If there is no God?

[Down_under]

I have been searching, for a few months now, for God. By that I guess I mean God in the Christian sense.
During this time, I have cried out to him in desperation, I have been on my hands and knees, in tears, praying for an answer, a sign, something, ANYTHING to show me he is there. All I wanted was to know I was not alone, to know that through all of this "He" is there beside me. And yet I felt, and got, nothing.
So now, what? If there is no God, no one to create the miracles we sometimes need, no one to protect us, provide for us, I guess even "befriend" us, then what is there? What am I living for? What hope do I have of ever getting through everything that is facing me? Is it all a futile waste of time?

For those of you who have decided you don't belive in God, do you believe in anything? What keeps you going? I don't even really know what i am looking for, or asking for, here. All I know is I feel so helpless, so alone. I want to believe in something, but I'm afraid for me that "something" just isnt God.

[ChasingPeace]

I'm sorry that your spiritual struggle seems to be causing you so much pain.

I've gone through similar struggles where I've had my faith in the image of God I believed in challenged, but I think that these challenges have actually been very beneficial to my spirituality. Maybe you've outgrown the God you believed in as a child, and now you have the opportunity to discover what God means to you now. I would suggest reading about other religions' concepts of God (www.beliefnet.com is a great resource). I also found it very helpful to ask posters here from different religions their views on topics that were challenging me. I've come to the conclusion, as the saying goes, that God is too great to be confined to one religion. The world religions offer many different ways of making the Divine accessible. You may find one or a collection of many that resonate with you. Good luck on your journey!

[lilyka]

We all times in our spiritual deserts (sp? I mean the sandy dry hot place, not a yummy treat). Keep seeking His heart. He will bring you out eventually. If you are Christian get into the Word. he has promised that the word of God will not return void, if he isn't speaking, cling to what he has already said.

I am sorry you are going through a blace of stuggle right now.

[bri276]

This is just what I believe, take what you will. God is not a man in the clouds with a beard. It is a life force, the energy that breathed life into every one of us, and into every tree, fish, microbe. God is also love. I don't think you need to look outside for a sign, because God is within you, in your soul. All that is beautiful and good in the world is evidence that a positive energy exists, call it God, call it a life force, whatever. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, and yet we are here, and therefore I believe we will continue to be even after our physical bodies are gone.

[sunnmama]

Originally Posted by Down_under

For those of you who have decided you don't belive in God, do you believe in anything? What keeps you going?

I don't believe in God. I was raised Evangelical Christian, but became atheist as a teenager, and have been an atheist my entire adult life.

What do I believe in? What keeps me going?
Well, I believe in love, goodness, and the human spirit. Friendship and family. Meaningful work, community, and living a purposeful life. Relationships keep me going--people need me! We all need each other .

Honestly, that has always been enough for me. I've never really needed more to feel that my life has meaning. Recently, though, I've been studying world religions with renewed interest, and I've been wondering *how* it can be that I am an atheist when so many people throughout history have believed in God, but I really can't fake believing .

[LavenderMae]

I don't believe in a god. I didn't just decide not to believe in a god. I do not think a god exist to believe in.

What keeps me going is me, my kids , my husband, extended family/friends and all the wonderful things in this world. Basically life itself. So far I have gotten through everything that has been thrown at me and that strengh came from me.

[Maiasaura]

well.......hard question! not easily answered.
i'm Pagan. my main diety is female.
that said, i think.....wow. my thoughts are hard to put in writing. i don't "believe" in a god or goddess as an actual entity that sits off somewhere. my religion is less about belief than it is about experience...i think the names and personalities of gods are more metaphor than anything. the Divine is, for me, experienced in *everything*. i am Goddess. She is me. She is you. God is not "out there" somewhere, but easily accessable, because She is immanent. i don't need an intermediary and i don't need to petition, i just need to remember to Pay Attention, and Stay Connected.

as someone said <<<love, goodness, and the human spirit. Friendship and family. Meaningful work, community, and living a purposeful life. Relationships>>> and i might add to that, all of Nature and all She produces-- storms, moons, cool cloud formations, the groundedness i feel when i am Connected. seeing the Goddess in every woman's eyes, and the God in every man's. I honor the spirit within you. KWIM?

i hope i made some sense. my advice? get ouside! and pay attention. and lay on the ground for awhile, look at the sky, just even for 5 minutes. if it's cold and snowy where you are, get barefoot just for a minute. FEEL.

i don't know if that was any helpful, but i hope so! probly sounded like a bunch of gobbledegook. but i tried.

pamela

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by ChasingPeace

Maybe you've outgrown the God you believed in as a child, and now you have the opportunity to discover what God means to you now. I would suggest reading about other religions' concepts of God (www.beliefnet.com is a great resource). I also found it very helpful to ask posters here from different religions their views on topics that were challenging me. I've come to the conclusion, as the saying goes, that God is too great to be confined to one religion. The world religions offer many different ways of making the Divine accessible. You may find one or a collection of many that resonate with you. Good luck on your journey!

