication. Sitting around silently *feeling the presence* or someone or something isn't adequate communication by my standards. Even distant acquaintances do better than the Christian god seems to do here. So, maybe it's all wrong, and the *only right prayer* is to just tell god "Your way, not my way, I SUBMIT I SUBMIT!" Wow, what a *deep, profound relationship.* It's about the same relationship you would have with a nutcase holding a gun to your head. All said, remote acquaintances seem to provide a lot more meaningful contact than gods do through prayers. ![](https://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/files/2011/03/2011-03-24-The-Power-of-Prayer.png) There are stories of people praying to the Christian God and being healed. There are stories of people praying to non-Christian gods and being healed. There are stories of people praying to no gods and being healed. There are stories of members of all three categories who are not healed. How do we figure out if anything is going on except confirmation bias? We find people who are sick, we have some prayed for and some not, and we see if there is a different recovery rate. The Templeton Foundation - a group inclined to believe that prayer is effective - ran exactly that experiment and found no difference. I can go on a limb and say You don't have millions of answered prayers; you have millions of people who're determined to believe that their prayers were answered. Big difference.Explanations for how prayers work are actually justifications for why they don't.Facebook is interesting . I don't know how many times I've seen " pray for a miracle for x" and then x dies and it's " pray for x's family" or whatever. You would think at some point they'd figure out prayer is useless at best. And I guess some do. in another example; A few years ago, Texas was having a severe drought. They had state prayer days for rain and filled a stadium with the faithful who prayed for rain. Still there was no rain until the summer was over and then they got so much rain, they had floods. The latest apology I've heard from theists on why prayer seems so embarrassingly ineffective is that people are praying for the wrong things. Instead of asking for a glass of water or a candy bar, they should be asking for god's will to be done. Which turns intercessory prayer into a perfectly meaningless exercise. Because whatever happens ... grandma dying from cancer, getting the promotion, little Jimmy Billy Bob getting that 12-year-old girl pregnant ... that was all god's will in the first place. Good, bad or otherwise. Praying that "Gods will be done" is one of people's last gasps as a theist, when they realise the things they are praying for aren't happening anyway. Sometimes when something good happens and people praise God i think it ridiculous. Reason is that good things are always bound to happen. Even to murderers. exactly!!! let me state an undisputable fact here, there's NOTHING that can happen to an atheist - be it good or bad in varying degrees - that can't happen to a theist when I face certain problems which solution to it is beyond my effort, what I do is to simply look at a theist going through similar or worse problem and that's all it takes for me to see that theism isn't the solution to it! we all fall sick and die regardless our religious standing we all face issues in life regardless of it too A child is born, "God is Good all the time" A Christian brother survives an ailment, "God is good all the time" A child dies at birth, a Christian brother dies of just malaria despite prayers upon prayers, your loved one had a terrible accident while crossing a road which resulted in amputation.... Typical Christian's consoling words: Ooh don't worry dear, god works in mysterious ways you know. His ways are not our ways. He knows his reasons for everything.Does god ever protect his followers? Is he even capable?? God doesn't work in mysterious ways. God fails in perfectly obvious ways.It's high time you guys wake up from slumber and face reality, not defending the stories made by some ancient men from a certain culture with every strength in your body. God was created by man and still defended by the same man & I begin to wonder, can't he at least defend himself? But no he choose to gossip and play bets with man. I seriously pity JOB I never realized how much religious people came across as self-important until I broke away from my faith. It's almost as of a god that does whatever he wants in random whimsy is similar to an entity-less universe that's indifferent to us. If God is so damn mysterious why is it his followers seem to know exactly what the hell he wants? They also seem to think he's forgiven them for everything they've done and being UTTERLY certain bout his forgiveness. I hate how i feel ,i'm gradually turning into an atheist. I've prayed for salvation, to believe Jesus lives and cares. I asked a guy for help all he said was i should read the new testament and believe everything written in it cos it's God's word. That didn't help. I've gotten a bit tired here so I'll keep the rest short the fastest way to become atheist is to read the bible with an open mind Please i need someone in the right path(a good Christian) to help cos i really want to believe. I don't want to miss heaven. I sense its not really heaven you fear missing, you just fear hell due to the huge level of indoctrination and brainwashing you've been subjected to since you were born and now you're questioning it I said the below in another thread Christian heaven doesn't even make sense either The Bible doesn't say much about what heaven is supposed to be like. Most of the claims about heaven are exaggerations of the Bible. The Bible says the Gates are made of pearl. What are the gates for? Are they made just as an excuse to irritate clams? Are the gates supposed to keep someone out or to keep souls from escaping?The sales pitch for heaven is that