An honest question for Christians from an atheist.?

Question

There was a day where I truly gave my heart to Jesus. I felt happier than I've ever felt before. The world was a marvelous place and I felt like I had a destiny.

The next day when I woke up I felt nothing at all. The feelings of the day before were gone. What happened? And no, I did not become an atheist because of this.

Why also did I feel the exact same way when I followed Buddhism?

Answer 1

That's a natural emotional reaction. You can feel the same way the first time you go to Disneyland. If that's all you base your faith on, it's no wonder you're an atheist now.

Faith is not based on feelings. Feelings can deceive you. You have to make a decision to follow Jesus and His teachings. And then you have to follow through on it. Jesus actually mentioned this in his parable about the seed that fell on various types of ground.

The good news is that you can always try again. The bad news is that you probably won't.

Answer 2

Any time we feel we've made a spiritual achievement we will feel happier about our destiny and feel the world is a marvelous place. Christianity promises a peace that the world cannot understand and that you will never thirst for the truth again. But when we take a step towards God, the devil is right there ready to steal away our joy. This might account for the way you felt the very next morning. Notice that in the Bible, the first thing that happened after Jesus was baptized and God had confirmed Him by saying, "This is My Son; in whom I am well pleased." Jesus was taken up into the wilderness to be tempted. That could not have been a joyful occasion. The peace we recieve from salvation is refering to the peace we get knowing we are no longer out of fellowship with our creator. But the evil one never leaves us at peace when it comes to our everyday walk with the Lord. Jesus said to Peter, "Satan desires to sift you as wheat." And He also said, "Satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour."

Since I have become a Christian, I have been in some pretty dark places that were anything but joyful on the surface....but there is always the joy in my heart that I never face these alone. My joy comes from knowing that no matter what I experience during this tiny span of time, the outcome will be that I will spend eternity in a place untainted by the effects of sin or the presence of the evil one.

I've been where you are; with the ups and downs of the spiritual rollercoaster. But you are seeking the truth as evidenced by the two faiths you've mentioned. I am certain you will find it because God has said, "Seek and ye shall find." Perhaps the "joy" of being an athiest will also fizzle and you will find that your journey on this path still has many crossroads ahead. I will remember you in my prayers and I hope to meet you in heaven one day.

Good luck!

Answer 3

You are not alone...mankind (lol womankind too) often get "caught up in the moment" and do and say things on impulse because it "feels good", then later wonder "why?"or "where had that good feeling gone?"
Some of the problem with people leading others to the acception point of ANY Faith is that they failed to prepare a person for that first step enough so that they have an "idea" what to do next...then...they leave them at the door without any "followthrough".
Faith isn't always that good feeling we had at the beginning....it is a lot of hard work and not the "crutch" that people believe it to be.
:) You had asked Jesus to enter the door of your heart, but you did not ask Him to sit down and have tea and fellowship.....like you, He's still waiting at the door....isn't it time you honored Him and asked Him to sit down and talk?
Ditto the answer for Buddhism....

Peace be with you....

Answer 4

with acceptance comes a feeling of peace, but when it's new it's hard to hold on to. That is why prayer and fellowship with other Christians is so important-it will bring back that feeling over and over again until it just seems to stay. Maybe not as strong on some days-but always there and much easier to "pull up" when need be-like when things go wrong all day. As a Christian I hope that you will come back, but i understand why it's difficult. If you want to compare the feeling to something think about when a man and woman fall in love-everything seems perfect until reality hits. The world is not perfect and outside influences will always be there to interrupt the peace of Christianity and probably all religion that bring about that feeling.

Answer 5

You may have genuinely believed, but faith is separate from feeling. There are moments in a true believer's life where the they experience feelings of euphoria, but there are also moments in a true believer's life where they experience depression. And that's because we're human. If our faith was based entirely on our feelings, then every time we got depressed, it would mean that God had left us. Jesus says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Which means, if you truly gave your heart to Jesus, fully trusting in him and him alone for your salvation, then he has never left you.

Often, the wonderful feelings come from the state of your relationship to God. It isn't religion, it's relationship, so if you cultivate that relationship through prayer and reading His Word, then you will feel closer to him, and thus, you may experience less apathy and more feelings of gratitude and joy.

We have to remember that it's not about us and the way we feel-- it's about bringing glory to God. Often, when we take our eyes off of the way we feel and focus our attention on pleasing God and loving others, we find ourselves with that unexplainable joy.

And my explanation of why you might have felt the same way when following Buddhism is that, as I've written, our feelings are fickle. We can't judge truth by our feelings.

Answer 6

I think some people, who follow a religion, expect to feel euphoria all the time. A religion or belief in a supreme being isn't a panacea for all that ails you. There are days when I feel great, but then there are days that I feel like there's no point to anything. I guess the best thing to do in those cases is to realize that tomorrow is another day and it could be better or it could be worse but don't give up. No one goes through life without bad times and feeling nothing at all. Anyone who says that is either lying or hasn't really explored his or her feelings in depth.

Answer 7

think about when you were a kid and all the toys you got at Christmas...the first day you are so happy about all the toys you got but the next day...those same toys just don't seem to mean the same thing to you.

Or maybe that new ipod you always wanted..the first day or two it's great...then it's just another gadget you have and oh...isn't that iphone great? Woudn't you just love an iphone?

Make sure when you choose something to believe in that you truly believe it. You may not always be excited about your religion of choice, but you still chose it. You need to stick to something, not beause it gives you good feelings, but because you chose it.

Answer 8

Jesus went on to say,
Mark 4: 1-20

Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower went to sow:

And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

And when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.


And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

This is why,I believe....

Answer 9

You are trusting in feelings. I don't know your heart. You are
searching for something. When you gave your heart to Jesus
did you believe He was Christ? That I need to know. The TV
happy-clappy churches isn't where it's at. Feelings come and
go. You can be happy because you have a good job or hit
the lottery, but these things fade. A Christian needs grounded
in the Word of God, that's what brings inner happiness and peace.

Answer 10

You say you gave your heart to Jesus, but what do you mean by that? The only way to know the true happiness of being a follower of Jesus is to place your trust in His death, burial, and resurrection. Following Jesus is not a feeling, it's an every day action. Sometimes it's fantastic, and sometimes it's a struggle. But it always requires something from you. Now I'm not saying trusting Jesus requires works, but following Him after that trust does. Hope this helps.