My whole life I've grown up in a catholic environment. My parents sent me to private schools and I went to church occasionaly. Yet I still feel this emptyness. I try harder everyday but when I try to find God in my heart I see nothing. So I called myself an agnostic for some time. I was tired of searching and recieving no response or sign. I was plagued by questions such as why God does this or that. I would look for guidence in those around me such as theology teachers but they all gave me some half baked answer. I felt alone with no one to bring sense to my questions. However no matter how much I reject my religion I still felt emptyness. I told myself by forgeting it I would be free, but all I feel is a thirst for answers. Im in confusing point in my life being only 16. It is what I do and believe in now that will shape the man I will become. So I ask myself what would I rather be, agnostic(remain passive the rest of my life doging the questions of life) or remain a christian ( living a life according to the laws of God). I would appreciate any guidence from religious members of this site. And tell me, when you found God, was it more like a point of relization, or something else. I thank you all in advance for your help.
http://theempiricalchurch.blogspot.com/ As the "Empirical church" maybe considered the mind, it is the brotherhood that embodies the heart and therefore acts, literally as the body, in that all efforts put forth by the church are manifested by the will and effort of the members of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is founded on a simple understanding : religions have served to suggest that we humankind are all Gods children. And if this is the case then we are all one family, and therefore brothers and sisters… and well… I do not know about your family, but in my family we do not let our brothers and sisters eat out of trashcans and sleep in the gutter. Our Reasons Why: First: When any intelligent human being reads the scriptures of the many religions, one is struck by the clarity of the concepts of love, compassion for others, of family, and sharing which abounds in page after page, and we find that Jesus speaks over and over about how we should love each other, live and work together, and care about each other as one big family, as did Moses, and Krishna, and Mohammed etc… Therefore it is with this reference to all the world religions that we become aware of the realization that if all of this scripture is to be believed, even a little, then clearly, God, our father in heaven, does not like for any of his children to suffer, and more importantly, it is literally the duty and job of those more fortunate to care for those who are not. What has been missing, is the "intrinsic" understanding of family, where in we all work together as a family, and pool our money for the benefit of the whole. Where we are all permanent members so long as we do our share… Or in the case of the disabled… That they try. Like true brothers and sisters, we take care of each other. Each of us.. Each day… That is what all people want…. Family… Security… To belong to something good, and greater than themselves… Something Important… Something that Matters. They need love. The love of family. The love that humanity, as a family under God should be showing to them… These are simple Christian concepts which no one can deny, yet most find impossible to make workable. All it requires is faith. A faith not specifically in any form of religion, but in realizing that each of us is more valuable than all the gold within all of space, for it is only our souls which may have value to God and be preserved forever, and it should be our duty to insure that each and every soul has as many good memories as possible before death takes them, and as few cold lonely sad painful moments as possible. Thus, the overall quality of our souls is improved. Seventh : The church is fundamentally founded on one belief that should be acceptable to people of all faiths and cultures. "Where there is charity and love, God is there!" Such that it should be the daily effort of all humanity to, by their will and effort commit acts of charity and love when ever possible, for in doing so we increase the level of good and joy and prosperity in our world, and so, it can be imagined that the level of Gods presence is directly increased, and is thus directly a function of our will to be Godly. Twenty three : One of the founding beliefs of the church is that it is not enough to worship God and Jesus, instead we as human beings should make it our daily effort to be Godly, to be like Jesus, and build Gods kingdom now, in our lifetime. Why wait? Calm, rational, adult thinking gives humankind a potential limited only by our imagination. -MT
I've been atheist or agnostic, depends on the time in my life, up until a year ago. I'd say it was more of a realization for me. More info...read my previous posts on why I believe. Got any questions specifically pertaining to science and religion, feel free to ask.
AND iF your interest is purely along the lines of study.. then again.. the Empirical Church... studies all sciences and all scriptures.. specifically with an eye towards understanding creation in an effort to understand the creator... i.e. GOD. it is all we can do... and if mankind survives.. it is what we will do for the next 10 billion years... -MT
Thanks, I really appreciate your intellegent response Mosheh Thezion. And that empiracle church is pretty cool.
Why would one want to find god when there are much more worthwhile and more useful things to find, like internal happiness and self-sufficiency.