there is only happiness and no sorrow. But it also says that many people's loved ones won't be there. Since they can't feel sorrow about that, are they ecstatic that their loved ones are being tortured forever? Either your memories are removed or your human empathy is removed. Is it really you that is left over once some parts of you have been removed? If life matters to me now, it will always have mattered to me, even when I am gone. Death cannot change that. Your best hope is to be locked in a gold cage with your memories of having an actual life being erased just so you can kiss ass for eternity. Life is pleasant, death is serene. The transition might be troublesome but we all have to go through it. You shouldn't fear death so much. Heaven and hell are imaginary. You should reject the indoctrination. Life is much better that way. Final word to OP for now I also faced a lot of the fears you're having right now too on my journey from the delusion of Christianity and theism to atheism; I created a thread on it https://www.nairaland.com/3307224/four-types-fear-faced-journey kindly go through it and read posts by readers of that thread too; I wish you the best in your search for truth 16 Likes 6 Shares |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by felixomor: 5:26am On Feb 07, 2017 |
hopefulLandlord: Okay, you asked for "only Christians" but I can't help gatecrashing
................ See hunger and desperation ....... ![lipsrsealed](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/lipsrsealed.png) |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Nobody: 5:39am On Feb 07, 2017 |
felixomor:
See hunger and desperation ....... ![lipsrsealed](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/lipsrsealed.png) *See a reply I can't dispute with sound logic ........ ![lipsrsealed](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/lipsrsealed.png) 6 Likes 1 Share |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Immorttal: 5:48am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Op I will advice you to consider hopefullandlord advice, if you don't do now, you will come back later. Take sole responsibility of your life, the power is in you. 1 Like |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by felixomor: 5:49am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Meister5: I'm Justice and i'm 22. I'm posting this to NL only cos I've sort help but haven't gotten any. It took months before i could summon enough courage to think of sharing my feelings online ,and i'm really looking forward to positive replies(only Christians).
For a while now i've found myself losing faith in God. Sometimes i feel religion is a joke. I still go to church ,still pray but within me i doubt there's actually someone listening to my prayers.
Sometimes when something good happens and people praise God i think it ridiculous. Reason is that good things are always bound to happen. Even to murderers.
I hate how i feel ,i'm gradually turning into an atheist. I've prayed for salvation, to believe Jesus lives and cares. I asked a guy for help all he said was i should read the new testament and believe everything written in it cos it's God's word. That didn't help.
Please i need someone in the right path(a good Christian) to help cos i really want to believe. I don't want to miss heaven. Nice to know you are this sincere and open. Sincerely, many Christians like you and i have been in such a position in the past. Even Elijah in the bible at a time, almost lost his faith. Until God showed him 400 other prophets who had not bowed down to Idols. I feel u brother. But with this your sincerity, I know God will help you. Now, what you are going through presently is what many (young males especially) go through before doubting their faith. It happens when the devil starts a subconscious battle within you. Take note its a "subconscious" battle. The devil is trying to help you "normalize" sin and disobedience of God's word. So he wants to make you feel God doesnt exist Once he does that, he knows you will start committing sin without feeling reproach. Nothing else. We all offend God and sin, but it should never be seen as normal, We should always ask God for forgiveness when we do. This is simply what the devil wants you to stop doing. He wants you to see yourself "bigger than forgiveness" PLEASE DONT FALL FOR IT. So right now, he will try to make all evidence of non-existence look real. But if u look down deep, those evidence dont hold water. The devil will not even want u to look down deep. My brother, The Simple solution is Keep being accoubtable to GodAnytime u fall into temptation, ask God for forgiveness and repent. Simple. Before you know it, the devil will flee.Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Shalom Brother, The Lord is your Strength. I will remember you in my prayers. ![cry](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cry.gif) 8 Likes 4 Shares |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by hopefulLandlord: 6:44am On Feb 07, 2017 |
lionlamb020:
i could almost smell you coming..... chai
Na so my oga ![cool](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cool.png) |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Nobody: 7:16am On Feb 07, 2017 |
I was once like Meister5 slowly drifting into the realm of irreligion and Agnostism. You've already seen the truth I doubt you can go back to your former christian ways, but for more about the flaws of religion read http://godisimaginary.comIts goes into more detail than hopefullandlord does 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by malvisguy212: 9:27am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Meister5: I'm Justice and i'm 22. I'm posting this to NL only cos I've sort help but haven't gotten any. It took months before i could summon enough courage to think of sharing my feelings online ,and i'm really looking forward to positive replies(only Christians).
