new athiest missing the blissful ignorance of theory of god

[ITChick]

Hehe. that is an easy question to answer. There was only one god that threatened me with eternal suffering when I was too little to know any better.

Despite my better judgement, that is the one that I am still scared off, and the one I will repent to.

Hope you're lucid on your deathbed, or you're gonna be stuck with us! Not that I'm bad company, or anything...

Hehe, my rational mind hopes that I wont' end up in heaven as well

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

That word "theory" - I do not think it means what you think it means.

[Searching4truth]

it comes and goes for me. Sometimes I miss the ignorance of having a supreme being provide for my every need but mostly I experience great fear in dying and ceasing to exist-which is quite funny because thats when ill care the least. It shows me how desparate we are for eternal life. its easier sometimes than others for me to come to terms with things being the way they are than to live a lie hoping for something that will never come. but I play drums in a christian praise and worship band and love the music and atmosphere but sometimes I feel like im in a prison when they pray and talk about God doing this or that. I did join as a xtian and fell from the christian belief after. regardless, I care about these people so I keep my beliefs to myself. some people need that hope or theyll have nothing to live for. so then is it really wrong? I dont think so unless they start pushing their beliefs on others or condemning those of different beliefs to hell. the people I play with arent that kind of 'christian' so until they ask me my thoughts on God I will keep my beliefs to myself. when that day comes, ill see if im still in the band, lol. if not then ill retract my previous statements.

rant over

anyhow I could use someone to talk to also sometimes and im available to talk anytime too

[Jiggerj]

I'm going from Quaker to agnostic and now athiest. I've seen the light, so to speak. I find myself missing that the theory of prayer and the actual thought it would be heard and might happen. Now that I've come to the realization that is totally outrageous, I'm feeling the loss of that ignorant calm. Has anyone else dealt with this? How have you dealt with this? Keep in mind I'm new.

LOL Welcome to the light. But, please tell me, why is it that prayer caved in your religious beliefs while you completely overlooked the utterly outrageous premise of an ALL-knowing, ALL-powerful, inVISible being who is everywhere (watching you 24/7 even while you're taking a dump), who created the WHOLE universe, who lives in another dimension called heaven, who is perfect in every way, who was never born and will never die, and will condemn you to an eternity in hell for what you do in the 80 or so years you do here?

[Norfolk And Chance]

Despite my better judgement, that is the one that I am still scared off, and the one I will repent to.

But you might just collapse and die suddenly and without warning, without even a split second for a thought.

How are you going to repent then?

[Argy]

This is how I dealt with the loss of prayer, which I think is actually the realisation that you have no one to help you gain control in uncontrollable situations.

I did it slowly by NOT praying for things I used to pray for.

Choose something small by not praying for god to help you find your keys. When you find them anyway it will show you that prayer is actually not that helpful.

Slowly start praying for less and less things. Exams, beating the traffic, etc. all the way up to healing for loved ones.

If you fall back into old habits don't worry. Realise it is part of the process. I prayed to god to help me find my dogs when they ran away, the other night. I realised that prayer for the minor slip up that it was, and determined not to pray that again, in future.

Finally, keep reminding yourself that you, your friends and your family have really been the ones helping with life's hardships, and they are all still available to you.

All the best.

[Zazzy]

What's wrong with praying to a god you no longer believe in, if it makes you feel better? Praying is hoping and wishing and meditation, and those things aren't bad. Why is it weirder to preface it with "dear god" instead of "dear diary" or "dear [insert best friend's name]"?

Is it the action of prayer that's soothing, or the belief that god is listening?

[LastPoet]