Find god ? Hello... Gods are myths. - As Atheism cures tithing, you’ll get an instant 10% raise in take-home pay. - You’re inoculated against Christian suicide cults like People’s Temple or Heaven’s Gate. - Those "voices in your head" claiming to be God can now be cured with a pill. - Hell becomes as phony as the boogie man. - The celestial “Peeping Tom” who watched as you wiped your a** ceases to exist. - You realize there are no ghosts or goblins- really! - There are not, nor ever have been, any “evil spirits” hiding under your bed at night. - Masturbation now cures more anxiety than causes. - Premarital sex no longer causes “guilt hangovers” the next morning. - You can be honest and really hate those you hate- no more pretend Christian “love”. - You can now sleep in on Sunday mornings. - If born gay, you no longer have to lie to yourself. - Money & hope are not wasted on faith healers. - Families are no longer divided over petty religious squabbles. - You no longer have to stay married to people you’ve grown to hate. - Women don’t have to become “brood mares for Jesus” pumping out those kids. - If Catholic, you can now use condoms to prevent infection & death if your spouse has aids. - Girls can now abort pregnancies caused by drunken fathers or football teams. - If Catholic, you can now intelligently plan your family size via birth control. - If Mormon, you can now drink tea, coffee, and coke. - If Mormon, you can now give & receive oral sex, and trash the goofy magic underwear. - If you were a Fundy, you can now drink a toast with friends at weddings. - If you were a Fundy, you’re now allowed to dance and see movies. - If you were a Liberal, you can now be honest about your Atheism. - When you hit your thumb with a hammer, you can now swear like a sailor. - As science advances, you don't have to “circle the wagons” to defend Biblical cosmology. - If mugged, rather than turn the other cheek, you’re now allowed to fight back. - You can lust as nature intended you to without apologies or self-induced guilt. - You can now be rightfully proud of your accomplishments- no more false humility. - If you were a Fundy woman, you can use makeup & clothing to look stylish & sexy. - You’ll never miss another NFL game due to long winded preachers. - If you’re a Catholic priest, you can now have sex with people other than choir boys. - If you’re a “nun” you can now get “some”. And you’re now free to think & question without fear of pissing off some insecure deity.
excellent post, mythbuster, very true, and very funny, lol. in answer to the original poster, inside your subjective mind, thats the only place you'll find a god.
The patiarchal concept of 'God' and experience of 'God' IS empty. it is all dogma and words and dry empty ritual. they made SUREof THA over the centuries. The deeper much more anceint understanding of religious experience is ACTUAL ecstatic experiences as inspired with psychedelic sacraments. Whathappenes when inspired with sacrament? Your sense of self expands, and you wil feel union as organism with Nature, the environment, and these ecstatic insights intelligently integrated bond you with Nature and community Thing is. because of patriarchal proaganda, may people have lost this connection. not only with the sacred plants/? but also feel alienated as organisms and from Nature This is because patriarchal ideology makes us feel bad about our natrual selves. The Christian religion guilts the individual sbeing some kid of struggle between 'good' and 'bad', and stresses the need to escape Nature to go to their 'heaven' and secular doga makes out that you are a merer biochemical machine and tat there is no meaning s see how both ways suck the life out of the individual! THAT is te sense of emptiness many people feel who follow them. all meaning is taken from us via their oppressive beliefs
See, we (theists) could argue back but if we did, we'd get the same old thing, give scientific arguments. And all I see here is philosophical debate and mockery against religion. But there is nothing wrong in having written rules in which to live by. He was mainly looking for members who have found God, as he stated, and look who shows up. Don't you guys hate it when the theists show up in your preferrably atheist threads? Jeez, you guys are so adament on spreading your beliefs. Isn't it for these things also that you criticize the theists? I smell hypocrisy.
A very inertesting point, these peeps are religious science fanatics, and fear religion! boot on other foot now ay
That would make sense if science had anything to do with faith. Perhaps you are confusing science with Tom Cruise's Scientology? I'm sure Tom Cruise welcomes you, and will probably purchase a penguin in your honor. :m:
It's a misconception that People Find God. No what happens is people serch for God with genuine thirst and the God comes along and taps them on the shoulder. The deep emptiness you feel is the knowledge that God is and you are missing out on something central to your life. I went down a similar path, I was once a catholic and empty like you. I was given a NKJV bible and filled the empty space with the Word. I got out of catholicism and got into a relationship with God though the Messiah Jesus. And that thing that was missing is with me now. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! So Get yourself a real Bible and ask God to guide you in your reading. All Praise The Ancient Of Days PS: And get out of this forum and seek a good Christian forum, they are hard to find but even the bad ones you probably will find a true Christian lurking around in the background Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
hah....says te dude who dodges deep questions i have asked him about his myth and beiefs in the past! notice how literalist religiosists do not like yo askin questions, which is same fo all authortarian systems.. .....they will either punish you for doing so, or do a runner.......(whereze go??????!)