For a while now i've found myself losing faith in God. Sometimes i feel religion is a joke. I still go to church ,still pray but within me i doubt there's actually someone listening to my prayers.
Sometimes when something good happens and people praise God i think it ridiculous. Reason is that good things are always bound to happen. Even to murderers.
I hate how i feel ,i'm gradually turning into an atheist. I've prayed for salvation, to believe Jesus lives and cares. I asked a guy for help all he said was i should read the new testament and believe everything written in it cos it's God's word. That didn't help.
Please i need someone in the right path(a good Christian) to help cos i really want to believe. I don't want to miss heaven. Your decision about religion is as serious as a starving person deciding whether to risk eating something which might be deadly, But when there is nothing else to eat, it becomes rather important whether the variety you choose is poisonous. And if you eat nothing for weeks, indecision becomes as deadly as the worse decision. Don't be like a blind person trying to convince himself that because he has never seen, everyone else claiming to see must be mistaken. 1 Like |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by LLSAINT(m): 9:32am On Feb 07, 2017 |
You need the Holy Spirit. Nothing matters on Earth until you are connected to the Holy Spirit. 1 Like |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Meister5(m): 10:17am On Feb 07, 2017 |
lionlamb020: hmmm... i've been in your shoes friend - for a short while though. and i know the origin of that was that i kept paying attention to what atheists say... rather than panic, i'd advise you to go back to the very beginning of your faith, and then ask yourself why you have been trying to hold on. don't also think you can get better by staying away from the bible - it won't help; feed your soul. in fact, the most likely reason for you being in this situation is what you've been feeding your soul with. don't also forget that living by mere logic is probably the biggest mistake in reasoning. whether we accept it or not, logic gets defeated over and over and even a lot of atheists are either silent or just ignorant about those occurrences. so relax, take a deep breath, you're not alone man ![wink](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/wink.png) Thank you. 1 Like |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Meister5(m): 10:20am On Feb 07, 2017 |
LLSAINT: You need the Holy Spirit. Nothing matters on Earth until you are connected to the Holy Spirit. And how do i connect to the holy spirit? |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by LLSAINT(m): 10:26am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Meister5: And how do i connect to the holy spirit? You can be baptised in the Holy Spirit through impartation or prayer inviting the Holy Spirit. But first, are you really sure you are born again and if yes, how do you know. This is the basis before Baptism. |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Meister5(m): 10:33am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Your entire post is exactly how i feel inside but there's still a part of me that think what lionlamb020 said about all of it being mere logic to be true hopefulLandlord: Okay, you asked for "only Christians" but I can't help gatecrashing
Studies also show that praying for other people either has no effect (if the recipient isn't aware of it) or has a small negative effect (if the recipient is aware of it). This rather suggests that the benefits of prayer are all internal, and that no "Almighty" is listening to them.
Here are my thoughts on prayer. I'll compare how the Christian god acts regarding prayer with how a potential friend might ask. Let's say I contact a friend and tell her that I need some help doing something; I send an email, make a call, and she never gets back to me, not "Yes" not "No" not "maybe." I'd consider that pretty inconsiderate, though if she was particularly busy I might let it pass. If I ran into her and she said "well, I was going to help you, but I wanted you to stress out, send a few more emails and be more obsequious" I think I'd find a new friend.
