The difficulty of atheism

Hello everyone.

I'm a young atheist. I started being one at the beginning of my teenage by reflecting about god etc.

I find being an atheist hard. I have no choice. But I'm wondering if you live the same difficulty as me. What I mean is that it must be easier for most other religions because they have figures that created the world, figures that protect them, figures that forgive them... Do you know ways to fill that gap ?

 

I have thought long and hard at being an atheist, I find it hard to believe that there is no God.Maybe it is because I was raised to believe in God and later on in life, when the going got tough I found it easy to roll it all to a God I do not see. In these very dark, hopeless times I often wonder how does a person who does not believe in anything handle such times?

I have come to a conclusion that it is the Atheists that end up committing suicide at the prospect of hopelessness. I think it is better to have something to believe in even if other people can question it as long as it works for you then so be it .

 

I would say if you are an atheist so you don't need to fill those gaps? Sorry if i get you wrong. I my self half Christian and Atheist (still don't know if i should believe in God).

 

Thank you Redalo for opening up your heart on how you feel about being an atheist and discovering the gap in you soul. Human beings cannot stand alone without a divine intervention. That it why there are many religions in the world where followers believe in their Gods for guidance and protection.It means our souls yearn for a spiritual deity hence we need to connect to a Mighty power.I encourage you to contact Christians in your area and believe you me your life will change for the better.Jesus Saves.

 

I personally have no difficulty being an atheist. I believe in science - hard facts not books containing stories that cannot be proven. I find the whole concept of organised religion extremely worrying as I perceive it as nothing more than a control mechanism introduced to keep the populous under the thumb of those in power by using fear and compliance - not really what you would expect from a loving God!

 

The atheism, It is something that makes me sad, not because people do not believe in God, we all need something to believe in, it is an obligation from my point of view, but I respect the thinking of others.

 

That is what is called "agnostic". You're one of them. It's when the person really don't know to believe if there is God or not.

 

Hey Redalo.
I can see your point. I also had a religious epiphany of sorts not long ago. I grew up in the Lutheran church. To me it felt very sterile. As I grew older, I migrated to the Evangelical community. For a time, I felt comfortable in that environment. But circumstances in my life at the time, made me rethink my beliefs. I began to see the hypocrisy especially within the Fundamentalist camp which made me rethink my belief. Do people really live what they believe?

Now considering your post. Whether you believe so or not, your atheistic belief, would also fall within the definition of a religion without the crutch that most religious beliefs cling to. You Said: "they have figures that created the world, figures that protect them, figures that forgive them..." Is there conflict inside that questions the path you decided to take? While Christianity offers answers to a lot of life and death questions, albeit with no concrete historical evidence to back it up, Atheism offers a huge void of randomness that seems to offer no solace to those seeking the meaning to life.

Although I no longer cling to beliefs of organized religion, my mind remains open to accept a day of revelation.

 

As an atheist myself, I feel that over the years, people are starting to become more and more accepting of us. I became an atheist in my senior year of high school, and one thing is to be certain, if you are dealing with your family being hostile toward your beliefs, then you should find someone to talk to about it. I have heard so many accounts of ultra religious families disowning their children over their lifestyles(gay, lesbian, bisexual) and religion. The only difference between an atheist and a christian or a muslim, is that we believe in 1 less god.

 

I live with hardcore Orthodox Christians from the Bible belt. So I empathize with your suffering as an atheist. For logical and emotional reasons, I am an atheist. Logically, even if a god exist, it wouldn't be able to empathize with me anymore that I could empathize with an ant. There is a limit to how much I could empathize but I could never understand what it is like to be an ant. Then there simply problematic texts in the Bible that I can't resolve with as a modern woman. I am apathetic to the idea of god having been exhausted by the guilty feelings of being a sin for things I can't help. A painting isn't blamed for being flawed or incomplete, the fault is entirely on the artist. So why am I the problem? Did I create myself? No, then why does sin fall on me by default? So I understand wholly how you can be an atheist in a world that demands you believe in something.

What I'm unsure of is what gap you're trying to fill? Creation of the world is hypothetically answered by the Big Bang Theory, and perhaps String Theory. If you want a reason to exist, you have to make it for yourself. As for protection, I never felt safer or reassured on a deeper level praying to air. It's probably why I'm an atheist, because on some level I know my prayers go on deaf ears even if there is something out there listening. Just because you assume something is easier doesn't mean it's correct. I've tried reminding god in church and felt like a poser because on a basic level I simply do believe. Faking it for fake answers and measurements is a form of hell that being alone in your truth is not.

