Jesus took my dad recently. It's because He wanted my dad to be with Him in heaven more than He wanted to share my dad with this world anymore. I envy my dad, but Jesus isn't finished sharing me with those who He wants to enter into a loving relationship with. I miss my dad, but Jesus missed him more.
Not to get off topic... But for all of you who think when you die you go to heaven, have you ever stopped and thought about that? Why would God, a loving God, put humans on earth for 70 or 80 years and suffer through hardships like the OP is? Why make us suffer on earth and then "when the time is right" take us up to heaven when we die? Why not just create us and put us in the heavens to begin with just like the rest of the angels? Search for the truth and you will find it.
I hope we keep the "Come back to Jesus" crap out of this thread. (Same goes for Atheists) Let him decide for himself guys.
Your life is ****. No hardworking, honest individual deserves the downpour of tragedy and disappointment you and your grandmother have faced. One tenth of that amount of drama would have been enough to turn me sour, so I am impressed that you've been able to keep your strength so far, and hope that you find a new reserve of strength to move forward. Religion convinces us to be good, when the temptation is to be awful, and motivates us to move forward, when we want to lay down. I think that's all it's really good for. Jesus will not descend upon the earth and lift me from my misery, there will not be 72 virgins waiting for me at the gates of heaven, and I will not be reborn as a beautiful butterfly if I am good in this life. Those are the carrots at the end of the stick you hold for kids just to convince them of the first two points: be good, don't give up. But you already knew that. It sounds like religion has been a great motivator for you until recently, and now it's time for you to find a new carrot. I suggest investing your faith in yourself.
Why would you put faith in someone/something that apparently has no control over anything happening? I think this is pretty much how religion came about. "Well, I sure as heck don't know what's going on or how to fix it, so I'm going to leave this up to God".
What matters is getting enjoyment from life. The religion we all share is that we're subjectively hedonistic. And we should enjoy that as our nature.
Life's going to pile **** on your plate regardless of who's in control and how you feel about it. Having faith in yourself is about believing that you already have the fortitude of spirit / strength / aptitude / ability or whatever's necessary to scrape it off. Where religion failed was providing an answer to the questions of why so much of his family passed away, why his grandmother deserved so much misfortune, or why he won't experience the family life he sees an hears about around him. Religion only had a few answers, and after you hear the same canned response a couple times, you tend to grow deaf to the message. There is no satisfying answer to those questions. There will never be a satisfying answer. Whether it's fate, God's plan, random chance and probability, or just "life," the bottom line is what happened sucks. Choose whichever reason helps you grieve, calms your emotions, prevents you from damaging yourself, and helps you get back up. Whether you're religious or not, at the end of the day you're the one that has to grieve, you're the one that has deal with your emotions, and you're the one that has to get back up and forge your life going forward. God, Allah, or the holy cow will not swoop down from the heavens and relieve you of this burden. Religion was merely the middle man that would provide the extrinsic motivation and community encouragement to accomplish these feats, but ultimately, you're still doing the heavy lifting. So, if you're doing the work anyway, why not re-invest that faith in yourself? Finding that intrinsic motivation to move forward regardless of setbacks will be more powerful that any promise of pearly gates or rivers of ambrosia ever was.
Some of you guys are really Aholes. If you have nothing good to say then just move along. To the op, I wish you the best of luck in your life and all of those that are dear to you. May your grandma and yourself stop suffering.
It's all good man, I can handle it, I appreciate it though. I just had a frustrating week though and felt like posting that. I try not to talk about my beliefs too much, but I simply wanted to get that off my chest. I posted this more in relation to my grandma, I just hate seeing her so sad, she's had a rough two years and I just wish there was more I can do. I hang in there though.
Trusting in religion often creates fake comfort and hopes that will never be satisfied. It also is responsible for a lot of hate and anger. I've had similar stories where family died in painful accidents or diseases or when I jumped off death bed, religion wouldn't have carried me through this, it would only have angered me. I really feel for you and your grandma, this is an incredibly sad family story. I hope you get through this with the help of the strong relationship you both share, this is way stronger than any religion and the best way to deal with the situation.
Elpigto I really understand what you are going through. I think that God was invented to keep people under control like parents use to threaten the kids with the saying if you don't be good the bogey man will get you. Also it keeps a lot of preachers in the money. I hope you keep on getting on. I like Voodopope reply. It is the way I feel.
Religion wasn't created so that stupid **** could happen like you stated... rather, it was hi-jacked by lazy ass people who chose not to understand it's depth and complex simplicity and instead used it as a shortcut for explanation