None of my friends treat me like this. But this is basically how the Christian god operates. Some people say that this is the wrong way to look at prayer, and it's like a *conversation.* But conversations require actual communication. Sitting around silently *feeling the presence* or someone or something isn't adequate communication by my standards. Even distant acquaintances do better than the Christian god seems to do here.
So, maybe it's all wrong, and the *only right prayer* is to just tell god "Your way, not my way, I SUBMIT I SUBMIT!" Wow, what a *deep, profound relationship.* It's about the same relationship you would have with a nutcase holding a gun to your head.
All said, remote acquaintances seem to provide a lot more meaningful contact than gods do through prayers.
![](https://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/files/2011/03/2011-03-24-The-Power-of-Prayer.png)
There are stories of people praying to the Christian God and being healed.
There are stories of people praying to non-Christian gods and being healed.
There are stories of people praying to no gods and being healed.
There are stories of members of all three categories who are not healed.
How do we figure out if anything is going on except confirmation bias? We find people who are sick, we have some prayed for and some not, and we see if there is a different recovery rate. The Templeton Foundation - a group inclined to believe that prayer is effective - ran exactly that experiment and found no difference.
I can go on a limb and say You don't have millions of answered prayers; you have millions of people who're determined to believe that their prayers were answered. Big difference.
Explanations for how prayers work are actually justifications for why they don't.
Facebook is interesting . I don't know how many times I've seen " pray for a miracle for x" and then x dies and it's " pray for x's family" or whatever. You would think at some point they'd figure out prayer is useless at best. And I guess some do.
in another example; A few years ago, Texas was having a severe drought. They had state prayer days for rain and filled a stadium with the faithful who prayed for rain. Still there was no rain until the summer was over and then they got so much rain, they had floods.
The latest apology I've heard from theists on why prayer seems so embarrassingly ineffective is that people are praying for the wrong things. Instead of asking for a glass of water or a candy bar, they should be asking for god's will to be done.
Which turns intercessory prayer into a perfectly meaningless exercise. Because whatever happens ... grandma dying from cancer, getting the promotion, little Jimmy Billy Bob getting that 12-year-old girl pregnant ... that was all god's will in the first place. Good, bad or otherwise.
Praying that "Gods will be done" is one of people's last gasps as a theist, when they realise the things they are praying for aren't happening anyway.
exactly!!!
let me state an undisputable fact here, there's NOTHING that can happen to an atheist - be it good or bad in varying degrees - that can't happen to a theist
when I face certain problems which solution to it is beyond my effort, what I do is to simply look at a theist going through similar or worse problem and that's all it takes for me to see that theism isn't the solution to it!
we all fall sick and die regardless our religious standing
we all face issues in life regardless of it too
A child is born, "God is Good all the time"
A Christian brother survives an ailment, "God is good all the time"
A child dies at birth, a Christian brother dies of just malaria despite prayers upon prayers, your loved one had a terrible accident while crossing a road which resulted in amputation.... Typical Christian's consoling words: Ooh don't worry dear, god works in mysterious ways you know. His ways are not our ways. He knows his reasons for everything.
Does god ever protect his followers? Is he even capable??
God doesn't work in mysterious ways. God fails in perfectly obvious ways.
It's high time you guys wake up from slumber and face reality, not defending the stories made by some ancient men from a certain culture with every strength in your body. God was created by man and still defended by the same man & I begin to wonder, can't he at least defend himself?
But no he choose to gossip and play bets with man. I seriously pity JOB
I never realized how much religious people came across as self-important until I broke away from my faith.
It's almost as of a god that does whatever he wants in random whimsy is similar to an entity-less universe that's indifferent to us. If God is so damn mysterious why is it his followers seem to know exactly what the hell he wants? They also seem to think he's forgiven them for everything they've done and being UTTERLY certain bout his forgiveness.
I've gotten a bit tired here so I'll keep the rest short
the fastest way to become atheist is to read the bible with an open mind
I sense its not really heaven you fear missing, you just fear hell due to the huge level of indoctrination and brainwashing you've been subjected to since you were born and now you're questioning it
I said the below in another thread
Christian heaven doesn't even make sense either
The Bible doesn't say much about what heaven is supposed to be like. Most of the claims about heaven are exaggerations of the Bible. The Bible says the Gates are made of pearl. What are the gates for? Are they made just as an excuse to irritate clams? Are the gates supposed to keep someone out or to keep souls from escaping?
