FInally stopped lying to myself, now a little lost.

[Walking Void]

Hookakat,

Your safety net was blocking You from the ground. Now You can literally be down to earth.

[Minimalist]

You're going to fit right in, Hook.

[Kayenneh]

Hello and welcome to AF! ^_^

It's always a bit of a shock to lose one's faith, isn't it? But don't worry, it'll get better. You just have to fill your own life with meaning and think new things through, it requires a little bit more work, but it's worth it.

[Doubting Thomas]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm having a hard time trying to understand the sense of loss that a lot of people feel when losing their religion. To me personally it felt like throwing off the shackles from my mind and finally being able to live free without the constant oppression of some all-powerful, loving but angry and vindictive being and his eternal torture pit which was all in my mind and placed there by people I trusted.

[Savannahw]

Hello and Welcome. Have a cookie

[pocaracas]

Hello and welcome!
How have I not welcomed you yet?!.... ah, I read this thread on my mobile.... yes.. hmmm....

Right, lost bit... I can't help there.
I've consciously been an atheist since I was 10... and before that... I can't remember.
I remember thinking that everyone around me was convinced of this thing which could very well not be true... How could they not see it?
Then I learned I wasn't the only one, and life went on.
But this feeling lost is something that I never had... try to think of it as losing something you never had... something you only thought you had. hmmmmm that may lead to more problems.... heck, I don't know.... see a professional... but not a religious one

[Jaysyn]

Welcome to the AF.

[hookakat1]

Thanks for all the welcomes. It's nice to know there's a place I can let all of this out.

[pineapplebunnybounce]

hi welcome

for your parents, you may want to consider if you could convince them that you won't be going to hell. I failed to do so with mine, now i wish i never told them because while they're not trying to convert me, i'm sure it worries them. While i haven't reached the point where i may go back into the closet so my mum won't worry ... i haven't ruled it out yet.

[Rahul]

I'm not fooling myself anymore but I do feel like I've lost a family member or loved one. I feel like a safety net I had always counted on being there was never there in the first place.
And that's me and where I am right now. Eyes open to the truth but living in a world that seems less magical to me. It's a bummer.

Welcome Hookakat. I know what you're going through buddy. I've been there. I was around 30-31 when I came to the inevitable conclusion.

That "personal relationship" I had with god, the delusion of it, it's loss does kind of make you feel a little empty.

I think I spent the first couple of years just... I don't know. Ignoring it or something.

But the world being less magical? heh. No, my friend. This is when the magical time starts.

There is a great intro to a book, I think a book about evolution, that it really makes you sit back and realize how absolutely fucking amazing it is that you and I are here. That we even exist. I looked all over for it just now and I can't seem to find it.

Here, on this little pale blue dot, life started. And for around 4 billion years it's been adapting and fight and scrounging, passing on their genetic material all those eons. Swimming in the oceans, crawling up on shore, scurrying from cover to cover, climbing the trees and swinging through the branches. And then eventually coming down, striding on two legs, fighting, struggling, competing. And all those lines came together in the most astronomically exact, perfectly timed way to create you.

One little tiny thing happening to any of your incalculable ancestors and poof! You would have never drawn breath, my friend.

That's not magical? That's insanely magical!

Way more magical than some sky magician deciding to create you as one among billions of others.

The feeling of emptiness will fade. Now it's time for you to find out the reality of where you came from.

Have you ever read Cosmos by Carl Sagan. That's one of my favorites. It's dated since Carl died in '96, but it still really makes you sit back at times and think, "Wow!"

If you need anything, want to talk, anything at all. You let me know. Us emancipated Christians need to watch out for each other.

Stay away from Tartarus. He's a troublemaker.