RE: Let's Start Over, I'm Blackrook and I'm Here to Get Some Answers to Important Questions
September 26, 2012 at 7:31 pm
(September 26, 2012 at 3:04 pm)Blackrook Wrote: Anyway, let's start over.
My name is Blackrook and I'm a Catholic in crisis and I'm here to get some answers to some questions I have.
If this was your first post, you would have had a much better experience than you have. Not that you deserve anything better than how you've been treated.
Quote:Catholicism has been a great comfort to me when I had feelings that I didn't want to live, and felt like killing myself.
I felt God's presence, literally reaching out to me and telling me I was loved.
Even now, in my current state of pessimism, I can look forward to something better after my bitter struggle in this world is complete.
Some of us care whether our beliefs are true, or at least likely to be true. The best way to discern this is by basing them on demonstrable evidence and reasoned argument. Not because they make us feel all 'warm and fuzzy'.
That your beliefs helped you through some tough times says nothing about whether they are true or not.
Quote:What can atheism offer to replace that?
Atheism is not a replacement for religious beliefs. It is simply the lack of belief in the existence of gods.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