That is totally what I was thinking to, just not so eloquently. This past summer, my dh and I both outgrew the god we believed in and have set off on a journey of expanding our world-view, so to speak. My husband isn't sure where he is on the whole god-question; I'm beginning to see god as more of a universal life-force, rather than a separate entity.

And I love how sunnmama put it:

Well, I believe in love, goodness, and the human spirit. Friendship and family. Meaningful work, community, and living a purposeful life. Relationships keep me going--people need me! We all need each other .

[christianmomof3]

Keep searching. If you seek the Lord, you will find Him.
I like pamela's description here

God is not "out there" somewhere, but easily accessable, because She is immanent. i don't need an intermediary and i don't need to petition, i just need to remember to Pay Attention, and Stay Connected.

because in my experience, this is how I found God to be to me as a Christian. I was raised Jewish, believing God was "out there" somewhere inaccessible, and when I was in college, I began to question His existence. When Jesus was presented to me as God, I just tried praying to Him figuring if He wasn't God I was just wasting a little time and breath and not really thinking He was, but, once I prayed to Him and opened myself to Him, he revealed Himself to me and now I know He is God and God exists and He is not "out there" somewhere, but He lives in me. God made man with a human spirit which is an organ with which we contact God and contain His life, so, after calling on His name and receiving His life, all we have to do is turn to our spirit and He is there!
When I was not sure if God existed, I was searching. I don't think I really knew what it was I was searching for, but He knew. It took quite a few years for me.
I am struck by the fact that you said

During this time, I have cried out to him in desperation, I have been on my hands and knees, in tears, praying for an answer, a sign, something, ANYTHING to show me he is there. All I wanted was to know I was not alone, to know that through all of this "He" is there beside me. And yet I felt, and got, nothing.

I have a cousin, who was majoring in Philosophy in college, searching for the meaning of life. When he was lead to Jesus, he was looking for some sort of feeling validating that God was real. He believed that God was real but did not "feel" Him the way he expected to. He said it took him a year of going to church meetings and praying and reading the Bible to finally realize that he knew God was real and that God was not a feeling and then he stopped looking for any "feeling" and began to experience God in a deeper way. I am sorry that I cannot explain it the way he did, your statement just reminded me of his story.
I pray that the Lord will draw you to Himself and you will find Him in a way that meets your needs and His.

[DaryLLL]

Down_under, I have not seen you post before, but it sounds like you are going through some very hard times!

In your sig it mentions depression, which I hope you are receiving treatment for. Sometimes when we are depressed, it seems we feel unconnected to everything, and that includes the Divine. It also seems like daily responsibilities are too much, even getting out of bed and showering is too much, much less taking care of 2 toddlers.

I wish you strength and I hope you are getting medical help for your problems. You might then find "God" where you least expect it, not neccessarily as an actual voice in answer to prayer. Maybe you will find God in the hugs of your children and in helpful members of your community. When you are stronger, you may be able to give back and spread God's love in that way.

[SMH]

Hello - this is the first day I've found this area of Mothering and I"m so glad I did! I didn't read the replies because I don't have lots of time. My girls should be waking up any second...should've woken up already actually.
Praise God that I have the time to write to you!

I'll be fast!
Many times in our lives we feel forsaken by the lord. Many time we feel like he's not with us loving us, fulfilling his promises to us..it's a horrible feeling. However, many places in the Bible the lord tells us that we must trust him. We must have faith that he has a perfect will for us and if we follow him and put our faith and trust in him we'll prevail!
Sometims our prayers aren't answered as soon as we want them to be. Sometimes they're not answered the way that we want them to be. Maybe you're prayers are answered through people here that are praying for you and reaching out to you!
Remember Jesus on the cross when he said God why has thou forsaken me? When infact God had a perfect plan that was executed and fullfilled! You know how great Paul was, right. He suffered in prison and in 2 Corinthians 10:11 I think it is it tells us he suffered Greatly! Sometimes for the Glory and work of the lord we need to suffer a little. The lord wants your trust and faith that he'll hold you up when nothing else will keep you a float! A few vs. to read I hope I"m getting these right:
Psalm 91:2 - trust in the lord...
Hebrews 11:6 - talks about faith we must have
Lamentations 3: Faithfullness
Psalm 119:74-75 - Hope
Psalm 107:27 - 30 (all around there )
Is great. It talks about the journy with the lord will being us to a desired haven we just need to be quiet and listen.

