JRMcC
Active Member
Why presuppose that God is some omnipotent supreme person?
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Why did you leave GOD?
- Thread starter Unveiled Artist
- Start date
McBell
mantra-chanting henotheistic snake handler
His absence
psychoslice
Veteran Member
For me personally the god of the church was a false god, all the time the true God was within me, and in all else, best thing I ever discovered.
NewGuyOnTheBlock
Cult Survivor/Fundamentalist Pentecostal Apostate
In my journey, I admitted to myself that I had serious behavioral and emotional issues that were causing me to violate my own morals and causing me to hurt others. I had to first realize that God wasn’t going to fix things for me, so I had to do what I could myself.
I decided that I would do what I could do, and God would do what I could not do.
Then I realized that God wasn’t going to do anything, but I decided that he would help.
Then I realized that he wasn’t really helping, but decided that He was not helping me for my own good, so He was still taking care of me.
Then I realized that God wasn’t taking care of me, so I questioned why I even needed Him.
Then I discovered complete lies and fabrications taught to me by the Church.
Then I decided that the Christian God didn’t exist based on the evidence that the promises given were not kept, which should be impossible for the God that is taught in the Bible.
Feeling deep loneliness, betrayal and despair, I sought comfort and looked into other beliefs, hoping to find that false sense of security; of being in the palm of an omnipotent being’s hand; that Christianity gave me. I looked into Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, Asatru, Wicca, Buddhism, Hinduism and Toaism. During my search, I discovered that most of the core values: Love, Patience, Mercy, Forgiveness; were echoed throughout most major religions.
When I stopped feeling sorry for myself and looked around me, I noticed all the violence and suffering in the world around me. I was caused to question the very notion of higher spiritual forces governing anything.
I finally realized and accepted the truth of the intrinsic nature of life and morality that needed no creator and no God. I turned to reason and realized that there was no evidence for any divine being.
I was finally liberated from the maze of lies. I began my journey towards deconversion in 1989. It wasn’t until 2012 that I finally removed the remaining remnants of spiritualism and superstitions from my life.
I decided that I would do what I could do, and God would do what I could not do.
Then I realized that God wasn’t going to do anything, but I decided that he would help.
Then I realized that he wasn’t really helping, but decided that He was not helping me for my own good, so He was still taking care of me.
Then I realized that God wasn’t taking care of me, so I questioned why I even needed Him.
Then I discovered complete lies and fabrications taught to me by the Church.
Then I decided that the Christian God didn’t exist based on the evidence that the promises given were not kept, which should be impossible for the God that is taught in the Bible.
Feeling deep loneliness, betrayal and despair, I sought comfort and looked into other beliefs, hoping to find that false sense of security; of being in the palm of an omnipotent being’s hand; that Christianity gave me. I looked into Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, Asatru, Wicca, Buddhism, Hinduism and Toaism. During my search, I discovered that most of the core values: Love, Patience, Mercy, Forgiveness; were echoed throughout most major religions.
When I stopped feeling sorry for myself and looked around me, I noticed all the violence and suffering in the world around me. I was caused to question the very notion of higher spiritual forces governing anything.
I finally realized and accepted the truth of the intrinsic nature of life and morality that needed no creator and no God. I turned to reason and realized that there was no evidence for any divine being.
I was finally liberated from the maze of lies. I began my journey towards deconversion in 1989. It wasn’t until 2012 that I finally removed the remaining remnants of spiritualism and superstitions from my life.
Rick O'Shez
Irishman bouncing off walls
I will say though, I struggled after coming to a position of atheism, with my beliefs. For over a year. But much of that...maybe all of it...was emotionally charged for me. It would be nice if there existed a supreme being who looks out for us all, and will give us a place of eternal rest in a faraway kingdom somewhere...but in all likelihood...that's not the case. I understand though the desire many have, as I once had it...to believe in something more than this life. Since mankind has been looking to the stars for answers since caveman times...I can't help but wonder if it's hard wired into us to yearn for something more than the here and now, even though there may not be anything beyond this material life.
Tengri
Member
For Abrahamic religions.. God is imagined like HUMAN
HE wants to be known by humans which he created, lol it is so useless. Semitic religions really imagine God as human, with humanic feelings. God get angry, and send you to hell, God is arrogant, wants us to be slave and always worship to him and fear from him.
For my God, / Tengrism:
God is an energy, if you reject "There is no electric, it is fairy tale" It doesnt effect the electricity, he goes on and effect your life. Same for God. If you reject his power, it is no problem for him but a problem for you. Because feeling the energy of God is healthy. For me, when I contact with his power I feel myself peaceful and happy.
But you won't go to hell or anything bad will be happen to you if you reject God. Because he is not human characterized.
And I felt myself sad, I say "he" for God because your language English is based on genders. But Turkish , there is no gender He/she. And we call Tengri, God with "o" word. "O" is used for man, woman and everything.
HE wants to be known by humans which he created, lol it is so useless. Semitic religions really imagine God as human, with humanic feelings. God get angry, and send you to hell, God is arrogant, wants us to be slave and always worship to him and fear from him.
