My father is an atheist and left my mom when I was a baby and never paid a dime to my mom in the form of child support. My dad was the worst father on the planet. Should I assume that all atheists are bad parents? The complexity of the human brain and spirit is extremely powerful. Some people are willing to sacrifice anything to help provide a better life for their children while other people could not care less if they never met their own children. No set of religious beliefs (or lack of religious beliefs) has the ability to fix this problem. It is the human ability to have faith that separates us from every other living creature in the universe. Have faith your father has a deep love for your well being but is unable to respect your individual beliefs. Your situation is not unique to the human condition. Try to forgive your father for his inability to understand and respect your point of view. Personally, I believe in God but I question if hell really exists.
For example, if you don't believe in some type of creator then you either believe that all matter has existed forever with no beginning or all matter was magically created from nothing with no creator. I tend to believe there was some type of higher power that led to the creation of all matter.
I also believe this higher power has the ability to judge our soul in a way that we will never understand. For example, how would our creator judge the soul of man that was raised by a crazy mother or father and had no other positive influences in their life as a child. Would it be a surprise to learn this child grew up with a dark soul? Or what about a child that had a very loving mother and father but the child grew up to be a serial killer? Maybe God will judge the child that grew up without good parents differently than the child that had good parents. This is just one small example. But, I believe there is a creator and I also believe this creator has the ability to look into each of our souls independently. I would like to believe that a place like hell does not really exist but there are some forms of evil present in the human form that cannot be explained.
Anyway, please try to forgive your father. I would give anything to have the opportunity to have a relationship with my father...even if he was an atheist who didn't respect my faith. Don't blame religion for your father's faults...he just cares about you more than you can comprehend and he doesn't know how to deal with your belief system because he may believe it will negatively effect your soul. Hopefully your father can become faithful that his God will judge your spirit kindly regardless of your faith. I think God judges us at a deeper level than that.
For example, if you don't believe in some type of creator then you either believe that all matter has existed forever with no beginning or all matter was magically created from nothing with no creator. I tend to believe there was some type of higher power that led to the creation of all matter.
I also believe this higher power has the ability to judge our soul in a way that we will never understand. For example, how would our creator judge the soul of man that was raised by a crazy mother or father and had no other positive influences in their life as a child. Would it be a surprise to learn this child grew up with a dark soul? Or what about a child that had a very loving mother and father but the child grew up to be a serial killer? Maybe God will judge the child that grew up without good parents differently than the child that had good parents. This is just one small example. But, I believe there is a creator and I also believe this creator has the ability to look into each of our souls independently. I would like to believe that a place like hell does not really exist but there are some forms of evil present in the human form that cannot be explained.
Anyway, please try to forgive your father. I would give anything to have the opportunity to have a relationship with my father...even if he was an atheist who didn't respect my faith. Don't blame religion for your father's faults...he just cares about you more than you can comprehend and he doesn't know how to deal with your belief system because he may believe it will negatively effect your soul. Hopefully your father can become faithful that his God will judge your spirit kindly regardless of your faith. I think God judges us at a deeper level than that.
