Confused

[WhitJo]

My family is strictly Christian, but I seem to be the only one that questions my faith. I mean sometimes I believe what they say and I agree with most things Christians believe, but I don't really believe in God. I've never read the Bible and I don't plan to. Part of me still believes though and keeps holding me back from experiencing other religions for fear of what I've been taught will happen if you don't believe. I don't know what to do.

[John Osborne]

Originally Posted by WhitJo

My family is strictly Christian, but I seem to be the only one that questions my faith. I mean sometimes I believe what they say and I agree with most things Christians believe, but I don't really believe in God. I've never read the Bible and I don't plan to. Part of me still believes though and keeps holding me back from experiencing other religions for fear of what I've been taught will happen if you don't believe. I don't know what to do.

What I do when I am confused about what I believe in, is meditate upon that question. You will be amazed what you learn about yourself in just minutes of deep contemplation.

Also you don't necessarily have to believe a religion teaches when learn what it is about, and I believe most Christians would agree with me here.

[klh94]

Okay, for starters, I'm sure you are not the only one who has ever questioned their faith. I am currently a complete believer in the Lord, but it took a lot of self discovery to get to that point.

Now, when I was questioning everything I started going to different religions' places of worship and learning what I could about all of the possibilities. From there I sat down and sorted out what I believed and what I thought was pure hokey. It all led me straight back to where I started, a firm believer in Jesus Christ.

You aren't a bad Christian if you have questions, it simply means that you don't understand and that you need to find out who you are and what you believe before you devote yourself to any one religion. And if at the end you decide that you don't believe in God then that's okay. No one is going to shun you for that.

If I can be of any more help please feel free to shoot me a personal message and we can talk about it.

[JKmadu619]

Despite what some Christians may want you to believe, leaving Christianity is not all that bad, if Christianity (And all it's differnet branches) do nothing for you, maybe a different religion will.

The best I can reccomend right now is to first: Look into other branches of Christainity. And Two: If that fails look into other religion.

Maybe Christainity is not your thing, but that's your choice.

Another thing to realize is no one completely agrees with all aspects of any religion. There will always be things that we don't like, or don't believe. That is also fine, do no quesiton yourself for formulating your own opinions.

- Justin

[Megan1]

Almost every Christian (including myself) has faced doubt before; that's not unusual. The difference is what you do about that doubt. You can pray about it and tell God to help you get over it, or you can dwell on the doubt and start to believe it. It's the second one that's bad. I'm not telling you to ignore your feelings, but I'm telling you to pray about them, pour your heart out to God, and be willing to let Him change them.

Also, I would definitely suggest reading the bible (or a devotional if you don't know where the start in the bible, because I know that can be tricky at first). We can't expect God to show us the answers to our confusion if we don't truly seek them.

And to the poster above me who said that leaving Christianity "isn't all that bad"....It may not feel bad at the time, because you get to be selfish and do the things that please yourself. However, Christianity isn't about making yourself happy (although it does sometimes come with happiness); it's about being saved from hell, getting to spend eternity with God, being loved by God, and living for Him. It may not always feel bad to not be a Christian, but that's because Christianity doesn't rely on feelings.

[Of Mike and Men]

Try not to judge what you don't understand. How can you claim to believe what Christians believe, or claim not to believe in the G-d of the Bible, if you don't even know what the Bible says beyond hearsay?

Even so, I do not know that I believe in the G-d most Christians believe in. Why? Because the G-d I see in the Bible is not anything Christians teach. So, I believe in the G-d of the Bible. But not of the Church.

[Xujhan]

"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

Faith, or the lack thereof, should not be a burden to you. If you wish to believe, then believe. If you don't, then don't. There's no important difference between a Christian, a Muislim, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or an atheist. It's your actions that matter, and those aren't contingent upon your beliefs. If you don't know what you want to believe, then educate yourself; there are hundreds of good books to read, and lots of forums (including this one) where you can ask people about their beliefs to broaden your knowledge.

Cheers.

[Megan1]

^ That's assuming that the Christian beliefs are wrong though. That's just your belief that you made up because you hope it's true. You have told me countless times on here that there isn't enough evidence behind Christianity...well, it has way more evidence than what you just said about the god that you hope exists.

I'm not saying this to fight; I'm saying it so the OP isn't led into thinking that.

[ReluctantPegasister]

Originally Posted by Xujhan

Faith, or the lack thereof, should not be a burden to you. If you wish to believe, then believe. If you don't, then don't. There's no important difference between a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or an atheist. It's your actions that matter, and those aren't contingent upon your beliefs. If you don't know what you want to believe, then educate yourself...

