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Do any of you guys have moments of doubt like maybe there is something.?

I lost someone close to me and she was into religion. I'm just lost right now.

RobertGonz9988 5 Feb 3
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0

All knowledge of gods comes from books written by man. Once you understand this, and especially in Christianity, how the books were selected and put together how could you ever have any doubt? I know this and it does not stop me from being sorry for your loss. I'm sure she was a special person.

8

Those would be moments of faith not doubt.
I have no use for faith.

6

Sorry for your loss. Grief effects everyone differently.
We all have very different ways of moving through it.

In answer to your question, no.
I have no doubts about the complete non-existence of any gods.

5

Never. I don't know everything but I know there is no God, Devil, Heaven or Hell. Prayers are never answered. It's just people talking to themselves. Sorry for your loss, whatever worked for her, or you, is your business. I'm just saying I can't delude myself.

4

Sorry for your loss.
I have had doubt, then the leprechauns who live under my couch kick my shins and ask me what on earth I am doing with those thoughts.

4

As my mother was in hospital after suffering a heart attack some religious nutter came up to me and asked me if I wanted to go and pray, (at this point we had been told my mother's chance of recovery was about 10%) I turned to him and told him if there was a god then that god could damn well prove it through my mother recovering, if that happened I would turn up to church every Sunday for the rest of my life.

He said that it does not work like that I told him to tell his god that saving the life of one woman would give him a devout follower for eternity and that tiny thing was all he had to do. My mother died two days later.
I have no doubts, when I see truly evil people getting what they want and really good people suffering, when I hear of catholic priest abusing children and not having to face their crimes. I have no doubt.

If god exists then he/she/it is a complete bastard and I want nothing to do with it.

4

I don't. Have any doubts that is.The only thing that will 'live' after me are my ashes blowing through the universe. And my DNA through my child, grandchildren, their children, etc. In that sense we are immortal.

3

Your doubt comes from inside you. You'll have to deal with it there.

3

Fuck no. Don't confuse grief with faith.

2

I realize that confronting death, can make someone question the meaning or value of life. Folks can find eternal life reassuring, but I reject that for two reasons. First, there’s no evidence and as such, does not resonate with truth for me. Second, life actually has more value and meaning due to the very fact that it is limited. A resource is made more precious by its scarcity.

We all agree that life has some value. We value the life of others and ourselves. It is axiomatic that when something has value, its limitation makes it more valuable, not less. Its limitation makes it more rare, more valuable and less replaceable. A greater degree of meaning is imbued in life by the mere fact of its limit in time.

Some may wish to claim that an eternity spent with your spiritual creator gives you value and meaning, but they’re deriving those ideas from ancient texts, written by men with limited knowledge, which bears no weight in objective reality.

So I no longer have doubt. My humanist underpinnings grant me a deeper value and meaning in human life. Believing in fake myths about an afterlife would devalue life.

Celebrate and cherish that we’ve been lucky to have shared time with those who have left us,

I hope this helps.

I came that you might have LIFE, more abundantly

fwiw any "afterlife" in the Bible derives from a gratuitous reading imo,
No one knows where they go when they die etc

thank you

2

I have doubts about where the TV remote is, "something" is kind of a broad term.

2

Problem is, suppose there is a 'something'. Does this something help? Does it lessen the pain or grief? Does this something ever do anything for anyone? Ever? Does it prevent, does it solve, does it deliver, does it help? If the honest answer is 'no", then what is the point of this something? My answer is 'no point', even if there is a something, which I don't believe.

2

certainty is for minds/types that can't deal with doubt. doubt is the basis for wonder and discovery regardless of what it may find. some questions carry better without answers in tow. peace.

2

I don't doubt there is something, and I don't doubt our knowledge is very limited. Meanwhile, any comfort we can find is precious until we can learn more. Best wishes.

skado Level 9 Feb 3, 2021
2

Have faith in your self not god(s) too help you!!!

Yes, there is something air, light, colors, soil, oil, animals, vehicles, and the pandemic, who do you blame for all of that???

None of it makes sense just like god(s) and religious followers make something out of nothing to prove they believe!!!

How can you believe in something that you have never seen or touched???

We always are at a great lost of another who is beyond being close to us!

It is so very hard to loose what you once held and sadly never again wether from a break up, a divorce, or in death. We all can and will be lost!!!

Life is experimental and never fair!!!

There are no rules or regulations when it comes to losing one so close to one!!!

I am sorry for your lost!!!

2

Sorry for your loss. It’s normal for major events like this to induce a bout of existentialism. It is healthy to grieve, but when questioning things be objective and not react to emotions

2

Something??? You mean like cthulhu??

Really, if you are going to assert there is "something", then please be more specific. AND have some verifiable supporting evidence. AT LEAST be able to disprove cthulhu!

But then, he HAS to be real, right? I have pictures!!

Hey we KNOW Cthulhu exist, its there in black and white in the works of Lovecraft. And we Know those are true, because they say they are so in the texts.

1

It's complicated. I'm assuming given the nature of this group you mean do we ever have doubt about there not being a God. So often you see if the other way. Correct me if I'm wrong but this group is agnostic.com, correct? An agnostic by definition claims neither belief or disbelief in God, just acknowledges there is no proof one way or another. An athiest doesn't believe in God at all. Not sure which you are. I lean a bit more towards agnostic but don't believe in any physical type of God but maybe something bigger than us which can be nature itself or our own conscience. I think in truly desperate times, that is when faith has helped people get through because there are no alternatives. There have been times when I have said to myself, "Please God this or that" but practically speaking I know it's futile. I know as I'm doing that I'm doing it out of desperation as a calming tool. But then I use the tools that really work such as mindfulness, yoga, etc. My issue with religion is when it is used to hurt others, as it very often is. If it can help anyone in anyway and doesn't impact others, I try not to knock it. If you doubt your disbelief on occassion that is very human and not anything to ask permission for or be ashamed of. It is normal when experiencing this kind of loss to question things or look for answers. I guess I calll myself agnostic instead of athiest, just in case, you know, CYA! Not sure if that helps. Just joined today.

