(May 4, 2014 at 11:45 am)aces Wrote: I was raised christian. I now believe though that God doesn't really exist, never did.
Where I live this belief is really not tolerated or accepted. In fact I have a church at BOTH ends of my road.
While I'm 95% certain there is no God 5% of me is still like what if there is and I die and go to Hell? But then if a God loved you so much why would he allow you to burn in hell.
Last night a friend looked at me like I had 2 heads because I told her I don't believe I will see God in Heaven because he doesn't exist. Her response was there is proof he walked the earth.
At that point her boyfriend stopped the conversation and changed the subject.
How do you prove or disprove that God existed?
What do you believe happens after you die?
I think all the great things about Heaven are lies. They are made up to help soothe the loss of a loved one that way you are comforted by the fact that they aren't gone forever.
I lost someone very close to me a few years ago in a very tragic way. That is what started my thoughts turning on this process.
First, if there was a god how could he allow such misery? God never gives you more than you can handle, that's bs.
Second, I got to thinking there is no way anyone will see her again in heaven I start really thinking that through and I just think that it is not possible period. That's like make believe, fantasy crap.
I also had a Hospice worker tell me, when religious patients die they go peacefully. Non religuous patients fight it and die scared. She said it doesn't matter what religion they are, any religion they all go peacefully and comforted by their beliefs.
Which makes me think, so every religion has different beliefs but they will all get you to Heaven because they are all correct? That can't be possible either.
I know I'm rambling and my thoughts are unorganized, sorry.
Any advice for me?
First up there's no proof either way for the existence on non existence of any deities..
Theists will provide all sorts of things that they will claim as evidence for their god but it usually comes down to arguments from ignorance, personal experiences, or claims. They will use the bible as their proff, ignoring that the bible is only evidence that people wrote the bible.
Whe you di you're gone. That's it. Or at least that's what I accept and have seen no evidence to the contrary.
I recommend you look up the Thinking Atheist podcasts on YouTube, a number of them deal with loss superbly.
As for the individual who works at the hospice, I have sat with and watched a number of patients die. My experience is the exact opposite: that believers tend to pass fearfully as they still fear eternal punishment, while the non believers are likely to pass more peacefully.
Of course, the above is a generalisation, as people are all individuals and I've seen several cases where the opposite is true.
Playing Cluedo with my mum while I was at Uni:
"You did WHAT? With WHO? WHERE???"