 

I, myself, have struggled with this question quite a lot in recent years. I've repeatedly found myself in situations where I'm alone, afraid, and really just wishing for someone to talk to- and someone with supposedly infinite love and forgiveness would really be ideal. However, since I was raised as an atheist, I really find myself having trouble believing in religion, as the whole "belief without evidence" clause creates a lot of logical contradictions. I think Michael Allen summed it up really well in his post:

Believing seems to be incredibly difficult, but not believing is almost harder. I know that a lot of people get by just fine without religion, but I've often felt that something's missing in my life- I just can't seem to find the right way to fill that gap. Crystal Ross made a really good point about why Christianity in particular seems so hard to swallow:

As both a biological female and a self-identified woman, it really seems like the Bible has a vendetta against me. That's not at all the only problematic text in there, though- the Old Testament in particular is full of some pretty wacky-sounding stuff. I once read through the first quarter or so of the Old Testament, and I put it down once I got to the Tower of Babel. I thought to myself, "Why would a supposedly benevolent God want to directly hinder His people by scrambling their languages?" This and many other passages make no sense to me whatsoever, and they really put me off from Christianity (and Judaism, come to think of it). Still, I really do feel a sense of emptiness similar to what redalo mentioned. I suppose I'll just have to do more research on religions.

 

I believe that ATHEIST even if they deny it, they know very well from themselves that there is God. Simply your existence on earth is enough proof that there is someone created you and that someone could be God. Your breath and life you don't owe them to your parents because your parents can't bring you back to life if you are dead. I firmly believe that Atheist knows and believe there is a God they are just denying God because are naturally born as Sons of Perdition as what was written in the bible, eve satan believes in God but rebels against God because He is the God of perdition. Simple as that...

 

how can you be half christian and half atheist? That does not make sense, you either are a christian or you're not, you either are or aren't an atheist. I would call you being on the fence and Satan owns that fence.

 

Redalo, thank you for this very brave and honest post. I started life as an anthiest as well, had an encounter with the Good News and believed in Christ, and science has since brought me innumerble reasons to see that my faith is well-placed.

I'm curious to know Redalo, why are you finding it hard to be an atheist?

 

I agree with you Amy on a purely theological level. Jesus even said that He will spit those who are luke-warm from His mouth. The fence is a dangerous place to sit.

For me, I consider myself to be a believing agnostic. While I know that the Scriptures, science and philosophy provide a rock-solid defense of a belief in the Divine, if I am to be intellectually honest, I must admit that I do not have 100% proof that God is real. I also cannot prove beyond a certainly that He does not exist. I choose to live my life with the belief that there is a God, based on my personal )but subjective) encounter with Him, and the mountains of scientifc evidence.

In other words, based on the evidence, I choose to have faith that there is a God.

 

You should walk by faith not by sight. Most people say they have proof from seeing, this can be true but you also have to have faith in the unknown. -But without faith, it is impossible to please Him Hebrews 11:6

 

Right. That's why Christ chastised Thomas. After He appeared before the disciples in a locked room, and had Thomas inspect His wounds, Thomas declared, "My Lord and my God". Christ replied, 'Oh, NOW you believe? Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed".

 

It is hard to be an atheist because we were created to worship a Creator. Augustine of Hippo, an early Christian theologian and philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy, said, "Our hearts are restless till we find rest in God".

We are all looking for something to make sense in our lives and bring meaning to us. That is why there are many religions. Atheism is a religion to that believes in self, and an absence of God.

But until we find that 'something' or 'someone'', our hearts will be restless.

Jesus understood this and that's why He said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27)

 

What is Atheism? What does it mean to be an Atheist?

 

It's is evident that every creature on earth is a sentient being, created out of a life form more superior than our selves. A life form that has created it's own path better than yours and mine and more creative and undefined by scientists and genius minds if our world. Questions like where is earth?why earth not Jupiter?why the milky way? Have a watch at the clearly define HBO series West World depicting the dark odyssey of human life and the strife to find meanings of meanings.
It goes on and on until you find yourself entangled in the spiders web waiting to slip into an epitome of undesired and undiscovered domains that only an opened or unlocked mind or being can access. I will advise you to go beyond what humans have created and create your own world, narrative, destiny or simply transcend. You will find the true purpose for you.