Every time I offer amputation up as a solution everyone looks at me like I have a third eye. They do the same thing when I ask them if they want to invest in stringless parachutes.
I had the same lingering feeling even years after I gave up on religion, but got fed up with silence when 9/11 happened. Sought my first online atheists shortly after 9/11 because of an atheist nurse AP opinion column out of Chicago that went national including my local paper. After reading her concern about all the God talk in the wake of the event, it motivated me to seek out other atheists. I remember searching the word "atheist" and wondering if I was going to be clicking on a hate group or cult site. It took me less than a week to realize how silly that fear was.
Now as far as thinking there is a God, do cockroaches and bacteria have gods? Do their gods threaten you with a cockroach or bacteria hell because you didn't pick their gods? Do you mourn when a tree dies? Think about what it felt like before you were born, it will feel exactly the same after you die.
The good news is that there is no cosmic dictator using bribes and threats to control you, anymore than Thor is the cause of lightening. Your feelings are natural, but an unfortunate result of your conditioning. You can get over it simply by thinking about all the gods you already reject rightfully, and simply add one more to that list.
I had the same lingering feeling even years after I gave up on religion, but got fed up with silence when 9/11 happened. Sought my first online atheists shortly after 9/11 because of an atheist nurse AP opinion column out of Chicago that went national including my local paper. After reading her concern about all the God talk in the wake of the event, it motivated me to seek out other atheists. I remember searching the word "atheist" and wondering if I was going to be clicking on a hate group or cult site. It took me less than a week to realize how silly that fear was.
Now as far as thinking there is a God, do cockroaches and bacteria have gods? Do their gods threaten you with a cockroach or bacteria hell because you didn't pick their gods? Do you mourn when a tree dies? Think about what it felt like before you were born, it will feel exactly the same after you die.
The good news is that there is no cosmic dictator using bribes and threats to control you, anymore than Thor is the cause of lightening. Your feelings are natural, but an unfortunate result of your conditioning. You can get over it simply by thinking about all the gods you already reject rightfully, and simply add one more to that list.
