New Atheist, depressed, and wondering how to cope with reality.

[dyresand]

As far as depression goes.. i guess keep yourself busy don't hang with people that will end up getting you in bad habbits.
Keep your head up i mean here is a little saying you are alive you are one of the lucky sperm you got a chance to live i mean that is some
impressive luck on your end you were probably punching and kicking to get to that egg before the other sperm could.

[Cyberman]

Depression =/= feeling a bit down. Positive thinking only gets you so far, if at all. It's a little like advising someone with a broken leg to just walk it off and they'll feel better.

[Creed of Heresy]

So, now instead of seeing Jesus as the savior and son of God, I see him as a teacher of good morals

Nnnuuuuu, he was nooot. *vehemently shakes head. Imagine it now. Good. Yes. I am that pretty.(1)*

He went around forgiving crimes and injustices committed by others towards others in his own name. That would imply he himself felt he was the wronged party, and the actually wronged parties' were not a consideration.

If morality (a subjective thing, sure, but I'm sure we can agree to a far extent on some of the necessities of good moral values) entails fairness and justice, he was immoral by way of ensuring no justice was done to the wronged parties. Additionally, he was also a liar by telling his apostles that he had cured the sick and infirm and the blind and so forth, or had his apostles make those claims for him to others.

There is also an instance in which he is eating with a poor family and they had this urn of a very expensive perfume that was going to be used for some other important thing they were going to do, and he had convinced them he was the son of god; someone in the home, without the permission of the others, dumped the perfume upon him, and when the others expressed outrage, he basically said "you can always get more perfume, but you will only have one me." In other words he was completely apathetic to their poverty and limited possessions because he was so up his own ass that he felt himself superior to their interests and plans.

Then there's the whole thing where he proudly stated that he intended to bring war and strife and division in his own name. He cared not if war and strife hurt others, as long as it was in his own name.

He was a narcissistic jerk, a liar, and an arrogant toad. Bible thumping delusionists proclaim this all to be totally justified because he was the son of god but those of us who do not believe in god or Hay-seuss's self-proclaimed divinity and unwarranted self-importance see it for what it is; the selfish acts of a selfish jag-on.

(1)

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Also, how pervasive is your depression? Is it a constant? Also, if your girlfriend dumps you because you're an atheist now, then she's not worth having in your life, anyways. If she cannot accept you for you, then, as Haddaway put it...

"WHAT IS LOVE! BABY DON'T HURT ME, DON'T HURT ME, NO MORE!"

[IanHulett]

Also, how pervasive is your depression? Is it a constant?

It's an off and on thing. It's part of my Bipolar Disorder. The peak of the depression phase was back in early September when I was suicidal, sad all the time, lethargic, lacked interest in life, etc. Things have been getting a lot better since but I'm still miserable quite often thanks to the issue with death and also wanting the world to be something it will never be in my lifetime.

[Whateverist]

It's a good trick, I'll give him that.

I've done that. Other times I just make shit up.

I can be such a heinous anus sometimes.

Bolding mine

[robvalue]

Jesus is a good moral teacher if and only if you select just the moral teaching which you already know are good moral teachings and ignore the rest. So really, you're just repeating what you already know. If you tried to follow his teachings on any of the ones you have disregarded, you're going to get into trouble.

[goodwithoutgod]

Hey guys. I ended up deconverting from Christianity, and am now a Christian Atheist. So, now instead of seeing Jesus as the savior and son of God, I see him as a teacher of good morals and reject the existence of a God or Gods in the absence of evidence. But unlike a lot of people on YouTube, I will not claim to know that there is no God, I will only be in the position that I don't see evidence to back up the claim that he is real and so I cannot know for a fact that one exists, so I will reject the claim unless evidence is provided.

I've been fighting the deconversion process ever since I've started watching MrRepzion, TheAmazingAtheist, The Drunken Peasants, Thunderf00t, etc. The youtube atheist channels are the reason I ended up becoming an atheist. I fought hard to try and keep my faith, but in the end, I guess Science always wins no matter how hard you fight. This was the video that dealt the fatal blow:





My only problem, is now my dreams of wanting to become a Christian Singer Songwriter are shattered, I now believe that when my family passes, that's it. I'll never see them again, I'm too afraid to come out to my mother as an Atheist because none of my siblings ended up remaining Christian and I was her only success story, and I don't want to break her heart, and I worry my Christian girlfriend will be forced by her parents to break up with me, or she'll break up with me herself.

So, here I am, new atheist, depressed, trapped and now asking, how do you cope with all this? Thanks a bunch.

Recognize it is a loss, and loss is dealt with by grief, and the stages of grief are..

1) Shock and denial. As you heard your inner voice say ...this is BS..and you fought that with complete denial, making excuses, trying to convince yourself that it just had to be true...

2) Pain and guilt. You feel guilty for not believing, the stronger your faith was, the stronger the pain.

3) Anger. The anger sets in, this IS all BS, they lied to me...I have wasted so much life on this lie..

4) Depression, reflection, loneliness. The loss of your faith sets in...you feel empty, alone.....this is the stage most falter on...and some return, just for the community, the feeling of belonging, not wanting to be "one of them"..you used to shake your head at atheists...now you may be one..

5) Acceptance. The upward turn. As you adjusted to life without your faith, your life becomes a little calmer and more organized, your thoughts clearer... Your pain lessens, and your "depression" dissipates, you accept your new found freedom, logic and reason that you can apply to your life to craft conditions to make you confident, assured, happy and successful...without faith. You say to yourself with a smile..."I am an atheist".

You walk strongly down the path of knowledge, knowing you are free to be yourself, without the blindfold of faith and the stranglehold of eternal religious guilt.

Identifying the stages of grief is the key, don't resist them, don't try to speed them up, let the process flow naturally.....re-enforce your newfound wisdom with positive influences, podcasts, books, you-tube videos, embrace the processs, own it, make it yours.

Welcome to your new life....