The sales pitch for heaven is that there is only happiness and no sorrow. But it also says that many people's loved ones won't be there. Since they can't feel sorrow about that, are they ecstatic that their loved ones are being tortured forever? Either your memories are removed or your human empathy is removed. Is it really you that is left over once some parts of you have been removed?
If life matters to me now, it will always have mattered to me, even when I am gone. Death cannot change that.
Your best hope is to be locked in a gold cage with your memories of having an actual life being erased just so you can kiss ass for eternity.
Life is pleasant, death is serene. The transition might be troublesome but we all have to go through it. You shouldn't fear death so much. Heaven and hell are imaginary. You should reject the indoctrination. Life is much better that way.
Final word to OP for now
I also faced a lot of the fears you're having right now too on my journey from the delusion of Christianity and theism to atheism; I created a thread on it https://www.nairaland.com/3307224/four-types-fear-faced-journey kindly go through it and read posts by readers of that thread too; I wish you the best in your search for truth |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Meister5(m): 10:37am On Feb 07, 2017 |
LLSAINT:
You can be baptised in the Holy Spirit through impartation or prayer inviting the Holy Spirit. But first, are you really sure you are born again and if yes, how do you know. This is the basis before Baptism. I sin just like everyone else does but i can boldly say i don't live in sin. I've been baptised. |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by blueAgent(m): 11:00am On Feb 07, 2017 |
hopefulLandlord: Okay, you asked for "only Christians" but I can't help gatecrashing
Studies also show that praying for other people either has no effect (if the recipient isn't aware of it) or has a small negative effect (if the recipient is aware of it). This rather suggests that the benefits of prayer are all internal, and that no "Almighty" is listening to them.
Here are my thoughts on prayer. I'll compare how the Christian god acts regarding prayer with how a potential friend might ask. Let's say I contact a friend and tell her that I need some help doing something; I send an email, make a call, and she never gets back to me, not "Yes" not "No" not "maybe." I'd consider that pretty inconsiderate, though if she was particularly busy I might let it pass. If I ran into her and she said "well, I was going to help you, but I wanted you to stress out, send a few more emails and be more obsequious" I think I'd find a new friend.
None of my friends treat me like this. But this is basically how the Christian god operates. Some people say that this is the wrong way to look at prayer, and it's like a *conversation.* But conversations require actual communication. Sitting around silently *feeling the presence* or someone or something isn't adequate communication by my standards. Even distant acquaintances do better than the Christian god seems to do here.
So, maybe it's all wrong, and the *only right prayer* is to just tell god "Your way, not my way, I SUBMIT I SUBMIT!" Wow, what a *deep, profound relationship.* It's about the same relationship you would have with a nutcase holding a gun to your head.
All said, remote acquaintances seem to provide a lot more meaningful contact than gods do through prayers.
![](https://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/files/2011/03/2011-03-24-The-Power-of-Prayer.png)
There are stories of people praying to the Christian God and being healed.
There are stories of people praying to non-Christian gods and being healed.
There are stories of people praying to no gods and being healed.
There are stories of members of all three categories who are not healed.
How do we figure out if anything is going on except confirmation bias? We find people who are sick, we have some prayed for and some not, and we see if there is a different recovery rate. The Templeton Foundation - a group inclined to believe that prayer is effective - ran exactly that experiment and found no difference.
I can go on a limb and say You don't have millions of answered prayers; you have millions of people who're determined to believe that their prayers were answered. Big difference.
Explanations for how prayers work are actually justifications for why they don't.
Facebook is interesting . I don't know how many times I've seen " pray for a miracle for x" and then x dies and it's " pray for x's family" or whatever. You would think at some point they'd figure out prayer is useless at best. And I guess some do.
in another example; A few years ago, Texas was having a severe drought. They had state prayer days for rain and filled a stadium with the faithful who prayed for rain. Still there was no rain until the summer was over and then they got so much rain, they had floods.
The latest apology I've heard from theists on why prayer seems so embarrassingly ineffective is that people are praying for the wrong things. Instead of asking for a glass of water or a candy bar, they should be asking for god's will to be done.