So you want to find God by persuing a false organised religion? I sincerely find this funny. But the answer to this question is easy - If you want to find God, simply believe in him and do not allow yourself to think too much. Oh, and why do you think agnostics or non-believers 'dodge questions on life'? If anything, this accusation is better directed at the religious who have fundamentally closed their mind off to anything outside their false religion. What also makes you think religious people are more qualified to answer 'questions on life'? If you are actively searching for 'God' then you are a bit of an idiot and you deserve him. I hope you find your imaginary friend.
Typical christian. Run away to that little place where everyone will tell you what you want to hear. Ignore facts. Ignore reality. Ignore your own inner voice, or whatever the hell you want to call it. Hell, even ignore the christians that don't tell you what you want to hear. Arete, I think you need to stop. Stop looking for a god that isn't there. Stop looking for a god that, if he/she/it is there, doesn't give a shit about you, at least not in a human way. Think about all the things that you think are good about Man. You will not find them in any god. You've said it yourself, elsewhere, god's logic is not man's logic, or something to that effect. If there is a god, I agree that we can't understand it. However, in my experience, it doesn't understand man at all either. With regard to filling that void inside you. You have several options: 1.) Accept and make your peace with the void, realizing that you will probably never know the truth about god, at least not in this life, and that that is ok. 2.) Try to believe in him/her/it in order to fill the void. I think you suspect that there are no answers in this life about god, however, and in time you will find this option to be just as hollow as all the others that are used to fill the void. 3.) Try to fill the void with alcohol, drugs (prescription or not), food, sex, shopping, fancy cars, expensive houses, mistresses, boy toys, whatever. However, the void is a bottomless pit with regards to these things, and you will never fill it with them. For me, I'm an agnostic, looking to find real answers to the real questions. I haven't found a single good answer yet to a single real question. 99% of what you read in this forum, other forums, books, newspapers, etc. is utter bullshit. Take your pick of the above three options, or add a few more if you like. I can guarantee you that number three is by far the worst way to go and number 2 led me to number 3. Good luck.
Here's how you find god: Think... if the universe was designed, what characteristics would that person have? obviously it can't be someone truly belevolant... with parasites and all, etc. Then once you've figured it out, call it god and start believing in it. That's what everyone else did. I'll leave you with a quote by my idol (Ok, maybe not my IDOL, but he rocks), David Attenborough: "My response is that when Creationists talk about God creating every individual species as a separate act, they always instance hummingbirds, or orchids, sunflowers and beautiful things. But I tend to think instead of a parasitic worm that is boring through the eye of a boy sitting on the bank of a river in West Africa, [a worm] that's going to make him blind. And [I ask them], 'Are you telling me that the God you believe in, who you also say is an all-merciful God, who cares for each one of us individually, are you saying that God created this worm that can live in no other way than in an innocent child's eyeball? Because that doesn't seem to me to coincide with a God who's full of mercy." What I'm trying to say is... what makes you think anyone has the answers? They don't. People are people, they lie, they decieve, they can be brainwashed, they believe in stupid things, and they're stupid themselves. The religious ones don't know shit about anything. They just believe because they like the idea, not because they know anything. Grow up, you will never know it all, and don't start living in your own fantasy world just because you can't accept the fact that you will never know it all. If you truly want answers, go with science. Science is the only way to find answers. The others are just guesses, based on absoultely nothing, made by stupid people in order to feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Dude, 'God's a fantasy. Focus on the real issues. A) Feeling empty inside B) Quest for knowledge A) might be resolvable by learning how to have a strong relationship with yourself and others. B) might be resolvable by taking up a field of research scholastically and professionally.
so. let me get this straight....an example of a worm eating a child's eyeball is being used to turn the kid onto science and nuthin BUt science??
PS: And get out of this forum and seek a good Christian forum, they are hard to find but even the bad ones you probably will find a true Christian lurking around in the background Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image![/QUOTE] I would never want to be in a religious forum. The great thing about sciforums is that there is a mixture. While I disagree with atheist, I still respect their opinion. There are many intelligent people on this sight who you can learn a lot from. But next time read my thing more carefully atheist. I specificly asked for people who have found God to reply.
