Why do people lose their faith in God?

Question

It talks about in the Bible that God will test our faith to see if we still believe. So I really don't understand why people lose their faith. Don't get me wrong. I'm NOT condemning anyone. It's the people who used to be christian and then turn their back on God. Life on earth is just meaningless and so short. It's hard to say that because I DO love my life. I'm just going by what I know. Compared to spending ETERNITY in Heaven or hell though, 70 or so years on earth just really doesn't seem that long. I'm just trying to understand. I DO realize that the wars and the hurricanes are enough to shake one's faith. I just don't know how someone can be so weak as to have once had faith and then lose it. Then those people complain all the time. As a faithful follower I really just see that people who's faith is strong have SUCH better and happier lives then pagans. Just makes me wonder why people will turn their backs and then not realize they're wrong.

For all those who talk about "blind faith" should know it's not blind at all. I have prayed before and then half an hour later, looking at the clock, I thought, "what just happened?" You can't say "blind faith" to those who have felt the holy spirit enter their body like I have. It is THE most wonderful feeling in the whole world. You feel peaceful and happy.. you feel God.

MadMaxx you make no sense at all.

scarlettrose you are so ignorant. you think that just because you are a murderloving pagan as you put in another Q I asked that I'm wrong because I love my creator and I don't believe in crushing babies and throwing them away. Your baby should be taken from you and given to a good mother.

Answer 1

sometimes most people lose their faith when they are believing God for something and that something doesnt happen they began to loose hope in God but i believe that is the time you need to be strong in the Lord and pray to Him.

Answer 2

Not everything is as simple as black and white. People lose their faith for a variety of reasons. Some do so because they prayed for something repeatedly and they thought God didn't answer their prayers because they didn't get what they wanted. God did answer though. He said "no". My father lost his faith for a little while after his father died. He prayed to go that his dad would live. This is a lot like the first thing I said, but the difference is that in this case it was a tragedy and death in the family which shook my dad. Some people lose their faith because they believe that if God exists then bad things wouldn't happen , at least not major tragedies like 9/11. If God were to intervene by stopping the terrorist then he would have impeded on the free will of the terrorists and he will not do so. Another reason why people lose their faith is because of a bad experience. There are some Christians out there that give the rest of us a bad name. There's this one pastor in Westboro, Texas I'll use as an example. He believe's that the soldiers that have died in Iraq is God's punishment to our nation for tolerating homosexuality. He's been known to go to soldier's funerals and condemn the dead soldiers and say that it's God's punishment. I don't agree with the war in Iraq, but I support our troops. They're there because they were ordered there. How many do you think want to actually be there? That asshole went too far. People like him turn people off to God and sometimes all religion.

Answer 3

Okay, this is going to sound insulting, but I don't mean it to be, so bear with me.

You have a couple of problems here with your attitude and how you're thinking. First of all, you seem to think that the world is made up of Christians and pagans. "Pagan" is not a generic term meaning "non-Christian". It is a specific set of religious beliefs. I am not a Christian, nor am I a Pagan.

Secondly, life on earth is not "meaningless and short" - it's the most wonderful thing that we have, and it's the ONLY thing that we have. Sure, there's a chance that there'll be a life after death, but there's no good reason to believe that. Those of us who have "turned our backs on god" haven't done so because of wars and hurricanes - we've done so because there's no evidence for the existence of a god.

Finally, you end by claiming that those of us who don't believe in god don't realize that we're wrong. That's a terribly arrogant statement, unless you can back up your belief in god, and you know as well as I do that you can't. If your belief is based in faith, then you know that you believe despite the lack of evidence, and therefore that there is nothing foolish about not believing. If you think you have evidence, then you can't very well claim to have faith, and you're wrong on both counts. Your judgment that Christians have "better and happier lives then [sic] pagans" is also terribly arrogant. You simply aren't well-informed enough about these things to be making that kind of judgment, and this behavior reflects poorly on yourself and on your religion.

Here's what I suggest: It'll take some digging, but you can find Christians right here on Yahoo! Answers who behave respectfully, aware of the role of faith in their beliefs and of the effects that their words have on our opinions of them. You should be able to find some of those Christians, and model your own behavior after theirs. When you do that, you will be able to do some good for your faith, and be a better person - and manage to do all of that without giving up any of your specific beliefs.

Answer 4

I have a question for you why do you believe your religion and if you had been born in another country and raised with another faith why if even would you turn to the faith you follow?

My belief is that people who stop believing in God simply realise that faith is needed for others to explain what they cannot.

Therefore no-one really looses faith in God just stop believing that God is responsible for everything and begin to take responsibility for their actions.

As long as you can accept that both Good and Evil must exist then you do not need religion.