Which turns intercessory prayer into a perfectly meaningless exercise. Because whatever happens ... grandma dying from cancer, getting the promotion, little Jimmy Billy Bob getting that 12-year-old girl pregnant ... that was all god's will in the first place. Good, bad or otherwise.
Praying that "Gods will be done" is one of people's last gasps as a theist, when they realise the things they are praying for aren't happening anyway.
exactly!!!
let me state an undisputable fact here, there's NOTHING that can happen to an atheist - be it good or bad in varying degrees - that can't happen to a theist
when I face certain problems which solution to it is beyond my effort, what I do is to simply look at a theist going through similar or worse problem and that's all it takes for me to see that theism isn't the solution to it!
we all fall sick and die regardless our religious standing
we all face issues in life regardless of it too
A child is born, "God is Good all the time"
A Christian brother survives an ailment, "God is good all the time"
A child dies at birth, a Christian brother dies of just malaria despite prayers upon prayers, your loved one had a terrible accident while crossing a road which resulted in amputation.... Typical Christian's consoling words: Ooh don't worry dear, god works in mysterious ways you know. His ways are not our ways. He knows his reasons for everything.
Does god ever protect his followers? Is he even capable??
God doesn't work in mysterious ways. God fails in perfectly obvious ways.
It's high time you guys wake up from slumber and face reality, not defending the stories made by some ancient men from a certain culture with every strength in your body. God was created by man and still defended by the same man & I begin to wonder, can't he at least defend himself?
But no he choose to gossip and play bets with man. I seriously pity JOB
I never realized how much religious people came across as self-important until I broke away from my faith.
It's almost as of a god that does whatever he wants in random whimsy is similar to an entity-less universe that's indifferent to us. If God is so damn mysterious why is it his followers seem to know exactly what the hell he wants? They also seem to think he's forgiven them for everything they've done and being UTTERLY certain bout his forgiveness.
I've gotten a bit tired here so I'll keep the rest short
the fastest way to become atheist is to read the bible with an open mind
I sense its not really heaven you fear missing, you just fear hell due to the huge level of indoctrination and brainwashing you've been subjected to since you were born and now you're questioning it
I said the below in another thread
Christian heaven doesn't even make sense either
The Bible doesn't say much about what heaven is supposed to be like. Most of the claims about heaven are exaggerations of the Bible. The Bible says the Gates are made of pearl. What are the gates for? Are they made just as an excuse to irritate clams? Are the gates supposed to keep someone out or to keep souls from escaping?
The sales pitch for heaven is that there is only happiness and no sorrow. But it also says that many people's loved ones won't be there. Since they can't feel sorrow about that, are they ecstatic that their loved ones are being tortured forever? Either your memories are removed or your human empathy is removed. Is it really you that is left over once some parts of you have been removed?
If life matters to me now, it will always have mattered to me, even when I am gone. Death cannot change that.
Your best hope is to be locked in a gold cage with your memories of having an actual life being erased just so you can kiss ass for eternity.
Life is pleasant, death is serene. The transition might be troublesome but we all have to go through it. You shouldn't fear death so much. Heaven and hell are imaginary. You should reject the indoctrination. Life is much better that way.
Final word to OP for now
I also faced a lot of the fears you're having right now too on my journey from the delusion of Christianity and theism to atheism; I created a thread on it https://www.nairaland.com/3307224/four-types-fear-faced-journey kindly go through it and read posts by readers of that thread too; I wish you the best in your search for truth using limited human logic to make senseless opinion. 1 Like |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by blueAgent(m): 11:01am On Feb 07, 2017 |
felixomor:
Nice to know you are this sincere and open. Sincerely, many Christians like you and i have been in such a position in the past.
Even Elijah in the bible at a time, almost lost his faith. Until God showed him 400 other prophets who had not bowed down to Idols.
I feel u brother. But with this your sincerity, I know God will help you.
Now, what you are going through presently is what many (young males especially) go through before doubting their faith. It happens when the devil starts a subconscious battle within you. Take note its a "subconscious" battle.
The devil is trying to help you "normalize" sin and disobedience of God's word. So he wants to make you feel God doesnt exist
Once he does that, he knows you will start committing sin without feeling reproach. Nothing else.
