All that is so unfortunate. I feel you on everything there. I really do. A lot of that sounds like my own bio, the splintered distant family, separation of siblings, crisis of faith... On atheists stepping in with their input - atheists believe in humility. But they'll revert right to that Darwinist survival of the fittest rationalized "Dude get THICK SKIN. Thats just life!" So then you'll have the church being cold to you for rejecting God, and then a bunch of shameless godless doucheholes just shrugging their shoulders lol. It can be rough finding a good support system for that. But your thoughts and feelings DO MATTER. Even if its tossing God under the bus, they STILL matter. You hold family honor high, nothing to feel bad about there at all.
Instead of holding a grudge use it as motivation. Spread the love and peace with your kids,friends,family, and don't be the person that uses it as an excuse."my mom was a slut that's why I am too". I'm trying to take my family out the hood. I go to battle everyday, people that you expect to be professionals because they are in higher position, those ****ers belittle you.
Totally agree. There are events in life and there are the emotions you attach with them. I've seen identical cases of parents fighting for their children. How you frame an event in your mind has a huge impact on how you deal with an event. ****ty things happen in life. I've met people with some absolutely horrifying war stories yet they manage to stay positive and persevere. They view these events as challenges that they will conquer. And you when you frame your life in such a manner, you open up some great possibilities. You control your own destiny. How you choose to look at life directly impacts the options available to you.
ElPigto, one day your gonna be wiser and you'll be able to understand your situation and meaning of not life but living for your self with out anybody telling you... patience is a virtue, try with everything you have down to the last ounce to be patient but if you commit, be sure to commit for life.
To tell you the truth, my life has been way better since I became an atheist. No longer are churches taking my hard earned money and seeing the pastor in a brand new F-150. Life is hard, and I dont need a "god" handling my life... I handle my own life. Sure things happen that you can't control, but you always find a way to deal with it. I don't have close relationship with most of my uncles, aunts, and cousins cause they are simply evil.... and also "die-hard catholics"... (i quote that because on both sides of my family there is a lot of drugs, alcohol, and infidelity, and to me they're all big hipocrites!) You don't need religion in your life.... it is not necessary! (just my opinion)
crazy how many people blame God for their problems and situations in life and thats the only time they ask for his help. Yet when things are going great and awesome we fail to recognize him for everything good that is going on. Faith is tested by circumstances. True christians have faith that God will help them through their problems not blame them for all the bad that has happened. You really dont have love for God if you stop having faith when things go bad. There are people way worse off than us in life yet they still praise the Lord for all he has done for them. Sad to see the mentality of saying "God can you help me in this tough situation?" then when things dont work out you say "Forget you God you are worthless to me you don't love me." No one knows what plan God has for us in life but no matter how bad things get you have to have faith that Jesus is their with you through it all and things happen for a reason. Life is supposed to be hard, we are always going to be tested, but in the end it is all worth it. When things go bad blame the Devil why blame God, he wants good things to happen to us and he will open doors when we can handle it. Have faith man have faith
if believing in Jesus meant evrything in life was gonna be gravy evryone would believe. The point is to appreciate him wen things are good and bad and know you can count on him through it all
If thats the lesson the bible centered on, it'd be a less popular but more effective book. There are many accounts in the bible of " Situation REALLY Sucky - Jesus Make All Suckness Disappear " Of all the great stories about adversity and humility in the bible, that lesson is pretty linear that people learn from of it. That comes off cut & dry "just separate and unlearn". Though it is really all you can do. Very very difficult to remain in a religious environment while declining God and trying to negotiate through it. You have to put distance from it. Just don't join any weirded out pseudo-holistic cults... But this seems less about trying to swap out faith for something else and more about just hardcore family living.
Wow, perfectly stated. I have been trying to realize this but it is so hard to follow. It just gets very complicated at times. It's a life long experience and impatience gets the best of us. +1
I denouced my faith when I was in elementary school and never looked back. I will say though, one should never let negative experiences affect your belief system. Your opinion on the existence on GOD/faith should be logical and rational; it should never be reactionary.
Elpigto; Just read your post and very sorry to hear about all of our troubles. I am not a Christian but I think faith is very important for us as humans. I think it is a mistake to believe that faith will save those we love though from dying and that is the reality that we all must face. To the extent that religion is peddled as a way to get something from a higher power (I pray for you and you do something for me) I think is a disservice to the idea of faith and from talking to people of various religions I think many of those of deep faith would agree with me. What I find comforting isn't the idea of some higher power that will respond to prayers but the idea that there is something greater than myself and my own troubles. While I might suffer and eventually die there is something that is greater than me and as such I am part of that. Faith is about more than just yourself and your own pain. I don't know if this will make you feel any better but the thought that there is more out there than just me strengthens me to go out and try to make things better for my family, friends and the rest of existence. That helps me because while maybe things are bad for me at least I can help others. Another thing I noticed about your post though is that it sounds like many of your troubles are not caused by God or some supernatural agency but by humans who created borders and immigration laws. My time is limited now but I will try to get back to this thread later.
The honest to goodness truth. Whether or not you believe in God, you still need to work with the hand you're dealt. And do the best you can with that. In the end, this is all we can do.
You had me until you felt entitled. And when you didn't get your way you decided to crap on God. And just to show the other side, I was raised WITHOUT God and found peace with him. So peace isn't about God, it's about what's in your head.
"Human beings must be known to be loved; but Divine beings must be loved to be known." - Blaise Pascal Good luck to you all on your journeys brothers and sisters.
Love this response. Everybody experiences pain, loss, misery. God didn't let that happen to you, and He's not gonna wipe it away magically because you pray for it. But He does give you the strength, love and patience to endure through both the good times and bad.
According to the Bible, God did put man in a perfect setting but because we were created with freedom, being created in the image of God will do that, we chose to rebel. We can't be perfect, even when given a set of rules and principles to live by we chose the opposite of it. But because God is merciful, God didn't allow us to gravel in imperfection and death. And because of God's grace, God paid the way for each and every person to no longer suffer death but experience true healing when they pass on from this existence to life with God in eternity if they flee their rebellion and trust what Jesus did by dying for their personal sin and believe He was resurrected because the grave could not hold Him.
