You made me teary eyed.

I know it is hard to take--the bad things in this life. But .God can only intervene for us if we let .Him. The bad things happen because as christians none of us do all the things .He asks of us---and sin is still alive and well in this world.

.Do not take any offense to what I am about to say--i am not pointing a finger at you--promise

what I mean is.......God cannot help someone who is speaking negative all the time--who is living their own self fullfilled prophecy, he cannot help us, when our minds are going against all the good .He would love to lavish upon us, when we will not get past our own reasoning to listen to .His still small voice, .He cannot help us when we doubt who .He is--or that ".He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek .Him." we still all have choice---and when we make dumb choices ..He cannot help us. Every choice has a consequence. We have to ride the situation out--until we hear from heaven and ".He turns it around to the good, for them that love .Him and are the called according to .His purposes." and on top of all of that---other pple still have the freedom of choice, and these pple .He cannot invade on their will. And if this person is wicked--he will do mur/ders and rape, and every wicked thing if he is inclined to do so, and .God cannot stop his will. .God can however place a prayer hedge around us,(if we have stayed in prayer) send angels to protect us(if we keep our words pure and filled with truth)---but even negative thinking stops our angels in their tracks--they are left helpless to come to our aide--if we do not speak the words of truth, love, joy and peace. This is why bad things happen.

1st because sin still lives in this world--
2nd because .God has given us all freedom of choice---
3rd because we can and do make stupid mistakes from time to time---
4th because all the christians in the world --do not listen to .God's voice all the time--and do not do all .He has asked of them.---
5th because even good christians have negative thoughts and voice them from time to time--do not stay with pure words on their lips.---
6th all pple from time to time---forget .God is in control--and they try and reason things out--get all wrapped up in the worry and concern--that they cannot hear his still small voice--or receive unto themselves his peace---

i know things are hard to take--life is just that--life--and there is a world to come with all the tears and sorrow removed. There is a place in this life to find the peace and serenity we need just to endure. There is a comforter, who supplies all our needs and if we diligently seek .Him .He will give us all our hearts desires. May you find that place in .Him again I pray. You have touched my heart--so I know you've touched the heart of .God and .He just wants to hold you until all this bad stuff goes away.
I will continue to pray for you and these friends and family you have told me about.

Try and hold your head up and walk on---"we are king's kids" everything will all be okay. And do not beat yourself up for the lack of church or any mistakes you made or will make---.God accepts you as you are--with all your mistakes. He knew you would make these mistakes before you did--and .He accepted you anyway--at calvary. .God .Bless you forever--

Loads of people ask questions like this I am 16 and since my depression which has been on going for 16 years I have questioned myself about religion:

what I have come up with and ill leave it short and sweet is that there is no god at all this is not an opinion coming from someone who is down hearted. You are alone in life and u need to live through it with friends not god. I believe that god is an idea made up to console people. You need to work out if having a god is a part of your life that will help you. I having been brought up into a christian family have come out after 16 yrs thinking its a load of bs I really hope that get better god may be the way to give u strength thats how my mum gets thru and it seems to do her good but I dont believe there is anyone there... Im sorry life is so hard for u and I hope u can feel happy whatever happens....

As to how u started that topic u are not a stupid person at all I suffer from low self esteem and it is important not to think ur self silly in anyway ur question is quite justified and I think it is important to question religion...
If ur worried about religion maybe u havent found the right one just yet it would be gd to look at them all>>> sorry that wasnt so short and sweet

take care, always know there are people thinking of u and I will

if you could feel .Him in your soul--which im sure your mom does--you would know .He is real!!!! You have right to your opinion--im not saying that, though. I am just saying.......

My mate just sent me this its so true

god is an imaginery friend for adults

Fatfamily- that is the biggest load of bs i've ever heard. I don't believe people who pray and believe in god to be any safer than anyone else

how would you explain that to the thousands of jews that were massacred in spite of their beliefs?
Why is your religion the right one?
How can you explain the amount of pain and suffering that has occured throughout history in the name of religion?
Many say that none believers are evil and that simply not having faith in their god is evil- this is a dangerous way of thinking. To condemn someone who may otherwise lead a model life.

Are you telling me that i- who lead a normal law abiding life, give money to various charities etc... Am supposedly going to "hell!" because I don't believe god exists?

As for negative thoughts- this is human nature. You would be lying if you said you had never had negative thoughts. We can't all just drift around merrily singing away and never having negative thoughts. So what your saying is nobody should be critisised? If something is wrong- nothing should be done about it?

