Questioning "religion" and my faith, need some insight.?

[Fhoxx]

P.S. My mother gave me a basic idea of religion when i started questioning where things came from when I was younger. She never told me I had to believe in things or any things like that. I was never threatened with eternal hell if I didn't believe. I honestly don't think god would damn people for having logical doubts. Thanks to anyone who answers.
I'm 17 and a senior in high school. I get paranoid about things from time to time, and the most popular one for myself is that of religion. I try to be unbiased in what I believe in. I like to think that I don't believe in god just because of the comfort of an afterlife, though it always is easier to go for the "happy ending." However, I consider myself open minded and very philosophical. That being said, I'm somewhat doubting in the teachings of the church and bible, and just a god or an afterlife in general... Certain things get to me though, For the side of theism I'd say some studies surrounding the Near Death Experience, the overall complexity of things and other little things. As for atheism, I tend to be an as I like to put it " Pics or it didn't happen" type of person, but obviously there is some complexity to this situation.I think I have some sort of basic christian beliefs, though some would call it distorted. I have a scientific sort of view on things.. It's kind of complicated. I've been reading things online for the past few hours and haven't found anything that's really convincing on either side of the argument. I know it's one of those questions that we should never find out for obvious reasons... and those reasons to me, anyway, are as follows.. If there is a god and an afterlife and he just revealed himself to the world, it would dis value you this life. Picture it this way, if you're playing a video game, you're not afraid to jump guns blazing into a group of monsters because you can just restart. The same would be abe to be considering in a sense if god were to reveal himself/herself/itself. And if there isn't one, people would become more greedy, trying to get every possible thing they can, and not worrying about who they step on. I'm not saying everyone would turn this way, but you get the point or at least I hope so. All I'm really looking for is as the title states, some insight. I don't want any hostile christians, or any hostile atheists, no jokes made.. I just want as I've said some insight, but hold the bullshit please.

 

[Sarah]

I completely understand your point as I have been there before. Being an atheist doesn't mean that you have to give up your morals. Like just because I don't believe in God doesn't mean that I think killing is right.

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide although as I've said, being an atheist doesn't mean sacrificing your morals. So maybe your an agnostic, then? That is sort of the middle ground I suppose. Good luck on your spiritual journey.

 

[amscray_1999]

I'm not sure if I can give any real insight since I haven't seen the pics either. But I think I have a similar view to yours. I have decided I believe in a couple points that sort of bring things into focus for me.
First, I think science has shown far to much evidence of evolution to ignore it and say it didn't happen that way. How else to explain all the bones/fossils?
Second, I believe that though life has evolved, God has had a hand in all the evolution. Because, even if life were to have spawned from a bunch of amino acids and other materials, wouldn't the fact that it was able to reproduce be a gargantuan leap? I mean, it just barely figured out how to be a life and suddenly has it all figured out?
I guess I don't have any good answers or stories to share to point you in any direction. But at least you know you have the company of others who wonder as you do.

 

[Katie]

You are obviously searching for somthing but I think in the wrong places. If you want some real insight on God, talk to him. But if you are just looking for a religion starting reading the Bible, Koran that type of thing. Hope this helps.

 

[DreamstuffEntity]

1. Near death experiences are the result of a brain shutting down due to lack of oxygen.

2. We know how to induce one artificially using ketamine.

3. People mostly see what they expect to see - hence people of different religions have different experiences.

4. A few people, though, have made quite a bit of money from NDE claims.

5. An in-depth article: http://skepdic.com/nde.html

As for the rest.... check my profile, and read Carl Sagan's "the demon haunted world":

http://anoniversity.org/lang/src/Carl_Sagan_-_The_Demon-Haunted_World.pdf

 

[EverDemon]

Alrighty then. First I'd recommend continuing to study, never stop examining and weighing the evidence. It is how many people become Atheists, personal opinions aside here (just ask anyone who has made the journey from faith to atheism). Now what I'm gathering here is you have a few things that you see as pro-theistic arguments. However, I encourage you to examine those things more thoroughly. NDEs, or Near-Death Experiences, are all unconfirmed stories. It's fair to say there is no way to disprove it, but there is no way to prove the stories either. There is no proof there. It is equally valid as people who may have had an NDE say, a couple thousand years ago, and claim to have been on Mount Olympus with Zeus or in the Underworld with the God of Death. Both are equally unbelievable, and unable to be confirmed. While the people who experienced the NDE may hold a firm conviction that they truly had a spiritual or religious experience, neuroscience has rational alternative explanations for what these people saw. I would highly recommend looking at an NDE case from the perspective of a doctor who specializes in Neuroscience, as most NDE stories are from ordinary people who are not qualified to examine the evidence. Rationality and reason beat personal stories every day, due to the illusions the human mind is capable of fabricating.

To your second point, the overall complexity of things. Every "complex" thing is fairly easy to explain with the wealth of knowledge our species has gathered over hundreds of years. Natural laws dictate what has happened as well as why it has happened. Even now we're delving further and further into the beginnings of things. Quantum Physics even offers an explanation -behind- the initial Big Bang Theory. We know how the Universe began. We're getting closer to closing our gaps in knowledge every day. The complexity of life is explained fully by an adequate understanding of biology. When humans have striven and at last close the biggest gaps in knowledge, where will God hide then?

Furthermore I'd like you to introduce any further reasoning for God's existence. From what I see you can just as validly claim you believe in Thor, Odin, Zeus, etc. Humanity has already forgotten the past gods we so fervently worshipped; Yahweh (God) or Yeshua, or Jehovah, or Allah will soon go the same way. The validity of the Bible is laughable; there is no rational reason for believing the scriptures.

True, the theory of God is in essence unfalsifiable. However, an unfalsifiable hypothesis is not only a bad one, but a worthless one. Atheism is disbelief. It is not only the position of a skeptic, but the default position of any human.

 

[midnightmoon]

Well, I dont really agree with your reasons to never know for sure. The deal with after life is that its either a reward or a punishment. SO if people knew for sure God existed and that Heaven was real, people would be more motivated to believe and live right.

And the belief in God and afterlife does NOT deter people from doing those things. They happen right now, every day, and even sometimes by people who claim to or actually do believe in a god or an afterlife.

I was raised Christian, and for a while believed it. But I now find it all nothing but a pile of bs. I think the Bible and Christianity as some uplifting parts, but overall I disagree with many of the teachings, and a lot of it contradicts itself.

While I did cross over to athiesm, I hope you know that your only choices arent just be a Christian or be an athiest. Remember, there are many different religions to choose from. Maybe part of exploring what you think and how you feel about all this should include some research on some of the other ways of beliefs as well.

 

[ElectrlAmish]

here's my opinion..........AGNOSTIC.

religion can be very segregated and judging... NOT ALWAYS, but this is the trend.... an obvious illusion of the mind, the bible or any other religious teachings seem to be WAY out of reality and logic....

however, I see so many Atheists that make anti-God desicions simply based on the methods of religious teachings.... this to me is close-minded, they allow the ironic fairy tails of religion create their own one sided mind of spirituality,

it becomes sides

I'd say maybe look up the agnostic ways.... I truelly enjoy humility and being an agnostic I can be with god and logic...