(June 1, 2015 at 9:16 am)robvalue Wrote: Hey, that's great to hear! I'm glad it has helped you being here
Regarding damnation, any god who isn't a complete jerk would surely never punish you for using your brain and being honest. And I'm sure he would prefer someone leading a good, worthwhile life to someone always praying for favours and grovelling on the floor to storybook characters they know can't be real.
If it is really the God of the bible, which is pretty much a guaranteed impossibility, he's such an evil lying crazy jerk that nothing you do is going to make much difference to his erratic temper tantrum decision making. I'm sure over time the image of this foul, angry God (why does he have all these human emotions?) will fade, and you'll be able to put it firmly behind you
I hope you continue to feel stronger, it's great to have you on the forum!
Thanks Rob

The main thing it's done for me - coming here - is made my atheism real rather than an abstract concept; most of my friends IRL are atheists but we don't have the sorts of debates to be found on this site - we don't talk about atheism or religion at all really. But by not talking about it we don't validate our feelings and that in itself leads to uncertainty and doubt. No man is an island and all that. So by coming here and actually voicing (well, posting) my feelings and opinions it has made them a lot more real and concrete to me. The psychological effect of that really cannot be underestimated - it's absolutely amazing. Likewise seeing other people voice similar and other concerns, with total conviction, has helped to remove doubts and strengthen my opinions even more. So in other words the whole thing has been very therapeutic.