This. Just pretend I said this.

[Xujhan]

Originally Posted by Megan1

^ That's assuming that the Christian beliefs are wrong though. That's just your belief that you made up because you hope it's true. You have told me countless times on here that there isn't enough evidence behind Christianity...well, it has way more evidence than what you just said about the god that you hope exists.

I'm not saying this to fight; I'm saying it so the OP isn't led into thinking that.

I assumed nothing. It wouldn't matter to me if Christianity were true; I would still say that a person's actions are more important than their beliefs. A world full of Christians would mean no more or less to me than a world of people who happen to share a favourite colour, but a world of people all of whom love and cherish one another: that I would give anything to see. The existence or nonexistence of a god has no bearing on that wish.

As far as I'm concerned, the one sure 'truth' we have is this: in this life, we all must live with each other. As long as I'm here, I want to do what I can to make the world better for my fellow beings, and I hope that others feel the same. If there is an afterlife, I'll worry about it when I'm dead.

I won't get started on the lack of evidence for religion as this isn't the place for it, but if evidence is what a person is concerned about then my earlier advice stands: the best thing you can do is educate yourself.

Originally Posted by Maeve

This. Just pretend I said this.

Keep being awesome, Maeve!

[Megan1]

I understand that, but I was referring to where you said that if God is real, He will not care if you believed in Him. I was just saying that that's speculation.

And for the record, I think it's great that you want to make the world a better place. I definitely don't think that it's the most important thing since the world is all temporary....but it's still great and we are all supposed to love each other.

[Xujhan]

Originally Posted by Megan1

I understand that, but I was referring to where you said that if God is real, He will not care if you believed in Him. I was just saying that that's speculation.

If god is just, he will not care about what you believe. If you can really incur god's wrath by not believing, then god is not just, and you should not want to worship him. In my opinion, a good god who punishes non-believers is every bit as contradictory as a square circle.

[Megan1]

Being "just" means that He brings justice. If He doesn't bring justice for your sins (which is either Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, or your own justice in hell- the choice is ours), He isn't just.

However, this is a thread about the OP being confused, and we are probably only confusing them more. So if you have anything else to say, we should probably do it in a private message or in another thread.

[Eldora]

Hiya, WhitJo! <--awesome name, by the way, haha. My name's Ana (or Eldora), and first off, it's nice to meet you.

If you don't really believe in the Christian god, there is no possible way you can force yourself to believe in him. Experiencing other religions is at first a very fearful thing, coming from someone who who started experimenting with Hellenic paganism at the age of ten. It's a frightening thing, when you think: "Oh, shit. What if I'm doing something wrong, and I die, and I burn in hell?"

The first step to breaking free of your birth religion to experiment with others is to study other religions. You don't immediately have to start 'experimenting' with them, but you can read about them and gather information. After you find something you want to experiment with comes the difficult part...

You have to learn to work yourself past the fear. You have to fully understand why you are leaving your birth religion, and you have to make the decision that you are leaving it. Working past the fear -- for me, at least -- came with lots of tears and backtracking and soul-searching. Leaving your birth religion, even if only for a little while, is no easy task, especially if your birth religion is Christianity, because there are so many people who would seek to convert you back.

However, I've been an atheist for almost a year and a half now, and was a pagan for four years before that. It's hard, but you can do it if you have the determination -- and yes, even the courage -- to persevere.

I regret to say that I can't really tell you how to remain a Christian if you want to, as I never had much success with that, myself, haha. Good luck with whatever you choose to do, and feel free to PM me any time you want.

[Eldora]

Originally Posted by Megan1

Being "just" means that He brings justice. If He doesn't bring justice for your sins (which is either Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, or your own justice in hell- the choice is ours), He isn't just.

However, this is a thread about the OP being confused, and we are probably only confusing them more. So if you have anything else to say, we should probably do it in a private message or in another thread.

I'm just nosing in to say what I believe I've said many times before: Any god, Christian or otherwise, who believes someone will go to hell simply because they don't believe in him, her, or otherwise, does not deserve -- in my eyes -- to be worshipped. If you choose to worship him, so be it, but don't scare the OP into thinking they'll go to hell because they're questioning the existence of your god. You must realize that these are real people you're talking to here, and I'm not gonna stand by and let you brainwash them from what I believe is a choice they have already made.



WhitJo: Go after whatever makes you happy. If Christianity doesn't make you happy, then don't listen to someone who'll make you think you'll go to hell if you don't listen to them. Every human being deserves to be happy for whatever time they have, and if you don't want to read the Christian bible or be a Christian, then you don't have to, and don't feel guilty for it, either.