Questioning faith (or lack thereof)?

Question

ok well i somewhat "became" atheist not all that long ago, but i still cant shake the whole idea of god and jesus and the lot...i was catholic, and i feel extremely horrible answering these questions with an atheist perspective...even though atheism makes more sense...just wanting some advice from both sides (catholic and atheist).

Answer 1

Almost every one who came out of a religious background gets an uneasy feeling, at least for a while. You simply need to ask yourself whether it makes sense to you. If you honestly do not believe, then this is a left over reaction from years of religious training. If you have any actual belief left, then you need to re-think your stance. As a former Christian preacher (yeah, no joke) I use to have the same problems. As time went by, the whole idea became more outrageous and I realized that I no longer needed to feel these things. They simply went away with more Bible study, and religious studies outside of my former beliefs. You really need to give yourself time. Just keep an open mind, and a caring heart. You will come to know what is right for you and any uneasy feelings will be drowned out by your own knowledge. Only you can decide what is right for you. Have a wonderful day.
EDIT: Anjelo, anyone who tries to push their own beliefs on you is NOT looking out for your best interests. I will tell you what my experience has been, or advise you if you ask, but this is a personal decision. You have been given a couple of very good answers, at least in my opinion, and I think you have the ability to pick out the sage advice on your own. Try not to let the closed minded answers bother you. Whatever you decide, do what you know is right for you, not what is expected of you either way.

Answer 2

Maybe you're just agnostic?

I don't have the right to tell which side to take. I would say that faith is about trust and the big spiritual picture. You can't scientifically prove Catholocism or any religion. You can find proof that a guy named Jesus existed or proof that a certain area of the world had a huge flood, but all that is really besides the point. I can show you 2+2 = 4. It's concrete, it's there. You have two apples, I give you two more apples, you've got 4 more apples. Clear as day. When it comes to faith, religion, spirituality, miracles, etc I can't give you an equation to that.

My suggestion would be not to limit your options. It doesn't have to be Atheism vs. Catholocism. Explore your religious options. There are so many various beliefs just under the Christian umbrella alone, ranging from the incredibly liberal to extremely fundamentalist. Not to mention all the other religions. Read a book dealing with comparitive theology. Visit beliefnet. Maybe you're just in the middle of your spiritual journey. Or maybe after everything's said in done, you find that being an athiest is where it's at. But at least you'll have been able to compare and contrast the other religious beliefs that are out there.

Answer 3

There is nothing wrong with questioning faith and constantly reviewing what 'you know' to be true.

Monkey: What is wisdom? It has little to do with beliefs – these change year by year from person to person – only one who dares not to give up beliefs because he has no wisdom will insist that others believe as he does – cleverness learns something, but wisdom gives up some certainty, every day.

It may take some years to cancel out all that programming (cognitive training) you had from childhood.
Any psychologist will tell you that we learn all our 'truths' from zero >> six years old - everything after that is filtered through those truths.

Just keep reminding yourself that there is no evidence of gods and whether or not Jesus existed, hardly matters.
He did not do magic tricks or cheat death – at best he was a mortal man.
IF he lived, he died like you and are gonna do.
The Middle East was awash with prophets at the time - one more or less hardly mattered.
Xianity had less to do with Jesus than it had to do with Saul of Tarsus who was looking for something to sell.
What better thing can you sell than dreams and fantasies that needed no 'proof of life’?
.

Answer 4

It depends upon how indoctrinated you were as to whether or not you'll ever feel right about it. There's always the next step from pascal's wager.. "If I'm wrong it's my own soul. If I'm wrong and tell others, it's theirs. Am I strong enough in my convictions to risk somebody else's soul over it?" That just means you have a heart, I suffer from the same dilemma. But I came to a resolution--I'll answer as an Atheist with the reasoning I have, and let them make their own decision. I won't influence them in any way with happy feelings, or niceness.

edit: SDW, I respect you and the answers you have given. But this young man is not an Agnostic. An Agnostic believes that "whether God exists or not is unsolvable." This person never professed any such thing, only that the reasoning against God, is sound and that he no longer believes. This makes him an atheist. Sorry to be the one to break that to you.

Answer 5

I was in your situation once but it takes decades to free yourself from being brainwashed as a child.
It needs a strong mind and intellectual honesty.
As you grow older you will see religion in anew perpective and realise that it is really all about wealth and power and the control of gullible people.
The Jesuits boast "Give me a child by the time he is seven years old and he is ours for life"
There is a lot of truth in that because the early years are crucial in forming the thought processes and preferences of the adult which is why you speak the same language as your parents and most people adopt the same religion as their parents.
But you can escape from this early conditioning if you really want to.
You will eventually be able to stand back from it all secure in your knowledge that you chose the right path of intellectual freedom. It takes time but be warned that there will always be a tiny part of your mind that will still be affected by your early conditioning. It remains like a scar.
The best thing to do is to read widely about all religions and analyse what it is that they really believe.

Answer 6

You are born Tabula Rasa (blank slate) like any other species on this planet. Religion is learned ever since infancy, but not inherited through DNA. Religion, Math, Science, Reading, and Writing are all things that are learned and no infant comes out of the womb knowing them. Being born with a blank slate proves that all earthly Gods are made up. Apply that to the dawn of man and you'll see what I mean. Live your life according to facts not uncertainty.

Atheist

Answer 7

I did the same thing as you. I became dissatisfied with my Christian religion, but I couldn't shake it enough to say that I was athiest. Besides, athiesm is being closed to the possibility that there is something, and nobody can know that either. I decided to only believe in what I personally experienced. My grandmother communicated to me after her death, so I held on to the belief in life after death. This is how I began forging my own path. This is what you should do.

Blessed be.

Answer 8

You're not Atheist... You're Agnostic. Sorry to be the one to break it to you.

I am a very sincere Christian, and I answer questions from as objective a perspective as I can--often siding with Atheists or those of other religions simply because many Christians are too closed-minded.

My open-mindedness has actually strengthened my faith, allowing me to see answers to tough questions about my beliefs that merely historic and text analysis of the Bible would have never given me (God made the rules for a reason, and I should seek those reasons out, I think).

You're in a place where you can see both sides, and that can be healthy... allows you to be more objective here.

Answer 9

I am in no way meaning to put atheism or Catholics down, but there is another choice. You said that you couldn't shake the whole idea of God and Jesus. Did you ever consider that it was just that maybe you were in the wrong religion. What you should do, until you can shake the idea of God And Jesus, is to look into another religion. See if there is another religion that makes since to you. Or just talk to God and ask for His guidance.

Answer 10

It's a totally understandable dilemma to me. You are still trying to decide what to accept as true. Don't listen to the nuts who can't respect the legitimacy of your thoughts.