whats it like to lose faith?

Question

dont you think you still find your self alive "still"?
or do you think you going to hell, i dont understand, im preatty sure it is all an illusion dont you think?

this is not a insult, im just learning more about you christians belifs

intresting answers, very deep, so different than others
thanks guys

Answer 1

"Whats it like to lose faith?"

You cannot lose something you never had bro.

Maybe your question should be, whats it like not to believe.

Well, that depends on what you believe.

So your question is why did i lose my faith in what i believe in

Answer 2

Have you ever been close to anyone who has died? It feels like that. Like a part of you is gone. It's not like when you first find out that they are dead and you are crying and angry; it's more like the long cold nothingness that follows.

And if you lose your faith, you would also lose the belief in hell. So a person who has lost their faith doesn't think that they are going to hell.

Illusion is a generalized word. You could say, "love is an illusion," or you could say, "the value of money is an illusion," or you could say, "that magician's trick is an illusion." All 3 statements have different implications. But if you ask a believer if their religion is an illusion, it's like asking a person, "Hey, are all your moral beliefs and reasons for living... are they all illusions?" If you ask someone who has lost their faith that same question, I suppose that person could call it that if that person lost their faith over bitter reasons and is still angry.

Answer 3

Lots of time, it is just a drift away from your beliefs. You aren't even really aware it is happening, and for most, it never dawns on them that they've done it. Some will tell you that they feel a "hardening" within themselves, or something like that, but mostly it just disappears at an almost imperceptible rate. Boom, one day, it is gone.

As to whether it is all "illusion," I myself believe that there is a God, and that there is a purpose for humanity (due in part to not understanding creation and being unable to accept that all of existence is pointless). Beyond that, though, I have a lot of questions, so I guess you could say that I have lost some faith while still believing that it is not just an illusion. Does that make sense? Probably not, but if it did, then it probably wouldn't be about faith, I guess.

Answer 4

It is a very sickening feeling. I have changed my religion twice, and so I have experienced the feeling a couple of times. You feel like everything you thought you knew is now called into question, and so you feel totally at a loss about what is true or false. You don't know what to believe anymore, and so you feel like you have travelled many many miles and gotten nowhere, because you are back at the beginning again.

When I first realized that I was attracted to Judaism (I was a Christian before) I felt scared about my own feelings and my own questions that I was asking in my mind. I was afraid that I was going down a road to become an unbeliever in Jesus, and that I would end up in hell. But of course, the more I studied, the more I realized there was no risk of that, because I saw that I was perfectly justified in having the types of questions I had, and I realized that the New Testament was not literally true in the way I had previously thought.

But anyway, it is a very disturbing feeling, one of the worst you can have I think. It is a very sinking feeling.

Answer 5

Losing faith is when someone who was once a believer has experienced something that was beyond their control and they don't believe that God helped them through it or in some cases, it is a person who once believed but was then deceived by Satan or people representing Satan. I know that sounds like a cop out but it is true. For the genuine Christian, having this happen is absolutely devastating and it is a period of terrible pain...emotionally and spiritually. (I've been there)

Was I still alive...yes..my heart kept beating and I still went to work every day but the joy had gone out of my life. I felt empty. I tried to fill the void with a lot of other stuff but nothing really helped. Once you experience the presence of God it is an impossible thing to replace. I longed to have it back but didn't feel that God was there to hear me. It wasn't until a fellow Christian recognized my pain and showed love and understanding that I realized that it was I who had moved away from God, not the other way around. It took a while but when I finally accepted the fact that I was the one who had become me only and not "we", I felt terribly ashamed. I went to God on my knees and prayed for his forgiveness and his understanding. Within moments my peace had returned and it has never left me since that day. In fact, my faith is stronger because of that experience. Illusion? No...but I can't prove it to you. God Bless for at least trying to understand more about us.

Answer 6

I've only lost faith for a month...It's terrible. I never thought about the aspect of hell, but I guess I was still alive. I just wasn't worth anything. My talent lies within my passion; the stuff I do a lot that I love and that I'm good at like writing and drawing. I couldn't do that anymore because I didn't have any inspiration. The only thing I gained from that month was experience.

Answer 7

There's no point in my life where I lost faith, more of a leitmotif from being a god fearing child to an adult whose greatest crime against society seems to be "being born."

The root of the idea of hell is choice: once a decision is made and followed, it cannot be reverted, and more often than not people feel regret for the things they wish they did. The truth is that if you chose differently and didn't like it, you'd feel the same way. Or worse, if there is no good choice, you can't feel regret for making a choice with bad results anyways.

Regret is the root of hell. If you can negotiate regret, you have nothing to fear, which is the crux of religion: to give people shame for not regretting their choices, you force them to feel humility and regret instead of teaching them to make good choices from the beginning. Mistakes, shortcomings and loss becomes the reinforcement, not wisdom, what people really need.

Answer 8

I have lost faith and it was not a nice experience. It is a long story but some hard years and several months in an Assembly of God church left me running away from God as fast as I could go. I tried to deny His existence. I truly tried with all my heart but I could never go over that fence. He would not let me go.

I knew the fanatics in that church would believe differently than me before I walked in the door, but I was not prepared for the bigotry and hate. I was not prepared for the gibberish and the rolling on the floor. Until you have actually experienced a Pentecostal church you have no idea how absurd it is.

Answer 9

I'm a former Xian who lost faith permanently.

I felt like i'd had the rug pulled out from under me. That feeling didn't last long, however. One thing about losing faith in the Xian god is that you automatically lose faith in hell at the same time. While i was in a crisis of faith, i was deathly afraid of losing faith completely. By contrast, once the faith was completely gone, then by definition i didn't believe that there was anything to be lost.

Answer 10

Mankind will always seek to know God. Even though a person goes through times when he thinks he's an atheist, he will often find his faith again. Your vision of God changes as you age from the child's Santa Claus image of God to a more mature understanding of God as the Mastermind of the universe. Too, if you don't believe in God, you don't get to believe in heaven, hell or an afterlife. For you this is it. That's all there is. Makes life seem kind of pointless, doesn't it?

Answer 11

Losing faith in God and religion is no big deal. Faith in these ideals have created more chaos than peace.
I feel that man must learn to have faith in his abilities and strive for inner peace by speaking the truth and doing good at all times.
The prophets were far thinking, far seeing wise men but in my honest opinion really did not "speak" to God. . They had visions , mostly similar , like the 10 commandments.
Man should not be given too much freedom and be made to abide by common law.
Have faith in yourself and build on it.