There are so many places in the Bible where good Christians, servent to the Lord suffered! This doesn't minimize what you're feeling but I hope it let's you know that you're not alone. That God had a perfect plan for them and he doesn't for you also. Please read your Bible and continue to be faithful in the Lord! He WILL show you his mercy, grace, love and faithfullness...he promises that. He may do it in the smallest way and we need to be still enough to hear it but he promises he'll do it.
If you have any ounce of faith left after feeling so forsaken and down in the dumps dig deep for it and remain steadfast, he'll be there for you......trust in him and just read read read! The word will inflitrate your self and hopefully the lord will use that to touch your heart right wear you need it.

Praise the lord my girls slept this late. Even if I didn't get the vs. just right and I didn't speak perfectly at least the lord gave me the time to write to you! In all honesty they've been alseep since 1:15 and never sleep this long. The lord works in so many different ways to allow people to reach other people. Maybe these versus are the perfect ones for but if you read them or what's around them the Lord may show you the perfect one he'll use to touch you. I don't know you but I'll pray for you! I know the lord will show you what you need to see if you just try very hard, dig deep and remain faithful.
With all my heart - :

[OTMomma]

I'm sorry you feel abandoned by God. It is painful to feel alone in the universe. I've been where you are. It felt like by loosing faith, I had lost a part of myself. And I felt like I was adrift in the world without the purpose I thought I had.

Eventually, I decided I do believe in God or Goddess, even if that being doesn't fit into what I wanted Him/Her to be.

Surround yourself with kind loving people. Be kind to yourself and find joy in all you can.

Peace,
Laura

[mamagirl]

Originally Posted by Down_under

I have been searching, for a few months now, for God. By that I guess I mean God in the Christian sense.

Well, if you're looking for the Christian god, try studying The Bible. If you need to believe in a higher power, just do it. The universe is smiling on you, you are focusing on the negative. just think of all the things that go right for you every day. Start small: the lights turn on when you flip a switch, you have enough food to have leftovers, little things. It really worked for me by opening me back up to the positive vibrations! HTH

[merpk]

*edited







To the OP ...

Originally Posted by DaryLLL

Down_under, I have not seen you post before, but it sounds like you are going through some very hard times!

In your sig it mentions depression, which I hope you are receiving treatment for. Sometimes when we are depressed, it seems we feel unconnected to everything, and that includes the Divine. It also seems like daily responsibilities are too much, even getting out of bed and showering is too much, much less taking care of 2 toddlers.

I wish you strength and I hope you are getting medical help for your problems. You might then find "God" where you least expect it, not neccessarily as an actual voice in answer to prayer. Maybe you will find God in the hugs of your children and in helpful members of your community. When you are stronger, you may be able to give back and spread God's love in that way.

[DaryLLL]

[dingogirl]

I want to believe in something, but I'm afraid for me that "something" just isnt God.

Believe in yourself!

I'm sorry you're feeling troubled. I have begged god for help and there was nothing. And isn't it strange that the people who usually suffer the most are dark skinned people? (I was told that it was their karma) : If there is a god, I wouldn't call him loving. What kind of a god creates creatures that need to eat each other in order to survive? (how horrible to be caught in a spider's web or strangled by a boa constrictor)

Since becoming agnostic, I've never been happier and for the first time in my life I feel free. I have no one to answer to but myself. When I accomplish something, I feel great satisfaction because I know I did it all by myself- I didn't need a god or angels to help me. I no longer have problems with guilt and I don't worry about having bad thoughts that may "offend" a god. I make the most of the life I've got now because I believe in life BEFORE death.

[wednesday]

I was raised Christian, but I never felt God's presence or heard him speaking to me the way other people would describe it. Eventually I grew tired of hoping and listening. God was never real to me. Once I let go of my fears about hell and damnation and really began to look at Christianity and the Bible critically, it was truly a relief to me to realize I didn't believe in any of it.

[applejuice]

s

If G-d/G-ddess did not exist, we would have to invent Him/Her.

We need to believe in something greater than ourselves. It is a basic human need.

[wednesday]

Originally Posted by applejuice

We need to believe in something greater than ourselves. It is a basic human need.

See, I don't really feel this is true. It doesn't seem to be a need for me. What about all the other comfortable atheists out there? Are we not human?

[sunnmama]

I just don't need it either. I have been comfortable as an atheist for my entire adult life. Lately, as I learn more about religions and how common the need for a god seems to be, I have been wondering *why* I just don't have that need or belief.....

It is not a universal need. But it is a very common one.