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Comment by jdthedisciple

9 months ago

Thank you for sharing, much respect to you.

I was wondering, are you looking into religion at all? Does your inner self sometimes suggest to you that there is a God, and do you feel an urge to pray to Him?

Not that you asked my advice but as a believer I would ofc gently nudge you to do so. I believe with conviction that the doors to God are wide open until the very moment we breath our last.

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jdthedisciple

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ItsHarper  9 months ago

I'm not the person you responded to, but In my experience most people who choose the label of "atheist" have spent time looking into religion. The nonreligious people who haven't are much more likely to just describe themselves as non-religious.

As an atheist, the only time or two I've felt an urge to pray has been when I've felt very alone, and missed the comfort that came from praying and believing that someone with real power was listening. If that's what you believe, of course that's going to feel comforting (plus it provides opportunity for mindfulness and reflection).

Both fortunately and unfortunately, Christianity (which you did not mention, but your language is consistent with) did not hold up to scrutiny for me, so that full level of comfort isn't there, but thankfully many of the benefits can be found in meditation.

  • protonbob  9 months ago

    If you’re looking for comfort in Christianity, I agree that you aren’t going to find it. Jesus explicitly says that we will suffer in this life. There are comforts in the Christian life but on the whole, it’s not a tool for finding “benefits” or feeling fulfilled.

    • ItsHarper  9 months ago

      I'd certainly have agreed with that! But it's only the occasional comfort it brought me that I miss, obviously I don't miss making sacrifices in exchange for an afterlife I don't believe in.

  • int_19h  9 months ago

    The comfort that religion such as Christianity gives is in the belief that any suffering is temporary and meaningful, while the state of non-suffering that shall follow will be permanent.

    • altprivacypls  9 months ago

      As an atheist who still holds up some religion mostly because of fear, I genuinely fear very small outcomes and sometimes I genuinely feel like luck is on my side when statistically it shouldn't have been and then I praise the "lord"

      I wasn't born into christianity but rather hinduism.

      My critique of your statement is that I personally don't see any difference b/w suffering and non suffering in an infinite scale, our bodies will adjust to it.... suffering has its meaning because its finite.

      You could very vaguely quantify suffering at a neurological level,I think.

      But the meaning of the suffering is derived from its temporal nature. If suffering is permanent, my point is, is that there would be no difference b/w suffering or euphoria.

      There are other critiques as well.

      I just don't understand, I know why I follow religion, its mostly fear and some really lucky moments.

      I don't wish to pray to god, I wish to pray to universe in some sense. Thanking the universe, I just have named it god because I find him more approachable..., more personal I guess, but I know its fiction.

      1 reply →

figure8  9 months ago

You do realize that that's also likely true for all the thousands of Gods that've ever been imagined by humans? So I am gently nudging you to consider praying to them as well, just to be on the safe side. ;)

  • wing-_-nuts  9 months ago

    >I am gently nudging you to consider praying to them as well, just to be on the safe side. ;)

    Lol do you guys remember Benny, from the mummy? There was a scene where he was going through necklaces of various religions, praying, and that's the image I can't get out of my head right now.

    • pdimitar  9 months ago

      How could I forget? One of the funniest scenes in movies for me, ever, to this day, and I am 45.

  • jdthedisciple  9 months ago

    I don't pray to God "just to be on the safe side".

    I pray to God because I have come to know Him from within my deepest inner self.

    I haven't come to know any other God besides the Almighty and Most Merciful, Who created the cosmos and everything in it.

    • altprivacypls  9 months ago

      I think I disagree, I may be wrong, I usually am but here's what I think:-

      I have looked into christianity from an atheist's critique and I read that in christianity, if you did even a minor sin (which I guess everybody does, because nobody's perfect), then all you have to do is, is say that Jesus didn't die in vain and you can go to heaven because all sins are forgettable.

      This idea of all sins are forgettable is also in hinduism, with bathing in river ganga as well.

      To me, I wonder, if Jesus exists, And some guy just worshipped him but he was a really bad guy, would he go into heaven? and Because the only sin unforgettable in if so, why should I really obey the christianity is being a skeptic of the religion/ blasphemy which is really ironic I guess, better make people worried about hell and if they question it, they automatically fall into it.

      To be honest, there have been some really lucky instances in my life when If I ask god for something, he truly gives me that thing, I mostly ask for study related marks, like going to an exam hall without studying and still getting really decent marks imo compared to others simply because the exam was way tougher than expected and I am sitting like wow, I didn't realize the exam was tough because of my own issue of time issue... great....

      I know it seems really petty that I believe in god / reject god because of fear/reward, but I genuinely don't know. All rational thinking really leads me to an idea that we haven't found God yet...,

      If I have to believe in anything, if anything spiritual, it might be the idea of karma. I want to die knowing that if somebody bullies me sometimes and I don't speak back because I can say some really vile things but then there won't be any difference b/w me and them. So I just sit, I know that it hurts listening to them and probably try my best to ignore them but they still know that it hurts, so they try to chip me away..., I try to think of the best things I can speak that can make them realize I am not OKAY with their shit. I want to probably die knowing that me not shit talking back/ being pacifist has its value. IDK.... , maybe I am too weak and skinny. I legit never thought I am gonna get bullied but I guess some people are messed up

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Timwi  9 months ago

I sometimes really wish religious people would engage in the reflection they expect from others and start to realize how offensive this is, especially to someone on their deathbed.