We all offend God and sin, but it should never be seen as normal, We should always ask God for forgiveness when we do. This is simply what the devil wants you to stop doing. He wants you to see yourself "bigger than forgiveness"
PLEASE DONT FALL FOR IT.
So right now, he will try to make all evidence of non-existence look real. But if u look down deep, those evidence dont hold water. The devil will not even want u to look down deep.
My brother, ![cool](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cool.png) The Simple solution is Keep being accoubtable to God
Anytime u fall into temptation, ask God for forgiveness and repent. Simple. Before you know it, the devil will flee.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Shalom Brother, The Lord is your Strength.
I will remember you in my prayers. ![cry](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cry.gif)
Perfect response Bro. 2 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by blueAgent(m): 11:04am On Feb 07, 2017 |
2 Likes |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Nobody: 11:07am On Feb 07, 2017 |
4 Likes 1 Share |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Nobody: 11:15am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Meister5: I'm Justice and i'm 22. I'm posting this to NL only cos I've sort help but haven't gotten any. It took months before i could summon enough courage to think of sharing my feelings online ,and i'm really looking forward to positive replies(only Christians).
For a while now i've found myself losing faith in God. Sometimes i feel religion is a joke. I still go to church ,still pray but within me i doubt there's actually someone listening to my prayers.
Sometimes when something good happens and people praise God i think it ridiculous. Reason is that good things are always bound to happen. Even to murderers.
I hate how i feel ,i'm gradually turning into an atheist. I've prayed for salvation, to believe Jesus lives and cares. I asked a guy for help all he said was i should read the new testament and believe everything written in it cos it's God's word. That didn't help.
Please i need someone in the right path(a good Christian) to help cos i really want to believe. I don't want to miss heaven. First of all, stay away from nairaland religion forum. I am saying this because your faith is not strong and because there are many agents of the devil calling themselves atheists on the forum Let me ask you what do you stand to gain in becoming an atheist? Being a Christian is a win win situation. If you believe you will not lose anything and if by a 0.00000000001 chance you discover that God doesn't exist after you die, you will still not lose anything. Avoid reading atheists posts, unfortunately their minds and hearts have been overtaken by the evil one, keep reading your bible and associate with Christians Dear atheists, we will continue to pray that you will see the light one day, Jesus is real folks, you better believe it for the sake of your souls. 4 Likes 3 Shares |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Nobody: 11:18am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Lennycool: I was once like Meister5 slowly drifting into the realm of irreligion and Agnostism. You've already seen the truth I doubt you can go back to your former christian ways, but for more about the flaws of religion read http://godisimaginary.com Its goes into more detail than hopefullandlord does He said Christians only, stay away from him. Have you not won enough souls for your master already? Stay away from this child of God, you will never be allowed to lead his soul to destruction in Jesus name. |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by Nobody: 11:20am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Lennycool:
I'm sure it is. Because we are the ones with an infallible book that claims the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it. Keep your deceitful worldly reasoning to yourself, stay away from this thread the OP said Christians only. |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by KingEbukasBlog(m): 11:33am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Lmaoooo ![grin](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/grin.png) |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by randomperson: 11:34am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Op, your obviously a good person with the right intentions who in all honesty wants to worship and serve God... If truly there is an omniscient god, he knows about your troubles, then why hasnt he reached out to you? Why doesn't he answer your questions? It's because he doesn't exist. Like you, i wish there was a benevolent god somewhere who looks out for me but the reality is that there isn't... U only have yourself, your family and your friends to look up to... Best of luck! 3 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by LLSAINT(m): 11:47am On Feb 07, 2017 |
Meister5:
I sin just like everyone else does but i can boldly say i don't live in sin.
I've been baptised. I think your statement contradicts, you cant sin like everyone else and claim to be born again nor be baptised with the Holy Spirit. The Bible says ''He who is born of God, sin not''. As a born again, you are not like everyone else.... |
Re: HELP! I'm Losing Faith In The Existence Of God by bigybanty10(m): 11:55am On Feb 07, 2017 |
KingEbukasBlog: Lmaoooo ![grin](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/grin.png)
Lol why laughing Na ?
Abeg say something ,the op need pple like you |