Also- lets say god does exist then: all these 1st, 2nd 3rd etc.. Where did you get all this from. If you say the bible... How can you possibly be able to relate a document written that long ago to modern day life? I believe there is one part of the bible which states that man made fibres cannot be worn? So what happens then? Do you just follow the parts you want to follow or what? You can't possibly expect me to believe that you lead you life to the exact words of a book written 2000 years ago.

Just look at some of the other things that have been written since. Only 200 years ago people thought disease was caused by bad smells and you expect me to believe that the bible is the correct way to lead a model life? In the old testament god states that anyone not following his religion should be struck down. How do you justify all the hate and misleading contridictions your faith throws at us and then many of you still dare to call us atheists evil for not believing.

I believe that with every year that goes by- religion is waning, unable to deny its undisputebly and increasinly outdated underpinnings. I believe there are now many gay priests? Isnt this a sin also? How do you explain this? I think your religion is founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. An easy fix way of explaining things away in a world that would otherwise be a challenge to comprehend. Also more so in the past as a system of control over people that now elect leaders in democratic and fair practice and not on supposed desendants of god (as kings and queens were thought to be!!!)

at the end of the day though- each to their own. I’d just put it to you though… what if your wrong? You live your whole life deluding yourself and living a life that “god would want you to live”, for what? What if this is the only chance we get and then there’s nothing? Wouldn’t you then say its just a big waste of time and you might as well start living? After all there’s no way i’d base my entire life around a concept with not even the smallest shred of proof. Even science can be proven, updated etc… as our understanding grows. How can christians expect to have this sort of progression when they are still stuck 2000 years in the past?

Its just my experience of religion and it has been negative I do not feel that there is anything inside me but me I have tried to let him in but there is nothing ultimately it is down to what u personally believe

i could be in prayer everyday all day long---but there will still be the wicked person--as I said--who has a free will, and I would be protected as well as I could be in this situation. Those jews believed in .God and believed for his protection---but were killed anyway---but you dont know how their peaace was during it!!!??? You were not there. They were martyered---and I know .God gave them peace and assurance that they would soon be with him, and I would much rather have that than the alternative.


I said .A.L.L these things need to happen for complete freedom from evil--which we will never have on this earth. That is what I was trying to show her. It is impossible for all the things to be .Different. Just like it was impossible for eve to .N.O.T eat the apple --for her spiritual state needed the savior--who had not come to calvary yet for us. We cannot be anything without .Him.


And if you dont believe the bible we really have no discussion here anyway. Your words mean nothing to me. For he said "if you take one word from this book, I will take your inheritance of the tree of life--and if you add one word to this book, I will add to you all the plagues written herein." it is in revelations. He used man to write this book, yes, but it is ordained from .God himself.



yes, unless you believe and receive his forgiveness. He cannot help someone who does not believe. It is the only unforgivable sin---to not receive his forgiveness unto yourself. To not receive the .Gift of calvary---is to not ever be forgiven, and to never find .God.


I have not finished yet but I will--i never said anyone was perfect far from it, I said we all make mistakes and should not hold it against ourselfs so much---for we are definately not alone it that. And yes, I live the words of the bible to the best of my ability. No one is perfect--no one--but the father alone.

And if you ever felt the presence of the lord on you or in you soul, you would not need anymore proof than that. I pray you find the way--

For those of you who dont believe god exists, I just wish that you would give him a chance and then you would know he was real. God is not an imaginary character I have to comfort me. He proves himself to me every day. I have to admit-in the last year I have strayed from him and I forgot about him-other things were more important, but now as time goes on, I realize how foolish I am to forget. I have never felt such a sense of peace and happiness as I do when I ask god to help me in a really tough situation and he does. I cannot remeber a time when I asked him to help and everything didnt end wonderfully. Every time me and my boyfriend get in a fight and I forget about god, everything just gets worse and worse, but if I ask for gods help-the problem is fixed in a matter of minutes. Its crazy crazy crazy how real he is, and I wish more people would give him a chance, because if they did, I believe they would be much happier.

Yes, ma'am. God bless you forever. --penelope

Just to put the thread back on topic:

whether or not there is a god/gods/goddess, etc (whatever you are given to believe normally) isn't the issue!

What the issue is is that the original poster has grown up and consistently believed in god, and bad things in the world are convincing him/her otherwise. This is a big deal. Not because there is or isn't a god, but because religion is a very personal, very important thing to most people, and losing it can be a serious, life-altering hit.