Answer 5

Because they become smarter, study science and analyze the possibilities of a supreme being that has no origins... AND THEN... look at how many people have been and are currently being killed in the name of religion... AND THEN... look at all of the TV avangelists, priests, preachers and rabbi's that are scum... AND THEN... look at how far "man" has come in the past 20 years compared to the last thousand(scientifically)... AND THEN... look at how many things are said to be God related but proven with science.... does God make hurricanes/tornadoes/floods/earth quakes, cause people to stay behind in a flood and drown, cause disease, famine, hunger or overpopulation.

In my opinion... "man" is SO arrogant, that he believes that we can't just die and push daisies...we HAVE to go somewhere better because we are TOO good to just "die"!

Considering religion was "invented" in a time of complete and udder ignorance, especially science, I have trouble believeing... and I was born and raised Catholic.

I see you're not "condemning" anyone but yet you say we're wrong. I am not pagan as I think this group is a bunch of idiots with some serious issues... I am a scientist. You go to church and feel good that you've gone. You feel you've accompllished something that was instilled in you as a child and feel bad or guilty if you don't go. You feel that you have completed the requirements to continue this path to heaven. Now I ask you... how many times have you stood in the middle of an isle to chat with someone, not used your turnsignal or slammed on the brakes so as not to miss your turn, driven past a stranger on the road that was broken down, driven too slow under the speed limit as to hold up traffic, been too busy to help someone in need or talked about someone behind their back? All of those are self centered acts which go against Christian beliefs and yet I see, hear and witness them everyday.

NO ONE can prove there is a God or there is any "meat" to religion, so to say those of us on the fence or non-believers are wrong, is arrogant, pretencious and self centered... not very Christian like eh? You just judged us by saying we were wrong... without even realizing it!

Faith in anything, for any reason can not be proven... that's why it's called faith and not proof.

Answer 6

I'm caught in between. I used to have faith in God. I get visions of catastrophic events, deaths of children, and over 99% of them come true. It all scares me because my mind only shows a grid that everyone has in this life and in death and it leads to oblivion. And it is all connected through different worm holes. As for God, I'm starting to wonder? I have had life taken from my womb 4 times. I have been imprisoned in both reality and in my mind. I have lost my mother , sister, and now I have congestive heart failure,I 've been diagnosed with the same thing that has taken the two most people in my life away.I don't know how to feel anymore.I have had a car accident which led to me losing everything but my mind. Along with money hungry lawyers who are just blood suckers. I've helped people when it called for it, not because Jesus would do it. And yet with all the praying in between, I endured horrible actions from 3 churches who actually preyed upon my family as helpless victims. I don't have a clue where God has been through all of this. Maybe he went our for lunch! I guess that he really is an absentee landlord for the most part. If he truly exists, than he's only their for the rich and the righteous, the rest of us are just strumpets left in the streets. This is hell that we live in. Haven't anyone noticed that yet. I do believe there is a God because I'm constantly in physical and mental pain. Their are children here in america and around the world with no food to eat and no shelter. Their are countries at war with one another in his name, natural disasters from every end of the earth. Wow I guess he is Awsome!

Answer 7

I'm an Agnostic who was raised Southern Baptist, and the reason I turned away from Christianity is because I couldn't bring myself to believe many of the things that are at the core of the belief. But life is not meaningless. You give your own life whatever meaning you want, and I have made sure my life is full of meaning. I have a wonderfull family, great friends, a boyfriend who I love very much. I give blood, create art, teach children, and I want to leave this world a better place after I leave it. I do not know if there is a god or not. I don't know if there is an afterlife or not. I don't think we're really supposed to know. And I think, if there is a God, he'd rather me be true to myself and what I do believe than see me pretend to be a Christian because I'm afraid. But that dosn't mean I value life any less. If there is a god, I think it's one that will find our value not by what we believe, but why what we think, do, and who we are.

Answer 8

I used to have faith in god until I found it was misplaced. After reading the teachings of Buddha his crystal clear llogic showed me that blind faith is a bad thing, so I switched. Blind faith is never good.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
Buddha

Answer 9

You say that you "dont understand how someone can be so weak as to once have faith and then lose it"

Their is so many things wrong with that sentence. 99% of people are forced into what they believe in initially.

Answer 10

I think maybe you answered your own question in part. We are supposed to continually ask God for His help to strengthen our faith. Some people are weak in faith, others weak in self discipline, others weak in anything else you can think of. I can tell you that there have been times in my life where I lost faith, but through God's grace and circumstance, I have it back and am growing in it every day. This life is for growing in Him, it takes time.

Answer 11

Lack of faith is not weakness. It is strength. You admit it in your question. You're afraid of living 70 years as opposed to forever.

You see, that's fear quaking you, and making you believe in something that's completely irrational. Atheists don't choose not to believe anymore. We simply can't. We can't deny reality. And whether it makes one feel good to believe we live forever or not, that doesn't change the fact that it isn't true. Do your research, and be brave about it. Otherwise, don't attempt to pick at the atheists. Because we WILL destroy your faith. And if you don't want that, trust me... don't engage us...