How I feel about my atheism and why I'd encourage religion

[Mozart Link]

As one last final concluding post I will make here is that I realize that the opening post I made is very long and might not get my point across. Therefore, I have made a brief summary right here in this post of the message that I was trying to get across. It has some of the same content with some new content. So here it is:

I'm an atheist and even though I'm well aware of the fact that there is no afterlife and no God and that we have to make the best of the life we have, this is how I feel anyway. Even though I'm an atheist, I truly wish I wasn't. I'd rather be the dumbest person on Earth who believes in a God and afterlife than be a smart young man who is logical and doesn't believe. My personality is someone who embraces and is empowered/inspired by mystical god-like things (the world of Zelda since it has mystical god-like things, as well as anime such as Bleach, Inuyasha, etc.). Therefore, this personality of mine detests atheism itself and views it as inferior to my "superior mystically empowered personality."

Most people who are atheists would have the personality of an atheist in that they would embrace the fact that there is no God and no afterlife when we die. However, for me, my atheism does not change my personality and these two things clash. Since I hate atheism itself, this is why I would hate to have the personality of an atheist. For me, it would be a personality that this life itself wants me to have through all of its "inferior concepts" (such as life being full of struggles and, of course, no God and no afterlife). I wish to have a personality that defies those things and which I view as superior for me as well as superior to these concepts of life I perceive as inferior which is the reason why this personality of mine is still fully intact. I realize though that life has no meaning and it's whatever meaning we give it. Therefore, these concepts of life that I view as inferior are actually neither inferior nor superior, they are "as is." However, I still completely feel this way anyway.

I have no anger or hate towards atheists (just towards atheism itself). I made this post to see if there's anyone like me here whose personality also clashes with their atheism.

[rexbeccarox]

The only thing atheists have in common, as a rule, is their lack of belief in deities.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

It really depends on the individual - there are people who get depressed because religious teachings conflict with their personality. Imagine being gay and having family members who say you're going to hell because you're in a relationship with someone you love.

What's the big deal about going to hell? Even Jesus went to hell. According to the fairy tale it's temporary and everyone in hell will get out on Judgment Day. And guess what? Some will get to move into the gaudy bejeweled golden cube called New Jerusalem and kick back with God and his weird creatures.

If you don't get warehoused in hell then you have to spend time in the sea or in death. But even those are temporary until Judgment Day. So when someone says that you're going to hell just tell them that chances are they will be there as well.

[Whateverist]

I'm an atheist and even though I'm well aware of the fact that there is no afterlife and no God and that we have to make the best of the life we have, this is how I feel anyway. Even though I'm an atheist, I truly wish I wasn't.

.
.

I have no anger or hate towards atheists (just towards atheism itself). I made this post to see if there's anyone like me here whose personality also clashes with their atheism.

How can you hate atheism? What is there to hate? It is just a word to indicate the same lack of belief in gods you too profess not to have. You seem to have a notion of what sort of personality one must have who does not believe in gods. I strongly doubt that. I find a wide spectrum of personalities who reject belief in gods.

Frankly I don't really know what you're getting at. There is something you liked about believing. I don't regret having been brought up in a religion. But I have no desire to go back to it. Perhaps you're more freshly out of religion? I don't really feel you.

[Mozart Link]

Finally, I'm going to add something here that will help you understand my perspective. Imagine a fictional character who lives in a fantasy world in which there is an afterlife and this character has all the god-like powers of immortality and such and can overcome any problem in his/her life at his/her own will. Now from there imagine that this character be brought into this world and now lives a life in which there is no God, no afterlife, he/she is no longer immortal, and he/she now has to deal with problems just like the rest of us. I bet you can imagine how this character would feel. This character would obviously view these aspects of life as inferior to him/her. I've embraced fantasy so much it's as though I'm already a fictional character who is obviously already aware of these aspects of life. In other words, I have given myself this "god-like fantasy" perception from my empowerment from the world of fantasy and I am viewing the world and its concepts through that perception (which is the very reason why I am viewing these atheist concepts of life as inferior). Therefore, I already have the perception of a fantasy character who has immortality, god-like powers and such which is the reason why I feel that these atheist concepts of life are inferior to me.

[Rampant.A.I.]

Everyone experiences being a part of their own fictional narrative to some degree.

I've been writing a Sci-Fi epic for more than 10 years now, about a guy with repressed memories, and a group of friends who save the world. The main character has biomechanical armor passed down from his father, who trained him not unlike a Jedi, and is basically immortal.

It will probably never be published, even though it spans 1000s of pages, and I've planned major plot points to fill at least 5 series books.

Everyone does this, whether they fictionalize it or simply daydream.

We have this innate idea that our POV makes us so important, there is no way we are just one insignificant person out of 7.1 billion. Our POV, and the act of building a cohesive narrative that explains, often retroactively, our day to day actions creates this illusion of primacy, as part of the experience of being human.

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2014/01/07/y...less-dumb/

Erik Wielenberg did an interview on the Reasonable Doubts podcast, where he basically argued that since we cannot trust God not to lie, there's no reason to trust anything God promises, save for the fact that it might be comforting and God wants us to believe it for that reason, not unlike a parent protecting their child from a harsh reality.