1

There is a Widows & Widowers Group here. You are welcome to join us there & find support.

1

I don't ever have moments of doubt. If there is something out there, it doesn't affect my life, nor how I live it.

To handle your grief, you might find comfort doing some of her religious rituals in an effort to feel close to her, through what she believed deep in her heart. Perhaps you can have mental conversations with her and imagine changing her mind to a more humanistic way of thought had she lived longer.

I'd say you're best off keeping to your current views on religion, but cut some slack for the religious folks close to your lost loved one. Grief is hard, but gets easier with time and a feeling that she is right there with you, in your heart and memory. Stick close to your own beliefs, what you know, just as you did when you were with her, and hopefully you can find peace without feeling lost.

1

Many times at high speeds and at times flipping and rolling to a stop. There could be something, but if he/she/it hasn’t made them self known, they can’t be that important.

1

Sorry for your loss. Grief can be hard. Especially if it's a first, a long lived relationship, or traumatic. Either way, I don't think a religious belief system would be helpful to cope with grief. But I've seen it mask feelings with delusions that eventually fade. I suggest instead to learn to answer a few questions. Why is it painful to lose someone? What can be done about that pain? How to honor your experience? How to recognize your loss and still live in meaningful ways. How does the future gain from your experience.... a close friend has a long standing quote he uses in times of loss. "Out of the bad, comes the good". It wasn't much comfort in the early stages of mourning, but over time, there were lessons and realizations that were positive. Anyway.... my sympathies in regards to your loss. The pain changes over time 🤗

1

Sorry for your loss. As for your question, given the enormity of our universe, infinity, how can we be so sure we have the ultimate answer? Both you, your friend, and me and everybody, are barking up the wrong tree by our unwillingness to live with doubt. Any proof is impossible and far beyond us. To definitely believe or definitely not believe is the same misguidance. What is left is how we conduct our lives, our values, and our ability to love and be loved. So once again, sorry for your loss. Love is all that matters.

thank you

Ah, where to begin. How can we be so sure we have the ultimate answer? Your own bio says you're 100% sure there is a god. That is the very definition of hypocrisy but I wouldn't expect anything else from a believer when there is no credible evidence of any gods and nothing else in nature to suggest that anything like a god is even possible. Any proof is impossible and far beyond us? Just how do you know that or did you just make it up? Try to be honest.

I resent your judgment in saying that people who rely on evidence are "barking up the wrong tree" and "misguided". We are the only ones who can prove what we say. Love is certainly not the only thing that matters and life is not a bowl of cherries. By now you have a responsibility to be thinking beyond what your parents required you to believe.

@LovinLarge It happens a lot here that someone presumes to be rude and a know-it-all. You called me a hypocrite. You instructed me on how to be and claimed I was dishonest. Wow! You resent my opinion instead of just disagreeing and letting it be. Who do you think you are to foist your ill will on me? You would do well to concentrate on learning tact and kindness. We don't think alike. So what? I have a right to my opinion, as do you. I would never attack you for your way of thinking. How dare you attack me! In addition, you know nothing about my parents. You presume to know a lot about me and how I was raised. Boy, are you off base there. You have no idea of where I am coming from or who I am.

Sorry to see that you have been hurt because your atheism. That took a lot of courage. I have not been where you have been and visa versa. I have had my battles, too. I am not the enemy. I was never forced to believe anything and was never a Christian. Yet, I too, am an iconoclast and have then, and now, paid the price. What I see, and I could be wrong, is that you are a very educated person harboring a lot of hostility. You can't take it out on me. If what I say about you is true, then I wish for you some peace.

I see on this site how most Christians have seriously hurt a lot of people as well as our entire country by forcing their beliefs on others while being cruel and immoral, themselves. Just look at the events on January 6th.

My life at 87, so far, has not been a "bowl of cherries," as you said. Whatever I have achieved has been hard won and I certainly do not need your advice to think beyond my fictitious parents.

I know I have rambled on here, but I am torn with anger at your attitude toward me and, then, after thinking about you, realizing that you are acting out your anger at having been made to suffer for your beliefs. So courage is not enough when the problem over takes us...but...love, which requires a lot of inner strength, is definitely enough.

I wish you love.

@think-beyond

  1. I called your comment hypocritical and provided supporting evidence of it.

  2. I didn't instruct you on how to be although you did exactly that to me ("You would do well to concentrate on learning tact and kindness" ).

  3. I didn't claim you were dishonest although I could have.

  4. I didn't foist anything on you, I just called you on your nonsense.

  5. You attacked my way of thinking when you called it "barking up the wrong tree" and misguided. .

  6. Your comments are nonsensical and nonfactual.
    Opinions based on fantasy are not equivalent to opinions based on fact.

@LovinLarge I have spent a lot of time editing my message. I hope you read it and then, if you persist in your attack, go away. You know nothing about my life and I certainly do not need someone to destroy my peace and senselessly argue with me. I do not deserve your unpleasantness. You don't need to have the last word. Leave me alone.

@think-beyond I see you edited your comment after I responded to it and then commented again. I'm just not interested enough in any more of your nonsense to bother reading them.

@think-beyond well said.

@Canndue I really appreciate that. Thank you.

1

No, god etc just makes no sense

0

Sorry for your loss. Been there a few times. I've known some people who experienced complicated grief. It helps to know the difference and when to get help.

0
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