Linz, the best thing for you to do is to resolve this for yourself. Everyone has different beliefs about god (even within the same religion), so you are only going to find peace once you understand how you feel and resolve it with the world. You can try talking to people you trust who understand your religious views, and if that doesn't help, try thinking of the truly good things that happen in life that get overlooked.

Either way, good luck to you.

Linz, in the 1st place, I am sorry for your losses! Alot has happened to you in a negative way but I am sure that if you look deep enough you will find something positive that has happened over the years. I am trying not to bring religion into this because it just just starts a fight because alot of us believe differently and I believe whether you believe or do not believe it is your choice. I am no dr but I do hope that you do find someone to talk to about this, more on a professional level and that does not make you a bad person, heck, we all need a little help sometimes in our lives but then again that is your choice too! We do need to realize that their are alot worse people off then we are, even though it does not seem like it at the or this time. I hope this has helped!
Please let us know how you are doing, even though, I do not know you, I still care and have been in similar situations such as yourself and their have been times where I have found that helping hand at the end of my arm!
Good luck to you!
Hugs!

i was only trying to say--.N.O matter what we do--sin exists and death and destruction, bad things will happen, and mostly to the good pple. And .N.O matter what we do we cannot prevent it---so the only hope for us is to do our best---to fight the negative thoughts, and to do our best to stay close to .God for .He is our comfort. .He is our life---apart from .Him there is no life. And .He will do all he can to protect, supply our needs and give us the peace we need to endure this life--even if our own dumb mistakes make us go thru bad things. Which is by the way, usually not the case

Hi
i really feel for you as I am a christian and went through a very difficult period just on 2 years ago - my father passed away, my daughter tried to suicide and I ended up having a total break down. Through all of it, I was angry with god, and decided he did not exist - fortunately, I slowly started piecing my life together and realized that god had not abandoned me but was carrying me all the way and looking back, I can see his hand in all of it and now realize a lot of the blessings that came out of it. What I am trying to say is that once you have given your life to the lord you are his forever. God gave man free choice and adam and eve basically blew it and sin entered the world. We are of the flesh and bad things will happen because we are flesh and of free choice but in the end god is in control and it saddens him when children die, man destructs, maims and kills - yes he could stop it all if he wanted to but then, that wouldn't be free will for us - we choose to sin.
I will keep you in my prayers as I do know how you are feeling. Depression is an illness not a state of mind and needs to be addressed as such. I hope you are seeking the help you need from the medical profession.
God bless you always

U do not need god in ur life to have a happy one
i am very giving to charity in fact in a yrs time I am going to africa to save lives u dont need a god in your life to be happy or to do great things.

I agree with w0rldd0minat0r. Some people need god though and others are strong enough to strive out on their own. They are still great people.

Also I would like to stress- I don't believe in hell, and no christian or any other faith can ever persuade me to follow religion purely on the basis that if I dont im going to hell.

I also agree with sophira. This isnt an arguement that either side can prove or disprove.
People should be allowed to believe in whatever they want to believe.
All I was saying was that I never heard of any wars fought in the name of science!

The truth is many cant accept others beliefs. I personally can accept anyone (within reason)- but I think there's is a lot of bad blood between many of the relgions where the only factor in the arguement is the fact that they follow different faiths. I mean just look at iraq recently or maybe nothern ireland over the last 30 years. There are so many deaths caused.

I forgot who said it but it but this kinda sums up what im trying to say:
"without religion good people would do good and evil people would do evil but for a good person to do evil you need religion"...

I am a christian and don't believe in pushing chrisitanity on to anyone - if someone asks, I will try and answer them. I have both non-christian friends and christian and it is not for any christian to judge anyone. What ever path a person chooses to take is up to them. I am married to a beautiful man who is not a christian and we both have an equal respect for each - I am a christian, he has no belief system at all. I believe god created us all in his image and loves the non-believers as much as the believers

Please can we not turn this into too much of a religious discussion but more about finding ways to help this person as she has in her mind been let down by god

If you are talking about god, then it is already a religious discussion, I was just trying to show the good things about god and when bad things happen-they must happen for a reason. God is the only one that can help me get through really bad times like that. She said she didnt know how god can exist and I was trying to remind her that god shows that he exists every day. Sorry if I offended anyone

First ----i will never apologize for talkin about .God. Without him there is nothing. Our life has no meaning apart from .Gods will for us.

Second ----her discussion was about .God. I was just trying to explain---bad things will happen no matter what---there is no perfect life here. It is not .God's fault we have problems and bad things happen to good pple. .God is still there for comfort when we ask him, and his angels protect us when we are in danger.