Roberto Benini in "Life is Beautiful" concocts a fantastic "game" version of what is happening to his character and his son in a concentration camp during WW II.

God, as an idea, as a cultural concept, tells us that we are special and unique as individuals, above the rest of the animal kingdom, and can be immortal.

There's an episode of Showtime's "Dexter," where Dexter is talking to the memory of his long dead father about raising children. Harry has an extended monologue about the importance of religion, and while each of them know full well there is no god, Dexter has the choice to raise his children to believe what he wants them to believe.

To me, including a weeping naked John Lithgow, this is the single most disturbing moment in the entire series.

Deprive your children of a personal relationship with reality, because you think you yourself would be more comfortable believing in an afterlife, and divine justice.

And yet we see, every day, that this is exactly what's happened to western society. Parents indoctrinating their children into a system of belief they find comforting. Re-indoctrinating themselves, by rejecting contrary evidence and choosing to "have faith" and maintain irrational beliefs above critical examination, simply because they are "more pleasant" than reality.

On the other hand, it's entirely possible to give up on childish beliefs, but still approach life like a child, with a sense of wonder, even in the mundane.

We don't need an afterlife, or an ultimate struggle between Good and Evil to enjoy life, or advance as a species. Whether or not the original authors of biblical mythology realized it, the book is a collection of tropes and archetypes human beings have been subconsciously expressing over and over to ourselves for millennia.

In fact, the reason Star Wars was a successful franchise is it hits the same tropes and archetypes as the bible does.

A hero, born into nothing, discovers powers within himself he didn't think possible, rises to power through incredible adversity, colored strange lands beyond what he knew existed, and martyrs himself in some way for a greater good, and becomes immortalized as a hero.

It's the same story we tell ourselves until the day we die, and hope to reboot through our children, who we assure ourselves will succeed where we have failed, and triumph where we didn't.

Getting caught in the dogma ruins it.

[Zidneya]

I'm going to add something here that will help you understand my perspective. Imagine a fictional character who lives in a fantasy world in which there is an afterlife and this character has all the god-like powers of immortality and such and can overcome any problem in his/her life at his/her own will. Now from there imagine that this character be brought into this world and now lives a life in which there is no God, no afterlife, he/she is no longer immortal, and he/she now has to deal with problems just like the rest of us. I bet you can imagine how this character would feel. This character would obviously view these aspects of life as inferior to him/her. I've embraced fantasy so much it's as though I'm already a fictional character who is obviously already aware of these aspects of life.

Theres a movie about that it's called "Last Action Hero" and what happens it's exactly the opposite of that.

And just like you my personality is someone who embraces and is empowered/inspired by mystical god-like things (Neo genesis evangelion, Dragon Ball Z, Naruro, To aru majitsu no Index, Warcraft.). Therefore, this personality of mine loves atheism itself and views it as superior to my "spoiled mystically empowered personality."

For me, it would be a personality that this life itself wants me to have through all of its "inferior concepts" (such as life being full of struggles and, of course, no God and no afterlife).

I have no anger or hate towards atheists (just towards atheism itself). I made this post to see if there's anyone like me here whose personality also clashes with their atheism.

Mid life crisis is gonna hit you like a shovel

- When I'll achieve happiness?
- When you see replied the teacher.
- When i see ... what?
- Trees and flowers, and the moon, and the stars ...
- But those things I see every day ...
- No. What you see are trees of paper, paper flowers, paper moons and stars paper. Because you do not live in reality but in your words and thoughts. And, to top it off, unfortunately you live a life of paper and you will die a death of paper.

[Confused Ape]

It really depends on the individual - there are people who get depressed because religious teachings conflict with their personality. Imagine being gay and having family members who say you're going to hell because you're in a relationship with someone you love.

What's the big deal about going to hell? Even Jesus went to hell. According to the fairy tale it's temporary and everyone in hell will get out on Judgment Day. And guess what? Some will get to move into the gaudy bejeweled golden cube called New Jerusalem and kick back with God and his weird creatures.

It depends which version of Christianity the person believes in.

Is Hell Eternal

Unquenchable Fire

Some believe that the fires of hell are symbolic and/or temporal. But the following verses show that they are not.

Is hell eternal? Yes it is. Are its fires without end? Yes they are. Is it a pleasant doctrine to discuss? Not really. But, hell is real.

If you don't get warehoused in hell then you have to spend time in the sea or in death. But even those are temporary until Judgment Day.

Again it depends on which version of Christianity the person believes in. Being worried about going to hell because of a relationship with someone they love along with having family members turning against them is enough to make some people depressed.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

You're not an atheist, mate.

Boru

[Mr Greene]

Ah, the 'belief is comforting' BS...
This is one that is guaranteed to make my blood boil because it is an utter sham.
The concept that I should support a blatant lie and hate mongering scam because it might provide an emotional crutch to an emotional cripple just ain't gonna wash. It's just scamming the emotionally vulnerable out of their savings when we should be protecting them from these immoral thieves.