RE: The need to believe?
July 30, 2017 at 12:48 pm
(This post was last modified: July 30, 2017 at 12:50 pm by Brian37.)
(July 29, 2017 at 7:54 pm)*Deidre* Wrote: Okay, guys, thank youuu. Really. I think lately, I've been all over the place with my feelings. One day, I'm totally resolved. Another day, I'm conflicted. I mean, atheism is a position that actually comes easier to me than religion, tbh. It is a position that makes sense, and it's based on reason and facts. I like how that feels. I'm just trying to manage the rest of it, and find the balance, and I'm getting there. I think that's maybe where this is coming from, the not feeling welcome thing.
I try to be kind and understanding to everyone here, and hope that it's felt.
The feeling you have many have felt. It comes from a lifetime of being told something flawed. Most humans adapt the religion their parents hand down to them.
But it really should not be that hard to figure out.
Between these two examples, which do you think is more likely and which do you think is less likely?
1. There really is a super natural being by any name, pick one out of the countless claimed in human history?
Or.
2. Humans make them up and they are just a projection of their own qualities?
Also keep in mind our species is far older than any written religion or nation. Keep in mind that our planet is 4 billion years old. Keep in mind our universe is 13.8 billion years old.
Does it make sense to you that any type of super cognition would do all that and only wait until 10,000 years ago to finally say something?
Many of us here took weeks, months and even years to go from the initial doubt to fully giving up on the idea. I remember the exact question a co worker asked me that got me to start to doubt, but it took me several more years to give up on it entirely. It would have happened a lot faster if I had my current knowledge back then.
Your fear of "what if I am wrong, and there is a god" is normal, but that is not a good reason to cling to it.
Hedging your bets to be safe "just in case" is what is known as "the fallacy of Pascal's wager".
Trust us, nothing bad will happen to you, there is no sky hero there to threaten or bribe you. You will still have ups and downs in life. But you can view both the good and bad in life as being natural, not super natural.