For my God, / Tengrism:
God is an energy, if you reject "There is no electric, it is fairy tale" It doesnt effect the electricity, he goes on and effect your life. Same for God. If you reject his power, it is no problem for him but a problem for you. Because feeling the energy of God is healthy. For me, when I contact with his power I feel myself peaceful and happy.
But you won't go to hell or anything bad will be happen to you if you reject God. Because he is not human characterized.
And I felt myself sad, I say "he" for God because your language English is based on genders. But Turkish , there is no gender He/she. And we call Tengri, God with "o" word. "O" is used for man, woman and everything.
The Abrahamic faiths(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) assert that God is omnipotent. I became Asatru largely because the Gods of the Norse made no claims to omnipotence or perfection.
Mycroft
Ministry of Serendipity
I never really believed in god, but I certain explored the possibility when I was a kid. The reason I concluded against the existence of such an entity was both an examination religious texts and the natural world around me. In all religious texts, god seems to be a very human intelligence, dealing with problems in a very human way (killing, plagues, etc). Moreover, he seemed very much like a human male specifically, treating women as property, cattle, second class citizens. This did not seem to indicate a superior or 'divine' intelligence at work.
Study of the natural world revealed no sign of a superior intelligence or 'creation' either. Human beings, as a specific example, are fairly awful in terms of modern design. I know that the human eye is touted as 'so complex and wonderful that it couldn't have occurred by chance', but really...in terms of eyes, it's fairly awful. There are many creatures whose eyes are far superior to our own.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Guya. Sorry, I edited the OP so it is more clear in what Im asking.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Did you have a personal relationship woth Him before you left? If so, did He do anything to make you leave or did you leave on your own?
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Yes. I dont believe you can "snap your fingers" to disbelieve. People either believed he exosted to begin with, never had a personal relationship with him, or if they did, in theory, God doesnt leave anyone. So from the believers view, God must have done (or not done) something to motivate a believer to leave OR they left because of X,Y, and Z.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Questions in brief:
Did you have a personal relationship with God?
If so, how did HE influence you (what did He do) to leave your faith?
In this question, you are not an atheist. You believed God (any) for any reason and something He did or didnt do made you leave.
If that is true, what did He do?
Did you have a personal relationship with God?
If so, how did HE influence you (what did He do) to leave your faith?
In this question, you are not an atheist. You believed God (any) for any reason and something He did or didnt do made you leave.
If that is true, what did He do?
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Marisa
Well-Known Member
Wouldn't he need to be to have a personal relationship with him? We are limited by the senses we were "given" to experience anything by.
JustCallMeNick
Member
I think you're using a common stereotype and running with it. The usual theist explanation for why people stop believing is that they are mad at God for some reason - not really because they genuinely don't believe or have honest philosophical issues with God. This is the basic caricature created, for example, by that ridiculous movie God Is Not Dead. To be honest it's both presumptuous and a little insulting. Most atheists who aren't moody teenagers are not "mad at God." Not even the ones who used to have what Christians call "a personal relationship with God."
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
I usdd IF you had because God did not do anything to make me leave, I left on my own. Also, I never specified which God. Some people may have believed in the hindu God and left because maybe He or She did something to someome else the believer disgreed with. Maybe God was asking to much of a person.
When a person has a relationship, they first believe each other exists to have one. Second, if they break up on muteral understanding, like myself, thats fine. If one party did something to another, that may be a means for a break up. For example, if I threw away the Eucharist (please dont), I did something to God. If God asked too much of me, say asked me to kill my child if I had one, I would leave.
It has nothing to do with "God is of love, why did you leave?" Its "You had a relationship. What did he do to let you leave?"
If you notice some of the posts answers. One said God did nothing. Another was God kiled her friends child.
Im not a practicing christian nor believer any god believing faiths. So, your post doesnt make sense to me.
When a person has a relationship, they first believe each other exists to have one. Second, if they break up on muteral understanding, like myself, thats fine. If one party did something to another, that may be a means for a break up. For example, if I threw away the Eucharist (please dont), I did something to God. If God asked too much of me, say asked me to kill my child if I had one, I would leave.
It has nothing to do with "God is of love, why did you leave?" Its "You had a relationship. What did he do to let you leave?"
If you notice some of the posts answers. One said God did nothing. Another was God kiled her friends child.
Im not a practicing christian nor believer any god believing faiths. So, your post doesnt make sense to me.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Yes, I had with all at various times (not Him but them, Hindus are polytheists). They did not do anything to make me leave them. Well, I have not completely left them, I still love them dearly as characters of my mythology and I would not let anyone speak bad of them. I still have a special strong cultural relationship with them. In spite of being an atheist, I remain a staunch Hindu.
JRMcC
Active Member
Hmmm I suppose so but I'm not really sure. I just read the better part of an incredible book by Dorothee Soelle that deals with the theodicy problem. Her perspective is very different from the churches, but I don't think it should be discounted because of that. One of the things she said is that justice and omnipotence can't coexist as aspects of God. She even says that prayer doesn't have to be theistic. It can be a dialogue between yourself and your "ideal-self."
Edit: here's the more direct example I was looking for, "There is... no way to combine omnipotence with love." She attacks the church, saying that they downplayed Jesus' humanity early on. I'm just saying the Christian God isn't necessarily thrown out when the typical, traditional God concept is.
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