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Old 07-29-2010, 10:41 PM
 
Location: Mississippi
22 posts, read 24,896 times
Reputation: 12

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I live in a small town in Mississippi where everything revolves around the church and I grew up going to church but now that I've gotten older I just don't know what I believe. I'm scared to not believe but when I really think about God I just don''t see how it is possible. And I look at people in the church and the people that I once thought looked like strong Christians look like they are in some sort of cult. I really don't have anyone to talk about this to because I don't know of anyone personal who vocally doubts God. I have three small children and they have never set foot in a church and don't even know who God is and when someone talks about going to church and my oldest son asks me what that is, I don't know what to tell him because it sounds so ridiculous to me to say it out loud. Has anyone else struggled with this?
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Old 07-30-2010, 01:09 AM
 
Location: Metromess
11,798 posts, read 25,086,439 times
Reputation: 5219
I don't know how young your kids are, but I think that at some point, you should explain to them what your idea of the concept of God is, just to head off misinformation they will get elsewhere. You are in a fairly difficult situation. I'm an atheist in TX, so I can empathize to some extent. Don't be "scared" to admit to yourself that you don't believe, if in fact you don't. I can't say how public you should be.
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Old 07-30-2010, 08:23 AM
 
Location: Mississippi
22 posts, read 24,896 times
Reputation: 12
I do want to tell them because I think they should have the right to choose if they want to believe in it or not. I just don't know how to go about telling them. They are 4, 2, and 1 so they are still young but my oldest will be starting school this year and the schools around here are all about church too. They think that " God, sports, and family" and the three things you should concentrate on in that order, they don't even think that education is as important as the others at school. I think that is so messed up.
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Old 07-30-2010, 09:22 AM
 
2,319 posts, read 4,782,169 times
Reputation: 2108
Sent you a private message, monkey, but I did want to say publicly that I agree with catman. You have to nail down what you believe. When I first started moving away from Christianity, I just quit with all the rituals, symbols - quit going to church, quit praying and reading the Bible, etc. That went on for 3 years, I guess. I started getting annoyed with having no faith so I started trying to figure out what I was. I went to Buddhist temples, Bahai'i churches, and started reading about different faiths. None of that worked out for me. I didn't want to exchange one deity for another.

I went to the library and started reading. I started reading about science to see what I could make of evolution. The best book I found was a kid's book called Evolution Revolution. Since then, I've found other great books and many, many documentaries on the subject (the best one is Judgment Day).

Then I started reading books by people who left Christianity to figure out what they didn't like about it. What was their beef? That was very interesting. I also started reading about the effects of the "religious right", as they are called, on politics, education, and even the Constitution. It's been a wonderfully educating experience.

I tell you all that to say that educating yourself and learning what you believe is probably the best gift to give your kids. If you're confused, they'll probably be confused. If you know what you think and can clearly explain it to them, it will open a good dialog about religion that you'll probably always have with them.

My solution to just about every problem is to read. I wish you the very best of luck.
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Old 07-30-2010, 10:27 AM
 
Location: Mississippi
22 posts, read 24,896 times
Reputation: 12
Thank you peppermint for the message. I should try to figure out what I believe because I'm not totally sure what I believe. I'm not sure if there is a god or not but I don't see how there could be one. It just doesn't seem possible that there is. I feel that the church was made to control the masses and the bible was written by a bunch of crazy people who didn't know that the earth was round or that there was other planets much less an entire universe. So what does that make me?
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Old 07-30-2010, 10:48 AM
 
2,319 posts, read 4,782,169 times
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Well, I wouldn't call you a theist. I have another book suggestion (big surprise, right!?!): Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht. It's an amazing summary of the history of doubt from 2500 BCE to today. Seriously, if you read nothing else, this might help you figure out what you think. The author goes through the deists, the skeptics, Eastern religions, the rise of Christianity and Islam and the doubters all along the way.

I totally understand what you mean. It started coming unraveled for me when I realized that the people I was taught were hell-bound were actually wonderful, caring, compassionate people. It didn't make sense to me that the judgmental, lying, hypocritical people were going to heaven but the nonreligious people weren't??? Nope. Didn't make sense.
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Old 07-30-2010, 11:06 AM
 
Location: Mississippi
22 posts, read 24,896 times
Reputation: 12
I haven't really tried to label myself as anything so I really don't know the differences between all of them.
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Old 07-30-2010, 11:07 AM
 
Location: Mississippi
180 posts, read 216,355 times
Reputation: 65
I also curently live in Mississippi and grew up here with the bible pushed down my throat. jesus was the only way and your life better make him first and you better believe everything we say or your gonna burn in hell(btw this was at school, church was 10x worse).

I guess about 3 or 4 years ago, i stopped going to church and didn really think about it too much.

Then i guess about 2 years ago, i started reading books deep in philosophy and ever since ive been getting as much info as i could on all religons and all beliefs.

Ive found that one or some or all of these things is why a religion was created.
1. To control people through fear or guilt or both
2.To make money
3. To make people feel better , usually through a facade of lies(by telling u what u want to hear)
4. To answer questions that we cant possibly have the answer to.

All religions claim the truth , but here is the truth

THEY DONT KNOW THE TRUTH AND NEITHER DOES ANYONE ELSE
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Old 07-30-2010, 11:19 AM
 
Location: Mississippi
180 posts, read 216,355 times
Reputation: 65
I would label myself as an Agnostic because there may be a supreme being but I DONT KNOW and i dont claim to know. I dont have an answer for death and i dont have an answer for how this all began and i dont have an answer to why we are here. PEOPLE claim to know but the truth is that the squirrel eating acorns in the back yard knows just as much. nothing
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Old 07-30-2010, 11:29 AM
 
Location: New York City
5,553 posts, read 7,972,683 times
Reputation: 1362
When I left Christianity (which I was eyebrow deep in), I too had those early moments of "what the hell just happened?" Fortunately for me, I ran into ExChristian.Net (scroll down to "testimonials" and enjoy) and found a place where I found so many others who had similar experiences as mine. I suggest checking it out. You will find tons of people out there just like you and you won't feel so alone.
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