I think I'm becoming agnostic/atheist, but if faced with death honestly I'd probably pray, whats that mean?

Question

Am I not a good atheist/agnostic? Am I a hypocrite? I'm afraid of death and what happens afterwards. How can I get past this?

Religion sounds very hokey to me, but in a way I find it comforting.

I'm not sure what to believe.

Answer 1

Hmm maybe u should pray about it? I mean why not nobody has to know right? I'm being seriouse not trying to sound like a wise a@#. Give it a try for a while.

Answer 2

No, you're not a hypocrite. I think you might need to give more thought to whether you're an atheist or an agnostic. Praying in a bad situation may only be a reaction to growing up in a society that prays. But it may also be your mind saying that it still believes something is out there. You don't have to be a religious person to ask for help from any unknown higher power every once in a while. I find it comforting to think that there is something bigger somewhere, even if I don't know what it is.

Answer 3

Fear of the unknown is as normal as breathing. It's a very rare person, religious or otherwise, who does not fear death itself -- and even those of us who have a firm belief in life after death don't know every detail of what that's going to be like.

Furthermore, once one gets to a certain age (and I'm probably there), there's a bit of bargaining with God that goes on in more than a few minds. "Lord, I want to be with You, but I really want to see my child/grandchild's wedding first", that sort of thing. It's not quite fear at that point, but perhaps a bit of anxiety about leaving the loved and comfortable for the (as yet) unknown.

Relax. If you aren't sure what to believe, then don't try to hedge your bets because you fear dying. Or fear someone else's death, for that matter; I know an avowed atheist who nevertheless prayed at his believing wife's bedside when she was dangerously ill. That didn't mean that he invalidated everything he believed to be true, any more than a Christian who gets angry with God and says so in no uncertain terms doesn't get to be in the Christian club any more.

If you feel Christianity is "hokey" or simplistic, you might want to look beyond the earnest but trite reductions of the Gospel to a four-point formula and read what some of the early church scholars had to say about the faith. It's not light reading by any means, but it might help you to solidify your own beliefs one way or the other.

Very honest question. Kudos to you for asking. If I may express this in terms of faith -- God gave us minds and expects us to use them, and that includes questioning Him.

Answer 4

Ma-a-a-ate, we don't do 'good or bad' Atheists - we don't even care if you are one or not - that's Theist stuff.

If you were ever a Theist you'll have programmes that'll stick for years unless you make a conscious effort to change them.
At the heart of it though if you KNOW the invisible pixie guy doesn't exist it's enough for now.
When you're in a tricky situation there's nothing the matter with praying although at some level it's pointless praying to something that's imaginary - having said that I sorta pray to the strength/power/life-force within me to get a bit more oomph to help me through the task.
I've heard myself say on more than one occasion: Now, come on JohnnyBoy (as mum used to call me).

As Frank Sinatra once said: Prayer, Tranquilisers or Jack Daniels - whatever gets you through the night.

You see - we don't believe there's a hell that you'll go to if you don't meet the grade.
We don't have an imaginary sky pixie saying to us: You'd better suck up to me or I'll send you to hell.

We don't do that PunishmentReward stuff - that's for children.

[edit]
There ARE atheists in foxholes.
I've been one, in one, with other Atheists AND we survived.

Answer 5

Atheist, Christian, Buddhist.. whatever. In the end we are all human. No matter how brave we claim to be, we all to a certain extent fear death. Who knows what any of us will do when actually faced with death?

I have a friend who is an agnostic. She told me recently that she prays sometimes. She doesn't know to who, or what, but it helps her to find the answers she is seeking within herself. She suspects that's what prayer is anyway: being quiet and still and accessing your inner-voice.

Believe what you believe and never let anyone tell you that you are wrong :)

Answer 6

I am an ex-christian, but I don't label myself as an agnostic or atheist. I know god is real for a fact. But I can relate to this feeling. I used to (sometimes) take comfort in thinking I was "saved" when I was a christian and I miss that once in awhile. The way I like to think of the after life now is not heaven/hell, black and white, but as justice. Think about it, if God is just and perfect and all that then you will get what you deserve in the after life. Whatever that may be. If its an eternity in a pit of fire then so be it. Nobody can judge us as well as god. So try to be a perfect person and hope for the best in the after life.

Answer 7

i once read a study about circumstancial behavior, and basically it read as follows people are not inherently good rather they are good based on their situation. people with good moral standing were put in a jail and were treated by anonymous gaurds also people with good moral standing, and the gaurds started to become sadistic and cruel while the inmates became aggressive and easily agitated. basically what this means is faced with certain situations people will change they are like that on a different level under different amounts of stress so i would think that facing death would be no different.

Answer 8

If you were indoctrinated with religion as a child you won't be able completely eliminate that indoctrination. It's buried deep in layers of your brain/mind that can't be changed completely just because you've reached a rational decision in your conscious mind.

Give it time. Keep examining your feelings, and think about what your were taught as child that causes those feelings, and how those teachings are flawed given what you know now. The feelings will fade over time.

Answer 9

hi, Wally: some baptized individuals in the Corinth church have been thinking if the resurrection exceeded off; the saints who had died nonetheless lay in the tomb. The surviving saints doubted the blessed desire: the resurrection of the ineffective. So the Apostle Paul wrote them a letter, pointing out that Jesus had risen from the grave, and as the father raised Him, then Jesus grew to become into the Firstfruits of the final harvest, and the kinfolk of religion will additionally be resurrected. a million Corinthians 15:12 "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the ineffective, how say some between you that there is not any resurrection of the ineffective? 15:13 yet whilst there be no resurrection of the ineffective, then is Christ no longer risen: 15:14 And if Christ be no longer risen, then [is] our preaching ineffective, and your faith [is] additionally ineffective. 15:15 Yea, and we are discovered fake witnesses of God; because of the fact we've testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised no longer up, if so be that the ineffective upward push no longer. 15:sixteen For if the ineffective upward push no longer, then isn't Christ raised: 15:17 And if Christ be no longer raised, your faith [is] ineffective; ye are yet on your sins. 15:18 Then in addition they that are fallen asleep [died] in Christ are perished. 15:19 If in this existence in straight forward terms we've desire in Christ, we are of all adult males maximum depressing. 15:20 yet now could be Christ risen from the ineffective, [and] improve into the firstfruits of them that slept. Paul then will become slightly opposed and says: "Else what shall they do that are baptized for the ineffective, if the ineffective upward push never? why are they then baptized for the ineffective [Savior]?" (verse 15:29). Paul is belittling people who might think of they have been baptized for a ineffective Savior. regrettably this verse isn't taken in context with something of this "resurrection financial disaster" and a few Christians immediately are fairly baptized for the deceased. This fake doctrine is lacking biblical priority as is "holy underclothes." So what does Christ's resurrection mean to me? this is the testimony of the father that Jesus' sacrificial atonement grew to become into complete, and Jesus because of the fact the Lamb of God has gained the victory over devil's temptation and enjoyed His existence no longer unto loss of life. And that substitutionary loss of life, and His next resurrection, ensures that the dedicated will ascend to heaven whilst He comes lower back. enable's bypass! Shalom, peace in Jesus, Ben Yeshua

Answer 10

There is no such thing as a 'good' atheist in that sense, Some people get over the fear of death and some do not, it is very human to fear death if we did not we would not have survived as a species.